I laugh as I watch Bryce make a fool of himself as he tries to get his team to guess what he's acting out. Ever since we started dating six months ago, I have quickly learned that he is not good at playing Charades. At all.

Bryce continues to jump around like a lunatic while his team shouts out random guesses.

I exchange glances with my teammates, and we burst into another round of laughter.

"Time!" Rachel calls out, and Bryce's shoulders slump in defeat.

"Come on guys," Bryce complains, "It was a kangaroo!"

Frank and Ryan shoot Bryce confused expressions.

"That was not a kangaroo," Ryan defends, reaching over and patting Bryce's shoulder as he sits on the grass next to him.

Bryce glares at him. "I'd like to see you do better."

I meet Bryce's gaze and can't help but giggle. I know that Ryan is never one to back down from a challenge. From the way that Bryce smirks, he knows it too.

"Fine." Ryan gets to his feet and heads to the front of the group before he proceeds to try to hop around like a kangaroo.

I have to admit that it's obvious that he is being a kangaroo. My boyfriend just can't act to save his life.

Jensyn falls backwards onto the grass, staring up at the blue sky that's almost entirely covered with clouds. She unexpectedly tugs on my hand and pulls me down to the ground with her.

"Um, hi Jensyn," I say, slightly surprised.

She just keeps looking up and smiles at me. "Aren't the clouds so pretty?"

I laugh, but I have to agree with her.

"I vote we play a different game," Bryce says grumpily, drawing my attention back to the group. Frank laughs as Ryan takes a bow in front of everyone.

Rachel eagerly leans forward and suggests, "I have a soccer ball in my car!"

Before long, almost everyone in the group agrees to play the sport, and everyone starts standing up.

I just sit and shake my head when Bryce turns his cute puppy eyes onto me. "There's no way you're getting me to play that game. You know I have no coordination for that," I say, knowing that he'll probably convince me anyway.

I can't win against him.

Bryce continues to pout. "Come on, Sariah. Please? For me?"

We have a short stare down before I groan out, "I hate you, you know that?"

He grins in victory before extending his hand down to help me stand up.

I can't help but grin back as I take his hand. My grin only grows when he doesn't let go, and wraps his other arm around my waist. I lean my head on his shoulder as Rachel jogs over to their row of cars to get her soccer ball.

"You'll have fun, Ri. I promise," Bryce assures, softly kissing the top of my head.

"Define fun?"

Bryce chuckles, releasing his hold on my hand to pull on my ponytail.

"Hey!" I protest, pulling away and lightly punching his shoulder.

He just grins again before shouting to Rachel to kick the ball to him.

I somehow manage to keep up with the game for ten minutes before I walk over to the designated sideline and plop down, exhausted.

"Sariah! Get your lazy bones back on the field!" Jensyn calls out.

I groan again, making sure it's loud enough for everyone to hear. Can't I just take a break? I close my eyes, ignoring everyone's calls to me.

A shadow suddenly comes over me and I dramatically open one eye to see the smiling face of my boyfriend above me.

He doesn't say anything for a moment, just reaches his hand down toward me, still smiling adorably.

"I'm not getting back on that field, Bryce. It's not going to happen." I close my eye again, determined to stick this one out.

"Did I say anything about playing soccer? Just come on," Bryce says. "We can go for a walk around the park."

I try to stop from smiling at how appealing that sounds. A nice walk in nice weather with a nice boy? Who would say no to that?

I open both of my eyes and finally takes his outreaching hand.

He chuckles and pulls me to my feet, wrapping an arm around my waist again. "Well hello there."

"You are such a dork," I comment, leaning closer to him. He reciprocates my gesture and leans down, putting his forehead on mine. I can tell he's about to open his mouth, so I cut him off. "And if you say that you're my dork, you're single."

Bryce pulls back to laugh loudly. I smile as I watch him tilt his head back. And when he looks back down at me with his normal broad grin, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

"You, my dear, know me too well." He presses a simple kiss on my lips before pulling back. "Now, how about that walk?"

Bryce leads me around the edge of the park. Despite the fact that it's over ninety degrees outside, I've never felt so comfortable. His arm is draped around my waist—like it normally is—and my head rests gently on his shoulder. We don't walk fast, just enjoying the time that we have together, keeping in mind that summer is almost over. When the fall comes, Bryce will go back to being busy with work and school almost every hour of every day. It's hard to have a boyfriend and never be able to see him.

When we've been walking for about twenty minutes, we hear Frank yell out that Bryce 'needs' to go back to properly finish their soccer game.

"Sounds like he's pretty desperate," I comment, lifting my head to look at Bryce.

He rolls his eyes before tucking me in tighter to his side. "Nah, he'll be fine."

I almost laugh. I can see in his eyes that he wants to go play again. "Bryce. I'll be fine. Go play with your friends." He starts to protest but I cut him off again. "Look, I don't want or need to be the girlfriend that hogs up all your time. Enjoy time with your friends, Bryce. I'll still be here."

Bryce grins at me and wraps his arms all the way around me. "Have I told you that I love you?"

I hum in content as my arms settle around his shoulders. "Not today."

"Well then, I love you."

"I love you, Bryce." I kiss him before stepping out of his arms. "Now go have fun."

He starts to jog backwards toward the field. "Call me if you need me?"

I can't help but laugh. "Bryce, if I need you I can walk over and get you."

My adorable boyfriend just grins wider before turning and running away.

I look down the path we were walking on, and decide to throw all caution to the wind. I head into the wooded area of the park, stepping off the cement sidewalk.

I don't walk far before I find a small peaceful pond. I smile as I watch the ducks swim around in their little families. The mama duck leads her little ducklings around the pond, and I watch on, completely content.

My tranquil moment is cut dramatically when I hear a loud scream from behind me—from the field.

My mind bursts into full speed, thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong. The peace of the afternoon disappeared in an instant.

It takes me longer than I thought it would to get back to the pathway, mostly because I keep tripping over small roots. And I only lost my way for a moment.

When I step onto the edge of the field, I see everyone scrambling towards our cars, the soccer ball left abandoned on the grass. I frantically look for Bryce but I can't see him anywhere.

My heart pounds in my chest as I try to figure out what is happening. Who screamed? And why?

What's going on?

I can't stop the panic from filling every inch of me. Where's Bryce?

I keep spinning in circles, frantically looking for him. Where could he be?

When I start to get dizzy, I slow down, but don't stop. Instead, I start running on the sidewalk, desperate to find him.

"Sariah!"

Heart in my throat, I turn to see Bryce emerging from the tree line and sprinting toward me. I sprint to reach him.

We collide almost painfully, but my relief courses through me and overpowers any other feeling.

Our hug is too brief, and he begins to pull be at an alarming rate toward the parking lot, which is on the opposite corner of the park.

"Bryce! What's going on?"

He doesn't answer me verbally, he just points up at the sky.

Beyond confused, I try to keep running straight while I look up. To my utter horror, a missile can be seen. And it's rapidly getting closer. I quicken my stride, just as eager as he is to get out of here.

My mind flashes back to when the war started two years ago. Images of fire and death occupy my entire focus. I should have known that such a perfect afternoon couldn't be perfect after all. My chest tightens, and my breathing becomes erratic. It's only Bryce's hand tightening around mine that pulls me back to reality.

As the seconds pass, I quickly realize that even if we get to the car in time, we won't be able to leave before the missile hits the ground.

I open my mouth to mention my thought to Bryce, but he's already a step ahead of me. Instead of guiding me to his car, he changes direction and sprints to a small grouping of trees not too far from us.

My heart pounds heavily in my chest, and my breathing is even more shallow.

Faster than I can comprehend, Bryce has me against a tree and he stands in front of me. He almost completely covers my small body with his as my hands hold tightly to the back of his shirt.

Bryce cautiously peeks out from behind the tree, looking up at the sky. Based on the look of fear I see in his eyes when he returns his gaze to me, I know the missile is close.

"Bryce—"

Bryce shakes his head, smiling lovingly down at me. He kisses my forehead with such tenderness before tucking me even tighter between him and the tree. I want to relish in his arms that are wrapped around me with such love. Unfortunately, time is against me.

It takes only a moment longer before the missile hits. I feel the ground shake tremendously, but as I wait for flames to engulf us, nothing comes.

Releasing my firm grip on Bryce goes against every bone in my body, but I force myself to do it anyway. He's glancing around the tree again, his hand sliding up to rest on my arm.

"What just happened?" I ask so softly and so shakily that I'm surprised he even heard me.

He meets my gaze and I nearly fall to the floor when I see his relief. "It didn't explode."

Tears begin pouring out of my eyes as I hug him completely to me. Harsh sobs rack my body at the relief of what could have happened but didn't. The dark red images flood through me again, and I'm grateful that we didn't become another image, or another statistic of lives lost.

Bryce wordlessly holds me close to him in response, running his hand up and down my back. I can tell his mind is running rampantly through our options.

I force myself to pull away even though I'm still crying. "What happened? Why didn't it explode?"

"There's a few options," he begins, and I feel his arms tense around my waist. "Either something went wrong and it didn't explode, or it was never meant to be a bomb. It's a scare tactic."

"But—"

"We'll figure everything out later. Right now," he says, keeping intense eye contact, "Right now we need to get out of here. It might not have exploded on impact but that doesn't mean there isn't a timer."

I eagerly follow Bryce as he carefully guides me to his car. My eyes flicker back and forth from him to the missile slightly buried in the middle of the field. The soccer ball rests only a few feet away from the crater.

As soon as we reach his car, he yanks open the passenger door for me, helping my shaking body get in, before he closes it.

My eyes stare blankly at the glove box, and I barely register when Bryce gets in the car and starts driving away.

"Are you okay, Sariah?"

My head turns to him, but I can only nod.

"It's been months since they've attacked. And now they pull this?" He mutters, steering us far away from the park.

I don't interrupt his mumbling as he drives us back to the compound.

This war isn't over yet.