The comms device crackled to life. Instructor David grabbed it.
"Headquarters, who is this?" he asked, his voice sharp.
A frantic voice came through the radio. "Instructor David—it's Golla… he—he fell from the cliff!"
David's grip on the receiver tightened. "Which team is this?" His eyes darted to the map pinned on the camp wall, red post-it notes marking different team locations.
"Gorilla 2," the cadet corrected himself, voice trembling. "He fell."
Gorilla team. Mammals. That meant west. David's gaze locked onto the marked zone.
"Gorilla team, stay where you are. Help is on the way."
"Roger." The cadet's voice carried a mix of relief and distress.
Without wasting time, a rescue team was deployed by helicopter. Using the tracking devices attached to the cadets' uniforms, they quickly pinpointed Golla's location.
They found him at the bottom of the cliff. A minor landslide had caused the fall. His leg was broken, making it impossible for him to continue.
The rescue team lifted him onto the chopper and transported him to the nearest hospital. His team was automatically disqualified when his partner chose to withdraw.
They are very close to the treasure that they need to find, he just need to follow the mountain trail and walk uphill for another 500 meters away. That close. But Gorilla 1 is too afraid to continue, after how he saw his partner fell, afraid if the same fate happens to him.
He return to the camp with the rescue team.
There's one day left, and tomorrow, the cadets are supposed to return from the mountain trail with the treasure they were assigned to find. Instructor David hopes that the incident with the Gorilla team is the only one—that no more cadets will experience any accidents.
***
Jacques washes his face at the riverbank, then splashes water onto his hair, soaking himself completely. He had just woken up from a dream—a dream that felt too real, as if he were living in two realities.
"Jacques!" Charles' voice sounded distant, an echo carrying through the air.
But Jacques remained by the river, trying to figure out what the dream meant. And Charles? He had looked different—beautiful, and way taller.
Finally, Charles decided to approach Jacques. He walked to the riverbank and joined Jacques in the serene scene where mist covered the forest beyond the line of the river.
"What are you doing? Help me with the camp!" Charles nudged Jacques.
"Charles, have you ever had a dream that was very vivid, so it felt like you're living in it?" Jacques's eyebrows were tangled, a sign of deep thought.
"Seriously? We need to get back to headquarters, and you are talking about a dream?" Charles grunted.
Jacques shrugged. "I mean, in that dream, you and I were roommates, and we had to do a certain task assigned to us in the underground bunker—"
Before Jacques even finished talking, Charles already cut in, "Jacques, I don't care what you saw in the dream, we need to get back to reality, and we need to hurry back so we don't arrive late and get our points deducted just because I listened to your fantasy after you've been watching post-apocalyptic nuclear worlds. Let's go, let's move!"
Charles did not wait; he left Jacques, who still sat at the edge of the river. Jacques raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Well, him in the dream version was way much better."
***
They finally arrived at headquarters and reported to Instructor David.
"How was the journey, cadets?" Instructor David expected them to start dissing each other, while Charles was seriously hoping to give the impression that pairing them was a bad idea and that the instructor should stop assigning them together.
But instead, Charles reported it casually, his expression unusually relaxed.
"Sir, after following the trail on the treasure map given to us, we finally located the treasure buried under a tree." Charles signaled to Jacques, who stepped forward and handed the item to Instructor David—a metal box filled with army emergency food.
David opened it, counting the contents. Two rations. He glanced up and asked,
"Good job, cadets. So, who decided to eat it?" He crossed his arms and tilted his head.
Charles smirked at Jacques, who tapped his boot on the ground before confessing, "Sir, I was curious how it tasted."
"Didn't the instructions clearly state something? Can you repeat them, Cadet?" Instructor David raised an eyebrow.
Jacques answered immediately, professionally, "The treasure belongs to the country."
"Then why did you still eat it?"
"Because the country cannot eat it, and I'm part of the country," Jacques replied, unable to hide a satisfied smile while maintaining his disciplined posture.
While the other cadets enjoyed their dinner, Jacques ran around the lake twice as punishment—once for deliberately stealing national treasure despite knowing what it meant, and an extra lap for trying to be funny when reporting it.
"I noticed you're speaking normally. What happened?" Instructor David asked Charles after Jacques was dismissed to do his punishment.
"Oh, I... I just want to speak normally," Charles forced a smile on his face and shrugs. He couldn't tell the instructor that he and Jacques were dating now and that he wanted to stop "bullying" Jacques by no longer creating a gap between them with a language barrier.
Instructor David nodded. "It's better this way. Easier to understand."
"Sir, yes sir!"
"I'm still waiting for your essay, Cadet, and I'm expecting something good," Instructor David said with a nod.
"I'll do my best, sir!"
"You're dismissed. Enjoy your dinner."
Charles tapped his boots and saluted before turning his back and walking out of the headquarters camp.
After finishing his punishment, Jacques sat beside Charles, his body drenched in sweat, his breath heavy. He had run around the lake three times—of course, he was exhausted.
"Tired?" Charles glanced lazily at Jacques. "Nobody told you to try that ration. But you HAD to do it, didn't you? Now we got our points deducted, and all for a stupid idea—just to taste how it felt like. And now you had to run the lake twice. Was it worth it?"
"Uh-huh. Big time." Jacques gave a thumbs-up.
Charles, triggered by the response, started nagging. "I swear, Jacques, I feel sorry for anyone who ends up as your life partner. You always make bad decisions. Just like dogs! They know it's bad but still do it anyway. Why? Because it's fun! Because it's chaotic! Because you're—hey! My water!"
Without saying anything, Jacques grabbed Charles's water and drank everything.
"Just go to the pantry to get your own water, for f*ck's sake!" Charles protested, looking regretfully at his empty glass.
"Damn, that was a good run!" Jacques exhaled deeply, regaining control of his breath.
"Refill it!" Charles slammed his empty glass in front of Jacques. He must take responsibility!
Jacques took the glass, and as he walked away to refill it, he bit Charles's nape, causing the twink to giggle as his ears shivered from the tingling sensation.
Instructor David watched them in the distance, he nodded in satisfaction, feeling his plan had succeeded. Pairing these two cadets on the same team had been a deliberate decision, designed to build mutual respect and cooperation. He hoped it would help Charles overcome his stubbornness and rigid mindset, to get open up and learn from the other cadets—particularly Jacques, whom he had openly disrespected in the past.
But then Jacques playfully pretended to bite Charles's neck, and Charles pushed him away, visibly flustered. At that moment, Instructor David's brow furrowed in suspicion.
Perhaps his plan had worked a little too well.
***
---DREAM---
Wearing gas masks on their faces, Jared and his mentor walked through the misty forest. Before he was transferred from the women and children's area, they had already taught Jared about the world.
The nuclear war destroyed the world. The reason humans were still alive was because of Cezar's leadership. He saved those who followed him, leading them to escape to a tiny island where he built a bunker underground. They live like an ant colony.
The world after the war was grim and corrupted. Radiation had changed the world, making the air toxic. Anyone who inhaled it would mutate, lose their mind, and eventually attack other human beings. In this forest, mutants roamed—some mindlessly, some savagely.
Suddenly, the mentor stopped walking and stretched out his hand, signaling Jared to stop as well. Then, he put his index finger in front of his gas mask, signaling Jared to stay quiet, and gestured for him to follow as they hid behind a fallen tree.
"Do you see it?" The mentor pointed in a direction. Jared followed his gaze and shivered when he noticed a mutant ripping apart another mutant while it was still alive.
It ate its own kind—alive.
The mentor decided it was too dangerous to cross, so he signaled Jared to follow him on another route. Both of them carefully sneaked out of the area.
They were on their way back to the bunker, but now that their path was blocked by danger, they needed to take another route—one that was farther, but hopefully safer.
For some reason, today the mutants were more active than usual. Their roars and shriek-like sounds echoed throughout the forest. The mentor needed to be extremely mindful of the direction he was about to take and ensure that Jared followed him closely.
Since this was Jared's first time walking in the toxic world, he hadn't yet gained real experience in dealing with mutants. He didn't fully understand the significance of his mentor's short, panicked breaths or the tension in his posture. But as he observed him more closely, Jared began to realize that this might be far scarier than he had imagined.
"Follow me," the Mentor whispered as he took a turn, careful, soundless steps avoiding potential dangers that Jared couldn't even see. The mist was too thick to make out what had the Mentor so on edge, but he was the pro—he'd been through this countless times. That's why he's the Mentor, isn't it?
"No matter what, follow me. You probably won't understand, but trust me. You got it?" the Mentor warned. His usual gentle and soft voice now sounded hurried and tense.
Finally, Jared could see the bunker's metal door in the distance, but the Mentor still wasn't taking the straight path to the door.
"What's wrong? That's our destination." Jared stepped toward the door, but the Mentor quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him back, saving Jared from a monstrous spider-like creature with a woman's torso attached to its head, lunging down to capture him from above.
The Mentor immediately fired three bullets into the mutant, blinding it. Its shrieks echoed through the woods, and soon, more mutants emerged from their hiding spots, storming toward them.
"Run!!" the Mentor screamed.
The situation spiraled into chaos. Jared couldn't comprehend what was happening—so many things were unfolding too fast. One moment, they were running; the next, they were fighting off mutants. Then, before he knew it, they were surrounded, and someone was injured.
Pure chaos.
All of a sudden, Jared opened his eyes and found himself in the bunker's clinic. Lying on a mattress, he felt a sting in his arm—the doctor had just finished injecting something into his body.
"You're feeling better now?" the doctor asked in a relaxed, cheerful voice. "You should've listened to your Mentor. He has the experience you need to learn from."
"What happened?" Jared sat up, feeling a sharp sting in his head. He checked his body, relieved to find nothing missing.
"You got surrounded by mutants," the doctor explained briefly.
"Where is he?! Where's Charles?!" Jared's voice rose in panic.
"Charles? Who?" the doctor asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Me," someone said, entering the clinic room.
A tall young man stood at the doorway—a handsome figure with long earrings dangling from his earlobes. His black hair framed his lean posture, and his smile radiated warmth, reflecting the gentleness of his soul.
That's my Mentor! Jared felt a wave of relief wash over him, seeing him safe and unharmed.
"Why did he call you that?" the doctor asked. "Is that your middle name?"
"No, it's not my name. I don't even know why he calls me that," the Mentor chuckled.
"Charles! You're safe!" Jared called out.
"I am safe, but... please, Jared, stop calling me 'Charles.' My name is—" His voice blurred in Jared's mind, as if the name itself refused to stick.
Jared blinked. "Yes, you are Charles, aren't you? My roommate, and..." He hesitated. "...the one who guides me."
The doctor frowned slightly. "I don't know what kind of amnesia this is… Interesting."
"It's fine," the Mentor said with a sad smile. "One day, he'll figure it out. My only worry is that… he won't follow me."
"Must be difficult to guide someone who doesn't even know your name and refuses to follow you," the doctor shook her head.
"It's okay," the Mentor smiled. "I know his potential. He'll figure it out."