Under a weak light of the moon a car was driving down a road. There were no signs of civilization, only endless forests and the asphalt cover.

A middle-aged man was holding the car’s steering wheel and listening to a radio. He was tired of the long way he made to arrive here, for the past 2 days he was only sleeping on the back seats of his car and eating junk food sold in a roadside diner he encountered yesterday.

His hair was already turning grey from all the stress he encountered both in his life and his work. All of his humble possessions were stored in the car’s trunk or packed into bags he put on the passenger’s seat. While his face was serious, from time to time his expression softened.

He was excited when the higher-ups told him to move to the new place. Yet, something was troubling him. It was his nostalgia for his previous friends and companions, whom he might never meet again in person. Or it might be that he is already getting old and is still unmarried.

He was getting closer to his limits and was going to stop on the roadside when something made him concentrate.

It was a barely noticeable noise, a weird but too familiar to be a mistake. Just when he was about to ignore it, from a side road a lights appeared.

‘WRUUUM!’

With a distinctive clanging sound, a huge piece of metal almost flown in front of his car, ten, maybe twenty meters away.

He immediately pressed the horn and shouted.

“YOU IDIOTS! LOOK AROUND WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING!”

It was a tank, a huge machine of destruction. It disappeared as quick as it showed up.

While he was annoyed and angry, he was also smiling. Yes, he is close to the town where he will be continuing his service to the country.

After the incident he slept in the car once again, hopefully for the last time. When he woke up he continued driving until a white sign with a town’s name was in sight.

It took him another hour to find where his rented flat is located. The neighborhood he settled in is a nice one, with good iron fence surrounding two blocks of flats, with a good guarded parking and a little yard in between. When he was told to move here, the rent was paid for him in advance. For 6 months he will not need to worry about his rent. After he brought all of his suitcases and bags up to the second floor, he placed them in his flat. He finished in the evening but it was still long before the sun sets so he decided to report to his new superiors.

He put on his uniform with 4 golden stars on the insignia and then entered the car once again.

His destination was behind a metal gate guarded by a security checkpoint.

“Your documents, please.” A soldier asked him for his documents. After he took a look inside, the soldier said “Everything is good, to get to the headquarters, turn to the left after you drive inside, and keep driving straight until you see a three-story brick building. That will be the headquarters.”

The man saluted to the soldier and followed the instructions.

When he entered the building he was told the way to the unit commander’s room. After two knocks in the door he heard “Come in.”

He opened the door and saluted to his new commander who said to him:

“Welcome, captain Belov. I was expecting to see you tomorrow, you know?” And then the commander smiled.