Consider the area hostile territory. Any soldier who was within the vicinity will be affected and they will forever feel that they've lost something. Before they could put themselves together communication was cut from the base. Lost without any means of direction, afraid to speak of the attack they opted to rebuild. Except they don't know what they are rebuilding and it became a Frankenstein operation.

"Take any and all parts and rebuild soldiers! I don't know what we're rebuilding but keep going until you feel right again."

Those were the instructions that played over again and for years they rebuilt.

Some time later, a foreigner found them and was intrigued by what he saw. He began visiting daily and he was welcomed, but he could not feel at ease. The foreigner grew to love and respect their operation but felt he was being shrouded from the full entity of what it was. He especially fell in love with one soldier. She was open, carefree and loved to laugh. But even in her voice he felt the shadow. He wanted to inquire but it seemed the secret was not only being kept from him, but from the soldiers themselves. What kept them this way, what kept their words crippled, why was every action half-heatedly done?

The questions became overbearing to him. He was falling in love. One day he went to find her to tell her all that was on his mind and before he knew it words he didn't mean flew out of his mouth. Every soldier peaked their heads and watched their mate. The base clanked as all shovels dropped at their feet. Mortified every soldiers mouths opened and spilled from their mouths the horrors of that faithful day. The day it felt the heart of their base was taken away, of the soul they felt died long ago and haunted them still. They rubbed their hearts in pain and looked at him square in the face. In one booming voice they told him of the day they forgot they couldn't remember, the day that began the reconstruction.

Every word that flew out of their mouths hacked them behind their knees, bringing them down hard, tugging at every tear that would come. They all opened their shirts to expose their chest with scars identical on all where their hearts were. For the first time it felt they all opened their eyes and looked at each other momentarily forgetting the foreigner who had disarmed them.

One soldier stepped to the other and felt the seams of their scar- it all flashed back. The day of the invasion, the flash of light, the amnesia, and their plight of endless rebuilding. The scar on their chest unfolded revealing to their feeble heart beating in an uncertain rhythm for even their hearts forgot they lived yet. In disbelief each timidly attempted to poke within their chest. At first touch something tangled upon their fingers and a smile bright broke free surprising all muscles. They all swayed smiling, as their hearts clung tight.

The foreigner watched, flabbergasted at what unfolded before him. The one he loved was standing with another soldier tangled in his heart. Remembering him momentarily she turned to him and began explaining.

“This is what we were trying to rebuild”

Still bewildered the foreigner could not understand. She stepped forward, took his hand and put it to her heart. The same grip that had every soldier now had him. He smiled peacefully and cried. He knew now.

“This is what we were trying to remember this is what we knew we were missing whispered the soldier. It wasn't the attack we needed help to recall. For even if that was a mystery what we wanted more than anything was that moment before. The moment before we thought we died. The moment when we were all alive and knew we were alive even if not completely aware, because we were young it didn't matter there was time. But the attack froze us in time while accelerating it too. What we were trying to remember was who we were before we got stuck in that loop. The moment our hearts touched us it erased the ugliness of what happened and took us back to the moment before, before.”