(Clayton's PoV)

Me, Trevor, Logan, and Daniel were settled in our usual spot behind the barricade. We went here whenever Sgt. Blake didn't assign us spots. We liked it cuz it was near the edge and far enough away from everyone else so no one could tell us off for messing around the whole time.

Unfortunately, our spot didn't provide much in the way of water protection.

"I can't believe it's still raining," Logan complained.

"Don't you mean monsooning?"I corrected before rolling my eyes.

"Lay off him, Clayton," Daniel told me. "I think he was trying to help."

I scoffed. "He was showing off, that's what he was doing. He did this all the time at school too." I folded my arms. "He knows he's smarter than everyone, so he's gotta go around using big words to prove it."

Daniel shrugged. "Raining or monsooning, it still sucks."

"Yeah," Logan agreed. "I don't think I'm ever gonna know what it feels like to have dry shoes again."

I was about to respond, but I heard something. I looked back to see Trevor whistling. It didn't take me long to recognize the tune.

Of course, it was "Singing in the Rain".

Logan smiled at me. It wasn't long before he added the bass part, and I quickly joined in with the Tenor/Alto line.

We looked at Daniel. Realizing the only part that was left, he upturned his nose slightly. "No."

We just kept going, prompting him to join in. He knew we would just keep vamping the intro until he did.

"But I don't wanna sing soprano," he whined.

We didn't reply. We just continued to sing.

Daniel looked around sheepishly and then back at us. He bit his lip and sighed in defeat.

He actually had a really strong falsetto which he used to hit the top notes.

The four of us went on with our four part harmony and by the end of the song, we were all smiling and laughing, no one more than Daniel.

"Thanks guys, that was fun," he admitted.

"Almost like show choir," I pointed out. "We just need dance moves."

"I bet I could think of some," Logan offered.

"And we can use our guns as props," Trevor added, cracking up.

Daniel's smile faded a little bit. "I really miss it." He paused for a moment. "This was my first year and I only got to perform my show twice. But it was like...I finally found something that I love and I'm good at."

"It's so much fun," Logan reminisced.

"It's the only bearable part about school," I said.

Trevor's face sunk with realization. "If this war doesn't hurry up and end within the next two months, I'm gonna miss my last year."

Logan put his hand on Trevor's shoulder--well he tried. Trevor's really tall. "I'm sorry." He didn't need to say more. We all knew it wasn't likely that we were gonna be going home anytime soon.

"Hey, don't feel bad for me," he told us. "If I can't be with my original group, then I guess I'll have to settle for you three." He smirked. "Now, about that choreography."

(Matteo's PoV)

I gripped the letter from Emmy tight in my hands. I missed her so much. It had been three weeks since I had last gotten word from her. I could almost hear her soft, high-pitched voice as I read her note.

Dear Matteo,

I just love getting letters from you. It's so relieving to know you're safe. I'm literally a bundle of worries without you. Although one major stressor is gone: School. It's finally summer break! And luckily I'm gonna be getting out of the house a lot too. I recently got a job as an assistant swim instructor for lessons. Also Pablo joined swim team. Pedro and Pepe are jealous cuz your mom said they were too young. But he's really excited to be just like you. It's adorable. And like me, all of your little brothers miss you like crazy. I can't wait to hear from you again. I love you more than anything. Stay safe!

Love,

Emmy

"Oh thank God," I sighed. The job was perfect. Anything that kept her out of her house and with people she liked was for the best. Her delusions would always spike up the most when she was alone in her house. But I did wonder what prompted her to look for a job. If it was the end of the school year, that meant grades would have been posted recently. She could be facing a lot of trouble if her parents didn't approve of her scores. My stomach lurched at the thought. I needed to know if the job was an escape.

I also had light-hearted things to ask her. I wanted to know more about my brothers. I wanted to hear about what Pablo thought of swim team so far. What strokes did he like? Has he made a lot of friends?

I decided to start my letter so I wouldn't forget anything.

"Matteo!" Sgt. Blake shouted. I accidentally dropped my pencil at the sound.

What now? I wondered.

"You need to be outside! You're scheduled for guard duty!"

"Mierda," I muttered. That was tonight. I looked at the letter and then back at Sgt. Blake. "Can I just have five minutes?" I tried reasoning.

"No! Your shift starts now! Get outside," he ordered.

"But-" I protested.

His voice quieted down a ton, but his tone grew more condescending. "My job isn't to look after your love life. My job is to look after this base, so when I give you an order, you do it. Outside! Now!"

I could feel my fists clench. It wasn't fair. I only asked for a few minutes. Still, I grabbed my gun and went to the guarding post, after he threatened to find more cleaning jobs for me.

The shift left me with four extra hours to worry about my girlfriend. I needed to stay awake, so I thought of more questions to ask while I watched and promised myself I would write to Emmy as soon as I got back inside.

(Landon's PoV)

Our MRE containers were sprawled out across the plastic table. The "vegetable lasagna" we were given tonight was particularly inedible. Several of the guys only took a few bites before resorting to playing with it.

Tristan flung a fork-full across the table. "I swear, Lt. Jason needs to make another McDonald's run soon."

I nodded in agreement after dodging the gross clump of greenish pasta which had landed a few inches away from me.

"Let's bail," Gavin decided. All of the other guys seemed to think that was a good decision.

As we got up, Sgt. Blake came in to post the guard schedule for tomorrow. On his way back to his office, he eyed the table in annoyance. "Someone tell Holly to clean that up," he ordered.

"Not me," Clayton was quick to say.

"We should send in someone tough," Logan suggested.

"Should we draw straws?" Marcus asked.

This is pathetic, I thought. "I'll do it," I offered.

Clayton pointed to me. "You all heard him. He can't back out now."

"Nice knowing you," Trevor added with a small salute.

I rolled my eyes as I headed down the hallway. "Holly," I said as I approached the infirmary. I didn't get a response, so I stepped closer. I looked inside to see her in the unstable wooden chair with her eyes fixated on the pages of a large book.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

She looked up, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"'Military Strategies'..." I read from the title before she set it down. "You like that stuff?"

"It's important information," she retorted. "Stuff that you guys should know too. It talks about different techniques that have been used throughout history and finds patterns of similarities that resulted in success. A lot of times you just have to find your opponent's weakness and attack them in a different way than they're expecting you to." Her eyes seemed to light up as she spoke.

"Do my eyes deceive me or are you actually showing interest in something?" I questioned.

Within seconds, her posture turned stiff and cold again. "I think you might need to get your prescription reevaluated," she told me.

I shook my head. "Nuh-uh, you almost smiled."

"Did not," she denied. "I just think I should know this stuff. I might learn something useful," she added with a hint of bitterness in her voice. She picked up her book again. "Now go away," she demanded.

"I just came in to tell you that Sgt. Blake said...." I started, but I felt my mouth go dry.

"What?" she asked, without looking up.

I watched her get absorbed in the book. Guilt ate away at me as I realized that reading was probably the only thing she remotely enjoyed doing around here. I didn't want to take that away from her.

"Never mind," I said, deciding I was going to clean up the food area myself.

(Will's PoV)

I sighed as I laid face first on the ground. I didn't move for several seconds. I was tired. My foot hurt. My knee hurt. I didn't have the energy to get up on my own.

I saw a tan hand extended towards me and I gripped on to it, allowing myself to be forced off the ground.

"You all right?" Matteo asked.

I shrugged and looked down at my uniform. The entire front was coated with mud, just like my hands and face.

"Don't worry," he told me. "All the rain will wash it off."

I tilted my head backwards. "It better-"

I started to reply, but a huge raindrop fell in my mouth. I made a face at its bitter taste.

"It's just not your day," Matteo observed.

"Not my season," I corrected. I had already tripped three times this week. The rain was making the ground slippery, which only enhanced my incoordination. "I think I'd even take extreme heat over this. Then I might only fall once a week and it probably wouldn't be on a flat surface," I half-joked.

Matteo laughed. "Yeah, I gotta agree. I hate this rain. Hopefully it doesn't last all summer."

"If it does, we've still got two months left," I pointed out. I rolled up my pant leg, revealing a purple bruise on my knee.

"Is that from just now?" Matteo asked.

"No, I think it's from two days ago," I guessed. "Or maybe from Wednesday. Either way, I just had to land on the exact same spot."

"It looks like it hurts," he said.

"Only kind of," I replied. I was sort of lying. One would think that as often as this happened I would be used to simple bruising by now, but I wasn't. I had a really low pain tolerance.

He eyed it for another moment, then shrugged. "If you say so."

I was extremely relieved that he didn't pressure me into getting it checked out. I could only imagine Holly's reaction if a bruise from accidentally tripping was one of the injuries we came whining to her about.

I rolled my pant leg down and followed Matteo towards the barricade. My knee stung, but I could walk just fine--well, fine by my standards.

I carefully picked up my feet off the ground so they wouldn't get stuck in the mud. I kept a close watch on them to prevent one foot from tripping over the other. Of course, doing that made me not look where I was going.

I walked right into a tree. I clicked my tongue at how pathetic I was. With my luck, there was definitely at least another two months left in monsoon season.

(Matteo's PoV)

As expected, the rain continued on for the next week, but now it was joined by a thick fog. While crouched down behind the barricade, I stretched my left hand out in front of me. I could see its outline fine, but beyond that, things started to get blurry.

"Matteo, check it out," Will told me. "Is that a person?" he asked, peering over the top.

I moved where he was to get a better look. There was a figure moving around quickly. "I think so," I replied. "What else could it be?" It was more than likely a Chinese soldier since he came from the opposite side. The man pulled out a long object in front of him.

Several shots rang out.

"It is!" I realized. The shots were much louder than usual. He must've been closer than any other soldier we had seen. "What do we do?" I panicked.

Will began to stutter and his gun slipped out of his hands.

More shots were returned from our side. The man just kept running and ducking at all the right moments. He fired a few more bullets.

"Oh my God!" We heard Marcus exclaim.

Will and I exchanged nervous glances. Without a second thought, we abandoned our post and followed the sound of familiar voices.

We weren't the only ones with that idea. Almost the entire platoon gathered in the same spot.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"Andrew," Marcus began, pointing to the terrified blond boy.

Andrew stood frozen solid. His wide brown eyes were filled with fear. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

"Zee bullet. It almost 'it 'im," Jean-Paul explained.

Andrew wouldn't speak. He just hesitantly put his hand on his shoulder and grabbed the frayed material of his jacket.

The bullet had grazed the edge of his clothes. He was that close to being shot.

Christopher put his hand on Andrew's shoulder. "Hey, you're gonna be okay," he assured him. "The worst part's over." Andrew seemed to shrink next to Christopher's large stature. He remained quieter than usual.

"Damn, that's scary," Trevor muttered.

"At least no one got really hurt," Daniel pointed out.

"Yeah, but still...I never thought the soldiers would ever get that close," I admitted. The ones who ran past their own barricade never made it very far before being shot down.

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "And speaking of which...did anyone see that guy get killed?"

We all shared the same expression of panic.

"You mean he could still be out there?" Logan exclaimed.

Landon grimaced. "It's possible."

Andrew stayed in his silent, statue-like state.

"He could be anywhere by now," Gavin realized.

"He could have made it past the barricade while we've been talking," Tristan added.

Sean gasped and gripped Aaron's arm. "No! What if he's here? What are we gonna do?"

Aaron bit his lip. He looked at his gun apprehensively and then at the rest of us. "We're just gonna have to keep our guard up."