Sara then heard the voice whispering again. “I am here… save … you…,” the voice trailed off.  Sara then felt a sharp pain in her chest.  “NOOOOO!!!” She shouted as she sat up in her bed dripping with sweat.  “Thank God! It was all a dream.” She said very softly.  “What was that all about?” She thought, bringing her hands up to her temples.  “That was way too vivid to be just a dream.” she stated out loud.  Looking over toward the computer she just noticed that the feed she was listening to had stopped and moved on to the live cast of what had now been dubbed the “California Incident.”   The news feed was covering the evacuation of civilians from the areas surrounding Pasadena, but there had been no sightings of the flame dancer since Sara’s encounter with it.  Sara tried to gather her wits about her.  “Get it together girl! We have a lot to do and little time to do it.”  she thought as she got out of bed.  

She made her way over to the computer terminal and began looking for a transport to the training grounds.  “Let’s see.  There should be a flight going sometime today.” She thought.  Skimming through the listings, she found a transport.  “Looks like this one is leaving this afternoon.  That should do just fine.  And click.”  She said out loud with a bit of relief in her voice.  As she was booking a seat, she began to wonder about exactly why they were going to the training grounds,  “What could they possibly want to take us there for?   I know it is top secret, but for the life of me I can’t think of anything that anyone could do that would make a difference versus that thing we faced.  Moreover, if I am going out for training, then what is happening to those that aren’t going?”  “Commander Norman” she whispered.  “He must be going back to the front!” She said, getting louder.  “You already know that…  and he will die…”  the female voice whispered to her out of the blue.  “WHAT?!” Sara shouted, looking around the room for someone who wasn’t there.  Sara thought to herself, “I must be losing my mind.  Maybe I should get a psych eval when I get back.  I can’t do that now though…  it might screw up my current mission if they see me getting a crazy test.”  

“More importantly, I need to eat, pack and shower before I go.”  She thought to herself as she began to get dressed in her standard, favorite BDUs.  Looking around at the clock, which read 05:45, “I still have a lot of time before I have to leave, and I can rest on the flight.  I had best start out with some PT.”  Sara thought as she finished getting dressed and started putting her boots on. She then left her room, but stopped just outside her door.  “Oh crap!” She thought, looking back at the door, but there was no citation for the mess in front of her door.  “Huh?!  I guess someone cleaned it up before the floor cleaner found it.  Must be my lucky day!  No fine to pay before I leave!”  Sara quickly made her way to the turbo lift and then to the ground floor.  As she went back down the hallway towards the garage, she noticed all the night shift office workers, half asleep and ready to go home.  With a sly grin she looked over and shouted, “GOOD MORNING!!!” as she jogged down the hallway.  Many of the workers were shocked or startled by her greeting.  They responded with a range of responses from “morning..” to “what the fuck is with you yelling at this hour?”  Sara didn’t care though.  “Serves them right!  Complaining about us being noisy while they work their cushy desk jobs.” she thought as she made her way to the door going out to the garage..

She touched her badge to the scanner and the door opened.  “SCRRREEEAAAAKKK!”  The door sounded as it opened.  Sara looked around cautiously.  “I don’t see anyone.  Thank goodness.  I really didn’t want to deal with Mason this morning.  I guess I should go see if my suit is finished, though it doesn’t really matter because I am not required to take it with me.” Sara thought.  She looked to the right, and then to the left.  “Good I don’t see or hear anyone.” she thought.  She tip-toed through the garage toward Mason’s station.  “Aww crap!” she yelped.  She saw Mason at his desk.  She then covered her mouth trying to stifle any sound that tried to escape.  It was then she realized that he was asleep at his desk with her suit hooked up to the diagnostic computer.  She sighed, “he must have really been working hard last night.  Silly goofball.” she thought with a smile.  She looked around for a moment and spotted a furniture blanket on the nearby shelves.  She picked it up and draped it over Mason’s shoulders.  “There at least he won’t be cold.” she thought.  She then quietly made her way to the exit of the garage.  There was not another soul in the garage.  

I hate the thought of being reassigned, but you know what I hate even worse?  The thought of facing that monster again.  Something that is capable of that kind of carnage is more than what I signed up for.  Maybe at least the new assignment will have some more babes in it.  Sara makes for great eye candy, but man that girl has a real stick up her ass.  She needs to loosen up, literally….

~Excerpt from Private First Class Dai Kono’s Journal Entry 121

After Sara exited the garage, she put on some earbuds, and began listening to the recent news feeds from West Pan-Am base.  “ It still doesn’t sound like anyone has found any sign of the thing yet.  Though the damage reports are off the charts.”  She thought as she began to jog toward the track, about a five minute jog from the garage.  As she jogged she couldn’t help but think about the current situation,  “It seems as though it hasn’t been spotted since our encounter.  Why, though?  If it is that strong, why not keep going?  Surely it would know we can’t stop it from whatever its goal is.”  These were just some of the thoughts going through her head.  The news feed didn’t yield any results either.  It was little more than standard evacuation chatter and protocols.  As Sara continued to run, her fatigue was starting to catch up with her.  “Man, I am really struggling with the PT today.  Maybe it would be better if I just went and got something to eat; then went back and showered?”  she thought as she was already starting to gasp for air, like she had run much farther than she actually had.  Though her thoughts said one thing; she kept going.  After about 10km of jogging Sara stopped and began walking to the commissary.  

“Time for food.” Sara thought.  “I figure I got a good hour of jogging in.” She said out loud, while letting out a big stretch.  “Feels so good.  Plus it makes the food taste better and the bath feel even better.”  She convinced herself.  “What do I want for breakfast?” She pondered.  “I guess something light would be the best bet.” She thought to herself.  “GRRRRRRR!!!”  her stomach growled loudly.  “I guess I haven’t really eaten anything since before the funeral, ha ha.  Okay, I will get an actual meal.”  She said to her stomach as if it could understand what she was saying.  “Bacon, eggs, and waffles it is!” she cheered trying to reassure her stomach.  As she entered the commissary, the smell of breakfast foods being cooked guided her directly to the breakfast line.  While waiting in line for her turn, she removed her earbuds.  Shortly after, the breakfast staff called out, “Next!”  Sara then excitedly told the lady taking the orders, “three eggs over easy, two waffles, eight pieces of bacon, two orders of hashbrowns, four pieces of sausage, a pancake, some grits, and a large orange juice please!”  The lady looked at her with a look of, "Are you really going to eat all of that?" and responded, “Your order number is 23.”   She then gave Sara a ticket.  

After a few minutes that felt like forever to Sara and her stomach; the cook called out, “Order 23!”  Sara walked up to get her order and the cook as well as several other staff members watched her walk off with the huge tray of food and began gossiping, “Is she really going to eat all that? I would hate to have to feed her every day!  Holy shit man, she is gonna turn into a porker by thirty!”  Sara of course didn’t hear any of the chatter; she was too focused on the food.  Sara made her way over to an empty table and sat down.  A familiar voice spoke from behind her, “Too good to eat with the rest of us grunts I see.”  It was Kono, motioning to a chair beside him.  Kono, Frost, and Alvarez were all sitting at the table behind her.  “Nope, was just lost in thought.  Sorry guys.” she replied with a smile.  Just then another familiar voice silenced the others by saying, “knock it off guys!”  The three heckling troopers turned back to their food and conversations.  Sara looked up to see that the voice belonged to Sergeant Haroldson, who pulled out a chair and sat down beside her.  “Mind if I sit here?” he asked  “No Sir! I don’t mind!” she replied as she snapped to her serious look  “Relax.  No one is on duty right now.” he said in a calming voice.  

“So, what’s with all the food?” Haroldson asked with a rather surprised look on his face.  “I was just super hungry since I haven’t had a chance to eat since our deployment.”  Sara replied with a mouth full of food.  “Ha ha, well I am not sure that bingeing on breakfast is gonna make up for anything missed.”  Haroldson joked as he raised his right hand to the back of his head.  “It’s not bingeing.  I am just hungry!”  Sara retorted, barely looking up from her food.  “Lord help me if she always eats like this.” Haroldson thought to himself, slowly sliding his hand from the back of his head to the base of his neck.  “I am guessing since you are up this early, you were having trouble sleeping as well?”  Haroldson then inquired, while setting a stack of papers on the table with his cup of coffee.  “No…”  Sara stopped eating for a moment and trailed off mid sentence.   Haroldson said, “you shouldn’t be worrying about that thing right now, private.  You have a completely different assignment now.”  “Yeah…” Sara replied trailing off and slowly turning back to her food.  “Oh crap!  I just sounded like I was scolding her during breakfast!”  Haroldson thought to himself.  Before he could say anything else, Sara interjected, “I can’t help it.  I feel like I shouldn’t be the one going on this special mission.  Like, I am not qualified for something this important… “ Heroldson stopped her, “Don’t think that way!  You are just as qualified as any of us for this one.  We are all assigned to testing out the new battle suits starting tomorrow.”  “Yeah, you are… she stopped, and slammed her fork to the table.  “How do you know that?!” Sara squeaked with a look of surprise on her face.   Haroldson replied, sipping his coffee, “how do you think I know?”  “Wait, we all are?” Sara asked, trying to contain her excitement.  Haroldson said yes “We ALL are”.  Sara breathed a sigh of relief thinking, “looks like our unit isn’t changing other than us getting a new commander.”  

Holy cow.  You wouldn’t believe what happened this morning.  This female private came in this morning.   It was like she was training for the Coney Island competition this summer.  I have never seen anyone on base eat so much in one sitting.  I mean I have seen some big guys go through the line, but this was on a whole nother level.  Even scarier, she looked like she wanted to come back for more.  At least, that was the rumor…

~Excerpt from Private Third Class Selma Einhardt’s Journal Entry 782

The realization finally hit her about what the sergeant had just said.  “We are testing new battle suits?!” Sara questioned, trying to contain her excitement.  “Yep!” Haroldson replied, with his coffee in one hand and a paper he was pretending to read in the other.  “It seems as though they have been lab tested quite extensively, but now they are wanting to move them to field testing.” He continued on, still pretending to read the paper, acting like it was no big deal.  “So you knew, and you didn’t tell us?” Sara said, still trying to hide her excitement.  “Well. I wasn’t trying to hide it per se.  I didn’t find out until I read the orders that the commander gave us.”  He replied.  “It looks like these may one day replace our current suits.” he continued on, placing down the paper in his hand and picking up another.  Sara responded, sitting back down in her chair and slowly reaching for her silverware, “No wonder there were no orders to bring our suits.  Have you let the others know yet?”  “No, you are the first person I have talked to this morning; so  maybe keep it under wraps until the tech department tells everyone.”  Haroldson replied, as nonchalant as he could be realizing he may have given her a bit more information than he was allowed to.  Sara returned to eating her food and said, “I can’t wait to try these new bad boys out.”  “Yeah, apparently, ole Barion doesn’t like losing multiple commanders in one day.  So, it seems these suits are getting the go ahead.”  Haroldson jested, trying to make light of the situation.  Sara, still eating her food and ignoring the fact that she was already full, said “yeah, I don’t think anyone likes losing their high brass.”  She then excitedly said, “but I still can’t wait to see what these bad boys can do!”  The two continued their conversation as Sara finished all the food on her plate.  Unbeknownst to Sara, she had gathered quite the audience by eating all that food.  Several troopers had even placed bets on whether she would finish it all or not.  

Sara took her plate over to the dishroom window then left for her room.  “Oh man, I ate WAY too much.”  Sara thought, feeling rather sick from all the food she had eaten.  Kono, looking over at Frost and Alvarez. said, “told ya she would eat it all.  Pay up!”  Sara slowly and gingerly made her way up to her room thinking, “I just need to lay down for a bit.  I still have a few hours to rest it off.”  Sara set an alarm on her wrist computer terminal.  She then laid down on her bed, the news feed from the morning still playing where she had forgotten to turn it off on the way out.  Listening to the feed as she lay in bed trying not to vomit, she came to the conclusion,  “Apparently, the flame dancer still hasn’t been found, but at least it doesn’t sound like it has attacked either.”