text: The beach is an oxymoronic location in times of peril. The horizon and the gentle waves create a soothing image, and the shoreline often serves as a sanctuary from the disorder of the world around. Lying on the beach listening to the rhythm of the current is a doorway to tranquility. In contrast, beaches will often serve as the site of brutality. Major battles will occur in the sands, and the outcome of those battles impacts the direction of the entire war. The waters of the beach hide predators both animal and human. The tides have washed blood off the sand for it to achieve sanctuary status. The shipwreck on the shore embodies this contradicting image. The exterior and the hull of the ship have suffered minimal damage, but the violence is hidden deep within the cabin. The surrounding sand and tide ignore this ship and choose to go about their routine. The ocean water flows around the ship and returns to the ocean unbothered. Sergeants Gil and Nilsen drive on the beach in a rusted jeep . They are soldiers for an army with little power outside of its bases. If raiders or other groups discovered their status, they would attack without remorse. The two of them do not wear the standard army uniform; instead, they both wear long pants and a t-shirt with sunglasses. Upon closer inspection, the high quality of their clothes would reveal that they do not have to fight for their survival unlike others. The sergeants step out of the vehicle onto the sand. Nilsen pulls out a small Geiger counter from the backseat while Gil picks up a rifle. Nilsen approaches the shipwreck geiger counter in hand. Gil follows closely behind him scanning the beach for any adversaries. The Geiger counter starts to ring as Nilsen gets closer to the ship; he climbs onto the boat for closer inspection. Gil walks around the boat to scan the perimeter. She hears rummaging and the Geiger counter’s beeps within the ship, but she does not hear any sign of a struggle. Nilsen stands over the side of the boat and looks at her. “Looks like four people lived here, a man and a woman who looked to be in their sixties and two men in their thirties. I found them all in the bedroom. There is no sign that they fought, but they had definitely been raided,” Nilsen leans over the hull. Behind him, Gil notices a translucent smoke in the air. When the smoke reaches the ground, she notices a slight blur in the sky that could’ve easily gone unnoticed. The blur moves close to Nilsen; Gil holds up the rifle and shoots at the blur. After the bullet makes contact with the blur, the invisibility wears off, and a man wearing a small jetpack becomes visible. He falls on the ground behind Nilsen who immediately stands on top of the assailant to keep him down. Gil jumps onto the deck and looks for other attackers. Nilsen holds the Geiger down to the man and watches it wildly beep. “Mieran tech. Tell me where you got it?” he says. “Screw you soldier boy,” the man grunts. Nilsen moves his hand to the man’s wound and presses on it. The man screams. “Did you come alone?” Nilsen removes his hand. “I am not telling you shit,” the man says. Nilsen moves off of the man and flips him over. Nilsen takes the jetpack off of the man to examine its computer. Nilsen leaves his foot on the man. “We got lucky,” Nilsen smiles at Gil, “They knew how to get it to fly and turn invisible, but they never learned how to erase the flight logs.” “Wait, what?!” the man on the ground screams. Nilsen looks at him. “We just found your base. If you tell us any information, we promise to go easy on you,” Nilsen says. “Okay, okay,” the man starts to squirm, “We have a small shack on the shore North of here. It is just two other guys there, Blake and Zach. Blake found the jetpacks at the edge of a small town far away here.” “Does this town have a name?” Nilsen asks. “I forgot!” the man yells. Nilsen nods at Gil; Gil shoots the man in the head. Nilsen and Gil walk away from the ship to their car. Gil drives while Nilsen navigates. They leave their vehicle a few miles away from the shack and walk the rest of the way armed with handguns. The shack is small and made of bricks with small entrances and exits around it. Before the war, this must’ve been a small beachside restaurant. Two men are sitting in small beach chairs outside the front looking at the waves. Gil and Nilsen crouch and slowly approach the shack. Neither of the men react as the soldiers circle around to the front. With sharp agility, the two soldiers wrap their arms around the men and hold their guns to the men’s head. The men start to shake and resist, but the arms pressed against their windpipes impedes their attempts. “We talked to your buddy down at the boat,” Nilsen ensures that both of them can hear it, “He said that Blake found the Mieran technology outside of a small town. First, which one of you is Blake?” “He is,” Zach points at the man Gil is holding. “Your buddy is a coward,” Gil says to Blake. “Screw you,” Blake says. “Boys, stop fighting. Blake please tell us the name of the town where you found the Mieran tech,” Nilsen says. “I told you already. I don’t know. I just found these jet packs lying on the edge of a lake,” Blake says. “Okay,” Nilsen nods at Gil, “We are done here.” The two soldiers pull the trigger and kill the men. They walk into the shack and find the other two jet packs lying close to the door. After a search for other technology, they find no other Mieran technology, but they find the results of several raids. They walk back to their car with the jetpacks. Sergeant Gil gets on the radio to communicate with their base. “Sergeants Gil and Nilsen reporting. We found the Mieran technology responsible for the raids on the beach that residents dubbed the ghost raids. They do not remember where they got the technology from. We are bringing the packs back to base for a full analysis of the flight logs.” Gil says. “Roger that, Sergeants Gil and Nilsen. We await your arrival,” the operator replies. The two drive away from the beach leaving the scene of carnage against the peaceful backdrop.