‘Hello Ethan, are you prepared for these next two weeks?’ Caleb smiled.

  ‘It’s Corporal Ethan; you guys need to use rank. I’m going to be called out again by Sargent Egor.’ He punched Caleb's arm.

  All the soldiers around Ethan laughed; they were standing at the city entrance, and in the distance, Ethan noticed the head of a figure hiding behind a barrel. Egor, coming from the same side, nodded ?while looking at Ethan.

  ‘Isn’t that your wife, Corporal? Did you forget something? Why is she hiding? You know what? Forget it; just deal with it.’ Egor rolled his eyes.

  ‘Alright, sir.’ Ethan ran in his wife's direction.

  Ethan approached the barrel, and Rita tried to hide even more behind it. But he squatted next to her, his eyes locked on hers, and Rita tried to cover her face in shame.

  ‘What are you doing? Did I forget something?’ Ethan pats her hair.

  ‘No, I just wanted to see you go.’ Rita covered her cheeks and looked at Ethan.

  ‘Something tells me that is not it.’ He scratches the back of his head.

  ‘I’m sorry, it's just that I can’t control myself; in my mind, you were going to meet up with Leah.’ She looks down at the ground.

  ‘Why? I told you this is just a mission; it has been some time since I talked to Leah; our lives are too distant.’ Ethan continues to pat her hair.

  ‘I don’t know; I’m sorry; don’t be mad at me…’ She used her dress to dry the tears from her eyes.

  Seeing this, the young corporal came closer to his wife and hugged her. Rita was surprised that he would do such a thing, even more so with the kiss he gave her forehead before looking into her watery eyes.

  ‘I love you, right? If it makes you happy or comfortable, just follow me, but nothing dangerous; I don’t want to see you in the middle of my mission.’ Ethan laughed.

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  ‘I will… I’m sorry… I just love you too much... I’m sorry.' Rita hugged him with all her strength.

  ‘No problem, just smile, alright?’ He lifted her face by the chin.

  The two looked at one another and smiled. Rita stole a kiss from her husband while hugging him. The soldiers didn’t notice when Ethan returned, as they were impressed by the metallic monster right in front of them; it was floating.

  ‘We are going there using this thing, a present from the Duchess herself; we will carry supplies to the border too; there we will be under Lieutenant Bartel Adler, so you guys know, jump in.’ Egor used a small ladder to enter the back of the truck.

  'Yes, sir,’ all of them shouted.

  One by one, the soldiers embarked on the back of the truck. Some of them noticed that there were small windows to the side where they could position their rifles to shoot outside, and on the front, there was a ladder and an opening on the ceiling where they could access the top of the vehicle.

  ‘Ethan, your team gets the first shift; go up there and be on the lookout; there are covers and places to sit.’ Ego tapped Ethan's shoulder.

  ‘We are up; let’s go.’ Ethan started to get up the ladder.

  His squad got on top of the vehicle, but to their surprise, it was already moving; they just didn’t notice until they positioned themselves on top. The last thing Ethan saw was Rita waving to him in the distance.

  ‘Sir, aren’t we too fast? Look at the trees to the side there.’ One soldier pointed at the trees.

  'Yeah, sir, my brother Samal is right; we are crazy fast.’ He was holding on to the cover, afraid of the speed.

  ‘Don’t freak out, Oran; be on the watch.’ Ethan helped the young Shafran position himself again.

  ‘I can’t believe you two are brothers. That is unbelievable. An A-Dam and a Shafran coming from the same mother is quite a rare sight.’ Asher spoke while looking at his medical supplies.

  ‘Indeed.’ Caleb put his rail cannon to his side.

  Ethan’s team was quite relaxed on top of the vehicle, but to the right side, Samal saw what appeared to be a group of goblins running in their direction. He turned to Ethan and pointed to the group. The corporal quickly opened the hatch to the interior of the truck.

  ‘We have contact to the right side with an unknown number of goblins, Sarge.’ The corporal shouted.

  Egor walked to the front of the truck and opened a small window, just large enough for him to see that people were driving the vehicle.

  ‘Goblins to our right side; intercept them; let’s see if we can use this thing as a shooting platform; do a pass by as close as your cat.’ Egor closed the window.

  ‘We already going to fight, Sarge? No breaks, hum?’ The soldier laughed.

  ‘The truck is going to pass by the monsters; we don’t even feel this thing move, so I expect clean shots from everyone and more from those up top.’ He looked at Ethan, looking at him from the open hatch.

  Ethan’s team positioned themselves on the right side of the truck while the soldiers inside used the small windows to point their rifles outside. The truck was fast, and they saw the weapons in just moments. As the vehicle drove past, the goblins, surprised by the giant metallic monster, didn’t see or comprehend what happened, just a salvo of shots piercing every one of them.

  The truck stopped for a moment. Egor looked at the goblins from the truck's open back to see if they were moving, but nothing could be seen after some moments. He punched the right next to the small window to the driver with the side of his fist two times, and the vehicle started to move again in the direction already going.