Twinkie, Ding Dong, and Snowball by Brian Tyler

Families & Loss by Henry Jackman & Alex Belcher

I'm Not Afraid by Tommee Profit ft. Wondra

Ultraviolence by Cliff Lin

How to Control the Dream by Immediate Music

2020

Verdun, France

Reset 10

Finally, Rita had gotten a way to get in contact with Dr. Carter. It had taken a few tries, but she managed to do it. She'd tracked down a phone number for him, and now she just had to find a phone to call him on that wasn't within sight of hundreds of soldiers or commanding officers.

Sneaking around the base was a bit nerve wracking, and she felt like Travis was too tall and could be spotted easily. He loped behind her as they made their way around the buildings. Rita felt like a teenager again, trying to avoid being seen by her father after breaking curfew or when she and Luke would hide themselves away to make out when their relationship had first started and been secret. That nervous thrill was still the same, and it egged her on. It was hard to find a phone, but she eventually did.

And unfortunately, it was in Farell's office.

"Can I help you?" Farell asked, making her whip around. She'd just put her hand on the receiver to pick it up. Damn that Travis for failing to see him coming.

"Got lost," she lied.

"It seems your partner in crime is easy to give the slip to," Farell said with a smile. "What's going on here? What are you doing?"

Rita had the number memorized. She'd made sure of that.

"Nothing," she said, pulling out her gun slowly from behind her back. Farell was giving her a sharp look. It was now or never.

"What are you-?" he started, but she was already pressing the muzzle of her gun to her head and pulling the trigger.

Reset 11

Now that she knew where a phone was that was easier to access, she just had to get there.

"Farell? Seriously? Are you trying to get your ass handed to you?" Travis asked as they jogged along the perimeter of the building.

"So long as I die, he'll never remember," Rita insisted. "And hey, do a better job at watching for him, eh?"

"I obviously don't remember screwing up," Travis shot back, being sarcastic. She rolled her eyes, and they waited until they saw Farell heading out. It was now or never. She slipped inside with Travis behind her, leaving him to stand guard as she picked open the office door and crept in. She went around to the phone on his desk and picked it up, dialing.

"Hi, I'm looking for Dr. Carter," Rita said when someone answered. She had a finger pressed into her other ear to keep out as much noise as possible.

"This is he."

"Dr. Carter! Thank God," Rita said. "Look, I know this is crazy and out of the blue, but I need to talk to you about the Mimics."

"What about them? Who is this?"

"Sorry, I'm Corporal Rita Vrataski. I am reliving the same day over again," she blurted out. She held her breath. Would he believe her? Would he call her crazy? She couldn't help but listen for the sounds of soldiers coming to take her away for being mental. She waited, holding her breath as she listened to silence on his end. Then:

"Are you serious?!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes!"

"Okay," he said, and she could hear papers being rustled now in the background. "This is...wow, okay. Just hold on a sec..."

Rita watched Travis signal that someone was coming. She mentally cursed.

"I don't have a lot of time," she said quickly.

"Right, okay. How many resets?" he asked.

"11."

"What color was the Mimic that died on you?"

"Um...blue?" Rita could see it in her mind clearly. "It was bigger too."

"Excellent. Yes, yes this is proving my theory..."

"What theory?"

"That Alphas are the ones outside of the Omega that can reset the day."

"Erm, how did you come to that theory?"

"Okay, so you've hijacked the power to reset the day," Dr. Carter said, his voice still excited, as he plowed on and ignored her. "This is fantastic. We have another shot at this!"

"Another shot? What do you mean?"

"I had another soldier have this happen to them as well, but unfortunately, they died."

"Died? How?"

"They let 24 and a half hours go by before resetting."

"And you know this how?"

"He was...in front of me when it...it happened," Dr. Carter said, sounding a bit nauseous. "He was...he was testing how long he could go as he'd started off by killing himself every 12 hours just in case...then he branched out. Turns out 24 hours is the limit. And because I woke up the next day remembering everything, I knew he was really dead."

"So, what do I do? I mean, how many times do I reset the day?" Rita asked, trying not to feel alarmed or freaked out that someone before her had believed they were coming back to life and didn't after playing Russian Roulette with resetting. They had apparently helped set the rules for this ability. Travis was gesturing wildly now. She gritted her teeth, hating this.

"I believe that after a while, the Omega will show itself to you," Dr. Carter explained. "I'm still learning, and the last person didn't make it long enough to find out. I believe that since you've taken over their system, it will eventually work in your favor and help you find it. Logically, any leader would hunt for the person who's taken over a central power, correct?"

"Um, sure?" Rita answered, having no idea.

"I guess we'll find out with you at the helm of this," Dr. Carter said, still excited. "Maybe we can find the leader after all!"

"The Omega is the leader?" She was trying to keep track of it all. Mimics, Alphas, and the Omega.

"Rita!" Travis hissed. She waved a hand at him viciously to be quiet and stall whoever was coming.

"Yes. Mimics and Alphas are the soldiers. The Omega is like the brain of the operation. They're an organism. Based on my findings, anyhow."

"Okay, so die every day until I get a vision or something of where to find the Omega?"

"Yes, and don't let more than 24 hours pass. We learned that the hard way." There was some regret in his voice, and Rita swallowed.

"Can I share this blood with anyone? Let them reset also?"

"I don't think so, but it's something we could look into."

"I'm running out of time to talk," Rita said. Travis had given up and had gone into hiding.

"What's my favorite flower?"

"What?"

"This is our first conversation?" he asked, confirming.

"Yes."

"Okay, when I ask you what my favorite flower is, you answer with Black Eyed Susans," he instructed. "That will tell me we've spoken before. If you need to talk to me again."

"Got it."

"If you lose the power, come and tell me everything you remember about your experience," he added. "It'll greatly assist my research."

"Of course."

"What do you think you're doing, soldier?" Farell asked, and Rita slammed the phone onto the receiver and spun to face him.

"My brother is really ill," she lied. "I just needed to check in on him."

"Corporal, I don't care if you-"

"He died," Rita interrupted. "He's dead." She made herself look sad, and Farell looked at her intensely. There was something in his eyes upon hearing this fake news she'd given him.

"My condolences," he said slowly. "But you still broke into my office and made a phone call without permission. Drop and give me 100."

Rita did so quickly, glad that he hadn't pressed any further and hadn't given her 200.

...

"Bloody hell," Travis commented as they walked together towards the training area. "That was too close."

"I got what I needed," she said. "Now we can start."

"So what are we doing?"

"Dr. Carter believes that the more times I reset, the more likely I could see where the Omega is located so we can kill it."

"What the hell is an Omega?"

"The leader of this whole operation. Alphas and Mimics are its soldiers."

"I see."

"I need to train, Travis," Rita said, resting a hand on her hip. "I need to get better at fighting those damn things if we're gonna be wasting time trying to get this vision."

"You're already pretty damn good," Travis pointed out.

"I need to be better."

"Did he say if you could pass it to someone else?" Travis asked.

"He said it was worth a shot. You in?"

"Ask me again later."

"Come on, Travis..."

"I'm not quite there with loving the idea of being shot in the head to find out if I come back to life," Travis admitted. "But I feel like I could get there."

"How? You don't remember any of this," Rita huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well then," he said with a smile. "You better be really damn convincing." She fought back a smile, sucking on her inner bottom lip a little bit.

"Challenge accepted."

"You gonna tell anyone else about this?" he asked.

"Not yet," Rita answered. "When I get the vision and know exactly where the bastard is, then I'll loop in someone else because we'll need an army to go take it out. I mean, I'd guess we'd need an army. I don't know how big it is."

"General Brigham then," Travis noted.

"Yea," Rita agreed. "I'll work my charm with him and make him believe me."

"Watch he doesn't send you packing to a psych ward," Travis warned.

"He can try," Rita scoffed. So long as she always had a gun on her, she'd be fine. She knew that.

"So for now, this is just between us?" Travis confirmed.

"Yea," she replied, nodding. "For now. I'm hoping the vision doesn't take too long, though."

"Well, I'm here every step of the way," Travis advised. He gave her a grin, and she smiled back. It was good to know he had her back.

"And Travis?"

"Yea?"

"Do not let me live past 24 hours. That's imperative. Understand?"

"Understood."

Reset 20

Rita tried so hard to not keep flashbacking to the times Luke had trained her as she swung her melee...the times were they used to spar with each other and how it almost became a dance they could do with their eyes closed. She'd learned from previous battles that the melee was better as it didn't rely on ammo to continue working. She used her guns as back up, but that was it.

"There's a lotta rage in that swing," Travis commented during a pause. She was breathing hard and wiped at her nose with her arm and sniffed.

"Maybe," she said.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"You're a bit of a closed book aren't you?"

"I like it that way."

"So who hurt you?" Travis asked casually, and she gave a start.

"No one..." she tried.

"Pfft, please," he scoffed. "You are imagining someone's face when you're smashing that thing to pieces." He gestured to the broken "Mimic" on the ground. "So who is it? Former lover? Best friend? A parent?"

"My husband," she answered gruffly, making him raise a brow in surprise.

"Your husband?" he repeated.

"And my cousin."

"I see."

Rita turned away from him and kept practising. They were fortunate this base had a training area, although she wondered why they just didn't stay at Heathrow until the battle. It wasn't that long of a flight, but who was she to question the higher ups? She just did as she was told. She vaguely wondered if Luke was somewhere around here preparing for battle. She had yet to come across him over here, and she wondered if he was dead. He wasn't usually one to miss out on a fight. She hadn't found Brendan yet either, and that made her feel very sick inside.

"What did he do?"

"Who?"

"Your husband?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine, then your cousin."

"Still not talking about it."

"You really don't like talking," Travis pointed out, and she shot him a look.

"Get the hint," she retorted, and he chuckled. She went back to training, grateful that after a moment, he did too.

...

Rita came back later that night alone. She'd been trying all evening to stop thinking about Luke, but it wasn't working. So, instead of fighting it, she embraced it.

She got settled on the floor on her stomach, pushing herself up and then lifting her legs off the ground. Her arms strained, and she felt the burn intensify, but she didn't care. When she did this, she was as close to Luke as she could get. He'd once confided in her that it grounded him, and he'd do it whenever he was stressed or just trying to shut out the rest of the world.

It didn't quite work like that for her. Instead, her mind ran amok with any and all thoughts of him, both good and bad.

Legs straighter, his voice whispered in her mind. She gave a grunt as she tried, but she could never keep them straight for a long time, not like he could.

After a few moments, she stopped and settled on the ground on her stomach. She evened her breathing, trying to stop picturing him lying next to her and resting his hand on top of hers. Then she pushed herself up and walked across the training room floor. Sleep didn't come easy, but when it did, it was finally dreamless.

...

Rita didn't know why she bothered to do this battle every day, but she felt that it helped her train, so she worked side by side with Travis each and every time. She had it down that she could save Kamden from dying each time. She was working on saving Pete next. He was a bit trickier, but not impossible. Harvey was the easiest. She could get to him first and keep him by her side. She didn't tell them about her ability to reset the day. The only one she trusted out of her group was Travis, and he'd proven to her that he didn't think she was mental. Dr. Carter didn't think she was either. She wondered, when the time came, if she'd be able to convince Brigham this was real and get his help or if he'd deem her mental, but in the meantime, the goal for this battle was to take down as many Mimics as possible, and Rita was doing just that.

Then she was killed.

Reset 29

Rita was tired and sore. She was trying to lie down on her cot without groaning too much, but it wasn't working. Once she was on her back, her mind started to think about Brendan. Was he still alive? Was he scared? Was he holding his own? She wished she could find him, but so far she couldn't. She tried not to let her mind go over the reasons why she hadn't.

"How do you do it?" Travis asked, making her turn her head to look at him automatically even though she couldn't see him. She hadn't realized he was still awake.

"Do what?"

"Relive the same day. Wouldn't it drive you insane?"

"You get used to it," Rita replied, looking back up at the ceiling in the darkness.

"It makes you wonder if people really experience this," he said. "I mean, you got it from alien blood, but what if someone really did relive the same day? How would they stop it? And how would they get anyone to believe them?" Rita didn't respond. She didn't know what to say anyway. She was tired, but her mind wouldn't shut off and let her sleep.

"Tell me about Brendan's father," Travis said out of the blue. It took her off guard. He'd never requested this before. He usually just asked if she was married and then let it go.

"He's an arsehole," she answered. Luke's words to Simon about her echoed in her mind then, making her lingering anger flare up again. She easily moved between emotions when she thought of him. It was hard to stay mad at him for long, which annoyed her sometimes.

"What did he do?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You're really closed off, eh," Travis said with a chuckle.

"Only one person in this world knows me inside and out," she offered after a moment of silence. "And that's how it's going to stay."

"Fair enough."

Rita closed her eyes and imagined Luke lying next to her. He used to lay on his right side and rest his hand on her lower stomach as he slept. He would snore if he was really tired, just like her father. It wasn't often, thankfully, but he'd deny it every time she told him. Rita felt herself smile as she recalled rapidly pinching his nose one time during a snore fest, just to see what would happen, and he'd woken up with a start asking what the bloody hell she was doing and what was so damn funny? She remembered playful wrestling that had ended in her initiating lovemaking in order to apologize for waking him up, and he'd happily accepted.

She really missed being physically intimate with him.

"I was married," Travis said, startling her out of her daydream of Luke kissing her. She'd thought he'd fallen asleep by now.

"Okay," she said, unsure of what he wanted her to do with that information. "If you're trying to bond with me right now, I'm not interested." She had to keep him at arm's length. Getting attached meant getting hurt when you lost them.

"I just want to tell someone who might remember in case something happens to me," Travis said, and Rita felt shivers suddenly. She knew what he meant. If he died, who would remember his wife? Rita thought surely she must have family somewhere who would remember her, but she let it go. She let him talk, sensing he needed to.

"What's her name?"

"Chloe, and she died six years ago to cancer."

"My condolences."

"I wasn't there when she died," Travis went on, his voice sounding emotional and raw. "I had promised I would be, and I stepped out of the hospice room to answer the phone for just a minute...literally just a minute. I came back and she was gone. She'd died alone. We weren't able to have children; her parents were dead. No siblings. It was just us against the world, but I let her down. It's something I beat myself up for still to this day."

Rita shifted, not knowing what to say. She didn't think he was looking for a response anyway. It made her think of Luke. It had been him and her against the world too for a while, just the two of them. Then she'd had Brendan, and it had been the two of them for so long.

She listened to Travis breathing heavily and knew he was probably shedding a few tears. She felt her own throat tighten a little as she imagined Brendan out there somewhere dying alone. Or Luke. It was a high possibility that he was dead, and that made her feel like she couldn't breathe when she thought about it. No matter how pissed off she got at him at times still.

"I'll remember her," Rita promised him, not knowing why she was saying it. She really didn't want to get attached to anyone ever again. She knew she couldn't survive another heartbreak.

"Thank you."

She eventually fell asleep, still thinking about Luke and Brendan.

...

Rita grabbed Pete by the back of his mech suit and hauled him backwards with all her strength. He yelped, and they both landed on their backs hard.

"Shit," he said, breathless. "Rita, you saved me!"

"Pay attention," she ordered, getting up and swinging her melee at the next Mimic that came at her. Pete watched, fascinated.

"Since when did you start fighting with that?" he asked. "And how are you so good at it?"

"Just lucky," she answered, walking away. "Come on!"

Pete trotted after her, and she caught up with Travis, Kamden, and Harvey. They were huddling out of sight.

"This feels like an ambush," Kamden commented.

"I agree," Harvey said. "We're outmatched here, Rita."

"Right," Travis said, looking around. "All we gotta do is-"

The rocket from nowhere killed them all without warning.

Reset 30

Rita gasped and fell onto her face. She blinked, trying to rid her mind of the image of her team all dying suddenly in front of her. She rolled onto her back and pressed her hands into her face. This was hard, too hard. She couldn't keep doing this, but the thought of losing the war was even harder. She felt hot tears sliding down her cheeks. She wished these bloody aliens had never come to Earth.

After dealing with her emotions, she forced herself to get up and carry on. She had to keep doing this. She had to keep fighting.

For the world. For her son. For Luke.

Reset 35

"You're married?" Travis asked, noticing Rita's chain that slipped out from under her shirt and the ring attached to it.

"Yes."

"Is he here?"

"No. He could be dead for all I know," Rita answered. This conversation was getting old. Travis seemed to get it out of her more often than not that she was married.

"What did he do?"

Today, Rita decided she could tell him. After all, he wouldn't remember it tomorrow.

"He called me a f***ng bitch and said he wanted to put a bullet in me to straighten me out," she said. Travis's jaw almost hit the ground.

"What?! And he's still standing?!"

"I up and left," Rita explained, leaving out Simon. "Hopefully it made him suffer these past 17 years."

"So, is Brendan his kid?"

"Yes."

"You never told him?"

"No."

"That seems harsh."

"I have my reasons," she said defensively. Travis looked like he wanted to press, but he didn't. She didn't want to explain about Simon or her fear of Brendan becoming a target if she let Simon know of his existence. There was no way she was going to let Simon torment, traumatize, or abuse Brendan or use him as leverage. It didn't make it any easier keeping him from Luke, though. She had lots of guilt about that.

They kept training, and Rita could feel him looking at her every so often as though he was trying to figure her out more. She didn't want him to figure her out.

She just wanted to be left alone.

...

Rita screamed inside when she failed to rescue Pete. Travis had gotten Kamden out of harm's way, and Harvey had run behind them to a different hiding spot since the other one kept getting blown up.

"What do we do?" Kamden asked, panting. "We're outnumbered here, Rita."

"Just keep fighting," Rita answered. "It's all we can do." She looked at her team, and Travis was the only one who didn't look worried. He knew she'd bring them all back again.

She was taken down fifteen minutes later. She saw Travis kneel down above her.

"Hang on, luv," he said, taking her hands in his. "You'll be back with us soon."

"Go," she managed to say through her choking.

"Nah," he said. "Someone's gotta be with you when you die. Who wants to die alone?" Her vision was fading, and she knew it was his guilt over not being by his wife's side on her deathbed that made him stay. He had no idea she knew that in this reset, but she could see it in his eyes anyway: the pain, the regret. When she took her final breath, it was strangely comforting having him there.

"See you soon, Rita," he said, and then it went black.

Reset 36

Rita swung her melee hard, the satisfying clanging sound reaching her ears. She was alone this time, having not told Travis anything. The memory of him holding her hands as she died had unnerved her greatly. To have someone care about her like that again was bothering her.

If she was honest, it kept making her think about Luke more than usual, and that was bugging her too.

"There you are," Travis said, walking in as she finished beating the piss out of the mechanic Mimic and stood there breathing hard.

"Here I am," she agreed.

"A melee," Travis noted, tilting his head at her. "That's new. What made you decide that?"

"I just thought it'd be better to have something when you run out of ammo," she answered.

"That's brilliant. Why didn't we think of that before?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered. She shifted the melee into her other hand, feeling the sting from the chafing in her right palm.

"The lads are wondering if you're up for a knife toss," Travis said. "I think Pete wants to lose more money."

"Don't let Farell catch him gambling," Rita warned.

"You know I won't."

She smiled then. She was fond of her team, even if she did think she didn't want to be close to people. It couldn't be helped when you fought alongside each other for so long.

"I'll catch up," she promised, and Travis gave a nod before leaving to round up the others. Rita climbed out of her mech suit and pushed her sweaty hair back that had fallen out of its clips. She walked towards the exit, hands stuffed in her jacket pockets.

As she walked, she caught sight of someone standing in the shadows, and she halted, feeling her hair stand up on her body.

"Who's there?" she called, and the shadow moved away. She felt like she couldn't breathe suddenly. Was it Simon? Had he found her and decided to kill her? Well, he wouldn't be able to this time. She almost contemplated trying to find the bastard just to kill him over and over again. Then she felt her heart skip as she thought that maybe it was Luke. Had he come over here to fight and found her? Why would he hide, though? No, it was nothing. She continued walking.

Just the trick of light.

...

Kamden was jumping up and down on the spot as Rita threw her last knife. It landed dead center of the target, and Pete groaned and smacked a hand against his face in defeat.

"Yeaaaa!" Harvey whooped, laughing. "Hand it over, moron!"

"You really should know better by now than to bet against Rita," Travis added, chuckling. She smiled as Pete slapped his cash into Harvey's outstretched hand.

"Who wants to be beat up next?" she asked, lifting a brow.

"Not me," Kamden said, holding up his hands. "I know better."

"You wanna win your money back?" Harvey asked Pete, laughing.

"No," Pete answered sourly.

"I'm game," Travis said, stepping forward. The boys egged him on as Rita collected the knives. She handed Travis his set amount and let him go first. He was very good, and Rita had almost lost to him before in the past. She liked a challenge, though.

"Oh, oh, ooohhh!" Kamden exclaimed as Rita landed her knife right tight against Travis's on the board.

"Shut it, fool," Harvey said, nudging him before craning his neck around to scan for Farell. "You're gonna get us caught."

Rita and Travis threw their knives until Rita had the last one. She landed it against Travis's again, making it a tie.

"Sheesh," Kamden said, shaking his head. "You guys are too good at this."

"And I didn't lose any money," Travis said with a wink.

"Go to hell," Pete said to him crankily.

"Farell's comin'," Harvey said, jumping down from the wooden crate and booking it out of there. The others were not far behind. Rita looked over her shoulder at the man as he stood there watching with crossed arms and an unreadable expression on his face.

His eyes held pain, though. Rita did not fail to notice that.

...

On the battlefield the next morning, Rita ran for it and slid through the mud, ducking from a rocket. She did her best to not feel emotional over seeing Kamden and Pete dying again. Travis had been killed not long after. She'd gotten separated from Harvey. She looked to see Farell running with his squad. She cringed when he got shot down.

Then a Mimic came from nowhere and took her out.

Reset 37

Rita decided to find Farell. She didn't know how to explain it, but something was telling her to talk to him. She found him cleaning his rifle in the war room.

"Can I help you?" he asked without looking at her. Rita paused, wondering why she was doing this. In the end, when he looked at her, she just pressed her lips together briefly before responding.

"Nothing," she said. "Sir. Sorry, I...I'll leave you alone." She backed away, and Farell watched her go without a sound. She walked away from him quickly, realizing that she probably shouldn't know what his pain was.

She really shouldn't take on anyone else's pain right now.