I frowned at Drake's warning. My instincts told me he knew something. I ignored them, Drake was just some man. An attractive one too, but that's besides the point. Warmth spread across my cheeks has he held my hand. What is wrong with me, I thought. Shaking my head, I stepped out of the truck. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black hovercar land behind Drake's trailer.

I watched as Drake raised the trailer and sped off, leaving me. I turned heel, walking towards the recruitment building. Entering the building, I was greeted with a homey space, a white reception desk stood in contrast to the light brown walls and old leather furniture. Perking up at the sound of the open door, the reception gave me a smile. "Welcome to the Army Recruitment. Do you have an appointment?" I nodded. "I'm Lizell Stanner, the reporter from GA." The receptionist nodded before checking the screen in front of her. Getting up from her chair, she motioned to me. "Please come. I'll show you the way."

I followed her as she walked through the hallway. Stopping at a door, she knocked. A gruff voice could be heard, asking us to enter. The receptionist opened the door and motioned me to enter. Nodding my head, I entered the room and closed the door behind me.

The man in front of me stood, gesturing for me to sit. "Welcome Ms. Stanner, I am Greg Runder, the chief recruiter here on Mud." I smiled. "Thank you." I said, sincerely. He nodded. Putting his hands together, he drove straight to the point. "You said you wanted to look up a soldier recruited here."

I nodded. "Yes. I could not access his file." Runder nodded, his brow furrowed. "Odd," he began, "I'll see if I can access it." Turning to his computer, he pulled up the database. "What was the soldier's number?" I pulled a slip of paper from my pocket and handed it to him. The recruiter typed in the number. After a minute of staring at the screen, his brow furrowed. "I also can't access it. The account is not displaying the soldier's record."

I nodded. "It gave me the same problem." Runder looked as if he was deep in thought. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he smiled. From what the record says, the soldier was recruited when I first started working here, when this location did not have many resources, so I made notes about each soldier. I believe I kept all of them."

My eyes lit up. This was perfect. I could finally find the missing soldier. Standing up, Runder led me out of the door and down the hallway. Stopping before a door halfway down, he put his hand on the recognition plate. The door opened, revealing boxes and boxes stuffed with papers, sticky notes, and pictures. I gulped. This could take the entire week to sort through at least.

Seeing my expression, Gunder chucked. Patting my on my shoulder, he started checking the boxes. "Don't worry, Miss. We are not that disorganized. The boxes are labeled with their year." He said, moving boxes of out the way and bring up clouds of dust. "Our missing friend would be over here... AHAH!" With an excited shout, Gunder beckoned me over to a stack of what seemed to be ten boxes. "This are the notes of the soldiers we recruited in a two year span, which includes the year in which the year when the soldier came in."

I let out a breath of relief. At least we didn't have to search through all the boxes. I put my hair up in a quick ponytail and rubbed my hands together. "Let's get started."

It took us most of the day to find the soldier matched with the number. The secretary was kind enough to go out and buy some food for us. After a quick lunch break, Runder and I went back at it. The sun had started to set through the slightly open blinds when I heard Runder shout.

"I found him! I found the soldier!" I quickly got up, wincing as my blood rushed through my legs. Walking awkward, I headed to where he sat, peering at a sheet of paper with a couple sticky notes attached to it. I quickly noted his number, matching the one in the database. The sticky notes had a list of several medals awarded in his honor. Everything looked normal.

Runder peeled back one of the sticky notes to reveal who the name of our mystery soldier. I blinked. That couldn't be right. After rubbing my eyes, I peered once more. Runder, unaware of my shock, rumbled around in the box next to him for a little bit. "Here, take a look at this." He handed me a picture. Short dark brown hair matched his hazel eyes. His cool gaze looked back at me, transporting me to this morning, where I looked at the exact same gaze.

"Well I'd be damned." I whispered under my breath.

Stunned, I left the recruitment office. I didn't notice that the sun had set. I didn't definitely didn't notice the black hover car carefully following me. I suddenly became angry. Why didn't he tell me that he was in the army? The anger fizzled out briefly. If he was still alive and well, why was this record removed? I briskly walked over to an automotive shop and rented a hoverbike for 48 hours.

Attaching an ear comm, I increased my elevation and speed as I left the city. Behind me, unnoticed, a certain vehicle matched my actions, increasing in speed.

My anger flared up.

Oh boy, that man is going to get an earful.

Drake Daemon...