The sun hovered just above the ocean, which reflected its warm orange glow across the waves. Echo squad parked the truck inside an old villa, the walls surrounding it were beaten and broken and the building itself was covered in vines. Everyone grabbed a few crates they took from the outpost, except for Shaw, who was busy keeping pressure on his wound. They all set them down inside the cave, making the closest thing to a proper armory that they could. Hughes helped Shaw lie down with his back against the cave wall.

“So what do we do now?” Kelly asked.

Shaw winced as he adjusted himself, sitting up a bit more. “We stay here and lie low. No point in putting ourselves in any further danger than we need to.”

“We’ve got MRE’s and clean water, that’s all we need,” Hughes added.

Shaw nodded. “We’ll just wait here until reinforcements arrive, then we’ll try to make contact with them.”

“But what if they don’t come?” Black asked.

“They will,” Shaw insisted. “They’ve got to.”

“A retaliation would mean more Zelorian occupation,” Black said. “There’s no way Parliament would support it.”

“We don’t even have the money for it anyways,” Kelly added.

“Maybe not, but the yanks almost certainly will,” Shaw said.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“They’ve been looking forward to this for ages,” Hughes said. “They wouldn’t miss an opportunity to stick it to the Zelorians.”

“Precisely,” Shaw said. “Now let’s get some shut-eye. I’ll take the first watch.”

Black yawned and lay down on the hard, rocky cave floor, resting his head on his crossed arms. “Wake me up when it’s my shift.”

With that, the cave fell silent. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours. Eventually the sun disappeared behind the ocean horizon, but Black found himself unable to sleep. His heart pounded in his chest as the day’s intensity finally reached him as he realized the fact that he could have died, or been in Shaw’s position. Black shifted on the hard, jagged ground, moving his weight off a sharp rock that dug into his hip.

“Can’t sleep?” Shaw asked.

Black sighed and sat up. “Do you wonder why we’re doing all this?” He asked as he sat down next to Shaw.

Shaw took off his helmet and produced a small picture of himself, a woman, and a small child. “I’m fighting so I can see them again. So I can hold Jackson in my arms again, and get lost in Adriana’s eyes for hours.”

“But I don’t have any of that. I’ve got nobody, so why am I fighting? To get redeployed to another far away country?”

“You’re fighting because guys like Corrik, Stevenson, Sherman, and Randolph, aren’t gonna get to go home. You’re fighting because if the Zelorians are left unchecked, they’ll turn more countries into puppets, and innocent people will suffer because of it.” Shaw looked Black in the eyes. “You’re fighting because it’s right,” he said.

“But what if we lose?” Black asked.

“If we lose,” Shaw echoed, “then at least we died fighting for something.” He patted Black on the shoulder. “Now I’m gonna get some sleep. I believe you’re up for watch duty.”

Black nodded and stood up, facing the entrance to the cave. In his peripheral vision he saw Shaw situate himself into a more comfortable position. Black looked out at the ocean. The sunlight that once reflected off the water was replaced by moonlight, sending a beam of white light across the waves.