Xenophiliac

Chapter 3 - Next Steps

Later in the evening, Zak and the rest of his team, except Roy who was still with Zaphora, they were sitting in the mess hall eating dinner. He and Rick were discussing the new privates that were coming in; the group of soldiers transferring in and what kind of people they needed on their team. Carla had pulled the tablet out, that they could see everyone's file, to see what their strengths and weaknesses were.

"We need people, who actually want to win." Rick grunted, looking down the table; Katy Jasmine, and Tiffany were all at the other end of the table, giggling and whispering.

Zak nodded, "Yeah, maybe, we'll actually be able to trade off someone, this round too."

"How do girls like that get in here anyway?" Rick whispered, then looked at the tablet.

Jesse snicker, "It's all done under the table, trust me."

Zak and Rick looked at her, both with a raised eyebrow, "And how would you know that?" Zak asked.

Jesse looked at them, "Tiff, she's a loud mouth." She whispered.

"Ah." He nodded, then looked down at the tablet.

Every quarter, a new group of kids from all over come to train; the recruiters get really picky bringing people in to projects like this, that's why there are not a lot to choose from. It is parents' ether sending their kids here, or kids who want to help while taking care of their families. In these times the military is the best means of money, depending on your experience and rank; you can make a great wage in the military. When they get here, they are put against each other; to show off their skills, then when they are all done, they get put into the different teams. This happens by who wants them most, the team leader gets to pick.

First pick is decided by all of the team leaders doing a free for all match; last man or woman standing wins. Zak has lost to many times, he lost to Jack on Red Team, he hated losing to him. Jack was the biggest hot head of the base; he was a jerk too, only people on his team liked him. The drag was that he was good, very good, at battling; he could take out enemies as if he was putting paper in a shredder.

The newbies show their skills, so the best team picks them; in this case Red is best, so if you want to be on Red Team, you had to show them you want it. This is done by sending groups of newbies into the battle arena, to fight and show their strength. There are winners and losers; but losing only leaves you temporarily paralyzed. Compare it to an epic laser tag, only people don't care if you get hurt; and hand to hand combat is encouraged.

Zak and Rick, with a strong opinion from Jesse, threw around ideas about who looked best; and were looking up names to find background info.

Jesse pulled the tablet away from Zak, to read one of the contestants, which caused him to look up. At that moment, Roy entered the cafeteria, with Zaphora right behind him; his eyes couldn't help but lock on and stare.

It was festinating how, with all that extra leg, she could be consistent with her height. Keep her head down by ours, it looked different but also awesome.

Roy stopped in front of the food buffet and looked at Zaphora; they were obviously talking in her language, because Roy was over accentuate his lips.

"Zak?" Rick leaned in front of him, then looked over his shoulder. "Dude." He gave Zak that "really" look.

He focused on Rick, "What?"

"Roy is not going to try to snatch her." He said. "He actually fallows the rules." He looked down at the tablet and scrolled down.

Zak grimaced, "Why do you have to be such a douche bag about this?" He pulled the tablet away.

"Because you know why," He said in a loud voice, pulling the tablet back.