Inside the medical bay towards the south end of the base, Harlot sat in bed. The white sheets covered body and she was wore a blue gown. The sun’s bleak light, bleeding through the dull grey clouds above, came in through the window to the left of her. She felt the warm rays hit against her pale forehead. Her short black hair, straight, glimmered in the light while she looked out at the endless black sea. The waves were calm but still slammed against the side of the cliffs below.

The door opened and AJ and Sev entered the room. They walked over and stood beside her bed. AJ held in his hand a small vase with a droopy flower inside. Its stem was bent and the leaves were a pale green.

Harlot looked up at AJ and smiled.

“So this is what you look like huh?” AJ said, setting the flower vase on the wooden table next to her. “I always saw you...as a more rugged girl.”

Harlot was not something he’d imagine her to be. A girl who shot at him, and held out as long as she did with the injuries she had. She was a soft young girl, about twenty four years old.

“I didn’t think ya be the fighter ya were,” she replied. She looked at Sev. “So who is this?”

“This is my friend Sev,” AJ said. “Sev this is Harlot.”

“Hey what’s up?”

“Hello.”

AJ glanced down at her hand. It was wrapped in tight bandages that had to be cleaned every so often. A few people had came to sign it, just those who wanted to make her feel better. She didn’t know them, they were just good strangers.

“So how’s your arm?” he asked.

Harlot held her head down. Her eyes grew sad and she leaned back in bed. “The doctors said the damage in my arms were more extensive than it seemed. Most of the nerves were snapped so I’ll never be able to use my left hand ever ever again.”

“But I saw you holding onto the briefcase earlier,” AJ said.

“My hand never went limp, so even though it was dead I didn’t let go. Nothing told it too...that’s what the doctors told me anyways.”

“So what’s going to happen now?” AJ asked.

“She’ll have to pack her bags and stop being a soldier,” Sev answered. “That’s the best choice for now.”

“I don’t think I could live outside the military,” Harlot said.

“Why do you say that?” AJ asked.

“I’ve grew up in the military, joined at a young age. All I know how to do is shoot a gun and take orders from my superiors.”

Harlot grew up near the Canadian and US borders. Combat was often fierce and battles between spectres happened all the time. Like AJ she was drafted into the military at a young age. After that she never saw her mother or father or their house again. For when she returned after basic bootcamp there was nothing left her town. It was burned, destroyed, flatted into the ground by constant shelling and battle between US and Canadian forces. A young girl, sixteen, Harlot had the luxury of not experiencing first hand what had happened to her parents.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something Sev,” AJ said. “What happens when you quit the military?”

Sev shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, rarely anybody lives long enough to retires. But if the military has no more use for you...well you get thrown away.”

Harlot clenched the sheets between her fingers and gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to end her military career. It was all that she knew. She wanted to cry but her eyes were too dry from crying before, so all she did was huffed.

“I wish you never saved my life,” she muttered.

“I’m sorry about all this,” AJ said.

“Please just let me be alone.”

AJ and Sev both stepped outside into the hallway, leaving Harlot alone. AJ crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall with his head hung low. The hallways was empty with a few chairs here and there. Steam sprang from the pipes running along the ceiling, hissing and spurring water every so often. Since the medical facility was top priority, it received the most power from the base’s terrible power generator. This meant the lights overhead didn’t flicker or buzzed.

“You alright buddy?” Sev asked.

AJ shook his head. “No, I feel pretty shitty right now.”

Sev placed his hand on AJ’s shoulder. “I know how you feel man. But you need to learn that not everyone is going to have a happy ending. I learned that earlier than most.”

“Yeah.”

Sev patted him on the shoulder and walked off, leaving AJ alone to his thoughts. He glanced down at his hand, it was still twitched, trying to grabbed the handle of the sword that wasn’t there. He had to force himself not to enact his attacks. His body was so fine tuned to fighting that it still felt like it was endanger. Maybe it was because there was another spectre nearby, Sev. But he wasn’t a threat and even if he was….he still wouldn’t have been.”

AJ was taken away at eight, and turned into a spectre against his will. He never conformed to the military lifestyle; never became a hardened man they wanted him to become. But...that was just the way it was.

“AJ, I’m glad you’re here.” East said.

AJ looked up, and physically held his right arm down with his left hand. He smiled. “Hey Commander, did you get my report?”

“Yes I did,” she said. “That is the reason why I came down here. Your report and Harlots report have some inconsistencies.”

“What kind of inconsistencies?”

East looked around. “Let’s go to my office where we can talk in private.”

Inside Commander East’s office, AJ and East talked in private. East walked around her desk and sat down in her black office chair that was too big for her body. AJ stood across from her but she insisted that he sat down in one of the empty chairs. AJ wondered what kind of inconsistencies could have been present in his mission report. We he talked about it, he made sure to list every little detail. He found Harlot wounded, fought against the Russian spectre, killing her, and got the briefcase.

“AJ let me ask you something, did you ever look inside the briefcase?” East asked.

“No I never saw what was inside the briefcase,” AJ said.

“You should know full well what was inside,” East said. “In Harlot’s report, she stated you found out what was inside the briefcase. The Russian told you what was inside. Yet you left that part out and instead fabricated and alternative story.”

AJ averted his eyes away.

“Did you do it on purpose or is that really what you thought happened?” She knew the answer to the question. AJ had fabricated that part of his military report.

“A soldier shouldn’t know more than what he is told,” he said. “I fabricated that part because...you didn’t tell me about the vaccine. I figured I wasn’t suppose to know.” He eyed East and his eyes grew sharper. “I figured Harlot wasn’t suppose to know either.”

“She wasn’t suppose to know,” East said.

“Is that why you permanently damaged her arm, so she couldn’t be a soldier ever again? That way you can get rid of her without killing her?”

“My superiors wanted her out of the picture. The information she knew was too much and would have gotten her killed,” East explained. “I managed to keep her alive. Convince them she wasn’t going to be more a threat then she is now.”

“That’s why I fabricated the report,” AJ said. “I didn’t want to get in trouble by your superior and...and die.” He leaned back in his chair. “What do you really know about me?”

“Only what I’ve been told by my superior and the little bit that you’ve told me,” she answered. “I believe you’re more than what you lead on.”

AJ nodded his head along to her words. “Sometimes I wonder if we’re just corpses who forgot why they’re fighting.” His finger’s continued to twitch. “Sometimes I wonder if this is really just a free for all. Once there is only one country left...then it breaks into a civil war. Once a side wins then that breaks up into individual factions, the groups and then people. Then you have one on one combat. One person to kill the other. The last man standing kills himself and it’s...and it’s finally over.”

“You’ve talk like you’re a veteran in combat, but you’ve only been on two missions,” East said.

“Mentally I’m a veteran.” He looked over at East. “Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?”

East wanted to know what AJ meant by he was mentally a veteran. She figured it was best not ask him. He seemed on edge and she noticed his fingers were twitching under the desk. If she did asked, she would have gotten a redirected half assed answers. Instead of going to that it was better to just dismiss him.

Sev sat on the makeshift bench, something crafted by Mac. It was made of junk, scrap metal and spare parts from an old rusted tank. It was hard and felt uncomfortable and stood lopsided. He held his arms across, leaning back in it. Most of the soldiers had stayed inside. He looked up and saw the guards patrolling the high walls with their rifles strapped over their shoulder, wore black gasmask and long thick muddy trenchcoats.

“Can I sit beside you?” A cute voice asked.

Sev looked to his left and saw a girl standing next to him. “Hey what’s up Shilah?”

Shilah straightened her white sun dress and sat down next to him. Her pale skin had patches of dryness here and there and she wore scarf with a flower pattern over her head to mask her baldness. Like most, she was a soldier who had subcome to the early stages of the plague. It slowly weakened her body and had the late signs of cancer but twenty times worst. It was quick and those infected die within ten days.

Sev tried to hold up a smile but could only mustered up an emotionless one. Shilah smiled back though she knew it was fake. A smile used to mask someone’s pain.

“You know you shouldn’t really be out here. A radiation snow is going to fall soon,” Sev said.

“You shouldn’t be out here either then,” Shilah said.

“But I’m a spectre, radiation doesn’t affect me.” He stretched out his legs and leaned back.

“It doesn’t really matter much anymore,” she said. She prowled her hands over Sev’s. Her hand felt warm and soft while his felt rugged and cold. “Sometimes I wish we can do this often.”

“I wish we could too,” he replied.

“The doctors said I’ve been getting better, which is good news.”

“How good is better?”

She responded with a smile that quivered a bit.

“I get it,” Sev said. “So, ever thought about what you’ve always wanted to do?”

Six days ago, Sev had promised her he’d do one thing with her she’s always wanted to do. It didn’t matter whether or not if it was possible or not. He told her he was a spectre and could do the impossible...except fix her condition. Ever since then she had been thinking about what it is she wanted to do. A single wish, she had to make it count.

She shook her head. “No, I haven’t found out what I’ve wanted yet.” She then a snowflake fell on her head. Though it was seventy degree weather, it felt cold as ice. Soon more snowflakes began to fall from the sky. Dribbling down, slowly covering the ground. This wasn’t snow but the result of radiation. It was called Radiation snow, something highly toxic that would kill those who came into contact for too long.

“We should get inside,” Sev suggested.

“No, I want to stay outside and watch,” she said.

“But the radiation is…” He stopped talk and slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders whilst holding her hands. He guessed it didn’t matter…

...It was just the way it was.