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Jason sat in silence as he thought back on the final moments of his friend's life. This caused the building explosion to repeat through his mind over and over. He felt like something could have been done, but if that was true why wouldn't he be allowed to help? Eventually, Jason came to the conclusion Philip was just ready to go. This thought allowed his mind to settle some which eventually led to him being able to sleep.

"Jason wake up." He didn't recognize this voice as it shook him from his sleep.

Through his groggy eyes, Jason saw that the Osprey had landed and the pilot was trying to wake him. He slowly forced himself to sit up trying to make eye contact with the pilot who was holding out his mask. Jason took it and put it on as the pilot opened the door. What Jason saw was that they had landed at a new airbase which seemed to be intact, unlike the one where they got the Osprey.

"Seems like we have a new place to stay." Jason said exchanging looks between the pilot and the buildings outside.

"Yes, this was the best option that we had to choose from." The pilot said as he stepped down from the Osprey with his weapon drawn.

Jason followed close behind the pilot his weapon also drawn. They felt that they couldn't be too careful while still in the middle east. Jason felt surprised as he looked around just now noticing that the air was still foggy with the viral clouds. After a short walk, they entered a nearby barracks finding themselves in a room lined with tables and lockers.

"It is so strange to be in one of these buildings without them being packed full of life." Jason said lightly running his hand over the top of one table.

"Yes, but I have come to terms that this is what war has become. I know or at least think that this is a big step back from the steps taken to reduce savagery like this." The pilot sat down on a nearby chair.

The room was filled with the thick muddy brown color that was pierced by shafts of light. It cast down shadows of the lockers that sat next to windows. The site created a strong and heavy depression for the pair of them as they continued to look around. They searched around for supplies specifically filters for their masks. After about an hour they managed to find five filters and a box or two of food.

"Not a lot here for us to grab." Jason said lugging the box of food to a nearby table.

"Yeah, I couldn't really find anything in this room." The pilot said shrugging.

"So, do we want to stay here or do we try to keep moving?" Jason asked his voice thick with fear.

"We need to keep moving or else we will die here." The pilot's words felt flat as they entered the air.

The two of them sat in silence as they worked on trying to get computers to come online. It took two hours of work before the computers ejected smoke from their vents. This caused the two of them to groan in frustration before the pilot smacked the machines. With the computers failing to activate the pair exited the buildings hurrying back to their Osprey.

"Which way do we go?" Jason asked as the pilot began bringing the vehicle to life.

"I don't know. The longer we had been in the air the less the navigation had been working." The pilot started to sound more and more worried.

"I think we should keep moving straight ahead and hopefully that will lead us to the sea. If we can get to the sea then we can leave this desert." Jason tried to make his voice sound cheery in hopes to bring up the mood.

"Yes you're right." The pilot nodded as he spoke before they took off.

They took off and kept on their path moving forwards without knowing what could possibly be in their paths. The longer they had been in the air the less they could see outside of the windows. When they had hit a twenty minute flight time an alarm began to scream out. It was one that announced that the Osprey could no longer tell us where they had been going.

"Fuck." Jason cursed under his voice as he crawled into the co-pilot seat hoping he could help.

"We need to land and refuel. I am going to try to get under this thick cloud. Hopefully it will think out enough for us to see something." He looked at Jason with a smile on his face.

"That's the only option we have at this point right?" Jason said turning his focus to the outside.

As they lowered below the heavy cloud it began to thin out, but it wasn't enough to see through. It was thin enough for the navigation to come back online. This offered some hope to Jason who began to read off the coordinates of a nearby point. They landed in what they hoped would be a base, but what they found themselves in was an empty field. When they exited the Osprey they looked all around them and saw nothing. They could feel that something used to be there but now they sat in the center of nothing.

"Let's search and maybe we can find at least a gas pump." Jason said before shrugging and walking away from their aircraft.

"If you think we can find anything here we will give it a try." The pilot sounded annoyed by the idea.

"Well, we don't really have anything to lose do we?" Jason said turning around aiming the statement at the pilot.

"I guess you have a point." The words floated to Jason with a sense of exhaustion.

After walking around for ten minutes Jason tripped over a piece of metal that was sticking out of the ground. Jason had to gather his composure before getting a closer look at what he had tripped over. To his happiness it was exactly what they needed. He had found a gas pump, but now he needed to know if it had gas in it or not.