Location: Wasteland Above the Bunker

The regular did his patrol routine again, and again, and again. Only the depressing wasteland to keep him company, an ever present reminder that the world he knew was gone. Within the Bunker, or below ground had the luxury of the landscape out of site and out of mind. He did not, it was a routine for him every day. Get up, eat, patrol, change shift, patrol again, eat dinner, sleep. That would be his routine, one that he was familiar with in his time patrolling campsites in the Gobi Desert.

The regular was... okay with the way things were really. He had grown to accept that the world as he knew it had ended, wasn't really anything he could do to bring it back. Though when he was out on patrol, sometimes he felt like the only man in the world. Honestly the patrol up top was something he preferred sometimes, compared to the uncomfortable stares he got from the civilians down below. Being a regular, people didn't usually like talking to you. You were big, you were scary, you were molded down to your genetic code to kill. People didn't exactly dislike him, but they sure as hell weren't friendly.

On patrol he was on his own, no one around to judge him, just him and the wasteland. That never ending gray lifeless landscape. Maybe one day it would be green again, that would be a day he would hopefully live to see. Maybe not, would it really matter?

The regular checked his helmet's sensors, looked around, still nothing. The same nothing that was there yesterday, and the same nothing that would be there tomorrow. It's times like these where he would think, he had the time, it's not like the wasteland was going anywhere. So that's exactly what he did, he thought about the random crap that first came into his mind.

First up was that time in Harbin, where he saw regulars from a CBRN unit known as the "Black Skulls'' doing their part to crack the city's defenses. He didn't think he had ever seen people as callous as the Black Skulls. They launched VY nerve gas munitions into various city blocks, burned down several buildings with civilians still inside with their incendiary fuel gel if they thought there were PLA personnel within as well.

The regular understood the necessity of war calculus, that sometimes civilians would die. But the Black Skulls… they just didn't seem to factor that into their equation at all. They only saw enemies, anyone who got in the way intentionally or not had it coming in their eyes. The city fell, but not before the Black Skulls had created a few mountains of bodies, military and otherwise throughout the city.

He had learned later that the commander had requested the Black Skulls in order to… 'discourage' resistance, if it worked or not he did not know, he had been sent to another deployment zone. The regular had kept his mouth shut about it, who was he to decide what military actions were necessary or not? Still, he hoped to never meet a Black Skull member again, well, he probably wouldn't, considering the state of the world. He suspected that they might be where the stereotypes about regulars come from, at least partly. Cold, ruthless, lacking empathy… it described the Black Skulls pretty well.

What was next? Ah yes, the bugs… honestly, as of right now, their threat felt over exaggerated to him. Small, physically weak creatures, using impractical weapons and armor, versus highly trained, genetically enhanced soldiers in powered exoskeletons and wielding gauss guns. It wasn't really a competition now was it? It could be possible that the bugs have the numbers advantage but… well, so did the Chinese.

He didn't really have an opinion on the bugs on a moral ground. If Allen sent him to help in giving humanitarian aid he would do it. If they sent him to fight a war with them, then he would do it. He was a soldier through and through, and he followed his orders.

His thoughts turned to his social life, if you could call it that. He wasn't married, had no children, not that he could have kids anymore… they encouraged regulars in training to have kids if they wanted them before the augmentations. They prevented you from having kids, it was a side effect. He never really wanted kids, so he had no qualms about that. The closest bonds he had during the war were with his squadmates. He wasn't sure what happened to them, maybe they were dead, maybe they got sent to a bunker, he had no idea. He missed them, they had many good years together, and more than their fair share of close calls.

With them gone… he didn't really have any friends, the other regulars were either on duty, or too busy doing something else to really socialize with each other. Result of only a hundred of them being active. Ten of which were off on a mission somewhere, a mission he was not authorized to know the details of.

Apparently most of the Bunker was still in stasis until things could be properly set up, only those who were required to be awake were. The children were currently still in stasis, there was no real reason to wake them up. They couldn't really do anything to assist, they were too young and inexperienced. However, when things were more certain, they would awoken, should help with morale among their parents.

It was thoughts like this that made him realize how alone he was. He had no one, no one that would really even care that he exists. The person who probably cared about him most was Allen, but not as a person. Just as another tool for war, he was okay with that, but he wished there was someone who gave a damn about who he was, not what he was.

What he wouldn't give for some decent company. Company that wouldn't look at him like he was some dangerous weapon or wild animal. It would be nice to to have a meaningful conversation-

There was something approaching.

The regular raised his rifle, and aimed it in the direction of the approaching figure. He held his fire until he could properly identify what the figure was.

It got closer and closer and closer and… it was a construction personal. He could tell from the orange on her suit, though she didn't have her exoskeleton on. She was probably on break or something. Why anyone would decide to spend their break time up here though was beyond him.

The regular lowered his rifle, the woman began slowing down, and stopped a bit aways from him. She put her hands on her knees, she appeared to be heaving. He was quite far from the surface entrance to the Bunker wasn't he? It made sense it would be a fairly taxing trip for a baseline human if they were running all the way. Why was she running he wondered, and why was she this far out?

The regular decided to see for himself why the woman was out here, and began running at a comfortable 35 miles per hour. It was not long before he had reached the construction woman who was still grasping her knees and was breathing heavily. She looked up when she heard the regulars footsteps, and shot up in surprise.

"Gah! I forgot how fast you regulars were… geez" The woman said, her breathing beginning to stabilize.

"Why are you here civilian?" The regular asked, genuinely curious.

"Well… I heard that you were up here all alone patrolling, and so, some of my co workers, as well as some other regulars thought it would be nice to get you a little something" The woman said, taking something from her belt, it was a beer cantine.

"You are not... uncomfortable around regulars?"

"Well… maybe at first, but our work involved them standing guard around us, you get used to them, besides, a lot of them are nice. A few of them noticed that you were lonely, so… we thought we would give you something in order to feel appreciated" She said, holding out the cantine for the regular to take.

The regular accepted it, taking it from her hand. It was safe to take off his helmet right?

His suits sensors confirmed this, as its geiger counter reported safe levels of radiation and environmental toxicity. The regular unlocked his helmet, his suit let out a faint hiss as it depressurized. He took his helmet off and held it under his arm.

"Thank you very much" The regular said, as he unscrewed the cap.

He took a swig of the cantine, and damn did he miss beer. It had been a while since he had drunk any alcohol. He savoured the beer in his mouth for a bit, before finally deciding to swallow. One of the perks of regulars was that they couldn't get drunk, it was deemed an important feature, as having a bunch of rowdy drunk super soldiers understandably didn't sound like a good idea to basically anyone in the military. Grunts and officers alike.

"Damn I missed alcohol" The regular said out loud.

"Hey, some of the other construction workers from a different shift were wondering if you would join them for a game of cards when your shift ends, we heard that your down times aligned fairly well with theirs" The woman said with a smile.

The regular took another swig from the cantine before responding.

"Yea… I think I would like that" he said.

Maybe things would be alright after all.