A fleet of military cargo aircraft gliding through the sky. In one of those aircraft, a tall black man was nervous. One of his legs couldn’t stop shaking as his eyes kept shifting around from side to side.

“Hey, is this safe?” Hakeem shouted to the top of his lungs yet the noise from cruising at this altitude made those around him unable to hear anything.

Ryan who sat beside Hakeem only gave an okay sign as he could read through Hakeem’s lips.

Esther who sat beside Jason was also nervous as she was never the type to be involved in extreme activities like this. For the man himself, Jason was leaning at the wall of the airplane with his eyes close. Everyone could see that he was calm and relax as if he had done this many times. Yet no one knew what lay inside his mind.

Shit, can I do this alone? Why didn’t they assign me with someone for this HALO jump? Do I look like I can do this without supervision? Shit, I haven’t even try skydiving before.

An unexpected predicament. He thought he would be treated like Hakeem and Esther yet the military saw him in a different light. To them, he could do anything on his own considering how he had manhandled their top Awakened.

The trio was dressed in a black camo military uniform, the same as the rest of the soldiers inside the cargo aircraft. The military provided the basic uniform for protection.

Then the green light went on as the huge aircraft door opened up. The light meant it was time. Then a voice resounded from their in-ear communication device.

“Time for the jump,” said Ryan as he led the squad in this aircraft.

The soldiers went down one by one while those Awakened dropped with their partner. Then it was time for Hakeem.

“Shit! I’m not ready for this! I ain’t doing this shit, I ain’t…” his words cut off as Ryan pushed him from behind as the duo leaped off from the aircraft together. A soundless scream of Hakeem was unheard as nothing beats the sound of the air draft.

Then it was Esther’s turn, she gave a glance at her brother before taking the leap. In her mind, if her brother could this alone then she also could do it with a partner.

She leaped and then there were two. The second in command of this squad just below Ryan gave a tap at Jason’s shoulder.

“Good luck!” he shouted as he then jumped leaving Jason all alone.

Shit, I just miss my timing. I should have tagged along with that dude.

Last-minute regret that was worthless at the moment. It was either arrogance or he was just too embarrassed to ask. He looked around the empty aircraft. There was no one left except for the pilot.

Fuck it.

With no option left, Jason took his step. One-step and he was falling in the sky. He could felt his adrenaline pumping throughout his entire body as he could hear his own heartbeat.

The sky was dark and he couldn’t see anything else besides the numerous lights from those who fell before him. He put into action the things that were taught to him during that minor briefing about the HALO procedure.

A small lesson that Jason found to be the most important thing at the moment. He remembered precisely what the instructor taught him. It wasn’t perfect but he pulled it off.

He fell down like a missile as he tried to catch up with those who fell first. Then the moment those parachutes bursting open from one soldier to another, Jason immediately knew it was time.

He deployed the parachute as his whole body was tugged upwards. He saw the small land that was becoming bigger as he glided down. Welcome Island, the designated rendezvous point for every soldier in this mission. A few minutes later he cut the harness and fell on the ground. His action was something no one should never do in skydiving but considering his high stats, he knew he could survive at this height. He rolled on the ground dispersing the momentum as he finally gained his balance.

After his short run by the coast, he met up with the rest of the squad. Jason looked around and found Hakeem sitting on the ground, he looked weary from the HALO jump. Although he was tall but that didn’t mean he could handle falling from such a height.

“Oh, you’re here. I thought you’re ahead of us,” said Ryan.

“We have a contract, and I better stick with it,” said Jason.

Ryan huddled up his entire company consisting of a hundred fifty able-bodied men and women alike. After giving a simple order to his lieutenants and staff sergeants, these organized soldiers broke off into their own squad.

Hakeem went with Ryan. Esther went with another squad and Jason went with a squad with no Awakened.

“Sir, Staff Sergeant Dan Johnson, it’s an honor to be working with you,” said the soldier with a salute. He saw Jason in action and he had to admit that this man was strong.

Then the rest of the squad introduced themselves. After the last man gave out his name, silence prevailed over the air. All of them were looking at Jason as if he was in command. Jason glanced at Staff Sgt Dan.

“I’ll follow your lead,” said Jason.

Staff Sgt Dan was surprised for a while as he thought he would only be the leader in name only but with Jason letting him taking command, the soldier gave his first command.

“Prepare the boat,” Dan said.

--

Every squad sailed through the rough water with their own inflatable boat. Jason sat on the boat as he stared at the sight of the nearing Thunder Bay, a city infested with UC. He was calm as he knew the opponents were not that strong according to the military intel. Yet as he glanced around the boat, he saw these soldiers shaking in nervousness. He didn’t think they were these affected by the UC, in his mind, they were brave warriors prepare to do anything to defend the country.

Then he made eye contact with one of them.

“Sir, how do you take the edge off?!” the soldier shouted over the loud engine of the boat.

Jason glanced at his name and saw the name Cisco. Jason patted Cisco’s shoulder and gave a grin while retaining his silence.

Cisco gulped down a mouthful of his saliva as he was nervous seeing how this Awakened acted.

Then the boat reached the shore. The ten soldiers were quick to get out of the boat as they secured the perimeter. Unlike usual, they didn’t have their assault rifle in hand as they were only equipped with a handgun. They felt a bit awkward using a handgun but considering the enemies, bringing an assault rifle would only be a hindrance.

“Clear.”

“Clear.”

“Clear.”

Jason stepped out of the boat in leisure as he was the calmest out of the bunch. He was amused seeing these soldiers acting like this, but it made sense considering these tactics were instilled in them from the beginning of their career.

Jason took a single sweep at these soldiers one more time, they had kevlar jackets, Kevlar helmets, and a handgun in their hands. Nothing out of ordinary except for those axes and machetes sheathed on their back. They were also a lot of combat knives strapped over their thighs as if they were ammunition. This was a first for them since they never brought such weapons in their mission.

A change in tactics to suit their current enemy, the UC.

This is pretty amusing, it seems the military goes back to using the outdated cold-weapons.

Afterward, Jason looked around the perimeter. He could see nothing but darkness but as he pulled down the night vision, green light let him saw it all.

There’s a few not far from here, I guess let’s see how these soldiers do for their first time.

In the meantime, Staff Sgt Dan looked through the map as their last destination was none other than the center of the city. From what he was told, the center of the city held the highest numbers of UC roaming around and since Jason was tasked to them, the squad was given the most difficult mission.

There was a long way ahead of them as he took a deep breath preparing for what about to come. Yet as he exhaled his breath, he heard Jason’s voice.

“I’ll lure some of the nearby monsters over here, so prepare yourself,” said Jason.

Yet before Staff Sgt Dan could say a word, Jason was already sprinting away like a bullet train. All ten soldiers were dumbfounded of what they just heard, they then glanced at Staff Sgt Dan.

It took Dan a few seconds as he reclaimed back his sanity.

“Arm yourselves!”