When I look back on the life I've lived, I can recall a few times where I've almost or could have died. Before I got the Civic, there were more than a few incidents when I was by myself with my Mom's Nissan Quest where I almost hit the people in front of me at sixty plus miles an hour, there was also that time where I decided it would be funny to sneak up on my Dad after he got home from work and he nearly shot me. There was also that one time that I was putting a new pistol grip on my M4, but I didn't put the screw for it in the right way and when I tried to put a round through it, for a reason I'm not sure of, the screw gave out and my weapon fell forward, as the round went off. Now having said this, for some reason I doubted that this was going to be one of those "That time I almost died", stories for Mercury and Trace. For some reason, I was sure we were already to late to save them, and the rain and dark outside sure wasn't helping. Neither was the morbid quiet in the lounge. Most of the little kids were already asleep, using Void and Navi as pillows. Nina and I were stomach to stomach, she was half asleep, her eyes just barely open, while I was too worried about Mercury and Trace to really even think, but at the same time, just sitting around wasn't working, so I was looking at listings for used Toyota GT'86's. Riley was the only one of the little kids who was awake, his normally neon red had become a dingy reddish brown color and the normal sparkle in his eyes was gone.

"You okay Riley?", I asked as I nudged Nina.

"No", He said, "I might not ever see my older sister again."

"You will", Nina said, "we'll get her back."

"You can't promise that", Riley said as the lounge door opened and Tristan walked in, dressed in a white shirt, jeans and socks.

"Uhhh", he said, "am I interrupting something?"

"No", Riley said as Tristan shut the door behind him.

"What's going on?"

"Riley's worried he might not see his older sister again", I sighed sitting up as Nina got off me.

Tristan looked around the room, "how old are you Riley?", He asked.

"Six", Riley said.

I saw Taro's eyes get wide, "say what? Your Six?"

"Yeah", Riley said.

Tristan whistled, "holy crap."

"Imagine my surprise when I first found out every recruit was in single digit ages", I said, "when your CO coming to get ya?"

Taro sighed, "he's not. My career is over."

"What!?", I asked stunned, "Why?"

"They deemed me too mentally unstable to return to duty and gave me an honorable discharge", Taro said.

I sighed, "well, how long you staying then?"

"Your friend Alex said he can get me a plane ticket home", Tristan said, "but with what's going on it might take a few days."

"Well in that case", I said, "I got some cash in my pocket. Why don't you, Nina, Riley and I grab the Duramax and go look at a Toyota I'm interested in, then go for lunch?"

"Anything's better than staying here", Riley said getting up.

"What?", Void asked lifting his head, "what are you guys yammering about?"

"We're not being that loud?", Tristan said.

"I have hypersensitive ears", Void said, "it's like your screaming. Mind if I come with?"

"You won't fit in the truck", I said.

"Morningstar had a cloaker made for me that turns me into a German shepherd", Void said, "I'll blend right in."

'Then come on", Riley said.

Void slipped out from underneath the others and slunk out of the lounge with us and went back to the barracks. When Tristan stepped into my and Nina's room and his face lit up.

"What the", he said, "is this your barracks?"

"Yep", I said pulling on cargo pants, a white shirt and my Duluth Polartec Jacket.

"I hate you", Taro said, "this is nicer than where I live."

"It was apparently here when they built the base", I said, "so they just installed carpet and AC."

"Well that worked out well", Taro said.

I reached under my mattress and grabbed my Desert Eagle and two magazines along with my AR-15 and three mags for it. I put the eagle in a holster on my belt and slung my rifle over my back as I grabbed my wallet, para cord bracelet, my Lost Planet Dogtags and lucky charm. I was grabbing my Window's Phone when Taro spoke up.

"Is that your personal weapon bro?"

"Yeah", I said, "Morningstar lets me keep it in the barracks."

"Lucky bastard", Taro said as the three of us started for the hangar, "i didn't get to keep my weapon with me, none of us did."

I grinned, 'that's because Project Venom isn't subject to bullshit, we don't have spit shined shoes or made beds or any of that shit, which is why at ages 5-18 we are the baddest mother fuckers on the planet."

"We'll I'm pretty badass", Taro said, "on a scale of 1-10 I'm a forty five."

"Oh fuck you", I grinned, "you can't pass ten on a 1-10 scale, it's mathematically impossible."

"You know what else is also impossible?", Tristan asked, "the fact that you and Nina CLEARLY, have not laid each other yet. You need to get some of that action bro."

I sighed, "one more stupid remark and I'm gonna cap you. Got it?"

"I'll make as many stupid remarks as I want", Taro said.

"Let's assess the situation shall we?", I said taking the Eagle from it's holster and my Ar from my back, "I'm holding two loaded weapons, you are holding nothing, there for, you don't get to tell me what you are going to do."

"Fair enough", Taro said as we entered the hangar, finding Riley and Void already there. Riley was wearing the same thing as he had when we went to get the professor, while Void's emitter gave him the appearance of a normal sized German Shepard with very short, midnight black fur with neon green streaks through it and bright, crystal blue eyes as well as a tan Kevlar collar.

"Ya clean up nice Void", I said grabbing the keys to the Ford F-150 off the key tree.

"I would like it if my fur wasn't so short", Void said, "I feel exposed"

"It's covering more than your regular skin does", I said.

"I know but still", Void said as I unlocked the truck. It was a 2015 Ford F-150 Crew Cab platinum edition with chrome Cagar Wheels, ADD front and rear bumpers, a BAK 5 bed cover and Smittybuilt Light bar. The engine under the hood was a 500 horsepower Duramax diesel that had a towing capacity of 90,000 pounds, more than we'd ever need to use. The only question you had about the truck was the purplish, pinkish shade of red.



"Not my choice of colors", Tristan said climbing in the passenger seat as I opened the door for Nina, Riley and Void. It was a tight fit for them in the back seat, but that was fixed by Void playing caring pet for Riley, who was so depressed about his sister it seemed to be killing him.

"We will get her back Riley", Nina said as I shut the door and climbed into the driver's seat, stowing my AR in the center console where it couldn't be seen.

"I know", Riley said as I stuck the key in the ignition.

"You guys are gonna have to bear with me because it's been eons since I drove an Automatic", I told them as I started the truck. I put my foot on the brake, put the truck in drive and then drove out of the hangar. The Ford's AWD carried us up the washed out trail to the entrance of Area 29 where Conner let us out and we got onto the main road. I put the pedal down and the Duramax climbed to 4400 RPM before taking out and the Automatic decided second gear was probably a good idea.

"Grrr", I said, "I hate Automatics."

"I prefer 'em for ease of use but manuals are more fun", Tristan smiled.

"And they give you much more control over your vehicle", I said.

"Can't argue that", Taro said, "where we going to eat."

"I have no idea", I said, "I just could have used a drive to clear my head, plus there's a Toyota Tundra I'd like to look at on the way back from town...and speaking of clearing my head, how are you holding up?"

Tristan sighed and leaned back in the seat, "still feels like it's all one bad dream. I feel like I could wake up at any minute."

"'Cept you already are awake", Nina said as I turned the Ford onto Venom's access road and picked up a little bit of speed, Morningstar must have left the gate open.

"I know", Tristan said.

"Hey Taro", I said quietly, hoping Riley didn't hear me, "what would I tell Morningstar if we get there...and Mercury and Trace are dead? I doubt they'd die a peaceful death and I'm not gonna lie about it."

"I can hear you Ace", Riley said. In the rear view, I could see that he was holding to Void like a big stuffed teddy bear.

I sighed as I turned off the venom access road and then headed down towards Bakersfeild. After about an hour of driving through the heavy rain, we made it into town just as it had let off, though the clouds continued to linger. I drove around for a while before arriving at an intersection wit a restaurant at each of it's for corners, a burger king, McDonalds, Olive Garden and a Churches Chicken. As I pulled to the stop light, I spoke up.

"Vote time", I said, "hurry before the light turns green."

"The King", Riley said.

"BK", Nina said.

"BK", Taro said.

"Guess I'm out voted then", I said. The light turned green and I drove the Ford out to the entrance to the parking lot and turned in. I turned the radio off and rolled down my window as I pulled up to the drive thru.

"Hi welcome to Burger King may I take your order?"

"Could I get two orders of spicy chicken fries and a large fries and Coke to drink?", I asked.

"Anything else?"

"Get me an Extra Long Fish Sandwich and a small fries and Sprite", Riley said.

"I'll have two Original Chicken Sandwiches, no fires and a Medium Dr. pepper", Nina said.

"Get me three Classic Grilled Dogs, a large Fries and Doctor pepper", Taro said.

"Get me a chicken nuggets!", Void whispered from the back.

"And Can I also get an order of chicken nuggets for my dog?", I asked.

"Of Course", the man laughed, "okay, so that's two orders of chicken fries, two orders of original chicken sandwiches, three classic dogs, chicken nuggets, an Extra Long Fish Sandwich, two large fries, one small fries, a Coke, two Doctor peppers and a sprite?."

"Yes", I said.

"71.50", the man said, "please pull up to the window."

I pulled up to the drive thru window as I fished my wallet out from my coat. The man there relayed my order to me and I handed him the money in the form of a fifty, a 20 and a two ones.

"Are you Josh Miller from Short Throw Shifter?", he asked.

"I am", I said as he handed me the change and our drinks.

"I didn't know you owned a Ford F-150", he said.

"It's not mine", I said, "It's a friends, just borrowing it for a while."

"By the way I bought a clone of your engine for my V6 Mustang a while back, it's rather nippy now."

I smiled, "thanks man, every little bit helps."

The man motioned me to the next window where we picked up our food. I handed it out to my friends as I idled the Ford out of the parking lot. I turned the signal light on and was waiting for a car to pass so I could get out when, much to my surprise, the same kind of deuce cab over I'd seen at the Black River Base pull out of the McDonalds Parking lot and go to the same stop light that was my target. I knew it was the same model because of the Quad Suspension in the rear, the thick, single piece driveline, the solid rubber rear wheels and the exhaust pipe that was one big ass surpressor. With no one coming, I launched the Ford across the street and drove up right behind him, picking up the CB Radio and turning up the Microphone.

"122 to Base", I said using the truck's Venom ID Number.

"Base go ahead 122", Morningstar replied back.

"I have eyes on prototype enemy cargo vehicle", I said, "requesting permission to capture."

"Rodger 122", Morningstar said, "your cleared to proceed."

"122 Out", I said hanging the radio back up. In front of me, I could see the man in the passenger's seat tap the driver and quickly point back to us.

"Fuck", I said, "he's made us."

"Josh what's going on?", Taro asked.

"That's a Black River Truck", I said handing him my DE, "were gonna take it."

Taro chambered a round and didn't say anything else. We followed the truck all the way out of town. Once we hit the desert, where the speed limit wasn't enforced, the truck's rear end dropped and it blew black smoke before taking off.

"Oh no you don't", I said mashing the pedal. Our Ford blew coal black Diesel smoke as the tach jumped from 2 to 3 thousand RPM, quickly winding out past the safe red line of five before the 10 speed automatic decided it was time for second gear. I heard the truck in front of us shift into what sounded like three of four gears, which meant he had absolutely no chance of out running us.

"He can't out run us", I said as I opened up the center console, 'Taro, target the passenger's side axle, send that fucker into a tail spin."

Taro took my AR-15 and leaned out the window, emptying the magazine into the ass end of the Deuce, quickly sending it into a tail spin which resulted in the truck flipping over at least six times before coming to a stop upside down in a ditch. I pulled the Ford to a stop and grabbed my DE before stepping out and walking up to the flipped deuce, where two men had crawled out of the driver's side. The first man saw me coming and stood up, producing a Glock handgun. I quickly fired four shots, all of which hit the target's chest, dropping him dead. The other man picked up the gun and tried to raise it, but I drew first, the round smashing into the gun and sending it flying, leaving behind a piece of shrapnel in the man's hand.

"GAAAH!", he screamed, "Fuck me!"

"Dude", I said putting the gun to his head, "your in a heap of trouble."

The man looked up at me, "Josh?"

It didn't take me two seconds to realize who I was dealing with.

"You fucker!", I growled smacking him over the head with my handgun, "Hunter! What the actual FUCK are you doing with Black River!?!"

Hunter coughed as I put my boot on his neck, "you know what, I don't care, you and I, are gonna take a little ride."

'Where?", he gasped, trying to get a breath of air.

'You'll see", I said stomping on his head and knocking him cold.