When I look back on the life I've lived, I can recall a few times where I've almost or could have died. Before I got the Civic, there were more than a few incidents when I was by myself with my Mom's Nissan Quest where I almost hit the people in front of me at sixty plus miles an hour, there was also that time where I decided it would be funny to sneak up on my Dad after he got home from work and he nearly shot me. There was also that one time that I was putting a new pistol grip on my M4, but I didn't put the screw for it in the right way and when I tried to put a round through it, for a reason I'm not sure of, the screw gave out and my weapon fell forward, as the round went off. Now having said this, for some reason I doubted that this was going to be one of those "That time I almost died", stories for Mercury and Trace. For some reason, I was sure we were already to late to save them, and the rain and dark outside sure wasn't helping. Neither was the morbid quiet in the lounge. Most of the little kids were already asleep, using Void and Navi as pillows. Nina and I were stomach to stomach, she was half asleep, her eyes just barely open, while I was too worried about Mercury and Trace to really even think, but at the same time, just sitting around wasn't working, so I was looking at listings for used Toyota GT'86's. Riley was the only one of the little kids who was awake, his normally neon red had become a dingy reddish brown color and the normal sparkle in his eyes was gone.
"You okay Riley?", I asked as I nudged Nina.
"No", He said, "I might not ever see my older sister again."
"You will", Nina said, "we'll get her back."
"You can't promise that", Riley said as the lounge door opened and Tristan walked in, dressed in a white shirt, jeans and socks.
"Uhhh", he said, "am I interrupting something?"
"No", Riley said as Tristan shut the door behind him.
"What's going on?"
"Riley's worried he might not see his older sister again", I sighed sitting up as Nina got off me.
Tristan looked around the room, "how old are you Riley?", He asked.
"Six", Riley said.
I saw Taro's eyes get wide, "say what? Your Six?"
"Yeah", Riley said.
Tristan whistled, "holy crap."
"Imagine my surprise when I first found out every recruit was in single digit ages", I said, "when your CO coming to get ya?"
Taro sighed, "he's not. My career is over."
"What!?", I asked stunned, "Why?"
"They deemed me too mentally unstable to return to duty and gave me an honorable discharge", Taro said.
I sighed, "well, how long you staying then?"
"Your friend Alex said he can get me a plane ticket home", Tristan said, "but with what's going on it might take a few days."
"Well in that case", I said, "I got some cash in my pocket. Why don't you, Nina, Riley and I grab the Duramax and go look at a Toyota I'm interested in, then go for lunch?"
"Anything's better than staying here", Riley said getting up.
"What?", Void asked lifting his head, "what are you guys yammering about?"
"We're not being that loud?", Tristan said.
"I have hypersensitive ears", Void said, "it's like your screaming. Mind if I come with?"
"You won't fit in the truck", I said.
"Morningstar had a cloaker made for me that turns me into a German shepherd", Void said, "I'll blend right in."
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Project Venom #Watty's2016
Fiksi Ilmiah19 year old Josh Miller is your average social reject. Doesn't go out on the town, only has three friends, is pretty sure he won't make it in the world outside of the car modding scene and spends too much of his time stuck underneath his Honda Civic...
