This is where we begin the journey. "No end."

Idiot. Journey. "End." Journey. "End." Journey. "End." Journey. "End." Journey. "End." Journey. "End." Don't Stop Believin'. "Journey?" Haha. I win.

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"What…. is that?" Synth murmured. The BLU Sniper adjusted his sunglasses, and shook his head.

"I obviously don't know. But I definitely know that it's not gonna be a pleasant sight."

John looked down at the building directly under the vortex. It loomed right over the BLU base. "First, why are you helping us? I thought you hated me. And you hate her too." The man rolled his eyes, and surprisingly, slapped John across the face. Left on his face was a pounding red mark. "Does that show you that I still hate you?" He couldn't help but pull a sneer into his face. Synth snickered. John felt himself blush. "Alright. Fine, then." Synth then examined the sky again, and

"We need to get to the RED base. BLU is obviously not an option," Synth said.

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Much different than she had expected, the RED base was basically deserted. The system's security didn't go off as John or the other Sniper had stepped in. The only sounds were of the air conditioning and the wailing sound of the heavy winds outside. Fishing around the weaponry, they began to stock up on food and weapons. Eventually guns and machinery would become useless pieces of scrap metal when they ran out of ammo, but if they conserved, they should be fine.

"I think we're ready," she said, and turned to see John with a black backpack on his shoulders, a new Scattergun tucked into his hands. Cautiously walking outside, he checked for any signs of a guard or RED mercenary. Then he made a motion to both Snipers, and they sprinted after him as he ran down the silent corridor. Humming of the computers lingered the halls.

"Don't you feel that this may feel a bit too… I don't know, abnormal?" the BLU Sniper whispered. "I think I hear somebody down there!" John started to sprint ahead and turned into a room. Quickly dashing after him, Synth suddenly stopped. "No John stop!"

John turned, and in front of him was the RED Engineer. Cowering in the corner, John was ready to end the Texan's life with one pull of the trigger. "John! Bloody god dammit leave the man alone!" the BLU Sniper shouted after Synth. Pulling back, he eyed the Sniper awkwardly. Synth, lower her rifle, pulled the Engineer up and looked around.

"Where is everyone mate?"

Still shaking, the Engineer answered with "They escaped after this… black, monster came in. I don't know what the hell it is, but it was not human." Synth nodded, and eyed John. "Come with us. There's this unpleasant hurricane-like thing outside. We need to go as far as we can from this place until it's either over or we find some kind of refuge," John sighed. She felt that he wasn't entirely used to the idea of trying to be neutral with RED mercenaries, other than her. Squeezing his hand for a moment, she let go.

"Now let's just get out of here, this place is getting really disturbing."

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Grabbing a dried log from under a bush, he dusted it off, and examined it. Looked fair enough for firewood. Tucking it under his arm, he started to walk into the direction of their campsite. Maybe he shouldn't have been to harsh against the RED Engineer. After talking with him for a while, he felt that he wasn't much different from the BLU Engineer. Well they were all Engineers right? He couldn't seem to look at his teammates the same way again after they had sentenced him to death for befriending Synth. It felt like someone throwing ice and salt (he'd tried the challenge before, and he definitely knew it was painful) onto him if he dared to set his mind onto it.

Walking along the thinly flowing creek, he watched the school of minnows swim along the currents. Why couldn't they all just swim along together like that? After looking at both the RED Engineer and Synth, maybe something between both teams he felt had been taken the wrong way. The eye of the vortex could still be vaguely seen in the distance, but the Engineer (somehow) had calculated that they were out of range for the night and most of the next day. He didn't feel as reassured, but at least he would be somewhat safe for tonight. Then he thought of the Engineer's report of this black monster. He'd never heard of such things. It must have moved in a lightning fast blur, definitely much faster than he could be at full speed, even though he would hate to admit it. Could it be something coming from the vortex? An escaped particle? Some unnamed entity? He decided it was better to leave this inquiry off for now.

Pawing bushes aside, he kneeled beside the young, fresh lit fire, and fed the log into it. The Engineer had been able to scratch a few sparks with a side of his wrench and a bit of quartz. Even though he was limited on metal, he was able to work on a device to track down the rest of the RED team, and soon they'd be able to find every class. He suddenly found him endorsed into watching the Engineer work on the device. It was about the size of a bible, and about just as thick. John began to feel that Engineers probably tinkered and worked with machinery 24/7. Even in bare-handed survival he seemed to be able to set aside time to do what he loved.

"Man, do ya just live on these things?" John suddenly asked. Both Snipers had climbed into the treetops to hunt for some game. So it was only him and the Texan. Adjusting his hard hat, he shrugged. "I guess. It's what I love to do. It calms me down, you know what I'm sayin'?"

John kicked his feet up, and looked into the fading blue sky. "You know what I wonder about sometimes?" he asked after a long moment.

"I'm listenin'."

"Is there life after death? I mean, like Heaven, Hell, or the Underworld? Or do souls just live on in the stars?"

The Engineer tightened a few screws. "Well kid that's a hard question to answer. It's like asking questions like 'Is the universe infinite space?' or 'What is love?'." John sighed, and set his eyes on the fire. Then the older man raised an eyebrow, and added, "Son, what I'm saying is that it's a question that we human beings ponder with. Do you really only live once? You won't find out until it happens. You can only hope for the best as you walk along the road known as Life." Suddenly the boy seemed to feel rather like something had been taught to him. "That's beautiful man." The Engineer blushed, and looked down at the device.

Emerging from the bushes were Synth and the Sniper.

"Who's hungry?"

Hakuna Mantata.