‘Fuck! She was actually listening to our conversation then!’ Kayden thought.

Kayden’s mind was racing, searching for an excuse to give, but he did not get the opportunity to say anything.

“That was a smart move. It’s good you didn’t tell the general too much about what we experienced during our journey here. Many higher-ups in the Resistance can be too paranoid sometimes, and so there’s a chance that he may have misunderstood something you said if you had told him too much.” Serena said.

“…Okay? That’s what I thought too.” Kayden quickly said.

‘Phew. That worked out well, I guess.’ Kayden thought.

At this time, Kayden and Serena had already returned to the open space which was located just before the camp’s entrance and which served as the section of the camp where the survivors were gathered.

The soldiers seemed to have finished roasting several portions of the game they had brought back, and they had apportioned some of it to the survivors who were already done with their registration.

The survivors had settled down around the soldiers camp fire, and they were happily munching their roast meat, a blissful expression on each and everyone’s face as they savored the juicy and tasty meat with oil running down their mouths.

An atmosphere of relaxed levity filled the whole place.

“Here, have some. I saved some roast meat for you.” A smiling Nadiya said, presenting a plate of roast meat to Kayden and Serena.

Nadiya seemed to have been keeping an eye out for them, and so she had noticed as soon as they returned.

“Thanks. Have you guys finished your registration?” Kayden asked as he took the plate from Nadiya and began to share the roast meat with Serena.

Kayden took a bite of the roast meat. And he almost moaned out loud as his taste buds were assaulted by a wave of extremely pleasurable taste sensations.

Kayden was surprised by what he was experiencing. The roast meat barely had any seasoning, having only been seasoned with salt. But his taste buds seemed to be working on overdrive and magnifying the taste of what he was eating.

And so, he quickly finished his share of the food while also craving for even more roast meat.

“Yes. The last of us finished Just a little while ago.” Nadiya said, breaking Kayden out of his food-induced brain fog. “I looked for you two when we were done, but I couldn’t find you anywhere. A kind soldier then told us that you went to meet with the camp leader. So, I got some extra food for you. I’m aware that you two must also be hungry like the rest of us. Oh, I hope the camp leader did not give you any trouble.”

“Nah. He just wanted us to join the Resistance.” Kayden said, shaking his head.

“That’s good.” Nadiya smiled. Then she said with some excitement, “So, I guess that means you both will also be staying here with the rest of us?”

Kayden shook his head, “No, sorry. I won’t be staying. I need to go and look for my family and friends. I plan to leave right about now.”

“Sigh. Too bad… but I understand. You should go and find your loved ones. You have already done more than enough to help protect mine.” Nadiya said, patting Kayden on the shoulder. “But you should wait for a little bit more. Come and eat with us and let us say our goodbyes properly. I’m sure the rest of the group would love to see you one last time before you leave. Especially the children.”

‘I seriously doubt that last part. Those kids must have probably been traumatized by my rough driving.’ Kayden thought wryly as Nadiya led them over to where the rest of her group were seated around the campfire.

 

                                                                                                ***

“This is your new vehicle.” Private Rivers said.

Thirty minutes later, Kayden stood in front of a black four-seater armored car parked just outside the camp’s entrance. This armored car was what the general had promised him for his truck — or he should now call it his former truck.

“This is the RA-115 Resistance Army All-Terrain Combat Vehicle.” Private Rivers continued, “High speed, fast acceleration and good maneuverability. Its body can withstand many plasma rifle shots before it sustains any significant damage, while its windshield and all the glass windows are completely bullet-proof and can stop normal large caliber bullets. This combat vehicle model is one of the best within the Resistance army. The general really gave you this vehicle?”

Kayden walked around the vehicle as Private River spoke on, examining it carefully, and he immediately noticed the bags of supplies placed on the back seats of the car. He even entered the car and checked its interiors.

The vehicle looked way less futuristic than his former truck, lacking some of the truck's more advanced features like its smart transparent-screen windshield and its external camera feeds. But, when Kayden started the car’s ignition, the vehicle’s engine ran silently like his original truck, proving that the general had not lied about the vehicle’s engine being powered by a plasma reactor.

Kayden turned to Serena who was standing in front of the vehicle. After he had said goodbye to Nadiya’s group, Serena had chosen to follow him and come out here with him to see him receive his new vehicle.

Kayden had originally expected that she would stay behind with the rest of Nadiya’s group since she would be staying in the camp with them. He had already said his goodbye to her, so that would be a normal thing for her to do. But to his surprise, Serena had said that she wanted to come with him to see his new car.

Although Kayden was a little surprised, he quickly agreed and did not place too much thought into it. It seemed to Kayden that Serena wanted to stay close to him right until the moment when drives away from camp. And Kayden really likes that. It showed that his charms had finally begun to work on Serena and that she had begun to warm up to him.

Unfortunately, even with all that, they would still have to go on their separate ways today. There was nothing he could do about that. He really needed some space and a lot of alone time in order to find himself and figure out who he really was.

But Kayden still hoped to see Serena again at some time in the future. Kayden could admit to himself that he found her attractive.

‘But who wouldn’t? Even those soldiers we met when we arrived here couldn’t take their eyes off of her!’ Kayden thought, consoling himself.

Serena was a very attractive woman with whom he had shared many scary but exciting experiences, so him being attracted to her was understandable.

Kayden thought that if he judged based on the fact that he had first awakened only several hours ago and the fact that he did not have any memories of his past life experiences, it would be appropriate and technically perfectly accurate for him to claim that he had known Serena for most of his life.

And that would be him being perfectly honest!

Anyway, it was good that Serena was warming up to him. As long as she liked him even a little, maybe he could work something out in the future, who knows? Besides, he could always search for her within the Resistance.

Kayden shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“What do you think?” Kayden asked, pointing at the vehicle.

“It’s alright. The general did not try to cheat you.” Serena said.

“Of course, the general would not do something like that! Don’t insult the gen—” Private said hotly, angered by Serena’s words.

“Alright, alright. Sheesh, she didn’t mean it like that. Aren’t you guys colleagues or something?” Kayden said, placatingly.

Serena just gave a noncommittal shrug.

“It will work. Thank you.” Kayden said as he shook hands with Private Rivers.

After shaking hands with Private Rivers’, Kayden turned around to say his final goodbyes to Serena, but she was no longer standing in her usual spot in front of the car. The loud ‘bang’ sound of the car’s door closing made Kayden turn back to look at the car.

He was shocked to find that Serena was now seated on the driver’s seat of his new vehicle.

“What the— What are you doing sitting in the car? I was just about to say that it was now time for us both to part ways with each other.” Kayden said.

Serena gave him a look of impatience.

“Stop talking nonsense. You are wasting time. Get in. I’m coming with you!” Serena said, opening the door on the shotgun side for Kayden.

 

***

“Has he left?” General Justin Perry asked Private Rivers who had just returned to the general operation command tent to give his report.

“Yes sir. He left about five minutes ago.” Perry said.

“What about the woman… Serena Burns? What is she doing inside the camp right now?”

“She left with him.”

Perry stopped what he was writing and looked up at the soldier.

“She left? Did she say when she would be returning to the camp?”

“No sir.”

Perry tapped his pen on his desk absentmindedly, looking like he was lost in his thoughts. But after only a brief time, he stopped his tapping. He seemed to have made his decision.

“Find those prisoners that came here with Kayden and Serena and interrogate them. Be gentle but thorough. Make sure each and every one of them is questioned separately. Find out how they escaped from Skynet’s core facility and everything that had happened on their way here. That’s all. You can go now.”

Private saluted the general and left.

Perry stared at the holograph of Cheyenne Mountain hovering in the air for some time before he pressed a button on his radio communication device.

And when the device showed that the communication line was now connected, Perry said, “Find out whether Colonel Maria Graber is still within the designated battle zone. If she’s still there, inform her that I want to speak with her right now.”

“Yes, general, sir.” Said a voice that came out of the device.

 

*****

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