Roguelike

Oneirophobia is the fear of dreams by the way. If you haven't been searching up the meanings of the phobias. 

Fuck dreams though. I don't get why they had to switch up once I got this whole immortality thing. Some people say dreams have meaning, and I agree. My dreams have meaning alright. They've been meaning to bend me over and fuck me. And I don't mean that in a sensual way. This is a real hatefuck. The kind of hatefuck that you do so hard that it doesn't even feel pleasurable for both parties. Painful, even. 

Ahem, anyways. 

I got ready for the day, whatever it may throw at me. Hopefully the day broke their arm though, because I'm not in the mood to do anything at all.

I splash my face with water and stare at myself in the mirror for a good moment. Nothing filled my mind for once. Yesterday was probably such an overload for me that my voice in my head won't say anything. Good. 

Throwing on an oversized hoodie and some shorts after fixing my hair, I left my room to get some food. Hopefully no one is at the cafeteria right now, cuz my ass never learned how to drive. My plan was to just live on campus and attend all of my classes there, but a couple students and loaded firearms had other plans apparently. Leave it to a bunch of losers to ruin everything for everyone. Especially me. 

A hop, skip, and a relatively short walk away and I'm at the mess hall. The overall space wasn't too big since these reserved areas for Specialists were made for Specialists who were staying over temporarily. Due to the low amount of us, we're moved back and forth for missions and such depending on what's needed. Thankfully my team doesn't get called to much since our purpose is pretty specific with a low chance of happening. Makes you think we're pretty special, right? Wrong. 

I dunno if it's coincidence or intentional for our team number to be 13, but the 13th tarot card is Death. Pretty suiting honestly. Especially since this is the 4th Team 13 ever.

Pavul told on my very first day that he's always been the leader of Team 13 and that he's had a lot of his team members die in the past. All members or 3 members except the leader dying counts as a squad wipe. After that, a new squad is formed with the same number in order to fulfill the same purpose. That's what he told me at least. He also told me that he won't bat an eye if I die and will find a replacement right after. Well, too bad, old man! I'm gonna be sticking around for a while. 

Ranting aside, I scan the area to see if there's anyone else here. Thankfully it's just one, but unthankfully, it's Lola. Y'know. Lola? That one girl in Team 6 that was with us when we went against Desmond and (kinda) Cyrus. I'll be honest, I almost forgot about her. Thankfully not someone weird, but I still don't feel like sitting next to her-

"Hey!" Of course she calls out to me. I roll my eyes without showing my face and turn to her.

"Oh. Hey, Lola. What's up?" I raise my voice to speak across the room.

"Just decided to eat before anyone else got here. Come sit with me!" She says with a smile.

Now that I'm looking at her, I've never actually seen her without her twin tails. Her hair is a lot longer than I thought. 

I reluctantly nod and go to pick up my food first. Some old fat lady picks some up and dumps it on a tray. Obviously, it wasn't anything too notable. Just some scrambled eggs and bacon, but if there's anything I can't complain about, it's food. 

Walking over to the table, I begin to make out her outfit, which was simple white crop top and black cargos. She also didn't have any shoes or socks on, which hey, more for me- I mean what?

"Thanks for yesterday by the way." She says with a mouthful of food. I also forgot that I basically kept everyone from dying as well. Really does go over your head sometimes, huh?

"Yeah, no problem. It was nothing." Man, I really am low on enthusiasm, huh? Listen, I just woke up. And I get that I haven't been enthusiastic about anything, but... but... Yeah, I got nothing. 

Lola swallows her food, just about the same thing I got. "Seriously!" She pursed her lips and furrowed her brows. "We're not too used to being under such heavy fire, so I doubt me or the rest of Team 6 would've survived."

I sit silently for a moment. It's not like she was wrong. She definitely died just about every time we tried fighting back. Pretty damn brutally too. I still remember her screams like it was yesterday. Oh, wait! It was yesterday! Silly me.

"Ay, you good? Did I say something wrong?" I'm still staring down at my food but I can basically hear some sort of concern coming from her. What am I even supposed to say to that? Oh, yeah. I know. You died a fuck ton, you're not really good at your job. I get that I would say that but I'm not going to. Am I supposed to say something nice then?

Ugh, fine. I'll indulge. But only because she has an absolute lethal face card.

"Nah, you're fine. Just tired that's all." I mumble while poking at my food. Weirdly enough, I don't feel like eating even though I came here specifically to do just that. Guess it's hard for me to do that while talking to someone.

Suddenly, while I was stabbing at my eggs, I see something on my fork. No... That's not it. There was something in the reflection of my fork. Someone was holding a gun. The finger on the trigger tightened then squeezed. 

Just before the gunpowder set off, I ducked my head and grabbed Lola's hair before pulling her head down as well, the bullet whizzing past her and barely scarring her neck.

"Get the FUCK down!" I scream as I push back my chair, ready to hide behind something just before Lola stood up as well and kicked one side of the table, causing it to turn onto its side and block us from the bullets.

"FUCKING KNEW there was something wrong with that whore!" My back presses against the underside of the table, closing my eyes every now and then after hearing another bullet fire in our direction.

"Huh?! What was up with her?" Lola says above the noises of the gun going off.

"What lunch lady doesn't wear a hairnet?! That's not to fucking code AT ALL!" I grit my teeth and stamp my foot into the ground.

The bullets stop.

"Now!" I lean forward and push myself onto my feet. 

As I do so, Lola lifts her foot up and pushes the table forward with her feet, causing it to propel towards the counter with its edge sticking out just enough to squeeze past the gap between the counter and the ceiling. The table hits the woman in the collarbone and sends her flying, her back making impact with the oven door behind her causing a loud thud.

I let out a loud exhale as I watch Lola rush over and vault over the counter. She steps down on the wrist that held the gun and uses her other foot to pin her shoulder to the oven. 

Getting behind the counter as well, I pry the gun out of the fat bitch's hand and force it against her forehead. "I was about to kill you for not being sanitary but I'm so thankful you gave me a legit reason to!" Yelling at the top of my lungs, I push the gun harder on her head, sandwiching it between the barrel of the firearm and the oven door. 

"Who sent you?" Lola matches my tone.

Despite two government assassins threatening to hurt her, the fat bitch doesn't say anything. her lips quiver and sweat rolls down her cheek. I could feel her tremble beneath the gun. Fear. The first emotion Specialists are taught to recognize. As well as the first emotion we're taught to exploit. 

"Answer her question or I'll unload this entire clip INTO YOUR COCK-SUCKING THROAT!" Adding more fuel to the fire, I jam the gun into her mouth, first hitting her teeth before wiggling through.

"Vivian!" Lola yells. "Calm down!" 

I look over at her with the same look I gave this person I held at gunpoint. My face feels hot and I can feel every single vein in my body boil. My entire body shakes and convulses, all of my muscles tightening at once. FUCK. Fuck. What the hell am I so damn pissed?! Slowly but surely my tensed and scrunched up face begins to loosen as I pull my arm back.

"Thank you." My colleague sighs audibly and looks down at our attacker, supposedly for an answer.

"I... I was told that if I got rid of a Specialist, I would level up." Every single one of her words almost crossed with one another, as if she was trying to merge all of them.

"Level up?" Lola asks.

"Cyrus-"

Click

"Oh shit. I forgot the clip was empty. Awk." I snicker and half-closed eyes as I lower the gun, beginning to spin it around my finger. 

I look over at Lola who had the most bewildered look on her face. Jaw dropped and all.

"Were you about to shoot her?!"

"I did shoot her. There just weren't any bullets." I pucker my lips.

"I..." Lola pinches the bridge of her nose. "You sure are something, Vivian." After what seems like a mom scolding her kid, she pulls out her phone and crunches some numbers into the keypad. 

While she did this, I catch that fucking pig glancing at me. I point my index and middle finger at my eyes then point them at her. She looks down. That's what I fucking thought.

"Code 22, sir." I hear Lola say abruptly. "The cafeteria. Yes, sir. Thank you." She jams her phone back into her pocket.

After a couple of minutes, a bunch of people in dark military gear enter the cafeteria and snap cuffs on that lady. Lola and i both stare at her as they walk her out the glass doors. Apparently she called Lonan so this person could properly get subdued and interrogated properly. I honestly thought that we could do that ourselves, but whatever.

"Still wished there was another bullet in the gun." I say with a yawn.

"Oh, come on! You can't just kill someone like that!" Lola groans.

I squint at her. "I don't get it. Ain't that our job?" 

"Well like... yeah, but... you know..." She squints as well, dipping her head left and right. "She wasn't a target."

"Girl, she tried to kill us!" I motion to the fat bitch who had several guards holding onto her arms.

"Okay, but that doesn't mean that we should kill her! There's a difference between people like that and targets. We go after targets for the greater good of the world, but with people like her," She places a hand on her hip and gestures to the fat bitch- I mean lady. "there's no point. No other lives saved and no benefits for us. Got it?" 

That deep stare she gives when she's serious sure is convincing sometimes.

"Ugh, fine. I get it." I roll my eyes and push my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, pulling back the hammer of the gun I got from the woman and letting go with my thumb repeatedly.

Lola sighs and smiles. "Thank you." We both look out the glass doors, the sun glaring at our eyes as the rest of the people disappear out of sight. What a way to start a day. Sure wasn't a nice way, but a way nonetheless. I just wish there wasn't a day where I wasn't in danger, but I suppose that's too much to ask for. Other than that, things sure do feel awkward right now...

Both of us stay quiet before Lola breaks the silence.

"Wanna go to the training room? I need to kick something after that."

"Was waiting for you to say something. Duh. I'm outta hear. That bitch made me lose my appetite." We turn to leave out a door from the side. 

Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't die this time.