(Note - This chapter has been republished because of it having the real names of the characters. When I started this book, I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to use them. But I do now, so I edited them out.)

It had been 3 weeks. The loneliest 3 weeks of Tom's entire life. It had started with his best friend, Edd, many weeks after the events of what was known among them as 'The End'. Just thinking about that made him shiver with cold terror.

The day he had so narrowly avoided death.

The day others had been less fortunate.

All because of the disgusting commie bastard, Tord.

He tried his best to block out the thoughts and feelings that clouded his mind with another gulp from his flask, the feeling of the cold metal against his lips calmed him momentarily. But then everything came flooding back. Tom was completely and utterly alone. Edd had disappeared with Matt soon following. He hadn't heard a word from them in days and the police weren't much help. With all the army violence going on lately, that seemed to be the only thing they could think about.

The violence was especially unnerving on top of all of this. The thought that some terrifying bloodthirsty army was prowling around England was terrible. And though the police were trying to protect everyone, it seemed like they were slowly losing the battle against them.

Tom shook his head in a desperate attempt to get rid of these thoughts that were gnawing on his brain like starved animals. He raised his flask to his trembling lips and realized with dread that it was nearly empty. With a heavy sigh, Tom decided to get up to get some more of the alcoholic beverage he loved called Smirnoff. It helped take away the pain, even if it was only for a little while.

He dragged himself into the kitchen and that's when he saw it. His dreadful appearance reflecting in the microwave. He stopped for a moment to survey himself. The bags under Tom's eyes hung like a million bricks trying to weigh him down. His face was pale and his skin looked ashy. But the thing he noticed the most was the tears cascading down his face that he previously wasn't aware of. Overall, he was a mess. A drunken, broken mess.

Suddenly, a loud sound rang throughout his empty apartment, pulling him out of his trance. It was the sound of a phone blaring loudly in his ears. In jerky movements, he grabbed the nearest phone which was hanging on the wall and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" He said meekly, trying to keep himself from trembling even more.

The voice on the other end of the line was gravelly and sounded exhausted, "Hello there. Is this Thomas Thompson?"

"Yes, it is."

"This is the police calling. We have a lead on your friends Edd and Matt concerning their whereabouts. We would like to talk to you in person. Please come down to the same station you were in last time you came. " The voice paused momentarily but then quickly added, 'We know it's late, but this is urgent and considering what's been going on lately, we don't really trust the phone lines anymore. Who knows who could be listening."

Thank you. I will be there as soon as I can." And with that, Tom hung up and glanced at the digital clock on the counter. It read 12:19 am in bright green flashing numbers.

At this point, he couldn't care less what time it was. He just wanted to hold onto any chance that he might see his best friends again. He ran to the door and threw on his checkered converse, bolting down the stairs and into his car.

The drive was long and agonizing as a million questions raced through Tom's head. He just hoped that whatever the police had to say would be somewhat positive. Maybe, just maybe, his friends were alive and well and nothing had happened to them? But he knew that hope was far off.

Finally, he pulled into the police station. He hesitantly climbed out of the car, making sure to check his surroundings. All the things he saw on the news messed with him, creating vivid disturbing images in Tom's head. He kept trying to shake them off. He couldn't be scared. He had to do this for Edd and Matt. He started to take deep breaths and pushed open the door.

In front of him was a counter with an older looking brown haired guy accompanied by a younger looking ginger male. Gingers... that made his head ache with thoughts of Matt. Even though he was incredibly stupid and a narcissistic prick, he was still his friend and he was probably out there somewhere, needing to be saved. Tom took one more deep breath and approached the counter.

"Hi. My name is Tom. I'm here to talk with the police about my friends Edd and Matt who disappeared." The older brown haired man nodded and asked for him to follow.

They made a short walk to a large door which opened to reveal a long hallway with many oak doors. They walked a few more steps, soon stopping at a door that had 'Head police officer' engraved in silver. He opened the door to see a decently sized office holding an oak desk, a few old bookshelves, and pictures of police officers lining the walls. In front of the desk were a few comfy looking chairs. He saw three people also in the room.

The first person he noticed was someone he had seen the last time he visited. He remembered his name, it was Fred. He was the head police officer and sat behind the oak desk. Fred had sandy blonde hair that was beginning to grey and kind blue eyes. To Tom, he seemed to give off a fatherly and friendly vibe. He beckoned Tom to take a seat next to the two other individuals.

One was a young lady with shoulder length brown hair and a big birthmark next to her nose. The other was a man who also had brown hair, only it was a lot darker than the lady's and had a matching curly mustache. All of them had eye bags resembling his own. He took a seat cautiously and looked up at Fred who was speaking to him.

"Hello there Tom, we appreciate you coming out so early in the morning. These are my coworkers Cheryl and Cody." He made a gesture towards them and they gave him a small wave, "I'm sure you would like me to get to the point, though. As we said on the phone, we think we might know where your friends are. In fact, we are almost sure that we have found them."

Tom interrupted him in a frantic manner, "Where are they? Are they okay?" Fred gave him a pitiful smile, "To answer your first question, the red army base."