Frank's eyes slowly opened to reveal an orange beam of light. It was daytime already, and the sun was rising. Frank fully opened his eyes, and his surroundings became much clearer. He looked down at his shoulder.

  "Amelia?" he asked quietly.

  Then, suddenly a massive shockwave hit Frank and a gush of wind slapped against his body. Frank frantically stood up to see what it was. As he looked toward where the shockwave came from, he saw a huge silhouette of a mushroom cloud spanning kilometres into the sky.

  "What's happening?" a voice came from behind him.

  Frank turned around to see that Amelia was awake. Then, amidst the confusion, a blinking message popped up on Frank's visor.

  "Missiles are inbound in downtown Delghetta," Frank read.

  Then, another message popped up.

  "An order from Lieutenant Ferguson?" Frank thought.

  Then, Amelia walked up to Frank to see what the bright beam of light was all about.

  "Woah!" she said in surprise. "What's happening?!"

  Frank turned to Amelia.

  "A missile strike," Frank answered. "There are more inbound."

  A new message popped up just then.

  "All soldiers near Delghetta, be advised to keep your helmet on now and have your air filter activated," a female voice read aloud in the headphones.

  Frank turned back to Amelia who was loading her gun.

  "Further up north, right?" Amelia asked.

  "Yeah," Frank responded as he brushed off the dirt.

  "Shall we go now?" Amelia asked.

  Frank pulled the slide backwards.

  "Let's go," he commanded.

  "At least it's far from the missile strikes," Amelia spoke nervously.

  Frank and Amelia began to walk their way to their objective.

  "Why didn't one of the soldiers wake us up?" Amelia asked curiously and annoyedly.

  "We were resting in a random spot," Frank came up with a potential reason. "Maybe they just couldn't find us?"

  "But, we've got beacons attached, no?" Amelia raised more questions. "It seems so reckless of them."

  Frank scoffed internally at the idea. The Federation's soldiers, making such a mistake? Impossible! The duo made their way across the empty and ruined streets. There were giant craters now and then. Suddenly, Amelia gasped in shock. Frank turned around to see what it was.

  "Ahh!" she yelled.

  Frank ran towards her.

  "What?" he asked.

  Amelia pointed at a dead tree. Frank looked up to see.

  "Oh, lord," Frank gasped too.

  There was the dead, rotting corpse of a paratrooper stuck on the tree branches.

  "That's quite the unfortunate way to go out," Frank spoke uncomfortably.

  Amelia seemed to gag.

  "Let's go," she tried to rush. "It's better, the quicker we leave this neighbourhood."

  Frank agreed and the duo set off on their walk again. He didn't want to be a prick either by asking why she wasn't used to this despite being a field medic. The journey felt more like a morning walk than anything. They came across more ruined homes and rubble. There were also hanged civilians with the words 'Traitors' written on them in Dinen.

  "It's so eerily quiet," Frank thought. "This is just like... when I snuck out with Samantha..."

  The thought of that took Frank down memory lane. He remembered all the fun times he, Josh, Samantha, and Charlotte had back in the day.

  "I'm far from home now," Frank thought with unfathomable sorrow. "I wonder if Josh's doing fine... Heck, I wonder if Charlotte or Samantha are too."

  Frank's eyes suddenly became teary.

  "I didn't even get to be there to see my second kid," he thought with guilt, "I should've persuaded you to come with us, Charlotte."

  Amelia tapped on Frank's shoulder as he seemingly zoned out.

  "Oh, uhh, what?" Frank said with a somewhat sad tone.

  "You zoned out," Amelia told him. "What happened?"

  Frank didn't want to trauma-dump Amelia.

  "Oh, it's nothing," he avoided the question entirely.

  Amelia didn't buy that answer.

  "Frank," she said more seriously. "What's wrong?"

  Frank didn't want to answer.

  "If you need, I can get you a mental evaluation," Amelia suggested.

  She suddenly took a long piece of paper from her rucksack.

  "No," Frank denied permission. "I don't need it."

  Amelia didn't to disturb Frank so she simply stopped pushing too hard. The duo was nearly at their objective as they had made it out of the disturbing neighbourhood and were on the main highway to the capital city. There were some broken down cars, more specifically, hovercars, and some hoverbikes as well. The highway was torn up with earth and nature filling in the gaps of the erosion and craters. Amelia hopped ever so happily. She seemed to be reliving her childhood. She sang a few broken tones and some common songs. Frank loved seeing her happy. It was quite the contrast from last night's quarrel.

  "Frank!" Amelia called. "Want to join me in the dance?"

  Frank looked up at her.

  "I don't feel like it," he denied harshly.

  "Oh, come one, now!" Amelia tried to persuade. "Don't you want to escape the reality around us and just have fun?"

  Frank with a stern look under his face armour didn't reply. Then, it suddenly hit Frank. This was just like when Samantha and Frank were when they first danced together. Frank glanced at Amelia who was spinning and jumping around fanatically around the rusty hovercars. Frank shed a tear in his eye.

  Then, Amelia tripped.

  "Ouch!" she yelped.

  Frank's heart sank in worry. He ran and kneeled next to a fallen Amelia who squirmed in slight pain. Frank reached out his hand.

  "Why are you so clumsy suddenly?" he asked as he pulled Amelia up.

  "I guess I tend to get clumsy when I'm having fun?" she said with dis-assurance.

  Frank took a few steps back.

  "Is this your way of coping?" he asked out of the blue.

  Amelia looked up with a surprised look.

  "I guess so," she said whilst reaching down for her helmet.

  Frank began walking.

  "You know, I could've become a field medic like you," Frank explained. "But, the problem was that I would always be nervous whenever I had to operate. My hands start to tremble uncontrollably the moment I hold any medical equipment."

  Amelia chuckled at that.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "I used to be like that too," she added while following behind Frank. "But I got enough confidence in myself to handle it."

  The two walked whilst conversing.

  "So what else did you nearly become?" Amelia asked curiously.

  Amelia took the lead in the walk.

  "Uhh, oh, I also nearly became a pilot," Frank shared another story. "But I apparently made several mistakes during training so I ended up failing."

  "Well, that's quite the bummer," Amelia sympathised.

  "I know," Frank agreed. "It was unfortunate that fate had decided otherwise."

  Frank realised that they were entering the capital city now. There were tall skyscrapers visible. Frank decided to call Amelia to be quiet to not alert any enemies.

  "Hey," Frank hissed.

  Amelia stopped and looked back at Frank.

  "Let's walk near the sidewalks to avoid any lurking skirmishers," he suggested.

  Amelia quickly rushed to Frank who was under the shade of a small thriving tree.

  "Do we just keep walking?" she asked.

  "Yep," Frank answered bleakly. "We could stop at that building over there."

  Frank pointed to a building about a block away.

  "Okay," Amelia agreed.

  The duo began to walk again until they reached the grand building. Amelia went in without warning. Frank ran in with her too.

  "Be careful!" Frank scolded. "There could be trip mines!"

  Amelia seemed to be more interested in what was in front of her. Frank looked in awe as well. It was a museum of sorts Amelia ran to some giant machinery that was placed on top of a stand.

  "The prototype of the first hovercar," Amelia read the words written.

  Frank suddenly got interested too. Amelia left her rifle leaned on the stand and rushed to another small piece of machinery. This time, it was a music box with speakers attached.

  "A music player that the ancient colonists would use for leisure and musical artistry," Amelia read. "This was found in ancient colonial spaceship remnants around the Late Exploration Era, the 2500s. This is so cool!"

  Amelia's innate childish behaviour seemed to have taken over as she began meddling with the music player.

  "Hey," Frank tried to stop. "I don't think you should mess with historical findings—"

  Suddenly, a disc that was inserted into the music player began playing the beautiful rhythm of a modern song.

  "How does that thing still work?" Frank said in amazement.

  Amelia reached her hand out. Frank knew what she was implying. He sighed deeply and held Amelia's hand and began dancing slowly with her. It felt rather nostalgic to Frank. There were so many throwbacks to the past just dancing to the rhythm. He couldn't resist to simply dance more. He remembered when he took out Samantha to dance at a party. The loud music, the voices of the people at the party, the confetti and decorations, the touch of the love of his life, Samantha's soft blond hair, the lovely sundowner, all of it felt like a distant memory. Suddenly, the music stopped.

  "Aww," Amelia groaned. "Welp, I guess all good things must come to an end."

  Amelia said as she took out the music disc and readjusted her uniform. Frank was still mesmerized by what happened, and the whole dance felt like mere seconds to him. He wanted more, but, he knew they should get going now. Suddenly, a message popped on Frank's visor.

  "A voice call from 'Name unknown'," Frank read.

  Frank accepted it by clicking a button on his HoloCom numpad.

  "Hello?" Frank answered.

  "Is this Private Richardson?" the other person on the call asked.

  "Yes," Frank answered.

  "An order has been made for you to arrive within the marked location on your GPS or be court marshalled," the mysterious soldier explained. "So get over here or else."

  The call hung up.

  "Uh oh," Frank suddenly had a stark realization.

  Amelia stared at Frank curiously.

  "So what?" she asked.

  Frank began walking.

  "Let's get moving as fast as possible," he ordered.

  Amelia picked up her rifle and walked alongside Frank.

  "Where exactly do we have to go again?" she asked.

  Frank opened the GPS by clicking another button on the HoloCom. A map topographic map appeared inside the visor, showing the city streets and locations. There was a red dot marked on a single area. Frank clicked yet another button and closed the map.

  "It's not that far from here," he answered.

  Frank suddenly began jogging.

  "Though, if you don't want to get court marshalled," he continued. "We should probably get going!"

  Amelia joined in with Frank's jog.

  "The location is just a block down the street," Frank said to Amelia. "We mustn't waste any time now!"

  Frank said that as he began running rather than jogging. Amelia tried to catch up with Frank.

  "Hey!" she shouted in annoyance. "Wait for me!"

  The duo began running down the street. It was almost a race and the two were the only ones competing. As Frank began to sweat, he saw what appeared to be an APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) in the middle of the road and roadblocks.

  "Halt!" a soldier ordered as he aimed his rifle on top of the APC.

  Frank immediately came to a stop.

  "Friendlies or no?!" the soldier asked loudly.

  Frank saw the shoulder straps of the soldier indicating that he was a tank commander so Frank immediately stood straight, held the rifle strap with his left arm, and saluted.

  "Private Richardson, sir!" he shouted.

  The tank commander lowered his rifle.

  "Speak of the devil," he said. "Where the hell have you two been?!"

  Frank shook to the angry voice of the tank commander. Amelia finally caught up with Frank. She gasped for air.

  "Your lieutenant's been blabbering me about your disappearance!" the tank commander shouted once more. "And you... For some reason, the lieutenant hasn't filed a complaint to transfer you to your designated platoon! Or worse yet, court marshalled you!"

  Then, another soldier appeared behind the tank commander.

  "Chill out," the soldier spoke. "No need to yell your lungs out."

  The soldier walked up to the duo.

  "Look," he said. "You lieutenant's waiting inside one of the tents down this way."

  The soldier faced towards the road on his left.

  "Get going," he advised. "We don't want to hear more of your lieutenant's ramblings."

  Frank turned to walk but the soldier stopped him before he could.

  "Also," the soldier continued. "What's wrong with your body armour?"

  Frank looked down to see his crumpled and unadjusted pouches.

  "Fix your damn uniform, will 'ya?" the soldier recommended. "Why's it so dusty?"

  The soldier finally walked away. Amelia went next to Frank.

  "Let's go," she spoke.

  Frank adjusted his pouches and brushed off the dust a little more.

  "Yeah," he agreed.

  Frank and Amelia began walking down the street. There were makeshift tents inside and outside the buildings. Finally, Frank saw some familiar faces and took a right turn towards a parking lot. Soldiers were resting but most importantly, there was a large tent in the middle.

  "I'm going to refill my ammunition," Amelia said to Frank. "Okay," Frank asnwered.

  Amelia took off elsewhere. Frank continued to walk towards the tent but he was abruptly stopped by guards.

  "We can't let you see the lieutenant at the moment," one of the guards spoke.

  "I'm Private Richardson," Frank replied. "I hear the Lieutenant wanted to see me."

  The guard turned towards the other.

  "Alright," he spoke.

  The guards finally let Frank go. Frank went into the tent. It was surprisingly still early in the morning as the sun had just finally risen fully. Once inside, Frank saw the lieutenant talking to one of the other NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers), a sergeant. The lieutenant recognized Frank's arrival.

  "Private Richardson!" he shouted in awe.

  The lieutenant stood up from his chair as the other officer made way for Frank.

  "I was worried you might've died before promotion!" Lt. Ferguson exclaimed. "That would've been terrible news for me."

  Frank walked further into the tent.

  "Go sit in the chair, private," Lt. Ferguson ordered.

  Frank went to sit in a metal chair. The lieutenant turned to the other officer and signalled to leave.

  "Anyway," Lt. Ferguson spoke. "I'd like to have a conversation with you, private."

  Frank suddenly felt worried.

  "Am I going to get court marshalled?" he asked nervously.

  The lieutenant laughed without his face armour.

  "Oh, no," he reassured. "Not at all, Private Richardson."

  Frank felt much calmer after hearing that.

  "That was more of just to get you here quicker," Lt. Ferguson explained.

  "Oh, okay," Frank replied nervously.

  "So," the Lieutenant began. "I'd like to have a conversation with you about your promotion."

  Frank really liked the sound of that.

  "And also," the lieutenant continued. "I wanted to talk about your friend, Corporal Peckings."

  This piqued Frank's interest.

  "I heard he's coming back from the mission with Captain Krieger," the lieutenant added.

  [Continue writing here]