“Oh no. Not this again.” said Jack nervously as he recognized an all too familiar scenario. He was walking down into pitch-blackness, with nothing to grab onto.

  He fashioned himself a handgun as he walked on. Suddenly, he heard a low growl echoing all around him. He looked around to find the source of the sound, holding his gun at eye level to quickly shoot anything that appeared. Then, he felt something wet under his feet. He had an unsettling feeling of what he had stepped on. He bent down and touched the liquid. It had a thick consistency and had a familiar smell. With shivers running down his spine, Jack stood up and braced himself, his gun still at eye level. Then, a crimson light filled the scene, and he saw two burnt bodies lying in the pool of blood that seemed to stretch forever all around him.

  He approached the corpses and lifted the head of one of them. To his horror, he saw the facial features of his mother stuck on the burnt corpse’s head like a mask. He scurried back a few steps, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Then,it appeared, two gleaming red eyes, a dark furry face with a shade of crimson from the lighting around them, baring its Fangs. It was the monster that killed his parents. Jack aimed at the beast’s eyes and opened fire. But the bullets flew past its face as if he was firing at a holographic projection. It then opened its mouth and spewed fire at Jack, which woke him up in a dark room. Jack breathed heavily and looked around in panic. He saw Simon, asleep on his bed on the right side of the room. The dim light from the holographic clock, which read 3 a.m., reflected on Jack's family portrait and the locket that Billy had given him. Jack calmed his breathing and wiped the sweat from his face.

  “Damn.” Sighed Jack.

  He got out of his bed and left the room quietly, to avoid waking Simon up. He approached the elevator and pressed the top floor. The early morning wind blew on his face as Jack opened the Terrace door. He sat down by a water tank and gazed up at the sky. There were almost countless stars in the night sky as there was no light pollution. As Jack gazed at the sky, he contemplated the number of times he has had the same nightmare. He spent an hour on the roof before going back to his room.

  Every day, at 5 am sharp, the cadets would wake up to do their routine morning exercises and running for an hour and a half, after which, they would head for their breakfast. At 7:30 am sharp, their lessons would start. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, they would have parkour lessons with their parkour instructor, Lieutenant Martin. He was as strict as he was playful in his teachings.

  “You’ve gotta tuck in more, McCallister. The more you tuck in the more you’ll spin and the more likely you will land on your feet than your head.” Said Lieutenant Martin as Clarence tried to perform a summersault.

  “Man. Still can’t get it right.” Said Clarence in a frustrated tone.

  “It’s only been 3 lessons since you guys started. You can’t expect to get quick results. So take it slow and steady. Practice diligently, and you will get it.” Said lieutenant.

  “wohooo!!! Yeah!!! Who knew performing a summersault would be fun?” exclaimed Kyle as he performed one summersault after another.

  “Hey, guys! Check out my Gainer*.” Said Amelia as she performed the move.

  “Nice one.” Said Elena.

  “That’s nothing compared to my move.” Said William haughtily as he watched them.

  “Why don’t you show us your awesome moves then?” said Matthew.

  “Heh. Mackey. Come here.” Said William.

  “What? You need Mackey to help ya spin?” asked Kyle mockingly.

  “Just you watch.” Replied William.

  William stood in front of Mackey, who had one knee placed in front. William ran up to him, jumped onto Mackey’s knee, and tried to perform a backflip, only to land flat on his belly. Everyone laughed as William groaned in pain.

  “Wow! Nice move there, William. I think its called ‘the human pancake’.” Said Kyle mockingly, at which the laughter increased.

  “That’s what you get when you don’t pay enough attention to instructions kid. Sit him down for a while. ” Said Lieutenant Martin.

  Mackey walked William to the side and sat him down, while the rest of the cadets resumed their exercises.

  The next lesson was live combat training. The cadets were sent into a square-shaped arena in their squads to face monsters captured by the facility. Cadets were to face these monsters alongside their squadmates and sometimes with other squad members to develop teamwork amongst each other. Jack and his squad were first in line for the training. They lined up in front of the arena walls as their trainer, Lieutenant Fowler, gave them their instructions.

  “Ok, squad 2. What we’ve got behind this wall, is a group of one of the weakest species of X-Beasts and that can be taken down by a single soldier. But groups of these are very annoying to deal with. Your job is to incapacitate all the X-Beasts in there. Each one you incapacitate will be chained so that you can deal with the rest of the group. They key is teamwork. So coordinate with your team members and be aware of your surroundings. That goes more for you knights and the tanks.” Said, Lieutenant Fowler.

  “Sir! Yes, Sir!” replied Squad 2 in unison.

  “Alright then, move in.” said Lieutenant Fowler.

  The squad entered the arena, which had 7 doors blocked by an electrical barrier. The door closed behind them as Jack and his squadmates turned a dial on their belt. A suit of armor began forming around their dark grey spandex, covering their body and eventually forming a helmet. A digital display showed up on their goggles, showing their heart rate, the power levels of their belt, and the molecular structure of their armor. Meanwhile, Matthew got into the pilot seat of the mecha suit and brought the weapons online and ready. Soon, the lieutenant gave the signal to switch off the electrical barrier. The barrier lowered and 7 pairs of red eyes gleamed from inside the door. Jack and his squad took ready positions as they watched the red eyes move slowly out of the shadow. They steeled themselves and activated their plasma swords. They waited in bated breath for the monsters to start rampaging, with every step of the monster’s foot increasing their adrenaline. A paw stepped out of the shadow and Jack’s squad charged toward them, only to stop a few centimeters ahead. What came out of the doors were small, quivering, white chihuahuas that looked up at the group with innocent eyes.

  “What the-? Since when do we fight cutesy plushies?” asked Kyle in a surprised tone.

  “Is this some sort of a joke? Cause, if it is, then I think it's working.” Said Elena.

  “Um, Sir? Are we supposed to neutralize these chihuahuas?” asked Jack on his comm unit inside his helmet.

  “Yes. Now get to it.” Said lieutenant Fowler.

  Jack and his squad mates looked at each other, perplexed.

  “Uhh. Okay? How do you suppose we ‘neutralize’ them? Give them a little pat on the back or something and put them to sleep?” asked Matthew.

  “Guys, guys. Let’s focus now. I know we’re facing off against some plushies. But let’s not forget. They were caged. So there must be more than meets the eye here. So keep your guard up.” Said Kyle.

  “Kyle’s right. We don’t know anything about them. we gotta be cautious.” Said Jack.

  “I don’t understand. We’ve been taught about almost all the X-beasts. How come we’ve never seen or heard of them in our lectures?” asked Sarah.

  “I don’t kn-” said Jack before he was interrupted by a sound near his feet. He looked down and his blood ran cold. The chihuahua, that had walked up to Jack, had its mouth completely closed around his Calves. Its black eyes were now glowing bright red. Slowly, the Dog began to grow in size and had lifted Jack up in it’s mouth. The squad looked in horror as it reached the height of a Bus and shook Jack violently before throwing him. The once cute dog had now turned into an ugly, skinny monster with protruding teeth and large red eyes. The monster opened its mouth with the lower jaw seemingly unhinged, allowing it to open its mouth to an absurdly unnatural degree. The creature let out a stomach horrific, stomach-churning screech. The other chihuahuas also followed suit, becoming an unsightly horde of skinny monsters.

  “What the heck!!!!!!????” exclaimed Clarence.

  “Jack!” exclaimed Amelia as she rushed to his aid.

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  “I’m ok. Just a feeling a bit whiplashed.” Said Jack as he got up.

  “OK! These things are scary. Noted!” said Kyle as he held his shield up.

  “Remember. The lieutenant said that these are one of the weakest species of X-beast. So a Rhinigator armor should work to keep any damage to a minimum.” Said Jack, as he turned the knob on his belt to set the molecular structure of his armor to that of a Rhinigator’s hide.

  “Copy that, Jack.” Said the rest of the squad as they too turned their belt knobs and set their armor’s molecular structure.

  “Ok, is there a plan of attack for this thing?” asked Matthew.

  “Matthew, you stay back for now. Attack only if we need any backup, and don’t use the mecha’s ammunition. The rest of us have only one plan; Attack these things using everything we’ve got.” Instructed Kyle over the comm.

  “Roger, that.” Said Sarah.

  Jack, Amelia, and Elena used grappling hooks to dash through the arena and slice up the front legs of 4 of the 7 monsters. The monsters fell to the ground. Amelia noticed that their legs had been cut to the point of almost being amputated.

  “Whoa, just trying to slice their tendons almost amputated their legs. These really are the weakest species. I think this might just be easy.” Said Amelia.

  As soon as the beasts fell to the ground, electric chains were deployed, holding them in place.

  “Focus, Amy. This isn’t over yet.” Said Jack.

  “Ok.” Replied Amy.

  Matthew punched one of the beasts that lunged in his direction, using the mecha suit arms. The beast was flung quite a distance before it slid to a stop and was chained like the rest.

  “That’s one way you put them down!” exclaimed Matthew.

  Simon blinded another one of the beasts as Sarah fired a grappling gun across the arena and flew toward it, knocking it off using a shockwave gauntlet.

  “Done and done.” Said Sarah as she dusted her hand.

  “I’ll take on the last one.” Said Jack as he dashed for the last beast.

  Jack formed a shockwave gauntlet and reared his hand to punch the last beast in the jaws. As he neared the beast, it opened its mouth wide to catch Jack. Jack aimed his grappling gun a bit to the left of the beast to escape its mouth. But just as he was about to fire, the monster’s eyes shone a bright red colour as it reflected the sunlight. Flashes of the monster that killed his parents came to his mind upon seeing this, along with a bright red light. This startled and distracted Jack and as a result, he couldn’t fire the grappling gun on time.

  “Whoa!! WhooooaaaaAAAAAAH!” yelled Jack as He entered the beast’s mouth head first.

  The beast clamped its mouth down on Jack and tried to cut through his body, but the armor prevented this from happening.

  “Jack!!” exclaimed his squad mates.

  The beast, unable to bite through him, began to shake him violently around. Jack regained a bit of composure and Reached into his belt pocket. He picked a nanocube and fashioned himself a plasma handgun using it. He fired at the insides of the beast. Instantly, he fell backward onto the ground. His eyes were blinded by the sunlight for a few short seconds before he could see clearly. The rest of the squad had begun to attack the beast from all sides and had brought it down. The beast let out a groan of pain as it’s eyes closed.

  “Jack! Are you ok?” asked Elena as the rest of the squad swarmed around him.

  “Dude! You good? What happened back there?” asked Kyle as he helped Jack get up.

  “I….I….don’t know.” Replied Jack softly, as a grim expression came onto his face.

  “Is something wrong Jack? You don’t look ok.” Asked Sarah.

  “Yeah. It's as if you saw a ghost or something.” Said Matthew.

  “No. I’m Fine. I just…lost focus.” Said Jack as he deactivated his armour.

  “The session is over. Squad, exit the arena.” Said the voice of Lieutenant Fowler over the megaphones in the arena.

  Jack and his squadmates stood in attention as the lieutenant came onto the field.

  “Nice work out there. You handled the beasts even though you didn’t know much about them. The beast I made you fight was discovered just a few weeks ago and has caused some havoc on the field. What’s more frightening was that one of these things almost infiltrated one of the cities. It remained a small chihuahua until it was found by one of the exploratory squad. Believing it was someone’s lost pet they brought it inside the walls until it bit off a soldier’s head. As I said, it was one of the weakest species of X-beast we had discovered. But seeing as how this species could easily fool soldiers using its cute and frail image, we made it a top priority X-beast on our list. I would have given a heads-up to you guys, but I wanted to test the adaptability of Squad 2. I have heard high praises for you guys and wanted to see your potential myself. Although one of you seems to be having an off day today.” Said Lieutenant Fowler as he turned his attention to Jack.

  “Cadet Jack. What happened? Why didn’t you dodge the beast’s mouth?” asked Lieutenant Fowler.

  “I lost my focus for a second there, sir!” replied Jack with a stern expression.

  “You lost focus? That’s one excuse that is not acceptable in this line of work. The slightest loss of focus will cost you your and your squadmate's lives. I hope you realise the gravity of your work and NOT lose focus next time. Is that understood Cadet?” asked Lieutenant Fowler.

  “Sir, Yes sir.” Replied Jack, the grim, worried expression still on his face.

  Jack and his squad were walking down the hallway after their lessons. Jack was walking in the front while the rest of his squad exchanged worried looks.

  “Hey, Jack. Is something bothering you, man?” asked Kyle as he walked up to Jack.

  “Yeah. If something’s wrong, talk to us.” Said Clarence.

  “We’re here to listen to you.” Added Sarah.

  “It’s nothing guys. Sorry for worrying you all.” Replied Jack with a warm smile.

  Then, Jack felt his right shoulder being pushed. It was William, walking past his squad with a gleeful smile.

  “Hey, Rooster. You’re losing your game. That’s not like you. If this continues on you’ll be nothing but excess baggage in the field.” Said William in a mocking tone.

  Amelia walked up to William and gave him an intense glare before sucker-punching him in the face. William fell onto the ground with a dull thud. He looked up at her, eyes filled with shock, as his left hand touched the face where Amelia had hit him.

  “Been wanting to do that for a long time now. If you don’t want another, then skedaddle!” Exclaimed Amelia.

  “You’ll pay for this you little…you..!!!!” Stuttered William as he got up on his feet and walked away, angry and in pain. Amelia returned to her group where she was met with smiles.

  “Nice one, Amy.” Said Clarence.

  “Man, you beat me to it.” Said Sarah.

  “That was cool. Wasn’t it, Jack?” asked Kyle.

  “Huh? What?” asked Jack with a start, as if he was woken from a deep slumber.

  “Jack, are you really OK? You seem to be out of it today.” Asked Kyle.

  “I’ll be fine. I just need to get some rest. I didn’t sleep properly yesterday. “That’s all. I’m going to my room to get some Z’s. See you guys in the afternoon.” Said Jack as he left. His friends once again looked at each other with worried expressions.

  “I’m gonna go have a talk with Jack. See what’s up. You guys can go on ahead and enjoy your free time.” Said Amelia.

  “Let us know if you find out something, Amy. I have never seen Jack like this. So, I am a bit worried.” Said Elena.

  “We all are.” Said Kyle.

  “Right.” Replied Amelia as she left.

  Jack walked toward the dormitories, his mind straining to remember something. ‘What was that red flash of light? What was I seeing? I can’t exactly remember what it is, but I saw something that day that felt off. What was it? What did I see that day?’. More and more questions kept piling on as Jack kept walking. He was disturbed from his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulders.

  “Jack. We need to talk.” Said Amelia.

  “Maybe later Amy?” asked Jack.

  “No. Now. Something’s bothering you. Are the nightmares still coming up again?” asked Amelia.

  “Yeah,” replied Jack.

  “That’s a half-hearted reply, Jack. At least talk to me. I’m your sister, aren’t I? You can open up if you feel you can’t do it with the other.” Said Amelia.

  “It’s nothing to really worry about. It’s just my head stuck in a thought.” Said Jack

  “What is it? What’s got you stuck?” asked Amelia.

  “Amy! If I need your help I’ll ask, ok? Just….leave me alone for now.” Said Jack in an angry tone.

  Amelia looked at Jack with a worried expression. She then gave a deep sigh.

  “Ok. I’ll give you some time.” Said Amelia before walking away.

  Throughout the day, Jack’s mind was occupied as he tried hard to discern what he had seen that day. He couldn’t concentrate on the lessons and was told off by the instructors many times. By the evening, Jack felt worn down as he walked toward the dorm. Jack ate his dinner at a table away from his friends to think clearly and went to bed at the usual time. But try as he might, he just couldn’t get a wink of sleep. His mind desperately wanted to remember that faint detail. It was almost within his reach, but he could not grasp it.

  ‘If only I had a small clue to help me remember……Clue? Wait a second!!!!’. Jack woke up with a start as an idea came across his mind. Jack got up, put on his casual clothes, and walked out of his dorm room quietly, so as to not wake up Simon. He made his way through the hallways and ended up in front of the Library. The Library is usually open till midnight as some senior officers and night patrol troops might use it for lesson planning or documentation purposes. So Jack swiped his Library access card on the card panel and entered inside. Jack went straight to the room named ‘Documentation’. Seven computers were lined up along the wall in this small room. Jack sat in front of one of these computers and switched it on. Cadets were given access to the computers to log their actions during their supervised patrols. So Jack only needed to use his cadet ID to gain access to the database. There he opened the file explorer and selected the ‘creature encounter log’. He scrolled down the folder, scanning the individual files, looking for something. At last, he caught sight of what he was looking for. He clicked on a file dated 20th June 2026, the day his parents were killed. The file opened, showing a detailed summary of the events that happened that day. Jack scrolled through the file looking for information about the beast.

  “Ok. Multiple creatures….Pteravens…..Rhinigators……Ghoul hounds…..aaaaand there! An unknown species of X-beast was spotted near the southern wall of the city.” Murmured Jack as he read the report.

  “Soldiers who fought it, only got a brief glimpse of it when it stood still. Some weren’t able to remember it due to the shock of all the fighting and helping the evacuees out. The beast was described to be over 7 feet tall with an approximate length of 30 feet, covered in charcoal-coloured fur. It had bat-like facial features, with three bony projections on each side of its jaw pointing backward. The creature had a wingspan of approximately 80 feet. The X-beast, which killed Captains Mary Foster and James Foster, fled the scene and was never encountered on the field again…” Recited Jack as he read through the report.

  “….Witness accounts from Captain Mary and James’s children state that the beast is capable of breathing fire, which was backed up by the injuries sustained by the two deceased soldier’s bodies. Additional details on this beast is not available. Aw! Maan!” exclaimed Jack in frustration as he reached the end of the report. He leaned back on the chair and facepalmed with both hands. He was utterly disappointed that the database didn’t have any clue that could jog his memory. Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to find any answers in the system, he slid his hands over his head, let out a big sigh, and proceeded to shut down the system.

  “Hey there, kid.” said a voice behind him.