We Remain Loyal. Forever.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Cedric said to the pilot using his headphones.

"Negative, sir." The pilot replied. "We found some soldiers passed out on below. We want to check if they're still alive."

Cedric froze. What would someone be doing in a place as hot as the desert? Without water?

Immediately the helicopter landed, the door opened and three soldiers rushed towards the fallen soldiers.

There were six soldiers in total. One looked Romanian and was buffed up. The rest were of minimal build and they all looked Asian. They were a total of five men and one young woman.

The fallen soldiers all had U.S Army tags on their camouflage uniforms.

"I feel a pulse. But it's weak. What's the next line of action, sir?" One of the soldiers who came to feel the pulse of the men on the ground communicated to his superior.

"Leave them. They could be imposters. We don't know for sure." A voice replied into his satphone.

The soldier wanted to help them but he didn't have any choice but to obey his boss.

"Affirmative, sir." The soldier said and ran back into the aircraft. Cedric felt pity for the fallen soldiers. While staring at the buff Romanian-looking guy, his eyelids fell slightly open, revealing beautiful green eyes. But what the guy mouthed next shocked him.

"Help..them. Please..help..them." The buff guy said, and then his eyes slowly closed.

Before the door of the helicopter could be completely closed, Cedric jumped out and rushed towards the fallen man with a bag in his hand. The bag contained cylindrical objects that produced clinking sounds as they softly knocked together.

What actually moved Cedric was that the guy didn't actually want to save himself, but the other six soldiers. That gave him the feeling that they weren't just a squad, but more like a family, and the buff guy was the big brother of this family.

On getting to the buff guy, he opened the bag. It was revealed that it contained a steel thermos flask and a csnnister containing the Aava blood sample.

Immediately, he opened the thermos flask which contained cold water. Then he opened the cannister containing the Aava blood sample, poured a generous amount into the flask, then shook it vigorously after shutting it.

"Here. You must be parched." He said, turned the buff guy around and poured a good amount of the mix down into his throat. He did the same for the other six soldiers and luckily, it was enough.

While observing the bodies of the soldiers, their bodies that were looking dried gradually began gaining moisture and looking fresh.

Slowly, they opened their eyes. The buff guy was the first to stand, then he helped the rest of the soldiers to their feet.

"How's this possible? I feel stronger than I've ever felt." The buff guy said while flexing his muscles, his wide smile mirroring an indescribable joy on his face.

Meanwhile, the soldiers, who were watching the whole drama unfold from the helicopter, were dumbfounded the moment the fallen squad rose to their feet without a scratch on them, like they just fell asleep.

"Thank you, sir. We wouldn't have been alive without you. Thank you so much. What's your name, sir? If you don't mind telling us." The buff guy asked in gratitude.

"I don't mind actually. I'm also happy you're still alive and kicking. I'm Cedric. Cedric Alexander." Cedric replied with a wide smile.

"Thank you, Cedric-san. We remain loyal. Forever. Till none of us remains." The six Japanese soldiers bowed and chorused in Japanese. Cedric could understand the language because he stayed longer in Japan while hiding from Boris.

Cedric couldn't say anything. He just bowed slightly.

"So where were you guys headed?" Cedric asked after a minute of weird silence.

"Oh, right. We heard there's an army base few kilometers ahead. So we're gonna take refuge there." Tommy replied.

"Refuge?" Cedric asked with a confused face.

Tommy sighed. "We're a squad of about twenty-five brave men. But we're all that's left of our squad. We lost those good men in an ambush. We fought hard, but we still lost those men. We want to report to those men in that base that these desertlands aren't safe at the moment."

Cedric looked inside the helicopter and sighed. He wished he could give them a ride but there wasn't enough space to accommodate them all.

"I'm sorry. I would've loved to give you a lift but there's no space left in the chopper." Cedric said, feeling a bit sad.

"It's fine. Really. We'll go there on foot." Tommy said, while dusting the sand off his uniform.

"Okay then. See you soon." Cedric said and waved. Then he boarded the chopper and they left towards the base.

Coming back to the present, Cedric looked at the five Asian soldiers that stood alongside Tommy and he remembered their faces. Those were the soldiers whose lives he saved alongside Tommy's.

Tommy looked at his watch. "We have five minutes. Follow me." Tommy said and started walking to his office. The Alexander family and the Asians began walking towards Tommy's private suite.

Inside the suite was marvelous. There was a plush sofa for relaxation, a king size bed and even a massage chair.

There was even a space for office duties which consisted of a swivelling chair, a three-monitor computer and a big office table curved into a semi-circle around the chair.

All these were at different corners of the suite, strangely, the middle was left bare, except for an expensive looking rug on the floor.

After getting in, Mimiko, the only lady among them, locked the door and nodded to the others and Tommy.

Tommy went to his office space. On the wall behind the chair were different pictures of him. Some in a military outfit, others while at the gym, and some others at the beach or in combat.

He raised one of the pics and behind it was a fingerprint scanner. He put his hand on it and it turned green. Almost immediately, the wall began to give way like an elevator door.