The sky, black with white dots, and the breeze, shaking the leaves, blowing in every direction without a care in the world. It was peaceful, calming, especially with the smell of rain, the distant thunder.

While most got to sit inside, listening to the rain and sleeping at this quiet hour, Keegan got to trudge through the mud, the thick woods. He got to curse the sky while his gun got mud caked into it while his knees yelled for break.

“Damn this world,” Keegan whispered as he exited into a clearing, his eyes straining against the darkness around him, his night vision googles missing from an attack, “The mud, the trees, the darkness, damn it all.”

“That’s quite cruel, stranger.”

Keegan, his neck hair standing on end, whipped around, his riffle shaking as he tried to find the voice. The… soothing, peaceful voice that wrapped around his brain and made he feel… warm.