The voice behind them was deep, and the most American accent Black had ever heard. They spun around to see a man Black could only describe as looking like he came straight out of an action movie: tall, broad-shouldered, and crew cut brown hair. He held out his hands, making it clear he meant no harm, but on his back, Black could see an M16 with a suppressor sticking out.

“Who are you?” Shaw asked.

“Captain Preston Banks, US Special Forces,” the man answered, stepping forward to join the group. As he walked past, Black noticed that Banks had no patches on his uniform. No American flag, or the patch of the task force.

“I may ask you the same question,” Banks said.

“I’m Lieutenant Henry Shaw,” he answered as he stood up. “This is Sergeant Black, Sergeant Hughes, and Corporal Kelly.”

Banks nodded. “A pleasure to meet you all. Although I wish it could be under better circumstances.”

“Agreed,” Shaw said. “Now did I mishear you, or did you say that you have a plan of sorts?” he asked.

“Indeed I did, I need to get to Lykos.”

Everyone stared at him wide-eyed. “Why in God’s name would you want to willingly go to the mainland of Pithoria?” Black asked.

“Long story short, I got separated from my team when all of this started, and I need to get back to them. Why they’re on Lykos in the first place is classified information, but I assure you, if you help me get to Lykos, it’ll take us one step closer to getting off this rock and going home,” Banks explained.

Everyone all looked at each other, expecting the other to come up with something to say. Finally, Shaw spoke up. “Excuse us for one moment.”

Banks dipped his head. “Of course.”

Shaw gestured for the squad to circle up. “I think we should help him,” he whispered.

“Are you nuts?” Black asked. “We’d be going right into the lion’s den. It’s suicide.”

“What other choice do we have?” Hughes asked. “We’ve been waiting around doing nothing for almost a week. NATO would’ve at least sent something by now.”

“But there’s a lot more sensible courses of action than this,” Black protested.

“To me, it sounds like he’s already made up his mind,” Shaw said, glancing at Banks. “We can’t just let him do this alone.”

“I think it’s worth a shot,” Kelly said. “If we can even try to do something to get out of here, we need to give it a shot.”

Black sighed. “Fine, let’s do it.

“Alright Captain, we’re in,” Shaw said, turning back to face him.

“Fantastic. Now I don’t suppose any of you know how to fly a helicopter?” Banks asked.

Shaw shook his head. “Sergeant Corrik was usually the one who flew us around, but he’s probably dead now.”

“Then I guess we’re doing this the old fashioned way,” Banks said.

“Wait a minute,” Kelly said. “Askotiri,”

“What do you mean? What’s in Askotiri?” Banks asked.

“Potentially our ride out of here,” Kelly answered.

Shaw nodded as he pieced together what Kelly was talking about. “Just before this started, we were getting sent to help a squad unload some supplies by boat at Askotiri. If the boat’s still there, we can use it to get out of here,” Shaw explained.

“And it’s not that far off either,” Black added. “Only about a klick or two to the north.”

“Perfect,” Banks said, beaming. “We’ll need to come up with a plan.”

“Do you have anything in mind?” Shaw asked.

“Actually I do. We’ll need to split up into two teams. You and Black are one team, and I would take Hughes and Kelly to be the other team.”

Shaw nodded along. “Go on.”

“My team would come at the town from the Northeast, creating a distraction, and an opportunity for you and Black to sneak through the town from the Southeast and secure the boat and get everything ready. Once you let us know that everything’s ready, we’ll push through the town, and meet you at the boat where we’ll get the hell out of here and off to Lykos.”

Hughes nodded. “Seems simple enough.”

“When are we leaving?” Black asked.

“We’ll strike tomorrow. That way everyone has a chance to gear up and rest up. Make sure you’re ready. If you want to get some sleep, now’s the chance to do it.”

“I’ll take that chance,” Black said, already starting to lie down. “Wake me up when you need me.” And with that, he tried his best to get as much sleep as he could. Because he knew that he was going to need to be as sharp as possible tomorrow.