After leaving the boarder crossing behind, we drove off road for a little bit until we hit a sideroad. Trying to blend in and not draw too much attention to ourselves, we kept speeds close to 50mph. My head was on a constant swivel with my rifle held tightly in my hand just incase I needed to use it quickly. I gave the map to Cosima to navigate from the middle seat in the back. Two advantages of having her in the car with me is because she is fluent in Ukrainian and can easily navigate us through the backroads with the knowledge of her country.

Only two hours into the drive we had our first major test. We had to go through the city of Lviv. From what Cosima told us, this city is one of the largest in the country. But as we traveled through it, the place was mostly a ghost town. We ran into a few people out on the streets who were walking in the direction of Poland with suitcases and it made my heart break. Most of those leaving were women and children. I just wish we could give them a ride the rest of the way to the boarder.

As we were pulling out of the city we did find a gas station that had power and I thought it would be a good idea to fill up the tanks while we can. Cosima and I went into the store to do the talking while the rest of the team stood watch as the trucks fueled up. The gas station attendant didn't bat an eyelash to me having the rifle in hand. Though I know Russian, the Ukrainian Cosima was speaking was lost on me. The words were similar to Russian but it didn't make much sense. While Cosima continued to speak with the attendant, I walked around the shop and picked up a few different snacks and plenty of gum to add to the total.

When I saw Rob give the signal and got back into the trucks, I told Cosima it was time to go. Cosima pulled out the envelope of banknotes we were given as we loaded up and paid for everything before taking the bag from the gas station attendant. I thanked him as we moved to the door and made sure to have my weapon up and ready before pushing the door open. After making sure the area was clear, Cosima came out behind me and we went right over to the truck. I reached into the bag and pulled out a few packs of gum before walking over to Bravo truck.

"A gift for ya." I said and gave Rob two packs of gum.

"You're honestly my favorite person." Rob said and gave me a smile as I walked over to Charlie truck.

"Monica, make sure your team knows how to share." I said and gave Felix the other gum packs I had in hand.

"You're a saint." Monica said and took them right from Felix's' hands as I returned to the passenger seat of my truck.

Cosima navigated us out of Lviv and I felt like I could relax a fraction of an inch. We were back on a country road shortly and I finally let go of my rifle.

"Cos, what was going on in the store?" I asked after we got onto a long stretch of straight road and popped a piece of gum in my mouth before putting the pack in one of my many pockets.

"He told me that the president has sent the first lady out of country to be safe, we don't know where. He also told me that any able body man is barred from leaving the country and must take up arms. When he asked who we were I told him we were troops sent by NATO to help. He wouldn't take money for the gas, he only let me pay him for the snacks." Cosima said taking in all the farmland around us.

"Do you know if any of your family is here in country?" I asked the question that has been lingering in my head since we left the base this morning.

"Last I heard, my brothers are home in Philie with my mom. They all came back home early from our usual summer trip but my dad stayed behind because he wanted to spend some more time with his brothers. The last time my mom heard from him, he was still at home but that was almost two weeks ago now." Cosima said.

I didn't say anything else to her but passed a piece of gum back to her. She took it and Morgan pulled her into conversation over something she is looking at on her laptop. The conversation lulled as I was able to find another radio station that was playing classical music. The music was almost able to lull me to sleep as we hit this stretch of quiet road. There really wasn't much around. Just a lot of green and a few random houses in between.

The drive south was long, it took about four hours before we hit the next major town which is Chernivtsi. As we rode through, it seems like most of the town is intact with there residents still staying in there homes. Once again, we were able to find a working gas station. This time I made Cosima put on her helmet as I did the same and take her rifle as we exited the truck. I kept my weapon low, not wanting to make a scene but still wanting to be ready.

Cosima did the talking to this attendant and nodded back to our three trucks. He took the money she was offering and waved for our trucks to pull up. While he started to fill Alpha truck Cosima started talking to him again and his tough shell started to melt. By the time Charlie truck was topped off on gas, the man was almost in tears. After the truck was topped off and we were ready to go, Cosima pulled him in for a hug. The move nearly gave me a heart attack and it took all of my self restraint not to rip her away from this man.

As we got back into the truck, Cosima pulled her helmet off and wiped away a tear that fell. Just as Warren went to pull out onto the road, Cosima started to give him directions.

"Where we headed?" I asked we started to turn out of the main area of the town.

"A farm we can stay at for the night. It's not far out of our way and it's out of the city enough that there's not much around it." Cosima said and continued to feed Warren directions.

I just nodded, trusting her judgement and relayed the information to the rest of the team. It only took about ten more minutes of driving to find the place Cosima was told about. The farm house and barn looked empty and there was nothing else around it. Lionel, Cosima and I hopped out of the truck once we got close to the barn and moved in quietly to get a perimeter around it to scope it out. I took the lead once we got to the door and waited for them to get in line behind me before I cracked the door open a bit.

I gave it a few seconds and when I didn't hear anything, I pushed the door open and stormed inside. The barn was empty, expect for a few horses in stalls on the other side.

"Where are the property owners?" I asked Cosima after checking out the last of the barn.

"They are gone. The women and children fled to Poland, the husband and son went to report for the army. The worker said he has been trying to keep the horses fed but it's getting hard with him trying to take care of his own family and running the gas station. He said we could stay the night as long as we feed the horses and brush them down." Cosima said walking over to the three chestnut horses.

I left her to it while I radioed the rest of the team that we were clear before walking outside. We still had a few hours of sunlight left but I knew we all just needed a break from the road, especially if we are going to be on it for most of tomorrow. When I got back outside I found most of the team getting out of the trucks.

"Guys, I want the trucks facing the road if we need to leave in a hurry." I said before the drivers went far.

"Can I get two volunteers to come with me to clear the house?" I asked while the trucks were starting to move. Akito and Micah both came forward as I put my helmet back on my head.

"Rob is in charge, once the trucks are in place, cover them up and help Cosima in the barn. She'll tell you what she needs. Akito, Micah, on me." I said and gripped my weapon tightly to me as we moved silently up the little bit of the hill towards the house.

Everything seemed quiet as we got up to the house and did a walk around. Nothing looked out of the ordinary as I made the decision to breach the back door instead of the front. After testing the handle and finding it locked, Micah stepped up and started to work on picking the lock. He is a forceable entry specialist so it didn't take him long to get the door unlocked. After he took his lock picks back and got behind Akito and I, I pushed the door open and walked inside.

Just like we thought, the home was empty. We quickly cleared the first floor then went down into the basement. Nobody in sight, we check the upper floor and once again found it empty. It looked like the family took off in a hurry. Most of the clothes left in the closet were half hanging on hangers while others were just left on the floor all around the room. I grabbed the heavy blankets off the bed and the guys followed my lead. When we returned downstairs, I put all of the blankets on the floor to check out the kitchen.

There wasn't much in here but when I tried the water and found it working, I know everyone was going to need to fill up there water bladders before we leave tomorrow morning. But what also came with running water was a working toilet. I made the guys start to pack up the blankets in an easier way to carry while I did my business before letting them at it.

After we were all done, we made our way back down to the barn. When we returned, we found everyone in various different states of winding down. The guys dropped everything we found in the house in a clean corner of the barn and started to pull off their own gear.

"Team gather around!" I yelled to get everyone's attention while I still could. Everyone slowly came around and gathered in a circle.

"The house is empty, just like we were told it would be. If you are going to leave this barn, you must be in gear with weapon, no exceptions. The water is still running which means a working bathroom. If anybody needs to go up to the house, it must be done with a buddy. Before we leave tomorrow everyone needs to make sure there water bladders are full. Firewatch tonight will be in teams of two for two hours. Everyone should be able to get a good amount of rest in since there is a lot of us. I do want to leave early tomorrow morning as I want to be in Mykolaiv by nightfall and it's about a 12-hour drive from here. Watch rotation will start when the sun goes down. Find a buddy so I don't have to make pairs, dismissed." I said.

With everyone left to there own musings, I kept my gear on and went outside to check on the trucks. It looks like the team already took care of getting them covered up but still left us access to the beds of the trucks. I grabbed my pack from the truck and brought it inside the barn for the night. Finally, I pulled my helmet off then followed it up with my vest, happy to be able to breath easier. I found a spot on the floor that was mostly clean and pulled out my sleep mat before unzipping my camo jacket and taking it off.

Just as I sat down and undid the laces on my boot, I saw a shadow settle next to me. I looked up and found Morgan starting to drop her gear next to me and set up camp for the night. I took an extra breath and pulled my feet from my boots, happy to have them off. As I pulled an MRE from my pack with my hot sauce bottle, Morgan kicked my leg. I looked over at her and she flashed me a smile.

"Care to share?" She asked pointing towards the bottle of hot sauce.

"Only with you, don't make a scene out of it." I said and pulled the seal off the bottle before opening up the MRE.

The night overall was pretty quiet. After finishing off dinner with Morgan, we went over the rest of the route to Mykolaiv on her laptop and pick different possible stopping points. Before the sun set, we took a walk to the house to use the bathroom and to get a few moments alone. It was nice to get a half hour alone, but I couldn't give her all of my attention right now. There is too much going on in my mind to be completely focused on her. I think Morgan picked up on it because after a few minutes of making out, she pulled away and we just cuddled together on the couch for a little bit before making our way back to the barn.

The watch list was set up by the time I got back and I elected to get the morning shift so I could prep everything for the day ahead. With all of that settled and a reminder of the rules for the night, I laid out on my sleep mat and was out like a light. The night ended up being a quiet one. Nobody bothered me and I was able to get a full nights rest. When Rob woke me up I felt refreshed and ready for a long day of driving. I was able to wake up Morgan without much of an issue and we got dressed and ready for the day.

Once Morgan and I were dressed and ready and packed up, we got up and walked outside. The early morning air was chilly as we took a walk around the barn and a bit of the property. Everything was quiet, so I was ready to go back into the barn when all of a sudden we heard explosions in the distance. Morgan came running around the side of the barn, weapon ready as we took in the scene together. We were far enough from the blast zone to avoid the shock wave but in the dead of the morning, you could hear the explosions from miles away. Red balls of light lit up the sky and the grip on my weapon slacked.

"We are driving right into that today." I said finally breaking the silence.

"It's only going to get worse the closer we get to the Russian boarder. I hope Cosima's father is alive." Morgan said right next to me.

"Lets get everyone up and moving. The sooner we get there the better." I said.

Morgan nodded and we returned to the barn. It looks like the sound of the explosions weren't heard inside with the barn door closed as everyone was still sleeping. Morgan and I went around the room and woke everyone up so we can get moving. While everyone was still awaking up, Morgan and I took a walk up the hill to the house to use the bathroom one final time. While I was waiting for Morgan I managed to make myself a cup of instant coffee. Even though the milk in the fridge went bad long ago, there was sugar left in a cabinet. I poured a heavy dose into the cup and took it to go once Morgan was done.

The team was mostly ready to go by the time we got back to the barn. Everyone on the team made final runs to the house for the bathroom and to fill up on water while the others still at the barn, loaded up the trucks. We were on the road again within an hour of waking up. The first five hours in the trucks weren't bad. The road was still pretty smooth and we were able to get pretty far by the time the sun was high in the sky.

As we were approaching the six-hour mark, I knew we needed to try and find a working gas station. Things were going to get worse the deeper in we go and I didn't want to use the gas cans we have yet. Those were for the absolute last resort.

We pulled off the highway and Cosima lead us through a few towns till we found a gas station. Her and I hopped out right as Warren stopped the truck. The town we were in looks like it got hit by a few rockets, some buildings were destroyed but then on the other side of the street, things were fine. Covering Cosima's back, we pushed right to the shop. The door opened and we made our way inside to find the shop empty. Cosima looked at me and I gave her a nod and she yelled out. Nobody said anything in the shop so I let some of the tension bleed from my shoulders. I gave Cosima the envelope of money I had on me and she took out some notes and left them on the counter before we left the shop.

I kept overwatch with Dexter and Beth as we fueled up all three trucks before getting right back onto the road. As we got closer to Mykolaiv, the more the wind was picking up the sounds of gun fire. My hands were wrapped so tightly around my rifle my hands were starting to hurt. When we were about two hours out, Cosima had us pull off the main highway to get onto a lesser known one. It was a plan I could definitely get behind.

The ride was a bit bumper and we did have to stop a few times because the sound of gun fire was close enough that I knew it wasn't the wind playing tricks on us. When we were almost there, Cosima had us get off the road and took us on a trail that ran through her property and I could see some of the stress come off of her shoulders. But I knew we weren't out of the woods yet. Another reason why we pulled onto the trail was because we could leave the trucks here and go on foot to the house. We are splitting up for now until we were sure Cosima's father was alive and we wouldn't be shot at for pulling up to the house.

So we split into two teams. Rob was staying behind with the trucks while my team was going forward to Cosima's house. As we made our way towards the farm house and barn, I had my team split off. Monica and Dexter went in one direction while Lionel and Warren went in the other to cover Cosima, Morgan and myself as we made contact.

Cosima took the lead with Morgan and myself on either side of her. I didn't really like this part as we had to break cover from the tall grass of the farm but we didn't have a choice. So with one final nod, we broke the cover and Cosima lowered her weapon to look around.

"House first?" I asked unsure of where we should clear first.

"Tato!" Cosima yelled as she started to walk towards the house. We didn't hear anything and the little hope I had for Cosima was starting to wane.

"Tato!!" Cosima yelled even louder the second time started to rush towards the house.

"Cos slow down." I hissed losing all hope of not drawing attention to ourselves.

"Tato!" Cosima yelled again and I looked over at Morgan. She had a grim look on her face and I knew she was thinking the same thing.

We were almost at the back door of the house when I heard a nose coming from the barn. I spun around and raised my weapon as the barn door opened. A few men spilled out holding weapons and I knew we were about to die.

"Cosima?" Someone yelled from the group and pushed them away.

"Tato!" Cosima said and started running towards the man. The big burly man caught Cosima in his arms and I breathed a sigh of relief but didn't dare lower my weapon. Both of them were talking fast in between tears as all the other men started to go back into the barn.

"Can you translate?" I asked Morgan next to me.

"Put your gun down, that's her dad." Morgan said with relief and I managed to finally lower my weapon. I clicked down on my walkie to inform the team.

"Confirm jackpot, stay in place for further orders as we are not alone. Stay alert but try not to fire, I believe we are in friendly company but can't confirm yet."

"Gold 2, good copy." Rob said as Cosima pulled away from her father.

"Tato, my team is here. Are we safe here?" Cosima asked and Morgan and I moved closer to the pair.

"You are in Ukraine dochka; you aren't safe anywhere anymore."

a/n: according to google translate tato means dad and dochka means daughter. one more chapter of peace before some hell breaks loose. let me know what you think is going to happen and show this chapter some love.

song on the side is called something in the orange by Zach Bryan. always wanted to use this song when the team was about to drive into danger.