Chapter 38

Rod's POV

I lead Nicky down the stairs, and into the cafeteria.

"You know man, I think we spend eighty percent of our time in here," I said, stepping in line.

"Well the only reason for that is because we sit here forever starring at our food," Nicky responded. I laughed.

"True, true," I said, looking around the room trying to find out what was for lunch. My eyes finally met someone walking away from the counter. He held a tray filled with a black looking sponge. "Okay there's no way that's eatable."

"What?" Nicky asked, following my line of eyesight. I watched Nicky's expression change from curious, to disgusted. "You know… I'm not hungry anymore."

"Me neither," I said, stepping out of the line.

"Whatever, let's just go sit down for a bit."

I nodded and headed to a table. Passing by a group of men I couldn't help, but overhear their conversation.

"I don't know man, I real worry about the situation on Corspe. My friend is stationed there and says that they've been having a lot of scary encounters. He says that if they have any more skirmishes the Teal Zerg are going to go full out war with us."

A perfect image of the planet showed up in my head, as if I had seen it with my own eyes. A large monster stepped out of a nearby Zerg structure. He looked like an overly large turtle with bulky plates. It had two huge axe-like arms coming out of his back. A roach. I didn't know how I knew it. But there was no doubt what this abomination was. A name came to mind. Crezmeir. Yes this monster in particular was the Teal Zerg leader.

I was now out of reach of the group of marines. I shook my head. How did I know that? I sat down across from Nicky. Oooh! No crap, the Selethicks. They're kicking in.

"Rod!" Nicky yelled, making me jump.

"What?" I asked.

"Holy Cow, I've been trying to talk to you for ten minutes,"

"Oh… sorry," I said, pointing to my head. "Selethicks.

Nicky shrugged. "No big deal."

"Have you gotten anything yet?" I asked, gesturing towards my friend. He shook his head.

"No," he replied, disappointed. "Not yet."

"Eh, don't worry about it," I said, trying to cheer him up. "You will."

"Well I know that, it's just…." Nick stopped, looking down.

"Just what?"

"I want us both to move on at the same time," he said, lifting his head. "If one of us learns faster, then the other is left behind."

"Yeah, I don't want us to separate either, but hey!" I said. "It's not like they'll transfer us to different places. Remember? Tenny's getting us all back together again. So it doesn't matter who leaves first. It'll all work out."

"Well, I suppose that's true," Nicky said, not one hundred percent convinced. "But anyways, I gotta go."

"Go? Heh, where the heck ya gonna go?" I asked, giving him a confused look."

Nicky shrugged and continued on, not saying anything. What was that all about? I mean I know Nicky is bipolar and all but come on. I watched him leave the cafeteria; almost in a hurry. I looked around the room in boredom. Maybe I can catch eyes with that one girl.

And that's when I saw it: a blue light hovering above the ground. It was outside on the airfield. Surprisingly the little light looked familiar. Where had I seen it before? I squinted, leaning forward. The heck is that? It began to twist and turn. The light was forming something. A creature. It was reaching its hand out.

A whisper broke the air. I couldn't quite make it out. The twisting light approached. The whisper grew louder the closer it got. I stood up, and took a step forward, mesmerized. It almost looked like an alien. The creature's hand had almost reached my face.

"Rooooooooooood!"

I jumped back in terror, tripping over a stool. Falling flat on my back, I glanced around frantically. Reality began flooding back in slowly. I could hear distant laughter. Looking up I could see people standing over me. Some appeared to be scoffing while others appeared worried.

There was a slight ringing in my ears, which was just now fading. I shook my head; sound now arriving in its fullest.

"Hey you okay?" a guy said, reaching his hand out. Taking his hand, I nodded in appreciation. The man pulled me up and sat me down at a table. "Dude, what the heck was that all about?"

"Uh, nothing, I just tripped," I said, not telling him the truth.

"Pff, well yeah, the entire cafeteria knows that," he said, sitting next to me. "I'm more worried about what you saw."

I turned and looked at him.

"You could see it?" I asked, hopeful.

"No, but you sure seemed like you were staring at something," the guy said. "Ya looked real scared too."

"Eh I don't know," I said, shrugging.

"Well whatever it is, I'd get that checked," he said, standing up. "I'd hate to have something happen to you later, cause you didn't do anything about it now."

I nodded, watching the guy walk away. What was that? I looked up again, half hoping it would be there. I rubbed my temples and blinked my eyes. Man, I really hope that was just the Selethicks.

I stood up and stretched my back. I suppose I could drop by Docs just to be sure. I made my way outside and toward the medical building. Opening up the door, I went to the left and through the door with the oil painting. I approached Dr. Borgous's office, nervously. Taking in a deep breath I knocked. An annoyed voice on the other side spoke up.

"Enter."

I complied.

"What do you want?" he asked, gruffly. "I don't have an appointment with any one for another hour."

"Uh, I just thought I saw… something," I said, stupidly. The doctor sighed and rubbed his eyebrows.

"You mean to say that you've come all the way down here, interrupting my work, to complain about… seeing something," he asked, irritated.

"Uh, no, It's more important than that," I said, hurriedly. "It looked like some kind of… alien. Maybe like a Protoss."

"My god, for heaven sakes, that's what's supposed to happen!" he said, leaning back in his chair, now using both hands to rub his head. "Now if you're done wastingmy time, if you would gladly make your way out of my office!"

I jumped at the sudden rage. Turning around frantically I ran out the door. My heck, what's his problem! I dragged my feet down the hall, thinking about the whole situation. That blue light… where had I seen it? I continued onward, out of the building.

I walked back into the cafeteria and up the stairs. I checked my transmitter for the time: 13:00. Eh, I have plenty of time. I suppose I could go shower. I continued down another couple halls until reaching the men's' locker room. Walking inside, I made my way to my locker. I opened it up and stripped myself of my clothes.

I walked around the corner and into the large shower room. There were four or five guys spread out, two of which having casual conversation about food. I awkwardly walked over to the corner and turned on the faucet. Why is it that I'm always the skinniest guy here? I thought to myself, grabbing the soap off the wall.

I turned and looked to the left. A short, but large statured man caught my eye.

"What?! You like what you see?!" he growled. I jumped in shock and starred right back at the wall in front of me. "Yeah that's right, ya little pussy."

I could hear a couple guys across the room laughing.

"Alright, Valen no need to pick on the little recruits," a deep voice said. "We're only here on break man."

"Hey, I can't help it that he likes to stare," he barked back.

"Vell, Skull, has a point," a man said, with an accent. "I mean, it vasn't very long ago dat you got released from training."

"Shut up Miesha, you got no room to talk," the one called Valen said. "Just because you hung off of Derk's leg like a growth doesn't mean you're any better than the rest of us."

I stopped washing for a second. Did he just say Derk?

"Ay, I never said anything about being better den you," he replied.

"Alright guys, that's enough. Stop acting like school girls," a new voice said.

"I don't know Caps, I think if you get passed the cheesy insults, it's kind of funny," Skull said.

I turned to look at them again. I'm pretty sure they mentioned Derk. And unfortunately for me I met Valen's eye again. Oh crap. I jerked away.

"Hey! Why you lookin' at me again?" he shouted. I felt the world shrink around me. My face turned bright red.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"What?" he asked, gruffly.

"Sorry," I said, a bit louder.

"Are you giving me attitude?" he said. I could hear his feat slapping the floor. He was walking in my direction. Aw crud now I have a short naked man stomping toward me.

"Short! Did you call me SHORT!" he yelled, closing in. What?! Did I say that out loud? I turned off the faucet and rushed across the room. "Oi. Don't walk away from me!"

"Yo Valen, leave it alone man."

"Yeah at least vait until your both dressed."

I opened up my locker in a hurry and grabbed my clothes. I had barely gotten my underwear on, before he had marched into the room. Valen approached me, shoulders tensed, and fists clenched.

"You'd better like isolation, cause I'm going to give you a one way ticket to the void!"

I put my hands up, in defense.

"At least I don't got a small ding dong," I said, panicking. Everything went silent. I slowly opened my eyes. My first thought was that he had transformed into some kind of monster. But then I realized that his face had just gone a very dark purple.

"RrrrrrAAAGH!" he screamed, raising his fist. I squealed, falling backward on the ground. But before he could land the blow two other guys grabbed him from behind.

"Wow, buddy slow down," Caps said, gripping his right arm.

"Yeah man, vee don't von't to lose our minds here," he said, grasping his left arm.

"LET GO OF ME!" he yelled, throwing himself around, in a rage. Skull, out of nowhere, tackled them all from behind, sending the ball of men forward. I rolled out of the way just in time. All four naked men went crashing into the ground, yelling and screaming. Jumping up off the floor, I ran out of the room, adrenaline rushing through my veins.

In the distant I could hear Valen screaming uncontrollably. "I'll kill him! I'll kill him!"

I slammed through the locker room door and out into the hallway. Falling on my hands, I heaved in and out, exhausted. Hearing a startled gasp I slowly looked up. And there standing before me was not only my recent crush, but Seargent Baker as well.

"Hey," I replied, obliviously. They stood staring for a couple seconds, until Baker finally spoke up.

"Um, Rod," he said, looking down at me.

"Yeah?" I replied, still on my hands and knees.

"Where are your clothes?" he asked. I sat confused for a couple seconds, until I finally realized it. My heart skipped a beat.

"Oh."

Hello everybody! Hope you enjoyed! :D Not much else to say! Don't forget to review, cause it's hard to make my story better without you guys!