They were never supposed to end up like this.
The ground beneath City E7 pulsed faintly, as if the earth itself were alive and restless. Each footstep from the squad echoed through the hollow skeletons of buildings long abandoned, monuments of glass and steel now claimed by ash, vines, and silence. The air hung heavy with the acrid scent of burnt metal, smoke, and decay, the ghost of a civilization that had died screaming.
Captain Richard Jing led the unit forward through the ruins, their boots crunching over fragments of charred bone and shattered circuitry. The remnants of Division banners fluttered faintly from broken poles, their insignias faded beyond recognition. His men were tired, eyes sunken, nerves frayed, but duty had driven them this far.
That day, however, something inside him finally broke.
They found the missing. Or what remained of them.
