The familiar morning greeting chimed through the dorm, dragging me out of sleep. But it wasn't the usual 0700 tone. It was 0530.

  A prickle of nervous energy crept over me—the kind that makes your stomach tighten for no reason.

  "Up," Alicia whispered from the dark. She was already moving.

  The lights snapped on, blindingly bright. Everyone else looked just as exhausted; no one even bothered to speak. We dressed in silence.

  Our new mission uniforms were black, not the standard academy grey. They were reinforced with Kevlar weave and rigid plating over the heart and spine. The symbol of the Northern Nation was embroidered over the left breast, and a sleek screen on the right sleeve displayed our vitals: heart rate, oxygen saturation, the usual. The material was tough but flexible, skintight yet surprisingly comfortable.

  "Depressed but impressed," Becca muttered, admiring the fit in the mirror. "At least we'll look good when we die."

  "Morbid," Katherine mumbled, lacing her heavy boots.

  We moved through our routine and headed to the mess hall. The hallways were crowded but eerily silent, filled with recruits who were awake in body but not in mind.

  At the dining hall, we managed to find a table for the four of us. As soon as we sat down, a voice crackled through the loudspeakers.

  "Team 58. Report to External Launchpad B immediately. Do not be late."

  "External?" Katherine asked, freezing with her fork halfway to her mouth.

  "That’s outside," Alicia said, her voice tight.

  "How long has it been since we’ve gone outside?" I wondered aloud.

  "Sixteen years," Becca murmured, looking at the heavy blast doors at the far end of the cafeteria. "Since we were kids."

  The outside world had turned poisonous long ago. The air burned lungs, and the soil—once fertile—now caused blisters on bare skin. It was a graveyard we only saw in history books.

  "Do you think anything has improved out there?" Kathy asked softly.

  "I don’t think so," Alicia said, staring at her gray nutrient mash.

  "It’s damaged beyond repair," Becca added.

  "I just hope this war ends one day," I said, absently stirring my food.

  "It’s nice to have dreams, even unrealistic ones," Alicia replied.

  "You don’t think the war will ever end?"

  "No. I think we’re doomed to fight forever."

  "That’s a bit dark," I said.

  "It’s the truth," Alicia shrugged. "What keeps you going then, Alicia? If you don’t believe in the future?"

  "Fear of death, I suppose," she admitted. "I don’t fight for a brighter tomorrow—I fight to avoid dying today."

  "Well… I still think the war will end."

  "If you say so."

  We finished quickly and walked toward the heavy airlock doors. The atmosphere was heavy, but Becca, unable to handle the silence, nudged me hard in the ribs.

  "Speaking of the future," she whispered loudly. "I’ve been meaning to ask you something important."

  "What?" I asked, adjusting my gear.

  "Are you into Liam?"

  I choked on nothing but air. "I am NOT!"

  "I saw the way you looked at him yesterday in the hallway," she teased, grinning like a shark. "I may not be a love expert, but I can recognize a crush."

  "Then I think your radar is broken."

  "What are you two talking about?" Alicia asked, glancing back.

  "NOTHING!" I said too quickly.

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  "Cass has a thing for Liam," Becca announced.

  "I do not!" I snapped, feeling heat rise in my cheeks. "He's my brother's best friend. That's weird!"

  "Unfortunately, I have to agree with Becca," Alicia said gently. "You do stare."

  "I second that," Katherine added, actually smiling for the first time that morning.

  "I think you guys are hallucinating from oxygen deprivation," I muttered.

  "Does Liam know?" Alicia asked.

  "There is nothing to know! And dating is against the rules."

  "True," Katherine said, "but having a crush isn’t."

  "There are more important things than my imaginary love life."

  "Of course," Kathy said, "but your love life distracts us from the impending doom. It’s a service, really."

  "You’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you, scaredy-cat?" Becca teased.

  "Shut it! We’re supposed to be bullying Cass right now!"

  "True," Becca said, "but bullying you is more fun."

  Alicia sighed. "Should we step in?"

  "Nah," I said, rolling my eyes. "At least they’ve forgotten about Liam."

  Alicia snorted a laugh. But it faded instantly as we approached the massive metal door—the one separating us from the outside world we hadn’t touched in sixteen years.

  "WARNING," a robotic voice boomed. "ATMOSPHERIC TOXICITY CRITICAL. PLEASE DON MASKS."

  A glass case nearby held ten heavy-duty gas masks. We hurried to grab them. The rubber straps tightened uncomfortably around my head, sealing against my skin with a hiss. My breathing sounded loud and ragged in my own ears.

  Once all of us were sealed in, the blast doors groaned. Hydraulic pistons screamed as they pushed the massive slabs of metal apart.

  My heart pounded. I held my breath.

  After sixteen years… I was going outside.

  A blast of dry, hot air hit us, burning my throat slightly even through the mask’s filter.

  The world was dead.

  Thick gray clouds smothered the sky, blocking out the sun. Not a tree, not a weed—nothing grew here anymore. Only endless stretches of blackened concrete and cracked earth that looked like infected skin. In the distance, the ruins of an old city stood like skeletal fingers against the horizon.

  It looked as though the planet’s soul had been sucked out.

  We stepped onto the tarmac, our boots thudding against the dead ground. Becca’s eyes were wide behind her visor. Katherine looked like she was moments away from sprinting back inside. Even Alicia, who rarely showed emotion, stared in stunned silence.

  No one spoke. The banter about Liam was gone.

  "Team 58!"

  The shout broke the spell. We looked toward the landing pad.

  The guys were already there. Vance stood tall, his arms crossed over his chest, looking imposing even without his heavy gear. Ray was leaning against a crate, looking bored, tossing a coin in the air. Zed and Aaron were waiting by the ramp, their hands empty but their postures tense.

  And behind them sat our ride.

  My breath caught in my throat. I stopped walking. Becca bumped into me, but she didn't complain. She just froze.

  We had never seen anything like it. There were no pictures of this in the barracks, no files in the archives.

  It was a leviathan of pristine white metal, gleaming flawlessly against the grey, dead sky. It didn't look like it belonged in this ruined world. It looked alien. Divine. Its engines hummed with a deep, vibrating power that I could feel in the soles of my boots, and blue ion exhaust shimmered in the air around the landing gear, kicking up dust that looked dirty compared to the ship's hull.

  It was the most beautiful, expensive thing I had ever seen.

  "What... is that?" Katherine whispered, her voice trembling with pure awe.

  "That's our ride," Alicia said, though even she sounded shaken.

  For us, who had lived our entire lives in concrete bunkers and grey tunnels, this looked like a chariot of the gods. It was proof that while we were starving and dying in the dark, the Nation had the resources to build this.

  Only Vance and Ray seemed unimpressed. To them, it was just a bus. Ray checked his fingernails, and Vance was scanning the perimeter, ignoring the engineering marvel looming over him.

  Commander Williams stood at the base of the ramp, maskless. He must have had high-grade implants filtering the air for him.

  "Soldiers!" he barked. We snapped to attention.

  "Today is the day you prove your worth. Face danger without fear. Your bravery will be remembered in this nation’s history. Tread carefully on the foreign soil you will soon step onto. Stick together. No sacrifice will go unrewarded."

  He checked his datapad, looking bored. "You will receive further instructions aboard the Stellarion once you dock. Good luck—make our nation proud."

  He turned without another word and strode back toward the entrance of the facility. The heavy doors began to close behind him.

  "I still think he should accompany us," I whispered.

  "We’re not doing this again," Alicia sighed.

  "I sort of agree with Cass," Kathy muttered. "Someone more experienced would help."

  "Exactly!"

  "Enough," Alicia said.

  "Hey, look," Katherine said suddenly.

  A mechanical whirring sound cut through the wind.

  Sentra rolled down the ramp of the ship. Its black, spherical body spun silently, the single red eye glowing brightly in the dim morning light. It stopped in front of us, hovering on its omni-wheels.

  "Greetings, soldiers," it said in a crisp, robotic voice that bypassed our ears and played directly into our comms. "I am Sentra. I have calculated an appropriate plan that will help you retrieve the Aether. Board immediately. Any delay will be treated as an act of treason."

  “There they go again with the treason," Becca muttered.

  “Lets go. I don’t think we want to get on Sentra’s bad side," I replied.

  "Boarding Protocol initiated," Sentra commanded. "Follow."

  The bot spun around and rolled back into the dark belly of the ship.

  "That is the most annoying thing I’ve ever seen," Becca muttered.

  "I think it’ll help us," Katherine said optimistically.

  "Sorry—second most annoying," Becca corrected, glancing at Katherine.

  I chuckled under my breath.

  As I stepped onto the metal ramp of the drop-ship, I glanced back one last time. The blast doors of the bunker were sealing shut. The grey sky hung low and heavy over the dead earth.

  This might be the last time I ever saw my home.

  Memories flooded in—not just from the war, but from before it. The green trees. The blue water. The fresh air.

  Quietly, I made myself a promise: I will come back.

  Earth needed to change. And somehow… I needed to be the one to change it.

  The ramp hissed shut, sealing us into darkness.

  "Goodbye," I whispered.

  Then the engines roared to life, and we left the ground.