Chapter 16: A once in a lifetime opportunity...
Gabriel sat on the edge of the window sill, letting the sound of the heavy rain beating against the glass drown out her thoughts. Even after downing three bottles of heavy liquor, it was impossible for her not to notice the intense emotions spilling over like a boiling pot of water. It seemed as if the alcohol had converted what was left of her logical, malignant self into an unholy loose collection of emotions: rage, sorrow, hopelessness.
She scolded herself as she noticed her hand reach into her pocket for another cigarette.
"God...what are you, a fucking child Gabriel? What, need another cigarette to stop you from crying?"
She could practically hear Vignette's voice in her mind, when times were simpler. Her stern yet loving lecture about how harmful cigarettes were. Spouting off numbers and statistics like she had learnt them yesterday.
"Gabriel! We talked about this! Only one cigarette a day! Even if you cut back just one, you reduce your chances of lung cancer by ninety percent, and yadadada..."
"I know Vignette. I'm just...I'm scared. I might not even live to see tomorrow. Why do you think I want this fucking relationship with you anyway?"
Gabriel looked over at her friends, her eyelids struggling to stay up. Vignette, the caring soul that she was, was spoon-feeding the guests who had recently arrived. For the time being, everyone had unanimously agreed to let Gabriel's squad reside in their apartment, so that they could be looked after. Although they understood their intentions, they still felt humiliated: that they were being taken care of by little more than teenagers.
"Come on...open. It's getting cold," Vignette mumbled, guiding a spoonful of porridge to Alvarez's mouth.
"Fuck this," she spat, blindly taking the spoon from Vignette's hand. "I still have hands you know."
Vignette sighed, leaving the bowl of porridge in Alvarez's lap before getting up to care for someone else.
"Vignette," Alvarez spoke with defeat. "Sorry."
"It's okay. Really."
"It's just...humiliating. We're gonna have to be taken care of like fucking children for the rest of our lives."
"You'll work around it. I'm sure."
By now, everyone in the flat had gone to sleep, some on beds and some on inflatable air mattresses. All, except Gabriel and Vignette, who were up not of their own accord.
"Gab...I know you have nightmares, but could you please stop drinking so much?," Vignette asked quietly, gently taking the bottle from her hand.
"..sorrys...Vinette...alwayz the warry-wort...," Gabriel mumbled, looking back out the window.
"Come on. You can sleep with me tonight. I...get nightmares too."
"Vi-neggete...wha...why? Wha...why'd it'd be us?...s...God iz doin' up there?"
Vignette led the drunk Gabriel to the bathroom by the hand, so that she could brush her teeth and wash her face.
"I don't know Gab. I don't know."
"Cqous...sgrmetimes a frgin...desgpise hom...! Ygou kno...?," Gabriel cried, spitting bits of toothpaste onto the mirror.
"Don't talk while you're brushing, okay?"
Gabriel flopped onto the futon and snuggled up against Vignette's soft, warm chest. Vignette draped the covers over her, making sure they were both covered. She hesitantly let her arm rest around the curves of Gabriel's waist, noticing how much more relaxing it was to hear the sounds of someone else's breath as she closed her eyes. Gabriel however, was still half-conscious, and was looking up at the purple haired girl.
"...vig...ne...," she mumbled, causing Vignette to open her eyes.
"...gab."
"I...like...you. A lot."
Gabriel was whispering at this point.
"I like you too."
"...dgo yo thnk...marriged zome day..."
Vignette smiled brightly at the girl in her arms. She felt her heart flutter, that the drunkest of Gabriel's had that on her mind.
"I promise you. No matter what. We will get married. And I'll love you for all of eternity."
"...tganbs...lov...you..."
The next day arose much too quickly. There were no beams of sunlight streaming in the apartment through its blinds as it usually would, instead only a faint blue light.
Checking the time to make sure, Hensky confirmed indeed that it was six am, considering it didn't look like it. She looked out the window of her shared room, and instantly felt the cold radiate off the glass. There was heavy snow, and while it did seem like a Christmas morning, it was anything but. There was no cheer on the faces of the soldiers who were stationed outside in the bitter cold to shovel snow off the roads.
Much against the wishes of her body, she left the warmth of her bed and got dressed, wearing three hoodies and thick sweatpants. Raphiel heard the soft tip-tap of her feet on carpet, before ignoring it and falling back asleep. It was the day after a tragedy after all. They were allowed to have a day off.
The Russian girl started a large pot of coffee for everyone to drink. In total, there were nine people currently residing in the apartment: Gabriel, Vignette, Raphiel, Preobrazhensky, Torres (Japan Air Self-Defence Force pilot, currently overseas on deployment), Alvarez, Ross, Eun and Mori. The mass of sprawled out sleeping bodies on the living room reminded her of her old college days, when she would stay up until four working on assignments, much to the disproval of her roommates who insisted that they work on it together.
However, they didn't look as skinny or as worn out as these people.
"...hello? Who's there...?"
Hensky noticed a brunette get up from her mattress.
"Ala...her name started with an 'a'...," she thought, trying to recall the night they met. It was fair that names were an afterthought, especially when everyone was crushed by the war crime committed on them.
"Hensky? I can hear you you fucker."
"Ah. You got me. Please excuse me, but I forgot your name."
Alvarez stumbled towards the sound of the kettle. Her long hair was puffed out from the night, some of it getting into Hensky's face.
"Alvarez. Blind girl with brown hair and a neck tattoo."
"Right. Not going to sleep in?"
Alvarez covered her ears at the sound of the kettle whistling.
"Gah...!," she winced. "Fuckin' loud...uhh...nah...figured I should do something today. Can't eat all your food and be useless."
"You don't have to. It wasn't your fault."
"It was my fault."
"How so?"
"I...I knew that there was someone working for Ares in the camp. A lot of us did. And I just stood by, letting him fuck us from the inside. It was our fault that we didn't find and stop him. It was our fault that our drones were disabled when they attacked."
"O-Oh."
"Yeah."
The two of them leaned back on the kitchen counter and slowly sipped at their mugs of black coffee. It tasted bitter, but at least it warmed up their insides.
"What will you do today?," Hensky asked quietly.
"...I'm just gonna walk around. Get used to...this."
"Right. Want me to walk with you?"
"No. I'll call you guys if something goes wrong."
"Okay. Stay safe out there. Be careful not to slip."
While Alvarez was getting ready to go outside, Gabriel and Vignette slowly stirred to life as they smelt morning coffee. Vignette was about to get up, but was pinned to the futon due to a certain someone's arms wrapped around her torso like a sloth.
"Gab...get offa me," she moaned, causing a stubborn whine from Gabriel.
"...fi...minutes..."
Vignette didn't understand how Gabriel could convey that much reluctance in one grumble. There was no rush to get up, but Vignette still wanted to start the day right, which was in complete opposition to Gabriel's plans, considering how she now wrapped her legs around Vignette. She couldn't even tell that her legs were directly touching Vignette's rear.
"G-Gab!," Vignette squealed quietly in shock. Gabriel was snoozing away peacefully, her face buried in Vignette's chest, taking deep breaths of her scent. She made incomprehensible grumbles, which Vignette translated to: "Go back to sleep Vignette."
"Gab...this is nice and all but...I wanna start the day."
Gabriel stubbornly squeezed even tighter, the movement exposing a part of her back to the outside world. "Cold!," she yelped, pulling more blanket to her side.
"Gah!," Vignette screeched, her backside exposed to the air. "Share the frickin' blanket you-!"
"Nuh! Uh! Don't wanna!"
"Why you stubborn little-"
Gabriel winced after slightly opening her eyes. Her head was pounding and her mouth was dry. Not to mention, she was freezing.
"Owowow...my...goddamn head...," she groaned, retreating under the covers while Vignette sat up.
"I keep telling you to stop drinking so much. Now that you mention it, you should also stop smoking as much..."
"You should stop nagging- ah...dizzy..."
Vignette shuddered a little bit at the cold as she got some headache tablets from the kitchen cabinets, saying a polite good morning to Hensky in Russian. Hensky smiled as Vignette did everything she could to alleviate her girlfriend's hangover.
"Was it always this bright...," Gabriel muttered, sitting up. Vignette gently pushed her back down and covered her with the blanket.
"Back to bed you. I'll be back in about an hour, kay'?"
"Where you going?"
"Need to go shopping. Before everything runs out."
Gabriel let out a lazy moan of understanding and promptly passed out, as Vignette began her day. Frankly, it was less her day, because it was Gabriel's birthday today. April 20th. And despite the bitter cold and the lack of food, she would do everything in her power to make it the best day she's had in a long time.
"(Oooo...look at you! I can practically see the nervousness!)"
"(Oh stop it. I am not nervous.)"
"(You totally are! You're quaking in your boots!)"
"(Because it's freezing, Anna.)"
Vignette and Hensky trudged along in the city markets, almost slipping on the frozen over pathways. Hensky had a brown paper bag of 'food' tucked in the crook of her forearm, while Vignette was looking at a map on her phone.
"Hmm...this way," she said, turning right on the intersection. Hensky followed her into a store which had posters of guns and bullets plastered all over its large front window.
Hensky took a deep breath as she entered. "Ah...smells like my dad's place."
An old senior, who seemed to be about sixty or so, watched the girls lecherously as they browsed the stocked shelves. There were sections of the shelves neatly sorted and categorised, much to Vignette's surprise. Small arms, long arms, ammunition, grenades and body armour, anything that a soldier could carry into the battlefield, it was there. She noticed a whole wall under the label 'War Dogs' and walked over, while Hensky was browsing ammo for her handgun.
Vignette ran her hand across a Kriss Vector sub-machine gun, and imagined it in Gabriel's arms. It was small compared to their military issued rifles, and more magazines would be able to fit in her pouches.
"(I hope you're not thinking of getting her a Kriss.)," Hensky chuckled, walking over.
The old man at the counter noticed them speaking a foreign language and made a clicking noise, signalling a hint of anger.
"(What? Why not?)"
"(Because. Almost everyone in a squad uses 5.56 or 7.62. It would be a pain for one person to use a pistol calibre as their main. Besides 45 ACP rounds can't penetrate body armour.)"
Hearing this, Vignette wandered over to the rifle section. It was mostly AR style builds, with a few Chinese and Russian weaponry standing out. She picked up a gun that looked like a standard issue M4 but with a slightly different barrel and stock.
"How bout' this?," she asked, feeling the heft of the weapon. It was lighter and shorter than their issued M4 rifles, and the trigger felt lighter to pull.
"Ah. Daniel Defence MK18. (My dad had one of those...)," Hensky sniffled, getting teary eyed. She cleared her throat and felt the MK18 in her arms. "(10.3 inch close quarters battle rifle. 5.56mm cartridge. Essentially an upgraded M4.)"
"Do you think Gab will like it...?," Vignette asked, chewing on her fingernail.
"I think she'll love it. She always did complain about how the M4 was too heavy."
Vignette took a closer look at the assault rifle, opening it up to take a look at the insides. It had signs of light to medium use, the lower receiver was scratched up and a kind of coating was chipping off on the side of the barrel shroud. She read the yellow tag that was attached to the weapon:
"Daniel Defence MK18 found in tunnel after special operations mission gone bad. Heavy use, replaced trigger assembly, firing pin, stock and front sights," she said out loud. "Great. This belonged to a special forces operative. I hope she'll like getting haunted."
She was just about to put it back but was stopped by Hensky.
"Come on. That exosuit Gab's wearing? Belonged to someone else and she's not getting haunted too frequently."
"F-Frequently?"
"I'm sure the owner of this gun would have wanted our Gabriel to shoot it, no?"
Vignette looked down at the rifle which looked back at her with determination. Like it had taken a break for a while, and was ready to shoot some bad guys.
"...okay. Okay. This one. I choose this one."
Vignette walked up to the counter while Hensky was picking out boxes of ammo.
"Hello. Trade in for this MK18 please."
"Whaddya got miss?," he grunted, placing his cigar on an ashtray and leaning on the counter.
Vignette laid a green duffel bag on the counter and pulled out several weapons and parts. There were three standard issue M4 rifles, an AKM without its magazine, a SCAR-L and an AAC Honey Badger.
"Where'd you get alllll this?," he drawled. "This is some goooood stuff."
"Combat."
He looked at her suspiciously, eyeing her up and down.
"You a killer pretty girl?," he chuckled.
"Uh...no, actually. That title would go to Gab. Gabriel White."
"Ah. Heard of her. She don' look like much."
"Yeah. This gun is for her," she informed, smiling at the MK18. "It's her birthday."
"Is it now? Right after a tragedy."
Vignette stayed silent.
"What's yer name girl?," he whispered.
"Vignette."
"Vignette. I'll take them all. Pick up three boxes of ammo on the way out too. Make sure White gets plenty of practice."
"Thank you...er..."
"Call me Eli."
They shook hands, but Eli quickly dragged Vignette close to him over the counter.
"Vignette. You two better win this war for us old folk, you hear? And you come back to this store, and show me this gun when you're done."
"U-Uh...y-y-yes sir. Wilco."
He nodded and let go. Vignette saw sadness behind the angry facade he was putting on, and she understood. He slid the assault rifle into a carry bag and filled out some documents, while Vignette picked out boxes of ammo next to Hensky.
"(So? He buying?)," she asked Vignette.
"(Yeah. Three boxes of ammo included.)"
"(Tsk. Should've gotten spare magazines instead. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent magazine around here?)"
The two left the store, with a weight lifted from Vignette's shoulders. That was one more item ticked off on her checklist (she had in fact, made a checklist named: things to do for Gab's bday). They had got her gift, but it still needed to be customized, much to Hensky's fake annoyance.
"Ehhhh? Vignette...(don't you think you love her a bit too much?)," she whined as Vignette told her the next step.
"It's not like I'm personally engraving 'I LOVE YOU FROM VIGNETTE' on the gun you know. Besides it doesn't even cost that much...," Vignette reasoned. "I...I would do this for anyone's birthday."
"Your tone says it all. You're completely lovey-dovey with her. The gun, the dinner date, the cake."
Vignette sighed at the teasing. "Okay. So what if I am? You jealous?"
"(Anything but! I'm just extremely happy for you two. In Russia, if two women love each other they will go to jail!)"
Vignette blinked. "(Wha...are you...trying to tell me you're gay?)"
"(When did I say that! Hahaha!)," Hensky laughed, holding her stomach. ("Although I'm not opposed to the idea...)"
"(What are you saying?) Anna Preobrazhensky. Are you a lesbian?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I should find out..."
Hensky pushed Vignette against a brick wall and leaned in for a kiss, only to get slapped in the face.
"Ow."
"Yeah. Explore your sexuality with someone else."
"Hehe...sorry. I was only kidding. Yeah...no...I'm not gay. I had someone I loved."
"Loved? We...should change the subject..."
"He's dead. What...is it so bad I want to keep his name alive with you?"
Vignette stuttered at that surprisingly philosophical reasoning. She remembered a quote which said that people die twice: once when they breathe their final breath, and the last when their name is uttered for the last time.
"Okay...if you don't mind...who was this man?"
"Olezka Evanoff. He was...it's hard to put it into words. (All I can think of is how full of life he was.)"
Vignette continued walking alongside Hensky as she formulated her thoughts.
"(We met on the first day of my work as a communications operator. I remember he made fun of my hair. I...I was only trying out a style. It wasn't permanent! It...you know what, it looked really bad in hindsight. I just wanted to stand out. So I made fun of him back. And what do you know, we end up sitting next to each other at work. And then we hit it off.)"
"(What was he like?)," Vignette asked.
"(He had this...fire in him. He always did everything he believed in. If he didn't want to do something, he wouldn't. And when he did, oh boy...did he give a hundred and twenty percent of himself into it. It's part of the reason I'm inclined to like that little blonde 'friend' of yours. She reminds me of him.)"
"(Was he lazy, sarcastic, stupid brave and stubborn too?)"
"(Stubborn yes. But no, he was very different to Gab. Part of it being he was a meaty hunk of a man. Mmm...)"
"Don't you...you know...miss him? If I l-l-lost G-Gab..."
"Of course I do. But I said my goodbyes. I-I...held him in my arms and I told him that I loved him. And off he went. To the afterlife."
Vignette heard her holding back tears and sniffle as she walked behind her.
"Gah...God...look at me...haha...anyway...I know...it hurts but. At least I got to see him off. Most people don't get to do that."
"...you think he's smiling from up above?"
"(Everyday.)"
Slowly, they began to trudge on through knee deep snow, as they were following a path not common to everyday shoppers. It was evident that getting something etched onto your weapon wasn't the highest of priorities on everyone's minds.
They knocked on the rotting wooden door of the makeshift shack. It took a few minutes , but they eventually heard footsteps coming to the door.
The door creaked open. "Are you girls here for engravings?," he asked with a heavy Asian accent.
"Yes. One phrase and a stamp on the side of an AR receiver please," Vignette requested politely, ignoring the stench of alcohol radiating off his clothes. "How much will it be?"
"3000. I also take ration cards or barter."
Vignette gave him a wad of bills in one hand and the bagged rifle in another. He shoved the bills into his pocket after counting it, before zipping open the bag and inspecting the gun. He waddled back into the shack, gesturing for the duo to follow.
"And what phrase would you like?"
"Ermm...eh..."
"Well?"
"(Anna...it's so cheesy.)," Vignette cringed, burying her head in her hands.
"(Tell me.)"
Vignette leaned in to whisper it in Hensky's ear, to which she suppressed a laugh and breathed in sharply.
"Yup. Very cheesy indeed."
While Vignette and Hensky were out preparing for Gabriel's birthday, which she forgot about, Gabriel and Raphiel figured they might as well go outside also, despite the freezing cold temperatures. Realistically, it was Raphiel who bribed the blonde girl with snacks and massages in exchange to tolerate the cold and visit the range.
Another puff of smoke in the distance. Raphiel pulled the bolt back and the brass casing flew out with a trail of smoke. You don't become the best sniper in the whole army by staying inside all day.
"Yup. She's good."
"Your turn Gab!," Raphiel cheered, standing up and gesturing towards her rifle. Little did Gabriel know, Raphiel felt it was a long time since she played a prank on her friends.
"Alright. So. If I hit this, I can fondle your boobs as much as I want?," Gabriel asked confidently, wrapping her slender fingers around the rifle.
"Sure! Just hit a bullseye!"
Gabriel took deep breaths. She flicked the safety off with her thumb and...
BANG!
"Wha...how'd that miss?!," Gabriel yelled, taking a closer look at the target with her binoculars. "I...didn't even see smoke."
Already Gabriel was suspicious.
"It's okay Gab-chan!," Raphiel chirped. "I'll let you 'violate' me if you hit the next two shots!"
"Next two shots huh? Alright you demon..."
Gabriel tugged on the bolt, the brass casing bouncing off the range wall, and loaded a new round. She lined up the crosshair with the target, steadied her breath and...
"Raphie," Gabriel said which surprised her. She was expected a loud bang, not her name.
"Hmm? What is it~?"
"Don't you think your boobs have been getting smaller lately? I think we should up the stakes."
"W-W-What?!"
Raphiel looked down under her heavy coat at her cleavage. Gabriel was right. It certainly was looking a lot smaller, obviously due to the food shortage.
"Gab, I-"
"Never mind. I'd still like to fondle them. Only if I hit this next shot right?," Gabriel said.
"Uh...yeah. Only if."
BANG!
The shot rang out in the distance, and a few seconds later a cloud of smoke could be seen on the far end of the range. Raphiel's jaw unhinged as she peered through her spotter scope, at the large hole in the middle of the target.
"Direct hit. Knew I was spot on," Gabriel thought, ejecting the shell from the rifle.
"Wha...I...how..."
"Thought you could pull one over on me, didya?," Gabriel said with a smug face, holding up two different cartridge casings. "Knew these sounded odd."
"Ah...you got me...say, how about we do double or nothing? Handguns maybe?"
"Nice try. Strip."
"I-I-I'll let you...do whatever you want to me if you beat me at handgun shooting!"
"Whatever I want?"
"Y-Yes! Anything! B-B-But only for a minute!"
Gabriel couldn't help but let a wave of lewd thoughts rush over her mind, thoughts that were too lewd even by teenager standards. She shook her head as a familiar purple haired individual scolded her internally, and she thought of more wholesome pranks to do on Raphiel's body.
"You sure bout' this Raph?," Gabriel asked. "I'm pretty good with my Glock..."
"Let's go! Fight me to the death!," Raphiel yelled with intensity, rushing off to a different part of the range.
"Heh...I was only kidding about the boob thing you know..."
"Excuse me? Gabriel White?"
She turned her head at the sound of the voice. There was a middle aged man dressed in an intimidating black and white winter trench coat, standing by the doorway which led to the indoor range.
"Yes? Who are you?," Gabriel asked, taking off her ear protection.
"My name is Morioka Takehiko. I am a representative for the Alex Defence Company. Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. Whaddya need?"
"We're currently on the lookout for new recruits for our special forces division. We handle very important missions issued to us by the Japanese government. For example, the assassination of Yin Duyi."
"Oh...so you guys did that."
"Correct. Recently, a few of our operators has retired to take care of their families during the nuclear winter. So we're looking for highly talented individuals that can fill in for them."
"Highly talented...?," Gabriel scoffed. "Sorry but...I'm not your girl. I can refer you to some friends if you want."
"Please. But the offer is still available. We'll evaluate your abilities in a week-long testing period, and subject to even more specialised training, if you choose to accept. If you do, you will be paid fifty million yen, the equivalent of five hundred thousand US dollars.
"Fifty million...?!"
"Gab-chan? What's taking you so long?"
Raphiel noticed that she was talking to the man, and introduced herself politely.
"Pleasure meeting you, Raphiel. We were just discussing a...job offer of sorts."
"A job offer? Where to?"
"To the Alex Defence Company. Serving as a special operations recruit."
"Ooo! Gab-chan!," Raphiel cooed excitedly, hugging her from behind. "So much prestige! You'll be bowed down to!"
"...will I...will we...be planning a hit on Doctor Haruo?," Gabriel asked quietly, suppressing her anger.
"Not at the moment, no. We believe there are bigger problems than something as small as gas attacks."
"Sma-...like what?!"
"The information is confidential."
Takehiko reached into his coat and gave Gabriel a business card. "This is an opportunity to do something great. Something deadly impactful. Your actions will be remembered by millions. Give us a call when you're ready. Oh, and as a bonus...you'll be given a new exosuit. Gen 5. Built in heating."
"T-Thank you for the offer. Takehiko."
"White. Raphiel."
He politely bowed his head and left the two of them alone, one more excited than the other.
"Gab! This...this is incredible! You've been basically promoted! R-Right?," Raphiel squealed, bouncing up and down while holding Gabriel's hands.
"I...I gotta call someone. I don't know about this."
"Okay. Okay that's fair. But...wow...to even get considered by such a prestigious company...you must be flattered...! Ahem! Sorry. Call Vignette. Take your time Gab-chan! I'll be warming up indoors."
"Okay. See you in a minute," Gabriel said holding her phone up to her ear.
"God...why in the actual hell would they need a medic to do their top-secret work? Couldn't they find one strong dude in all of JSDF to work for them? Anyhow, if I'm not gonna be able to strangle Haruo with my bare fuckin' hands, I'm never going to join. Ever. Never, ever in a million years will I-"
"Gab! What's up?"
"Vignette. I got a job offer."
AN: Sorry for late updates: just started uni and I'm very overwhelmed right now! However, don't worry Mr or Mrs guest, I won't be abandoning this story any time soon. I still have a lot more to develop in this world right now:
- How our characters will cope with food shortages and nuclear winter
- Gabriel's and Vignette's birthday?
- Possible lemon between Gab and Vign?
- Gab's new career opportunity
- New villains, new backstories and so on!
So much to write, so little time. By the way, dear reader, if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes in any chapter, please leave a little note on the reviews page so that I can fix it up. I'm seriously anal when it comes to that kind of stuff. Thanks and have a great day!
