Chapter Two
The three decided to celebrate that night at Fun Land. It was a very large arcade with many kinds of games, but there were a variety of things to do there such as eat and dance.
"Oh yeah!" Coop said as he continuously stepped on the right side of the dance pad. He had been playing Dance Dance Revolution and as the music played, he just easily kept up with the screen. A few people eager to see how long such a big person like Coop could last spectated nearby. He chose a ten minute song and had been doing very well as his score kept racking up.
"Jaime, it's just so hard to believe Coop is such a great pilot only because he plays video games so much…" Kiva said as she watched Coop. She was sitting down at table with Jaime eating pizza and having a little megaslush. Coop had eaten at least a whole pizza pie before going over to the DDR machine.
"Well, that's just him. What can you say?" Jaime said. He was close to her now, so that let him easily look at her.
Jaime then heard music play from the speakers indicating it was time for those interested to go to the dance floor. They were playing My Card Will Show On, a romantic love song.
…Perfect
"Say, Kiva… would you be interested in… dancing? With me?" he asked.
"Huh? Me? Dance? Oh, ok. Sure. But I'm not really sure how though…"
He led her to the dance floor where he tried to show her the right position. Kind of. He got her to cooperate with him when he got her to put her feet on his and hold her hand with his and put his other one… around her back.
"Don't worry about it, Kiva. I'm…not so good myself. But you're better than me since you can do all those cool, butt-kicking moves" Jaime praised her.
Trying to lead, Jaime managed to look somewhat good in how to dance to the rhythm of a slow, soft song. Sort of. He bumped into a few couples at first which made Kiva laugh a little.
"So uh, Kiva, you're looking good tonight" Jaime said.
"Well, thanks… but I'm still dressed as I always have…" she said not knowing what to say or why Jaime would think that because she hadn't changed her clothes at all.
"I think you've managed to improve slightly within the past few minutes" Kiva then said to compliment him.
"Nah, it's nothing" he said shrugging it off.
Feeling that Kiva was starting to become comfortable dancing with him, he decided to get just very slightly more personal with her.
"So now that you've been here a little while, have you missed home? Your own time?" Jaime asked.
It took her a few moments to think before deciding to answer.
"… I try not to think about it, really. But yeah, I do miss my home. My time. But I just have to understand I can't get back right now and focus on finding or repairing a time drive…"
"I see. Well while you're here, learn to relax and chill. There's no hurry. By the way, I just want to say sorry about being a jerk earlier. You haven't at all been responsible for anything happening to me."
"It's alright, Jaime."
'Man… with Kiva this close…'
"Do you…like also miss any of your friends too? Did you have a special… someone?" Jaime also asked. But then he learned he shouldn't have. The question seemed to make Kiva think, only this time more and almost with this look on her face. Like she was feeling down.
"… I…uh… please excuse me…." Kiva said and walked away from him to the ladies' room.
'Aw, man! Great! Was it something I said? What was it?'
The thoughts ran through Jaime's mind as he let out a quiet sigh, but there was no way he could know or ask Kiva now.
Kiva went to the ladies room and washed her hands. As she dried them, she looked at herself in the mirror. It was strange, she thought that how upon coming here in this time from the future by nearly a millennium, she had spent very little time thinking about her time. She was always trying to focus completely on what was currently present so it didn't seem to matter.
Kiva closed her eyes and placed her head over hand as her arm leaned on the sink.
Now that Jaime asked that question, it reminded her of how things were like. In her future where…
The city was conquered.
All was reduced to rubble and waste.
But resistance to the enemy hadn't been quelled yet.
It was a gray, cloudy day on this seemingly hopeless battle for humanity. The Glorft had sent an invasion force to destroy the city and use it as a base of operations for future battles. Although the Glorft had taken surprisingly high casualties, the Earth Coalition Forces' were even worse. Command was broken loose for the scattered remaining troops still holed within the city trying to find a way to escape from the enemy who was still looking out.
Pvt. Kiva Andrews looked out of the hangar of the dropship and saw the city in its ruins. She could see explosions bursting and gunfire could be heard from random places and then turned to see her compatriots sitting with her.
Or rather, away from her.
She was the unit's newest member and was assigned to a fairly experienced unit that managed to survive several battles over the past few years. There was considerable merit in that as many soldiers die within the first few years of service. As a result of their relatively distinguishing service and performance, they came to regard themselves elites or special forces compared to the other infantry units and as such, they treated other soldiers as inferiors. And no way was a newly assigned member going get any better from them.
"All of you! Get your gear ready, we're landing! And remember our objective: help those 31st sissies in uniform guard that simple little park from those alien defeatists!" said Staff Sgt. Waters, their squad CO. He then turned to Kiva with a light scowl.
"And newbie, whatever you do, just don't get in our way, Andrews. Let the professionals handle the job here while you go help that poor excuse for a fully-trained platoon bury bodies or something."
Eying him sharply when he turned his back, Kiva held help up her assault rifle and checked to make sure it and her pistol were already loaded. She put her helmet on.
The dropship landed in random spot in the large city park and the hanger door opened and out came the squad. The dropship then flew away.
There were many signs of battle here. Because of the Glorft's plasma-based weaponry, the grass and trees were burning and scorched. And in addition to that, bodies of human soldiers and a few Glorft ones could be seen.
"Boy, are we glad to see you!" cried a soldier hiding behind a tree. Then a few dozen more soldiers appeared, getting up from the ground, some wearing camouflage.
"Alright! We'll teach these incoming Glorft how we actually fight compared to these losers!" Waters said, ignoring the relieving welcome the struggling platoon was offering.
"Everyone! Take position and find cover!" he ordered. Then he summoned Kiva over to him.
"Yes sir! Pvt. Andrews reporting for duty, sir!" she said, saluting to him, but with only nominal respect and a stare
"Don't give me that fake bullshit… I know what you're thinking about me, Andrews. Now, I have an order for you. I want you to go wandering around the park and let the enemy know you're here and lure them over here for a surprise attack… and if you don't, I'll file you as a defector… after you're executed…"
And then-
But no!
She was here right now and thinking about that would only distract her from the goal she was trying to achieve: to actually get back to her time.
(To be continued…)
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