Chapter 5

8:00 AM

It has been a usual day for me for the past several weeks. After the mission where I had become trapped in a cave with a subordinate of mine the entire platoon was disbanded. I got a huge scolding and was stripped of my title as a commander for having another death and I heard that everyone had gone back home and resigned. Only four people decided to stay, but with no commander and so few people, they were transferred and placed into another platoon.

Kim also arrived about two weeks ago from his trip along with that hag and after she found out about the incident she tortured me for days and left me wishing I was dead. It seemed like everything was back to a normal schedule for me.

I assume that Kim Is either working out as usual or playing that dumb video game he keeps pestering me to play with.

Getting dressed into a casual t-shirt and some sweatpants I head over to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast.

Yawning and still groggy from the morning, I approach two girls in the hallway who seemed to casually be talking when they notice me.

The girl on the right with a bob-cut hair blushes and stutters.

"Hh-Hi!"

"Hello"

I move to the side to pass them when she looks at me and says loudly

"I saw you on tv, I thought you looked pretty cool"

"Thank you. Have a good morning"

Trying to end the conversation before it even starts, I turn away. It's Wednesday and that means that crispy bacon, cinnamon/french toast, and Brenda's Famous Waffle pancakes is on the menu. I'd feel more awake after eating anyways.

Passing the gym I look through the window to see if he's in there.

Looking around I spot him on one of the machines working out his left arm with all the plates on the machine being pulled. Sweat poured down from his face as he easily lifted the stack of weights.

I open the door and walk up to him.

"Ho ho look at you BIG boy, trying to even out your muscles so that your right arm doesn't show that you ma-"

"Shut the fuck up! Why are you here?"

Kim stares up at me with an annoyed expression.

"Relax just wanna know if you want something from the cafeteria"

"Get me a milkshake"

"Ight Princess"

Kim huffs and continues to work out as I walk out the door.

Turning a corner and nearing the cafeteria I notice that people are lined outside.

Damn it I should've just went straight into the cafe. It's Wednesday. It's always packed on Wednesday.

Waiting in line, I looked around the cafeteria and despite it being fairly huge with many seats and tables it seemed like they were all taken. Doesn't really matter to me. I don't usually eat in the cafe anyways since it's pretty noisy and you gotta shout to even get a word in. Besides, Kim said he wanted a milkshake so I'll drop it off to him and eat somewhere else.

I take a tray and get some utensils. Seeing the row of food in front of me my tongue starts to salivate from the smell of bacon in the air.

"Good morning Ren, what would you like?"

"Good Morning Brenda, Can I get some of those waffle pancakes of yours? Oh and a Vanilla Milkshake as well"

"Sure thing sweetie"

"Oi Charlie! Get the young man a vanilla milkshake!"

I smiled. Brenda is as sweet as ever. Not only was this middle-age lady always nice, she makes the meanest Waffles you'll ever taste. I swear she should just start a waffle business. She'd make millions.

Making my way down the row I place almost anything I see onto my plates. I had a gourmet breakfast in the palm of my hands.

At the end I pull out my ID card and place it in front of the machine.

"Here's your milkshake sir"

"Thanks"

I put my card back inside my pocket and was about to walk off when I get pushed from behind suddenly.

I whipped my head around and was about to tell the person to watch it when the sound of plates breaking resound loudly even through the noise filled room.

CRASH*

Suddenly the room was as quiet as a mouse. Heads turned from all directions in the cafeteria. I look at the person behind me.

It was a girl slightly shorter than me with rich white hair that fell slightly below her shoulders. She continued to look down onto the floor where the pile of mess was created.

Hearing a snicker I look over her shoulder and see a group of three girls with smiles on their faces with the middle girl having a smug look on her face. Judging from their uniforms and hers it seemed like the lower units seemed to have some infighting.

Whispers resounded through the cafeteria momentarily before the chatter resumed making it just as noisy as when I entered.

The girl bends down and is about to pick up the food and glass when one of the servers comes out with a broom.

"It's alright I got it"

I tap the girl's shoulders.

She turns around and looks at me. Her amber eyes sparkled from the surrounding lights.

Wait a minute. Isn't this that girl that was in the platoon I commanded?

Oi shit! Pretend you don't know her. Maybe she doesn't remember about the incompetent leader that got the platoon disbanded!

I made a straight face and looked her in the eye, controlling my nervousness.

"Don't know if you like this stuff, but beats waiting in the line again right?"

I stretch out my arms and hand the tray over to her. She doesn't say anything and continues to stare at me.

Shit! Please don't remember. Please don't remember.

"Oh but i'm gonna be taking those waffles though"

I reach out and grab the stack of waffles in paper wrapping only leaving behind one. She continued to stare at my face with a poker expression without saying a single word.

.

"Not sure if you've had one before, but I'd kill to get my hands on Brenda's famous waffle recipe"

I beam a smile at her and then turn around towards the other exit from the cafeteria.

Taking a bite into the waffles in my hand I walk towards the direction of the gym and breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully her poker expression means that she doesn't remember me at all. Since she got transferred to another platoon maybe she's having it much rougher there. I remember the days of being in the infantry. Honestly it wasn't bad, but It wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows either. An image of scrubbing the toilet with a toothbrush came to mind. You definitely encountered more assholes at the bottom of the chain than at the top.

"Well I'm stupid!" I breath out

I completely forgot that Kim asked for a milkshake. Should I head back and ask for the milkshake? No that's dumb I should've grabbed it when I took the waffles as well.

I scratch my head in frustration.

Maybe I should get Kim one of those protein drinks from the vending machine since he worked out. What was it called again vitamin something. Hopefully he won't be too mad at me.

Approaching a vending machine I pull out my ID and stare at it.

The image of my face when I first joined the army was plastered on the left side of the card. Since I couldn't be bothered to try to get a new picture they just placed my old picture when I got my new card

REN VINCENT

SEX: M

DATE OF BIRTH: 12 10 2X38

ID NUMBER:049267940

OCCUPATION: Commanding Soldier

I press the card onto the machine and type in a number.

CLANG*

Bending down I take the drink and start towards my destination.

"M'lady I hope you don't mind, but I think I brought the wrong order"

I sarcastically yell out loud so that Kim would know I arrived.

It seems that he finished his workout a while ago as he rested on one of the benches in the middle of the room. A towel hung over his neck and he wore an expression that meant what did I expect.

"You're joking right."

"Something happened at the café, I brought you some waffles though"

I tease him and hand him the waffle and drink. He reluctantly takes the food and then bites down leaving some crumbs to fall onto the floor.

"So what happened at the café" he asked

"Nothing much. Seems like a group of girls from the Infantry were outing this girl and made her drop her food. So I gave my tray to her and I forgot to take the milkshake"

"Huh. Was she cute though?"

Kim leaned closer to me with a smug look on his face. The crumbs on the side of his mouth made him look goofy.

An image of her face appeared in my mind. Her hair matched her pretty coloured eyes and her perky nose and small soft lips actually made her cute now that I think about it.

"She's alright" I let out.

He continued to stare at me with eyes squinted as if he didn't believe me. He then turned back towards his phone.

"Oh Ren that reminds me, Daphne came by just as you left"

An image of a dark long haired girl with a fiery expression with gloves, boots, and a whip came into my mind.

"What does that witch of a commander want from us this time" I express with contempt

"Nothing actually. She said to come get you as well so that she can debrief us. She looked more annoyed than usual"

"Wait, why?"

Kim shrugged and then took another bite into the already half eaten waffle. He then scrolled through his phone and then brought it up to my face.

"Dunno, but read this report"

I looked at the contents on his phone. Using my finger to scroll through the report I skimmed through most of it, but judging from the descriptions layed out I figured out what the article was trying to say.

"There's a Guardian Echo near one of the banks of the forest of Everglade. What's it doing so far out from one of the meteorites?"

"Beats me. If I recall there's going to be a infantry platoon going to take out a nest in the forest in three days as well"

"Are you serious!"

"They'll be fine, this one was sighted at least 100km from where they'll be taking on the mission."

I look away and get lost in thought for a moment.

A Guardian Echo. It's piercing gaze and distinct disfigured mouth that resembled a praying mantis made me slightly shiver. Not to mention its size, tough metal hide and claws that made it more dangerous than a regular Echo. They even stood upright on two legs and used arms instead unlike the quadruped Echos.

Even though I've managed to kill a couple of Guardian Echos, the thought of fighting one of these god awful creatures as an infantry would lead me to shitting myself. It was only by pure luck that me and Kim even survived that massacre when it appeared in our platoon back when we were in the infantry.

Almost as if he understood my thoughts, Kim stood up and slapped my back which brought me back to reality.

"Come on let's see what that witch wants from us"

Nearing the captains quarters we knock on one the doors. A silver plated name hung just above the door.

Daphne Taylor

"Come in"

The voice echoed from behind the doorway. Opening the door, Kim and I enter the room. The lights were turned off and candles were spread around the room. Fancy furniture decorated the room giving off a fantasy horror vibe.

"Looks like both of you are present now"

Her face frowned downwards into the scowl that made the shadows under her eyes look more sinister. I swear she keeps the lights off with those candles to look like a villain.

"Why'd you call us so early in the morning? It's not even past noon yet" Kim questioned.

"In the coming days you two will be relieved of your duties from me and will be put into new positions"

"What for" I ask

Scowling, she looks down at the papers on her desk and reads a letter of report.

"Commander Taylor, I'd like to request two units in your platoon to be repositioned into another team. Please inform Ren Vincent and Dong Geun Kim that a week from now they will meet at my office at noon to meet the other members in the team and discuss further instructions. -signed Laura Phan"

She drops the paper and looks back up at us.

"I don't know what that Admiral wants, but that is all. You are dismissed"

Daphne continued to give us the stink eye as we walked out of her office before she returned back to her paperwork.

"Whoa the Admiral called for us that's never happened before, Ren you think we're getting promoted?"

"Don't really care, I'm just happy to get away from that she-devil"

Laura Phan. Despite being in the army for two years now I've never really met the highest chain of command even with my achievements. I only ever saw her from far away as she yelled loudly into a microphone giving a motivational speech. I only knew that she was apparently incredibly smart in warfare and the one who created battle tactics for more crucial missions.

"Since it doesn't seem like we have any orders, we've got time to kill. Ren come play 'Rock Invaders' with me"

"No man I don't wanna play that stupid game"

" You didn't even get me the milkshake, the least you can do is play a game or two"

Kim clasped his hands together and pretended to pout with puppy eyes while staring at me. I huff out a breath of air in exasperation before reluctantly agreeing. He shot his fists in the air and made a small victory dance before excitedly grinning towards me. I swear this guy acts like a little kid, but I couldn't help but smile back and follow him into the lounge.

~

"How do you throw a combo again?"

I kept fiddling with the controller in my hand as Kim tried to explain the different set of moves, guns, and tactics of the game. Looking back at the screen was a guy in first person perspective shooting guns at an alien.

"So you press this, this, and that and then your able to hit them with one of the combo moves"

He mashed some buttons together and his player was able to easily take out one of the alien bosses while the other one came towards my player and killed me in one shot. Yelling out in frustration, I put the controller down.

"Why do you even play this game, you kill aliens in real life. What's the difference!"

Kim's player dodges an attack from the alien and then shoots before coming in close to deal a critical blow.

LEVEL CLEAR*

"The difference is that my life isn't in mortal danger. You can seriously learn a thing or two from it"

"Yeah yeah, I'm gonna head out okay"

"Alright peace"

Kim turns his head back to the screen and continues to go on a rampage on smaller minions.

The rest of the day was uneventful after the café incident and debrief from the commander. I continued to train in a private room, grabbed food, talked with some people that knew who I was, and scrolled through my phone. By then it was night and I had dinner. Finishing my meal I decided to take a small break before going into the gardens to relax.

Sitting in the garden I thought back to what Kim showed me on his phone. A Guardian Echo appeared in one of our missions in the infantry. It slaughtered half of us in minutes and went on a rampage throwing debris and rocks everywhere leaving others injured or dead. I was in the front and was sliced on the side by one of its claws. Kim was able to deflect a fatal injury by shooting it in one of its weak spots causing it to reel back before it sliced me in half. As it continued to slaughter other people in our squad, Kim was able to pick me up and carry me to a nearby cave and stop the bleeding. That particular Guardian Echo was an anomaly though since it seemed to be drawn to blood. Sooner or later the beast came crawling into the tunnel.

"I apologize if I'm, interrupting you"

I quickly turn my head around in a bit of shock. How come I didn't sense anything? Sure I may have been distracted with my thoughts, but I should have noticed if someone was approaching. Looking back towards the direction of the voice, the moonlight shone brightly and illuminated the garden below. My eyes focus on the figure beside the trees.

It was the girl from the cafeteria.