“BEEP BEEP BEEP!” Sara’s alarm rang out loud.  “Oh crap! I must have fallen asleep.  I need to get packed if I am going to make the transport!”  Sara thought as she began packing her things for the trip into one bag.  “I never did go by and get my battle suit.” she remembered.  “Surely, Mason will bring it by when he is done working on it.  Or maybe I should go by and check on it.  Afterall, he won’t have a key to put it in my room.  Nah, he can just put it in the storage locker down in the garage like he does with other suits.”  She thought as she hurriedly crammed her clothes that she had pulled out earlier in her bag.  “Computer, turn off the news feed, shut off the lights, and lock the door after I leave.”  Sara stated, slinging her pack over one shoulder before putting the other arm through the strap.  “Affirmative.” the computer replied.  Sara then checked that she had her sidearm and that it was loaded.  “Click click” the gun sounded as she wracked the slide.  She then placed her knife scabbard on the side of her calf and strapped it to her leg.  “Okay, bag’s packed… Check!  Side arms …. Check!  Spare ammo… Check! Transport Ticket … Check!” She thought through her check list as she felt around the pockets of her bag. Putting her badge around her neck, she walked out of her room and waited to make sure that everything was locked.  Once satisfied, she made her way down to the landing pad where the transport was loading up.  

Once Sara arrived at the landing platform; she headed straight for the boarding line.  As she got in the boarding line, she saw Sergeant Heroldson in the line a few places ahead of her.  She shouted, waving her hand in the air, “HEY SERG!!”  Heroldson turned around surprised to hear Sara calling to him.  “Hey!  You going up early as well?”  he replied, trying to keep his normal business face on.  “Yeah, I prefer not cutting it close.”  She said, putting her hand down by her side and fumbling for her ticket.  “I am sure there will be plenty who will wait till the last second to leave.” Heroldson said, getting his next statement cut short.  “Next!” the boarding crew called.  Heroldson stepped forward and gave the crew his bags and ticket.  His bags were sent through the scanner, as was his ticket.  Sara knew she was going to be up soon; so she began going over everything in her bag in her mind.  She was making extra sure that she didn’t have anything she wasn’t supposed to, and more importantly to her, everything she had on her mental list that she needed.  

It was right then that she noticed the person in front of her.  He was a young man; carrying an all-to-familiar case.  “That is a battlesuit case.” Sara thought, recognizing it instantly.  “I guess he is a new recruit.  Hard to believe that just a few months ago that was me.  Moreover, that is the same style of battlesuit I was issued.   I just hope that he isn’t going to be thrown into the same grinder I was directly out of boot.”  she thought with a sigh.  She watched as the boy checked in for his flight.  “If there is one going to the training grounds; then, there must be a whole class going.” she continued on thinking.  “Next!” the boarding crew called.  Sara stepped forward and  handed them her bag and ticket.  “You don’t have your suit?” the attendant questioned.  “All trainees are required to bring their suits private.”  the boarding attendant stated.  Caught off guard by the comment, Sara immediately raised both her hands up in front of her and said, “I am not a recruit!  I am on orders to go to the training grounds!” Not realizing how her response sounded.  “Oh..  she must have gotten some serious demerits if they are bringing her back for more training.”  one of the boarding crew whispered to another.  “I am not a delinquent!" Sara thought, keeping her mouth shut as the boarding crew outranked her.  “Can I go now, sir?” she asked in her business voice.  The comments kept going back and forth between the boarding crew members.  Once cleared, Sara began boarding the transport.  

“I can’t believe they think I am going back for retraining!.  I know I am new, but geez!” she thought, punching the pillow in her chair.  “What did that pillow ever do to you, private?” a voice beside her said.  Sara looked over at the seat next to her.  It was Haroldson.  “Oh!  I am terribly sorry Serg!”  she replied, snapping to attention.  “At ease. Geez!  We aren’t on duty, little miss seriousness.’ Haroldson stated.  “You are right…  So, it looks like we are going to be travel neighbors.” Sara said as her voice trailed off.  “Heck yeah, we are!  How could I ever get so lucky!”  Haroldson thought to himself  “So are you all excited about this?” he asked in his usual calm tone.  Sara nodded in approval. Haroldson, leaning back in his seat, continued, “Tomorrow we will begin training with the new battlesuits.  We will meet at 0400. We will only really get one day to learn the basics on base, and then we are going out to the live range to do simulated combat drills for the following week.  During which time we will be led by our new commander, whoever that may be.” Haroldson said, putting his hands behind his head as if he were going to sleep during the trip.  Sara leaned towards him and asked, “So who is going to be the commander of this new group?”  Haroldson pulled his hands down and replied, “Honestly, I don’t know.  The only thing I know about the new commander is one of the best.  Supposedly, he scored in the top two percent or higher in every area of the officer’s training exam and the physical exam.”  “Holy crap!” Sara thought, trying to hide the look of surprise on her face.  “Yeah, that is what I thought as well.” Haroldson stated.  “I guess this means he can kick us grunts’ asses if we make him mad.  That and he is supposed to be super strict.  Other than that, I don’t know anything about him. Between you and me though, he sounds like a real ball buster; if you know what I mean.”  Haroldson whispered, leaning over towards Sara.  Sara nodded in agreement.  

Before Sara knew it, the transport had taken off.  “I am fortunate to have someone to talk to during the trip.” Sara thought while listening to Haroldson go on about the mission.  Sara thought to herself, “No wonder Haroldson knew so much about what was going on. He was one of the Sergeants selected.  It would only make sense that they would get more information than us grunts.”  Sara couldn’t help but wonder, “Why didn’t they send Commander Norman with us?  I mean I am sure he is more fit than this new guy to be our commander.  Afterall, he has seen a lot more combat?  Am I right?”  “So… Why Is Commander Norman not coming as well?”  Sara finally got the nerve to ask.  “He never told me the particulars, but I do know he is going back out on assignment.” Haroldson replied, his face giving only the slightest indication that he was not happy about the situation.  “I swear I don’t think that Norman is even human sometimes, and this new guy is supposed to be more qualified?” Sara thought.  Haroldson said, “ He is very much human, he is just scared of showing any weakness.”  Sara looked surprised at Haroldson and said, “what are you some kind of mind reader?''  Haroldson continued on, “No, but your face still shows exactly what is on your mind.   Norman is simply trying to be the ideal soldier.  I honestly think that he is rather upset about being moved to unit 37, and even more so that he was passed up for commander of unit 38.  The 38th has been his baby since it was formed, however, many years ago.  He was already on his way to sergeant when I joined up.  All of us in the 38th looked up to him and said that man will make commander someday.  That’s what we all wanted to believe at any rate.  Also, I can guarantee that he doesn’t want you to see how hurt he is at the loss of Commander Voss.  Norman was always close to the commander.”  Sara replied with silence “......”  “I never knew….” she said, finally managing to muster the words.   

After a few hours, the transport arrived at its destination.  “I ended up talking to the sergeant the entire flight.  So much for getting some rest on the flight.” Sara thought.  “So, wanna catch a bite to eat?” Haroldson asked.   Sara replied, “After this morning, I think I will have to pass.”  Haroldson laughed, “thank goodness, I seriously thought you were gonna explode this morning.”  “Yeah, I may have gotten a little carried away this morning.”  Sara said.  “Well rest up, lass.  0400 comes awfully early.”  Haroldson stated.  “I definitely will.” Sara replied. “In fact, sleep is about the only thing I can think about right now…”  Sara thought to herself.  Sara finished the disembarking procedure and collected her bag.

I really was worried about Sara this morning.  She ate enough to kill a horse.  Apparently, that is not the norm; thank God.  Dinner was a bust, but at least I will get more chances to do stuff with her over the next few weeks.  

~Excerpt from Sergeant Todd Keith Haroldson’s Journal Entry 2

Sara went up to her room, which was almost the exact same layout as her barracks quarters, only smaller.  She set her bag down, and laid on the bed.   She closed her eyes and thought, “I am going to sleep clear till tomorrow morning.”   Despite being overly tired, Sara couldn’t sleep.  “I can’t get this feeling of failure out of my mind.  It feels like we did something wrong during our deployment.”  Sara thought.  “Computer, turn on the Barion-Midley radio news feed.”  Sara said out loud.  The computer responded, “Activating news feed.”  The worldwide news began to play.  Wherever the flame dancer had gone; it seemed no one was going to find it.  Sara kept listening to the radio hoping to fall asleep, but sleep wasn’t coming.  There were several reports of very minor ghosts all over the world, but there were no casualties from the reports.  Evacuations were still underway in California.  It seems that the entire southern half of the state had begun evacuations.  “It is hard to believe as good as the news sounds that there is a flesh devouring monster out there lurking and waiting for us.”  Sara thought as she stared at the ceiling.  

It was then that Sara heard the female voice whisper to her again, “You know where it is.”  “No, I don’t.”  Sara replied.  The voice continued on to say, “You know what it is after.  You know everything there is …”  Sara screamed, “Who are you!”  “You don’t know?” the voice replied.   “How could I know!  I have never seen you before!”  Sara retorted to the voice.  Just then flames burst around her, engulfing the bed and the room.  “Sara screamed in pain, “AAAAYYYYYAAAA!!”  The flames were burning the flesh off of her body.  The air had become suffocating with the smoke.  Sara could feel herself struggling to breathe.  It was then that she sat up in bed screaming.  “Oh my God!”  Sara started feeling her body all over and thought ,”It was just a dream.   I don’t even remember falling asleep.”  She looked around the room and everything was the same as when she had originally laid on the bed.  The news feed was still going.  “It was that same voice, and another nightmare…” Sara thought as she placed her hand on her head.  She was soaking wet with sweat from the dream.  Sara looked over at the clock, and it read 2351.   She laid her head back on the pillow and thought, “I guess I should try to sleep until my alarm goes off.  Lord only knows how long we will be training tomorrow.”  It was just then that her shoulder knotted up in spasms.  “Ummph!”  Sara winced.  I must have really done more of a number on my shoulder than I realized.