A few months have passed since the 'Battle of Zeou Tri-Fortress'', Frank was now 26, but he didn't get to celebrate his birthday at all except for Amelia who gave him a new watch. Amelia would now be transferred to a different platoon. Frank didn't mind though, he thought it was best for her. Although Amelia certainly did mind about it. Perhaps there was something Frank didn't understand about Amelia. Something more on the inside than out.

"Bye Amelia!, Frank yelled as Amelia left to join her regiment.

"Best wishes!"

The worst part about this was that he didn't even see her face. Meanwhile Frank felt terrible for Jerry and Eric. They were court marshalled and sent to the backlines for reeducation.

"They thought they were doing the right thing!", Frank thought.

"It wasn't their fault!"

Frank was still salty about that.

If only the high command knew what it was like, the dangers of the unsurvivable death pit that was the Zeou Rainforest. Most of the Quadaric soldiers involved in the battle had been permanently scarred by the dangers of nature. Most of the soldiers were taken off from the frontlines to be placed in psyche wards to be reeducated and reevaluated. They suffered from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). The weirdest part about the whole thing to Frank was how most of them turned religious, turning towards the Zeouan gods for repentance. Frank didn't feel regretful about the war crimes he committed as he didn't even think they were war crimes! Although the Zeouan warriors with their guerilla warfare, and hit-and-run tactics still haunted Frank, having nightmares about them ever since. The eerily darkness of the rainforest, the unfathomably terrifying sounds at night, and the unknowing horrors that lay ahead of them. It terrified Frank and every other Quadaric soldier who had fought against the Zeouan warriors. Their religion even converted some of the Quadaric troops to believe in the Zeouan gods. The psychological warfare the Zeouan warriors had used had taken full effect later on.

Since the Zeouan theatre was pretty much dealt with already, the '100th Zeou Light Infantry Company' had disbanded. The Quadaric soldiers were desperate to join another unit as they didn't want their financial funds to be cut. It was a cycle that the Q.A.F had created, forcing the soldiers to always be in battle, fighting for eternity. The soldiers were quickly recruited by another unit that was far away from them. The '240th Sha'ri Heavy Armoured Infantry Brigade' was given a major order to set up an outpost near a bridge across a large body of water. It was a couple hundred kilometres away from the 'Zeou Rainforest'. It was a tactical manoeuvre by the higher-ups. Defending it would mean they could push an offensive through the enemy lines successfully breaking the stalemate and giving more opportunities to attack important positions. So Colonel Seri Alberton the commanding officer of the brigade, ordered his unit of 5000 men to set out towards the southeast and build an outpost there. The soldiers had travelled by transport vehicles, ships, and aircraft. They crossed all forms of biomes from muddy trenchlines to rainforests. They got to see all sorts of strange and amazing wildlife. So the entire journey was a much nicer and relaxing experience, to say the least. And now they were going to the desert. This could have possibly been the best world tour anyone could have had. Their journey there went well for the most part. They travelled there by a transport ship. They didn't get sunk by torpedoes of enemy submarines or underwater mines. Although some got seasickness from it. It all went well... except for the final part of the journey. A couple of days later in a nice countryside, the rough terrain of the road which was muddy and full of water made the trip unbearably bumpy. Tons of tanks got stuck in the mud time and time again, slowing the journey significantly. However, the constant worry of an ambush or a bombing run or even landmines grew ever so slightly as the convoy of trucks moved onwards, despite the existence of tanks in the convoy. Some hours passed, and they still hadn't arrived at the location of the objective. Most of the infantry had fallen asleep surprisingly quickly since the constant bumping of the rocks would normally annoy anyone asleep and wouldn't even allow them to sleep. Frank stayed up keeping his eyes out for any enemies. The beautiful scenery of the grass fields and the mountain ranges awestruck Frank. It was panoramic and scenic. He was lost in a gaze at the unparalleled sight contrasting from the awful no man's land that was the battlefields and the horrid tundra that was Umbarken and the helpless death pit that was Zeou Rainforest. He was impressed by nature. He considered deserting his company right then and there for a moment but he decided not to as he didn't want to be seen as a coward. He was also still traumatised from the horrible living conditions of the frontlines. Some minutes later, they had to refuel the trucks so they stopped near a river of some sort. Some of the soldiers spent some time walking around. Not doing much of anything. Just getting to move around a bit. The locals there were quite nice people. They offered the soldiers shelter, food, and even entertainment. Frank hopped off of the tank, the mud splashing up his legs. He learned from this rookie mistake and remembered to never do that again. He looked around at the small village. It was calm and relaxing. The vibrant colours, the chirping of the birds, and the smell of flowers. It felt amazing but Frank felt sad that these poor town folks were in the midst of war, caught right in between, in the crossfire. There was clear deterioration. The village had been bombed just the night before so the local villagers were quite paranoid of another attack. Another problem they had was a shortage of food. Food supply had been cut off as the fighting got closer. There were a ton of wild animals to hunt in the forest but they were getting wiped out and were now endangered. Food was scarce for them yet, they offered a lot of food for the '240th Sha'ri Heavy Armoured Infantry Brigade'. Frank felt thankful for it. He hoped the best for them. They were living in poverty too. The grass brushed Frank's boots as he walked around. The wind blew softly against his helmet. He decided to take off his helmet and take a breather away from the crowded town full of Quadaric soldiers. He stood at a cliff overseeing a forest. It was yet breathtaking. Frank took his camera out and took a picture. He couldn't use his phone as they weren't allowed in the Q.A.F for some reason. Although, most likely for privacy. Then, he took a bite out of a sweet candy-like bread. It tasted surprisingly good. Well, for Frank anything other than MREs was good. He took a few more bites until he completely ate the bread. It seemed to be a traditional food of this village. Frank was now curious. He wanted to know the history of this village but first, he needed to know the name. He looked everywhere for any sort of clue as to what the name of the village might be but he came empty-handed. Then, a miracle happened. One of the local villagers spoke Dinen. Frank was glad. The man introduced himself as Irvict.

"So what's the name of this village?", Frank asked Irvict.

"Our village is called Briseville.", Irvict answered after struggling for some time.

"How do you spell it?", Frank asked curiously.

"B-R-I-S-E-V-I-L-L-E.", Irvict slowly spelled.

"Got it. Thanks.", Frank appreciated.

They went on to have a conversation for an hour straight talking about the village and the meaning of life. Back at the village, Frank was happy after his conversation with Irvict as he got some interesting insight and even the history of the village. What Frank didn't know was there had been a celebration happening without him so when Frank went to the village centre and saw many drunken Quadaric soldiers, he was confused. So confused he almost reported the whole thing to a discipline officer which would've gotten their entire company to forcibly disband and that wouldn't end all too well. Then, Frank finally remembered about Col. Alberton. He searched for him throughout the village and found him sitting inside a tent they had set up. Frank warned him about seriously dangerous drinking by the rest of their company.

"Unless they are causing a ruckus, it should be fine for the most part," Col. Alberton answered.

"If they did then that would complicate things but let them have their time for now."

Frank thought about that. It would complicate things if the soldiers started causing a fuss and it was a risk that personally, Frank wasn't willing to take so he advised Col. Alberton that it wouldn't be none the wiser to order the soldiers not to make too much of a scene. But then again, he didn't want any discipline officers in their unit. That would be the end of him. He relayed the order to the rest of the soldiers, perpetuating the order until all of them knew of it. At night, the platoon went to sleep in the tents, the houses with women, and on the roads, knocked out drunk. In the morning, the trucks were refuelled by Quadaric-Storage-Transport-Aircrafts(Q.S.T.A), their arrival scaring the life out of the villagers as they thought they were being invaded. And thus it was time to leave. The locals waved goodbyes to the soldiers wishing them luck on the battlefield. Frank himself was given a doll as a gift by a small girl. It was a handicraft. Frank accepted it as a souvenir and promised to never lose it. He hopped back on one of the trucks near the front. Col. Alberton gave a briefing and handed them augmented uniforms suited for a desert. They would have to wear lighter and looser clothes than what they've been wearing now. Once the soldiers were ready, they got back onto the transport vehicles. Then, they set off to the infamous 'Agnes River', as the nervous anticipation had turned the name into some sort of trend. The beautiful grassland slowly turned into a screeching hot desert wasteland of sand as they travelled. No signs of water whatsoever. Dead grass all around. Cracks in the sandy ground. It was going to be a whole other challenge to survive in this one. The 'Zeou Rainforest' was unbelievably hot but the Sha'ri Desert was BURNINGLY hot. There were supposedly tribes of ruthless mass killers across the desert so the entire company was on edge the whole time travelling but this was most likely than not just propaganda and not true in the slightest. No one with low gear and equipment could survive in the desert. The Sha'rian word Sha'ri roughly translates to Desert Home in English. Although Frank didn't speak English. He spoke Dinen. A language of the "perfect citizens" which was not true. It originated from Dinach, a loyal nation of Quadaria. However, that information had been lost to time and covered with nonsensical false historical information made up by the I.F.Q.S to further propagate their ideology to the mass populace.

A couple of minutes passed, and then they arrived. The Agnes River was humongously wide. The bridge to the other side was over a couple dozen miles long. The '240th Sha'ri Heavy Armoured Infantry Brigade' got off the trucks, parked them under the shade of some large Sha'ri trees, and started to set up a camp and build an outpost. It was quite some hard work. The outpost started getting built in the early morning and wasn't even finished being built until it was the screeching hot afternoon. Frank was exhausted so he went to rest below a tree during the midday as he wanted to have some fresh air. The terrain had turned from a wonderful flourishing forest town to a completely barren desert wasteland where the outpost was meant to be set up near. It was a miracle no one had had a stroke yet. Frank looked up at the beaming sun. It was a nightmare guarding there. Now they just had to defend that position until the other divisions were ready for an attack. The outpost looked more like a border inspection than an actual outpost. It was positioned to the right of the bridge and was quite far from it. The thing was that it was not in safe territory meaning enemies could very well just flank their defences. It was up to the other companies to defend the flanks. The bridge itself was the most important part of the whole operation. The point of holding the bridge was for psychological warfare purposes. The Q.A.F ordered a small force the D[s]TC(Desert[s] Trooper Corps) or more specifically the '526th Armored Infantry Desert Corps' to push across the river to take over the entire desert. This would later become a problem in the future though.

A few weeks passed, and a major issue appeared, the water supply was getting scarily low. This was very much not good. They would all die if the water ran out. So Lt. Ferguson realising the danger, called for the resupply of water rations. They would have to wait another day for the water resupply drop ships to arrive. Frank went to his usual resting spot, under a large tree on some hills quite far from the outpost. He missed his family. He looked at a photo of his wife, Samantha and his two kids, Franklin Jr. and Samuel. Franklin Jr. is named after Frank and Samuel is named after Samantha's father. He felt bad that his youngest son was going to turn 2 years old and he wouldn't even be there to celebrate his birthday. He didn't even properly see the baby. A tear dripped down his face falling onto the hot sand and evaporating. Frank hated having to leave his family. He wanted to be with them. He wanted to spend time with his kids. It was quite painful for Frank not knowing what kind of financial problems his family was in and being unable to help. He received emails from Jerry and Eric through the TeleCom device. They said that they got back into the Q.A.F. Frank was happy for them. Then, he started to wonder, why couldn't his family just email him through the TeleCom device. The obvious answer was morale and they couldn't let soldiers talk to their families while on the frontlines and also for propagation reasons. Frank thought this was stupid and that any soldier should allowed to email their families back at home. Thinking about Eric and Jerry made him sick of himself at the fact that he killed innocent civilians and led an entire squad of young recruited soldiers to their deaths. It still haunted him. He couldn't get rid of the thought. The recruits obliged blindly to his orders. Too much power was given into his hands. He stopped to think about what he's been doing in his life. He hadn't got a job in his twenties and joining the Q.A.F was the best option for him. He thought about Samantha again. They had met while in college and had been great friends and started dating when they both dropped out and ran away from their parents to a different planet where they had trouble fitting in. They suffered for their stupidity and ultimately it paid off. They were having a wonderful time abroad. He rested his head against the tree trunk, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

A few days after the water supply shortage incident, the higher-ups decided to change their plans for the survival of their troops. They decided to hand the soldiers water purification machines. This would allow them to stay a lot longer without having to resupply on water. On the day they arrived at the outpost, the soldiers were confused about how to use it. Frank took a look at a manual. It detailed how to use the machine to how the machine worked. He was the only one who successfully managed to understand the instructions for the machine. The water purifier looked like it was made from scraps. Built with rudimentary materials. But it was very much approved by health organizations and was perfectly fine to use. The machine was rectangular and had a metal frame built around it. It seems that this new water purifying machine was intended to be cheap to manufacture. Frank set the machine up as the instructions told. Once set up, he could see that there were 2 sections, the unpurified section at the bottom where the dirty water would go and the purified section at the top where the purified water would end up. Frank looked at the manual.

Once you've set up the machine, go to a nearby water source and dip the machine at least halfway through. Then, activate the machine by pressing the activation button.

It was confusing to Frank, to say the least. He had never even seen or heard of the machine before so he assumed it was a new invention, a prototype perhaps. But anyhow, Frank did as the manual told. He dipped the machine at least halfway through into the river and activated the activation button and voila! It was working! The unpurified water that was getting sucked into the machine was slowly being purified. It took a few minutes until it was full and the water was ready to drink. Frank got his cup out and looked at the instruction manual again. The next part read,

Now that you've gotten your water purified, get the top section out. To do that unlock the section from the latches that are attached to the frame. Once you've gotten it off the latches, pull the section out. Then, get a cup and place it below the tap. It should be located right below the centre of the section. It is a white circle that could be opened. Then, open the tap.

Frank did what the instruction manual told him to do again. In the last part, he got his trusty Q.A.F cup, made from high-quality state-of-the-art materials, and placed it right at the tap. Then, he opened the tap and water came pouring out. He quickly closed the tap but not before it lost a lot of water. Frank drank a sip from the cup. It tasted just like normal water. Frank didn't know what he expected. But at least he got to drink water. He then decided to help out the other soldiers back at the outpost. All of a sudden, all the soldiers were taking water from the river. Frank was glad he could help them out. The soldiers cheered on as they now have water practically forever.

The next day, Frank got a message through the TeleCom device from Amelia.

'Hi, Frank! It's been a while and I haven't messaged you so here's an update of me!', It read.

Frank scrolled down further.

'So I've been selected to join the '760th Armored Division', the one with Capt. Krieger!'

This caught his interest.

"Captain Krieger's division? Wait... Josh!", he suddenly remembered.

Frank immediately started typing on the keypad of the TeleCom device. He wanted to ask desperately about Josh's whereabouts. Once he finished typing, he sent the message to Amelia by pressing the send button on the screen. He waited a few minutes. A couple more minutes. Amelia still didn't respond. Frank was frustrated now. He wanted to know about Josh so badly yet he always gets unlucky. He decided to move on and do something else. Near the outpost, convoys of Quadaric trucks drove by some being fuel trucks while others were transporting materials. Frank was told that there was a mining extraction happening and that soon enough, there would be train tracks built so transportation would be much easier. Frank didn't know of this before. There weren't any briefings on it either. It seems that this was yet another recklessness of the higher-ups not informing the ground troops. Frank thought about Lt. Ferguson again. It was weird for him to continue his life knowing that he had witnessed the death of his commanding officer.

In the evening, Frank decided to sit under the tree again. On a small hill in the desert, sat down and pondered out at the flat sand desert. The sun was setting. It was getting dark so Frank couldn't stay there for long. He sighed and looked into the distance. The dead brown trees. The heat of the desert was scorching. The heat distorted the air. Frank saw people in the distance. He couldn't differentiate whether they were a mirage so he decided to call them out. The travellers did not respond. He sprinted towards them to check if they were a mirage. As he looked closer he could see his wife Samantha! Suddenly overfilled with joy he yelled out.

"Samantha! Is that you?!"

He had been sprinting for what seemed like hours. Yet, he didn't feel tired in the slightest. As he ran faster and faster, Samantha seemed further and further away. But he couldn't let go. He must get to Samantha. He will get to her.

"Samantha!", he cried out, his eyes starting to tear up.

"Samantha!"

"SAMANTHA!!!"

Frank only ran faster and faster as he yelled louder and louder until he finally stopped running took a moment to breathe and dropped to his knees, feeling devastated. That was when he realised that it was a mirage and that he'd been hallucinating. He snapped himself back to his senses. And... oh no! He had travelled so far away that he couldn't tell where he came from! Luckily for him, his footprints stayed on the sand so he could follow them back to the outpost. He walked and walked and walked and walked on and on for eternity. Frank suddenly felt thirsty so he tried to search for a nearby water source. He was out of his mind as a water source wouldn't be in the middle of a desert. He was dehydrated. He wasn't thinking properly. He couldn't think properly. He searched and searched. Crossing dead grass and strange cacti. He was on the verge of collapse. His body couldn't take it any longer. His body slowed down. He envisioned himself with his family again. He cried and whined as tears came pouring out. He wanted to live longer but he knew he was going to die.

"This is the end of me.", he thought.

"I'm going to die like this."

Then, he realised something weird. He saw his resting spot below the giant tree. It was then that it hit Frank. He had hallucinated in a hallucination! Two other soldiers came to the sand hill to warn him to get back to the outpost. They had been messaging him through the TeleCom device but he didn't respond so they were going to check up on Frank. Meanwhile, Frank was dumbfounded by what he had been doing. He looked at the ground and saw footprints going in a circle. He finally realised that he'd been sprinting in circles. He felt stupid for not realising sooner. He saw the 2 soldiers walking up to him.

"Soldiers! What's going on with you!", one of them spoke.

Frank was thinking of an answer, his head was fuzzy with many thoughts swirling in his mind.

"We've been trying to contact you for the past 15 minutes!"

"Soldier!", the second soldier asked.

Frank didn't respond. He wanted to but his mouth wasn't moving the way he wanted it to. He started feeling dizzier and dizzier. And then, he passed out from exhaustion and dehydration. The last thing he saw was the birds soaring above him.

A few hours later, Frank woke up. He saw that he was in a tent.

"Oh, you're awake", a voice spoke.

Frank turned his head to his left and saw a soldier standing.

"What happened?", Frank asked.

"Well, to keep it frank with you(No pun intended), you've been hallucinating and sprinting in circles.", the man responded.

Frank had gotten his answer. His head still hurt so he couldn't think much of anything. He felt miserable. He couldn't come up with an answer as the more he thought, the stronger the pain in his head got. At last, he decided to sleep to keep the pain away and not think about anything. The doctors were confused as to what was happening with Frank. Everything they asked him, he just stared and didn't answer. They were starting to suspect that he might be clinically insane.

"He's mad!", one of the doctors in the tent spoke.

Frank could hear all this happening but he chose not to think too much.

"Yeah... that's it. I'm just thinking too much!", Frank thought.

Just then, a sharp pain in his head hurt him. He couldn't think too much... How coincidental. It took him days to recover. It was a miracle he stayed not thinking for so long. He was also lucky as one of the more professional doctors came to examine him and concluded that he had Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI). This was most likely from all the injuries that Frank had experienced in the past. It all built up until this point. One day, Frank woke up as usual and realised that his brain didn't hurt anymore. He cried in joy, scaring the doctors as he suddenly jolted up from his medical bed and started laughing maniacally. The doctors examined him to make sure one last time. They gave Frank pills to take every morning. Frank couldn't remember much of what had happened as he literally couldn't think at all during the days prior. He wondered how the doctors took care of him all this time. He didn't want to think too much about it though. This time not because of his brain injury. Instead because of his own decision. He walked out to eat breakfast. The soldiers stared at him in surprise. Frank didn't realise the seriousness of his health as the number of times he couldn't think properly had permanently scarred him and numbed his brain to not think as normally as other people. He was happy all the time. Even though they were at war. None of it mattered to Frank. He had become a new man! He would do his duty as a soldier properly this time. However, in the following days, he would get incredibly sick due to getting a temperature(Or fever, whatever you want to call it). His time in the desert was infuriatingly unfortunate.

The next day, Frank woke up from his slumber and went out of his sleeping tent to wash his face and brush his teeth. After that, he went to the dining table to eat his breakfast. The other soldiers of the company were awake too. He went to the chef to ask for his breakfast. He was yelled at and told to eat his MREs instead. Frank found the chef to be extraordinarily rude. Besides that though, he took his MREs out and prepared them to be ready. He waited and waited until they were finally ready. He took a bite out of the biscuits first, to begin with. Then he ate the rest of his new morning meal. After finishing it all, he walked to his resting spot but on his way there, he was briefly halted by a soldier.

"It's your turn to patrol today.", the soldier commanded.

Frank finally remembered this and walked off into the distance to start patrolling. On his way, he took one of the pills the doctors had given him. He took his Q.A.F water bottle out to help swallow the pill. Once he'd taken the pill, he immediately felt lightheaded but after a while, it went away. As Frank patrolled, he started to ponder about his personal feelings.

"Have I fallen in love with Amelia?", he thought.

"No, I can't have!"

He tried his best to shake off and forget what he had just said in his mind but it lingered. Then, something crossed Frank's mind.