AJ lied in his bed covered by a thin sheet. He stared up at the cracked ceiling, looking at the ceiling fan spin. Every so often a water would leak from the crack and hit the cold hard floor in the middle of his room. It felt cramped without any windows. Nothing to let in natural light. The occasional rumbling echoing through the walls made it hard for him to relax, but he managed.

He wasn’t allowed outside his room and he didn’t have any form of entertainment. All he could do was wonder why he was even in the military. How did he become a spectre? It was simple really. He was born with the ability to use hitek. When the military found out they quickly took him from his home and trained him as a soldier since birth. But he was never great. The military life never hardened him. Sure he was able to fight better than most but he was still constantly doubting himself and fell victim to authority.

He yawned and tossed towards the wall. The muddy colors were dull and depressing. Infact this room use to just larger than most janitorial closet. That was until the East had it turned into his room. A cramped room with just a bed and dresser. It felt more like a prison to him than an actually room. Well, the soldiers living in the barracks didn’t have it any better than he did.

Memories of how him and Sev first met began to dawn in his mind. He remember it like it was just yesterday. He was fresh from the academy when they sent him here. That was eight months ago. Worried, alone and frightened, he had heard stories of how this is the most miserable base ever. Things seemed unbearable until he met Sev. A guy who just came up to him and told him to hang out together.

He wasn’t sure if it was Sev manly personality or a upbeat look on life, but something geared him towards Sev and every since then they’ve done everything together. Walk together, worked out together, ate together. But today was the first time him and Sev fought together, bled together.

He remembered it in all great detail. The morning was dark and damp. The rain fell from the sky and pelted the ground around them. It was a wall of rain too thick to fully see through. Sev and AJ were moving into a village in the midst of being burned down from a proxy battle between the United States and China. The chinese military had begun killing civilians, innocent civilians who had done nothing but live.

The village sat engulfed in flames that roared high. Screamed from the burning people echoed through the rain like an ominous noise. That didn’t stop Sev and AJ from running into the fray. AJ wasn’t prepared for this kind of experience, he wasn’t. But he tried his best to pretend it was a normal simulation.

Down the single road, he saw soldiers as they dragged the women from their burning homes whilst forcing the men to stay inside and die. It was no mystery what the soldiers were going to do.

“Hey you bastards!” Sev shouted. He raised up his katana and glared them down with eyes fueled by fire.

The soldiers looked up, shouting something in chinese. They pointed their gun and pulled the trigger. The barrage of bullets exploded from the barrel at Sev and AJ.

Sev stepped in front of AJ and began cutting the bullets down. He slashed his sword in all directions. Sparks flew out when the bullets smashed against his sword. His speed was quick but he wasn’t able to deflect all the shots. He had to use his hitek to cast a shield around him that did some of the deflecting.

The metal bullets would smash against his shield, tearing itself apart and causing a ripple like effect around him.

AJ gripped his sword tight and ran in. He dragged his sword through the mud, it was a bulk, a slab of metal crafted by the military to focus his hitek power. Once in range, AJ his sword up. The blade tore the first poor bastard in half. A clean cut.

The other soldiers staggered back, trying to reload their weapons. Some of them dropped their magazines in the mud.

AJ gave them no time to reload. He dashed towards them. With his sword, he slashed his way through the fools. His attacks too quick, the blood wasn’t able to stick to the steel blade.

Behind them, he stood tall and sheathed his sword. He heard multiple bodies fall, smacking against the mud. When he heard the final body fall he turned around. Sev looked at him and gave him a thumbs up for his effort.

“Nice job!” he shouted.

“Thanks man!” AJ shouted back.

Their smiles soon faded away into the distance when they heard the women crying for their husbands and children who burned away in the homes. Tears rolled down their cheeks as they gagged and cough on their screams. Balled up they held their heads against the ground. Pounding away at it.

Sev wondered how badly the media would spur this. They’d say something along the lines of, American women lost everything to the yellow demons. He wasn’t sure what else to think about. He looked over at AJ who was just staring at the fire. His body frozen. He wasn’t sure if AJ was afraid or if something else was the matter.

He spoke into his wrist communicator. “Commander we’re going to need a clean up crew. We managed to defeat the chinese but...the damage was already done.”

That was most of what AJ remember. He tossed around in his bed for a bit before looking up at the ceiling. Water still leaked from the cracks. He started to wonder if the barracks were worst than this.

There a was a knock at the door. He lifted up and planted his feet on the cold floor. They flinched a bit. He walked over to the door and pressed a button on the side. The door slid open and he saw a East standing there.

“Hello commander.” AJ saluted the woman.

“May I come in?” she asked.

“Um, sure but it’s a little cramped,” he said.

“That’s alright, we can make it work,” she replied.

He stepped to the side and allowed East to walk in. He kept the door open but she insisted he closed it.

After a bit of settling, East stood with her back leaned against the wall. She took out a pack of cigarettes, a green camel, and placed one in her mouth. She tucked the rest away and began trying to light the cigarette with a dull lighter. She cupped her hand around it and flicked the lighter. It would flash a bit but the dull lighter was almost out of gas.

“Hey AJ, do you mind?”

AJ placed his index finger at the tip of the cigarette. His finger quickly combusted and lit the it with ease. East took a deep hit, inhaling the smoke into her lung before exhaling it out.

Without any ventilation, the room quickly grew smoggy. AJ wasn’t a smoker and soon caught himself coughing. East didn’t seem to care all too much about that though.

“So what did you want commander?” AJ asked, trying to hold back his coughs.

East didn’t say a word. She just stared blankly at the floor between her feet and AJ’s. A young woman, East was only twenty six years old. In this day in age she’d be considered an old woman while AJ would be considered a middle aged man. People tend to grow up faster when you’re most likely to die from pollution, plague or from getting caught between combat between soldiers.

“Um Hey commander, are you there?”

East shook her head and caught herself daydreaming. She looked up at AJ but didn’t smile or frown. “Sorry, I was just lost in thought.”

“Oh what were you thinking about?” AJ asked.

“...It’s...It’s nothing important now,” she said, shaking her hand. “What I came here for it to talk about you.”

“About me?”

“Yeah, tell me a bit about yourself. I’ve been ass deep in papers I’ve found out I never got a chance to talk to you.” She took another hit from her cigarette. “One on one that is.”

“Well didn’t you get my files?” AJ asked. “I’m sure they’re all there as plain as day.”

“Those files don’t tell me anything about you...personally that is. I want you to tell me about yourself.”

“I’m sorry but I’m not following along. When I first met you and ever since then, you’ve seen so busy. Why would you want to come and waste time by getting to know me?”

East started to cough of the smoke inside her lungs. The effect of having smoke a pack every day for two years straight. She gestured that she was alright and stood up tall.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “The reason I want to get to know you better is because I’m your commander. I should know everything about those who I lead.”

AJ wasn’t sure how to answer. He lived a simple life. He was drafted into the military at eight because he was able to use hitek and became a spectre at seventeen. There wasn’t much to tell her other than that.

“Well...there isn’t much about me you can know. I’ve always lived the military lifestyle though my officers never said I was able to conform to it. I don’t know much about my family since I haven’t talked to them in years.”

“You haven’t talked to your family in years?” East asked.

AJ shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I was taken away by the military at a young age.”

“Do you ever think about them?” East asked.

“Sometimes I do but lately...lately I’ve forgotten their faces. I’m not even sure what my mother looks like anymore.” AJ leaned up against the door. “So do you have any family?”

East tapped her cigarette against the wall, knocking the excess ash onto the floor before taking another hit. “Not anymore. Lost them a long time ago.”

“...War?”

“...Plague.”

East dropped her half finished cigarette on the floor and smashed it with the toes of her boot. “Hey AJ, you think you can handle yourself on a solo mission?”

“Is that why you wanted to talk to me?” AJ asked.

“No, I genuinely wanted to get to know you. But getting to know you some, I see you’re a decent person.”

“Why don’t you get Sev to do it?”

“Can’t, he’s in the brig. If I let him out I’ll just be going easy on him. Since you haven’t managed to piss me off I thought you’d be suited for this one.”

AJ smiled. “Alright, what do you need me to do?”

“A convoy containing all the things we need was suppose to arrive yesterday: weapons, food, armor...water. But it hasn’t arrived yet.”

“So you want me to go out and see what happened to it?”

“We know what happened to it. It was attacked by a Russian Spectre. The Russians took all the supplies but didn’t get their hands on what it truly carried.”

AJ cocked an eyebrow. “What did it carry?”

“Something that’ll allow us to repair our water treatment facility. I need you to go out and get this thing for us. Do it and will have clean drinking water and won’t have to rely on outside sources for aid.”

AJ nodded his head. “Sure, but what is the thing?”

“You’ll know it when you see it.”