Let’s go back a few hours, at the time when the commander and her team were attacked by the shadow specials. In another place, two individuals were walking down a large hallway having just encountered yet another group of Fraz regulars. The larger one of the two was breathing heavily, he had rips and muck on his pants and Kevlar, and flesh wounds all over the body. But none the less he was moving in a small jog in the long hallway, next to a potbellied man. The potbellied one had scratches on his face and was similarly exhausted as the man next to him.

“How much further?” The pot-bellied Jon asked.

“Not much farther. The group transport should be somewhere around here.” Shair panted.

“How do you know?”

“I read it”

“Oh, Okay” Jon said. Having already spent a few hours of time fighting alongside Shair Jon had decided that it was better to not ask any more questions and just go with the flow something. The two had run into multiple Fraz groups and their ammo for the shard guns had run out in the last encounter, but even with their low weapon power they continued to run in silence down room after room. They moved with surprising speed until they reached a large opening leading outside. The rain and thunder could be heard outside. Slowly moving up through the opening the two trudged forwards and beside the wall like they had done previously, with Shair leading the way and Jon following closely behind. They were much further away than the rest of the group so they didn’t have the luxury to be moving at slow speeds.

Under the light provided by the lightening Jon was able to see two Fraz up ahead unloading something large and round in a pink colored object which oddly resembled a blowfish. It’s blown up skin smooth and shiny opened up when the object the Fraz were carrying was thrown in. The creature’s face wasn’t as blown up as its back and seemed to be made of different material than its round rump but nonetheless, its resemblance to a fish couldn’t be disputed. Shair motioned to John to take down the left one while he took down the right one. Nodding to each other in understanding they both took a deep breath and got ready.

Jon acted first.

He took aimed down his iron sight and lined up the Fraz’s chest, the place where most sources are located. One he started firing Shair also got out of the cover, extending his arm to full length and firing at the other Fraz’s chest. Once the bullets struck, a quick pull on the magnum’s hammer sent the creature flying backwards instantly destroying its source. When both regulars burned and fell to the ground, their wooden bodies crackled and split up into ash, quickly washing away into the cracks between the rocks. Shair and Jon walked up to the fish stepping on the dead branches and guts under them.

“That would be our transport.” Shair said indicating the large fish creature.

“Things just keep getting weirder” Jon sighed as he placed his hand on the pink flesh only to have it open up for him.

“Get in” on his command Jon stepped in-

*Fishhhh* just as Shair himself was about to get into the creature, a shot suddenly rang out. Whipping his head towards the direction of the fire he spotted a Fraz on a platform on the wall, his shard like gun hissing from releasing a wooden beam. The Fraz seemed to be cackling as he reloaded his gun, quick to take another shot, but Shair was faster. Taking out his magnum he quickly shot upwards and blew up the Fraz on the platform. However by this time another group Fraz that had been following Shair and Jon suddenly came out of the tunnel they had previously exited.

“Vashni froom” One of the Fraz said as he pointed at the humans.

“Go! Go! Go!” Shair said as he fell backwards into the fish. Jon stumble to the fished head and started to push random things sticking out. The Fraz shot at the fish creature causing it to scream in agony.

“Step aside” Shair said as he limped to the controls that Jon was fumbling with. Shair moved around a few stick and pushed a few button-like pink objects and finally the fish flew. It first fell off the platform it had been attached to and then started to slowly fly up towards another entrance far away in the opposite wall. As they flew out of the range of the Fraz’s guns Shair fell down and leaned against the controls panel.

“Hey, Hey, stay with me.” Jon said worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Shair said.

“No you’re not. Look at your leg.”

Shair looked at his leg and saw that there was a large chunk of his thigh missing. Blood was slowly oozing out of it and the wound looked like it had been ripped out. Shair felt a little dizzy but kept his eyes open, even if everything he saw was slightly blurred. Shair looked to the side and saw a long wooden stick, bloody, pinning a piece of meat to the pink fish floor. The wooden stick was pinning his missing chunk of thigh, upturned and bloody, almost impossible to distinguish in all the blood that was pooled around it from the stick.

“There’s the missing part. F**K!” Shair pointed at the chunk then proceeded to punch the side of the wall of the panel he leaned against. “Damn it. *sigh*”

While Shair cursed, Jon moved to take out the chunk of meat; he held it and started to clean it with the side of his shirt not covered in mud. Jon sat in front Shair who was still cursing and punching the floor in sorrow. Silently, Jon offered Shair the piece of thigh, now all clean.

“Why does it always happen to me?” Shair whined as he looked up as if cursing at whoever was listening in heaven.

“Here, at least place it on that gushing wound” Jon said empathetically as he shook the meat in front of Shair.

“Hey, be careful with that. That a part of me you’re abusing right now.” Shair snatched up the meat and pushed it on the bloody wound.

“Put pressure on it would you.” Shair told Jon as he moved to rip out his sleeves just above his elbows.

“Wait. At least clean it up a little” Jon took away the dirty sleeves Shair was going to wrap his wound with. “You apply the pressure.”

“Sure” Shair complied while Jon carefully took out the mud and ash chunks from the black sleeves. Then he wiped off the dirt with some water he took out of his canteen. Once he was satisfied with the cleanliness of the cloth he moved to stretch it over and wrap it around the wound.

“Hssshhh” Shair took in a long painful breath as his ripped out piece was placed back into place and tightly wrapped up by his sleeves.

“There, that’s done.”

“Ah, Ah,” Shair was sweating from enduring the pain. “Thanks,” Shair leaned forwards to reach into one of his back pockets of his utility belt.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to move yet, idiot.” Jon started scolded when Shair took out two large cigars and waved them in front of his face. Shair threw one at Jon while he bit into his own and started to chew.

“Wha-Where did you get those.” Jon said. “Really now, we can’t be carrying these around. Didn’t you listen to the doctor last month, all intoxicating objects must be dropped off to the infirmary for medical purposes.”

“Yeah, medical purposes like being used by those supposed doctors.” Shair said “Besides I already gave up six cigars last month. I at least have the decency to not smoke in the building or my room in case a fire may start.”

“The medics don’t use the medical equipment for themselves.” Jon looked at Shair quizzely, refusing to believe him.

Shair held his cigar in between his fingers then he reached into his shirt and took out a lighter attached to a silver chain, like a necklace around his neck. The lighter was like a small metal box with a phoenix symbol etched on the front. Shair opened up the cap and used his thumb to roll the metal spark wheel down onto the blue ignition button. He repeated the process, generating a multitude of sparks, when finally he ignited the gas and lit it on fire. As the flames burned he brought it close to the cigar and lit the tobacco on fire. He then placed the lighter back into his shirt and took a long drag of the cigar before finally speaking.

“Yeah, they do. Ask Mia next time you meet her, those with proper authority can practically rob us off our things whenever they want. Of course not everyone is like that, … that’s why we aren’t being abused like cattle.”

“You don’t trust people, huh?” Jon offered his own cigar to be lit.

“Hehe, No my friend. I trust on my intuition.” Shair smiled as he lit Jon’s cigar with his own. “You just seem like someone I could trust, that’s all.”

“Going by your gut, has it ever led you astray?” Jon asks enjoying the cigar.

“Once, when the Fraz had just started their invasion.” Shair didn’t elaborate much more on it so Jon tried to look for another conversation starter. They were safe while they travelled and since Shair’s leg was all beaten up it didn’t seem like they would be moving for a moment. At least they couldn’t attract any more attention than they already had.

“Your uh… lighter, a pretty polished piece like that is rare these days. What the story behind that?” Jon pointed at Shair’s shirt where the lighter hung underneath.

“Yeah, things like this are rare these days. I got this piece of metal” Shair took out the lighter and displayed it. “From a special somebody a few years ago to keep as a reminder. I use sometimes to smoke on missions, of course never during a shootout…well there was that one time…. Nah, it doesn’t count, there was smoke everywhere.”

“Wait, so is that like a promise ring? A promise lighter?” Jon asked

“Yeah, Ha ha, Pretty childish, huh?” Shair smiled bitterly.

“Nah, things like this is what still keep us sane in this world.”

“True that my friend.”

Jon and Shair talked for the rest of the ride. They discussed stories of how they survived the initial part of the invasion, the grief of loss, the euphoria of their first Fraz kill. They also talked about the time before the invasion, the TV shows, the politics, and even their jobs. The cigars helped relax their nerves, until they reached their destination and the shooting started.

It all happened so suddenly that they didn’t have time to react. Shair and Jon were enjoying a quiet time from the running, sitting in the fish bubble and laughing about old times, and were too busy being intoxicated by the cigars to notice the group of Fraz waiting on the other side. What the two hadn’t realized was that they had already reached their destination and once they came into firing distance; a barrage of wooden beams was suddenly fired upon them. That shriek of desperation, right before the life of the fish-like creature escaped its body. The fish like creature took most of the damage; the overpowering firepower allowed it a swift death and consequently awoke Shair from his intoxicated state.

Pushing Jon down with his good hand Shair took out his gun, hung onto the control panel and hoisted himself up to shoot at the Fraz. However his aim was a little off and the bullets strayed a little lodging themselves in their shoulders and at their feet instead of the aimed chests. When his bullets ran out Shair slumped down under the panel and exploded them. Meanwhile Jon stood up and started shooting at the unprotected sources of the Fraz that Shair had struck. They repeated this procedure with Shair taking down their exoskeletons and Jon finishing them off until there were no more enemies to confront them. Both of the soldiers were breathing and sweating heavily by the end of the confrontation.

“Come on, let’s go.” Shair said as he pulled himself up and started to walk towards the entrance where the Fraz had come from.

“Here, lean on me.” Jon said supporting Shair by the shoulder, as they both walked into the dark tunnel.

After a few minutes of walking through the darkness Jon became increasingly worried, so much that he halted their movements and pushed Shair against the wall.

“Are you sure we are going in the right direction? I didn’t see any signs telling us to go here.” Jon waved his free hand indicating the darkness around them “We can hardly see in this darkness and you can barely walk with that leg injury… Come on, let’s just take some other transport and get to the Pelican’s drop zone.” Jon tried to move Shair back to where they encountered the Fraz but Shair held his ground and shook off Jon’s hands.

“Calm down Jon Bellamy.” Shair’s voice came out hoarse but tired “The Pelican’s signals isn’t showing on the radar” Shair showed the small radar attached to his right wrist “It’s showing me where the Commander is, and like I promised her I will meet up with her at the next stop. She is going to need our help to finish this mission Jon and I don’t indent to go back on my promise. The Fraz can shoot us down any time while we are in these tunnels, that’s why I want to get us out of these tunnels as quickly as possible and if you are going to deter me in my path then leave. I can walk on my own just fine. Do you understand Bellamy?” Shair shouted that last bit stunning Jon momentarily.

Jon looked to the floor, contemplating the consequences of stopping Shair. After some time he curled his fists, shook them in rage.

*Sigh*”Let’s go.” Jon’s fists fell and he looked at Shair with a mimicking tired expression. He slowly moved away from Shair and indicated that he lead the way.

The two once again started to move into the ever growing darkness. Shair, supported by the wall, slowly limped forwards following Jon, who had his gun aimed into the darkness. They kept on moving like this for a few more minutes until the darkness seemed to disappear and a glimmer of hope could be felt. It wasn’t by a lot like before, the light, that is. It wasn’t bright colours that greeted them, but a small, slight change from pitch black to dark grey that gave Shair a glimmer of hope. Hope for reuniting with the team, for being closer than before, for ending this suicide mission.

Shair reach out and tapped Jon on the shoulder, and motioned for him to move with caution into the grey light. The further they moved the brighter the light became, however it was still not enough to properly see everything. The grey light shone out into the tunnel and illuminated Shair’s face momentarily, blinding him for a while as his eyes adjusted and took in the sight of the room.

Saying the room was massive was an understatement. The tunnel entrance that Shair was in was about two meters above ground, similar entrances could be seen covering the cylindrical room at different points all in a circle. The shape of room was similar to the inside of a hollowed out beehive, from a large base to a narrow top all twisted into a circular like shape. The room seemed to have a circumference of about 100 yards and reached a height at least three times that. If one carefully observed the ceiling of the room then they would see that the walled all merged at the top creating a small dome, and on that dome were four planchette or petal shaped openings aligned in a circular fashion allowing light into the dark, large room, illuminating it from its pitch blackness to dark grey. On the slightly illuminated ground stuck out black oval objects similar to wasps’ egg.

“What are those?” Jon whispered as he slowly moved allowing Shair space to stand next to him.

“No idea, and I’m not sticking around to find out. This is a really bad place to get caught in, we’ll be sitting ducks here, so let’s move quickly.” Shair slowly moved forwards and slid down to the ground. Jon followed afterwards and they both, hunching down, moved across the large room.

“Any idea which one of the doors we are going to take?” Jon whispered softly.

“Yeah, the doors have different symbols on them and I think I know which one to take. Just follow my lead.” Shair said.

The two slowly made their way across the room, careful to not touch any of the pods that protruded out of the ground. The two had slowly made it halfway across the room when suddenly loud shouts could be heard coming from the tunnel they had exited. Shair and Jon picked up their speed to get through the room as quickly as possible. Shair was still hurting painfully in his leg and kept on limping so Jon quickly over took Shair. It wasn’t until he heard the shout of the Fraz that he realized how much further back Shair was. Both stood their ground and took out their guns, ready to shoot the incoming Fraz from behind.

*BOOM* as they were about to shoot, a loud explosion came from their left and a tremble went through the room shocking them into momentary paralysis. Out of the recently broken wall came out monsters of all shapes and sizes. The Fraz brigade of specials broke through the wall and the one in the front, a large humanoid looking creature with horns on its head and black dripping blades on its joints like shards sticking out of a big body, stepped forwards, pointed his claw like hands at them and screamed loudly. Upon the monsters bellow the other specials around it started to run towards the humans.

“RUNN!!!” Shair shouted as he and Jon ran towards the exit not too far away. Shair started shooting the incoming monsters as he limped behind Jon who without aiming shot to his left, focusing more on running to the exit than actually hitting the Fraz. After Shair unloaded his bullets on the incoming monsters, he reloaded and shot at the ground just ahead of Jon who just emptied his own magazine. Shair didn’t explode any of the bullets he shot instead kept limping towards the exit behind Jon and shooting the incoming monsters. Jon was only a few feet away from the exit when he suddenly heard a loud explosion from behind him, knocking him forwards.

He quickly recovered and looked back to see a horrible sight which would haunt him for years to come. Far behind him, was Shair, standing over a small pile of broken oval pods, he smiled at Jon and their eyes met. They glimmered for a small while as water started to gloss over the eyes, and slowly they closed. Two long lines of blood ran down the sides of his mouth and onto his shirt, mixing with the mud and ash. A large claw belonging to the large black monstrosity had speared him through his chest and was holding him above the ground; Shair’s hand was still twitching as he held onto the claw that went through his body.

“RUN!!!” Shair shouted for one last time as his body was flung across the room skidding on the ground coming to a stop by crashing into some of the pods. Once Shair was dealt with the Fraz specials turned their attention to the figure of the other human, Jon Bellamy.

Jon was already running towards the exit a few feet away, his body pumping all the blood into his legs to carry him as fast as they could. His hands however were still moving, while he ran towards the small black entrance to another tunnel, loading the Glock-66 for another confrontation. The exit was only two meters higher than the ground, easily climbed by a soldier trained by HQ. But the Fraz were faster.

When Jon ran up the slope and grabbed onto the ledge of the exit he tried to pull himself up, but couldn’t move an inch. A searing hot pain radiated from his right leg travelling up his to knee and turning into a small ball of fire in the kneecap. Jon looked down at his knee and saw thin needle-like claws sticking out of his leg, those claws belonged to a special with large oval eyes and sharp white teeth which it displayed along with its long tongue that hung loosely to the side of its mouth. Those were the only notable features on its dark mole-filled face that Jon had time to register before his instincts kicked in and he took out his Glock-66 and fired at the creatures face. It screamed loudly as took out its claws that had stabbed Jon in the leg and fell backwards, holding his face from which white effervescence could be seen coming out. Jon pulled himself from one hand while with the other he shot all around him stopping the Fraz from catching him. The tunnel was very small and only a few short Fraz could come in there, in single file, the type of Fraz that Jon could handle on his own. He wanted to get as far away from the large black Fraz that killed Shair as he could. As soon as Jon’s bum touched the tunnel floor he used all his might to pull himself away from the horde of Fraz on the ground, but he couldn’t move.

The large Fraz that killed Shair had his claw-like hand wrapped around Jon’s bloody leg and refused to let go even when Jon shot all the remaining bullets he had in his Glock’s mag on its wrist. The bullets just hissed and created small popping sounds when he shot them, not deterring the monster in the least. Jon slowly looked at the creatures face and saw the anger, those sharp fangs protruding out of that foaming mouth, released. The creatures face was only a foot away from Jon’s when he opened his mouth and roared like an animal. He was pulled down by the creature and smashed on the ground, when he tried to get up a large foot was placed on his chest, a foot belonging to the black monster himself. Jon knew he was about to die and resolved himself for the moment his life would be taken by the ugly beast in front of him when...

*Raaaar* a loud voice suddenly erupted from far away. Some of the smaller Fraz moved away from Jon and warily looked at where the voice came from, while the big ugly just glanced over as the roars continued. The screaming and bellowing got louder and louder until the black creature removed its foot from Jon’s chest and started to walk towards the sound. Jon slowly got up, supported by his elbows, and looked around him to gather his bearing once more.

The small specials were much further away now, while the big ones were running after the special that killed Shair. Jon was momentarily safe as all the Fraz’s attention was on the newcomer.

“RAAARGH”. Jon slowly got up during the confusion brought upon the smaller regular Fraz by the large roar of the Big Black, far away. When Jon strained his eyes he could make out its figure battling a much smaller, almost human like creature in the dark. The light rays from the ceiling fortunately shone near where the two were fighting, so when they grappled against each other and the smaller one was thrown into the place where the light shone, it gave him a good look at the other thing. It had an almost perfect human stature, but the Fraz element was notable as its entire body was made of bark and tree roots or branches twisting around to give its exoskeleton. It was arguably the plainest Fraz he had ever seen, no other element other than dark wood could be seen making up its body, and its mask was a simple piece of wood cut into the shape of to fit a humans head. The only notable thing would be the overgrown roots that protruded from its head almost like spikes that merged on top to form a crown. No designs could be seen on both; its body and the mask, by the ranking order of the Fraz it should be a very weak regular but it was holding its own against the large special, defying the facts that HQ had collected over the past 10 years.

The fighting still hadn’t ended; they were both still going at it like wolves and all of the other Fraz were watching it like their lives were on the line. That gave Jon time to look for the perfect moment to run away. The plain Fraz was slowly overpowering the Big Black, dodging most of its heavy attacks and attacking soon afterwards, at the opening created afterwards. However that tactic didn’t work for long, when the smaller one came in for another attack the large special quickly twisted its body and slammed its elbow into the smaller one, sending it flying into another area where the light shone from above.

Quickly using this as an opportunity he large one tried stomping on the fallen Fraz. Jon knew that when the small one was crushed the others would be momentarily distracted, getting lost in their excitement for the death of their enemy. That would be the best moment to run, when no one would be paying attention to him, so he waited. He waited for the foot to come down, it came… but it didn’t kill the small Fraz. No. When it came down the smaller one quickly rolled to the side and stood back up again. The Big Black was not fast enough to retaliate, so it could do nothing when the plain Fraz jumped on its shoulders, using its own leg as a jumping pad and started to attack. Punch after punch came down on the creatures head while it was slamming punches into the back of the smaller one. The other smaller Fraz around Jon were acting up and screaming, yet no one tried to help. After watching the spectacle for a little while, a body fell to the ground. The black mass of flesh, oil and wood glinted in the light as another form, a wooden one stood on top, victorious.

“RAAARR” another loud voice bellowed throughout out the large cavern. It created chaos. The smaller Fraz moved backwards and started yelling and stomping as they completely immersed their attention to the creature that felled the large special. A minute or two later of a yelling competition, some of the larger Fraz started to run towards the plain creature, still standing over the big black. No one was paying any attention to the still alive human near a cave entrance. Seeing this as an opportunity Jon loaded his gun and slowly stood up to run for the exit, hoisting himself up to the ledge he got up and ran away from the Fraz fighting behind him. However, he didn’t move two steps when a wave of nausea and dizziness suddenly assaulted his mind. Leaning on the rocks of the tunnels for support he slowly moved forwards being careful not to throw up as the headache got worse.

The Fraz were still yelling outside and the conflict seemed to have escalated even more, Jon could hear the screams and screeches of the dying. He felt something hot surge up from his stomach and onto his throat; using all his willpower Jon trapped the surging vomit in his mouth to prevent himself from vomiting. The bitter and stingy taste of his vomit cleared up some of the nausea in his head giving him a second wind as he walked forwards without any guidance.

Jon was walking for a long time he could tell even in all this darkness because; the screams had faded off into a distance. Jon was holding onto the sides of the walls to keep on walking when he saw a small light flash in front of him. It was coming off from the side in a different room, the same room where voices of muffled screams could be heard from. Cautiously making his way to the flashing lights Jon stuck his head into the dark room to see what was causing all the commotion.

The room was small, meaning that there were a lot of things to occupy the space. Lining the walls were humans, dead humans, stuck by some sort of meat paste or such, their dead eyes all pointed to middle where all the action was happening. In the middle of the room was a hospital table with an electric generator next to it. The generator was connected to two wires that a Fraz was holding, speaking in tongues unknown to someone strapped on the table. Jon could only see a small part of the thing on the table, it had hair. Black hair to be exact and only humans had hairs on their body. Even the specials that ate hairy parts of the humans to mutate and grow didn’t have any hair on their body. The Fraz’s bodies couldn’t support anything not containing energy, they were all as hairless as a bald man’s head. So when Jon saw the black hair he immediately understood that this was a Fraz torturing human for information.

Jon took aim and fired three consecutive shots.

After the Fraz was shot down Jon made his way towards the man on the table to help him. The man was tied up by the straps attached to the table and he had a belt tied around his mouth. Jon first unstrapped him from the bed then moved to take off the belt, but the electrocuted man held up his hand to stop his attempts and took it off himself.

The man was wearing an old military uniform from way before the invasion even began, and had a lot of bruises on his face especially two large dark spots near his head probably where the Fraz was electrocuting him. He looked to be in his late 60’s, very old, and very skinny by the looks of how his uniform hung off on him. The man wiped his face as he got up, but limped on his left leg as soon as he tried to stand up. Jon immediately went over and supported him by the shoulder as he endured the pain that shot up from his foot. After slowly setting into his limped posture he took off Jon’s hand from his shoulder and turned towards him.

“Thank you soldier. What your name?” he coughed.

“Jon Bellamy, um, sir” Jon frowned “I’m sorry for the question but who might you be?”

“I’m General Wezzil soldier! How do you not know your own commanding officer?”

“General Wezzil, as in Wezzil Kartrim? The Swiss Chameleon?” Jon was shocked at meeting his idol at a place such as this. Jon held his country’s military in high regard for maintaining neutrality for so long even when it looked like the rest of the world was going to be consumed in flames of war.

“Yes, why do you look so surprised?”

“I thought you were dead sir, when the invasion started…all order crumbled so…”

“My god. The invasion! How long has it been since the invasion?” Despite his poor health Wezzil started shaking Jon by the shoulders.

“It’s… It’s been 14 years sir”

Wezzil pushed Jon back and grabbed the edge of the table he had been strapped to not too long ago. Wezzil’s breathing became deeper and faster while he grasped the meaning behind those words. After what seemed like only a few seconds Wezzil looked up at Jon, his eyes deadly serious.

“You didn’t come here for me Jon.” That seemed more like a statement than a question so Jon kept silent and continued to watch the man with worry. “So what is it that you came for?”

“My team and I were sent here to blow this place up General.” Jon.

“How are you going to do that? This place doesn’t have explosives.” Wezzil looked at Jon confusedly.

“This place contains lots of toxic gases which can be ignited, the Fraz…um, these monsters, seem unaffected by these gases. In this large base is a command center which controls certain electronical rooms throughout this place we are going to overload the machines in those rooms and blow this place up.”

“Well then let’s go.” Wezzil said after some thought and started to walk out of the room when Jon suddenly held onto his shoulder.

“Wouldn’t you need a gun sir?”

“Do you have an extra gun?” He asked innocently.

“Yes sir” Jon bent down to take out a small pistol from inside his sock “You can have this.” Jon gave Wezzil his Glock-66.

“Kid, I haven’t fired a gun since I was caught. My body has deteriorated down to this since then” Wezzil motioned to his thin body “and I am badly hurt. Don’t give up your best gun to someone who it would be wasted upon.”

Jon merely nodded as he gave Wezzil the small gun and got the Glock-66 in front of him to lead the way, down the dark corridor he was previously walking through. Jon kept on walking and walking, aiming down and leading the newly acquired ally to his team. Inside Jon’s mind thoughts were completely bouncing around, but one thing kept coming back, a thought. The thought of what the commander would do once she learned of Shair’s death. Jon was no idiot; he knew there was something up between Shair and the Commander from when they were attacked on the Pelican. Jon was too busy thinking to notice the figure approaching him from behind.

Although Jon was distracted the General wasn’t, he quickly caught onto the fact that they were being followed. So when the thing came close enough Wezzil turned around and shot three bullets in succession at where he thought the figure would be. Jon was oblivious to the figures presence until he heard the shots fired; he turned around and aimed at the creature that had snuck up behind them.

“Wha-” Jon’s eyes couldn’t get any bigger from shock. Standing right in front of him was him. He was bloody, with multiple injuries on his head, stomach and leg, but he was alive. He was still alive even after he lost a piece of his thigh and got impaled with a black thing. He had blood running down the side of his face, as he scowled at the man in front of him. The General scowled equally as hard, returning the favor of having a gun pointed at his face by doing the same with his smaller one. The two soldiers kept scowling at each other refusing to be the first to look away. The tension started to rise when they both pulled back their gun’s hammer and shoved the gun closer to each other’s face.

“Stop it. Both of you!” Jon couldn’t take the suspense so he stepped in. The two faced each other for a while then simultaneously looked at Jon before lowering their arms collectively. Jon was so relieved to see him alive that as soon they lowered their arms he hugged Shair.

“Your alive. Thank god. Shair.”

“You know him soldier?” Wezzil questioned Jon.

“Yes sir. Bu-but Shair, where have-what did-…How?!”

Although Jon wasn’t done asking, Shair interrupted him by pushing him aside and took out his gun to shoot down the dark corridor with his colt. He clicked his hammer and screams along with explosions erupted from down the corridor with the bullets explosion. Wezzil quickly got next to the wall where Jon was pushed to while Shair calmly walked forwards, into the fray of wooden beams that seemingly missed him entirely but almost got Wezzil.

“We got company soldier. Give ‘em hell!” Wezzil shouted at Jon as he started to fire at the Fraz down the corridor.

“Sir! Yessir!” Jon shouted as joined in the battle.