And All It Took Was One Bullet

We Were Never Real

We decided to go back to base with the info and update ourselves. Hendricks and I went to my barracks. He sat down on my bed and I in my chair. "Now tell me, why are you still alive and why did you keep yourself hidden? What's going on here?!" I said. He looked at me with a tone that said "do you really want to know?" My look of seriousness answered. He sighed and stood up from his seat in my bed. "I'm still alive because of the same reason you are. You missed my head and Corvus took over my body. He shut down all of my systems and put my body in a paralyzed state, to fool you. I woke up in a different room, I looked over and found you there, but instead of your current body, it was the one that was torn up. I was so confused, then I looked down at my own body and saw that my own gear wasn't there. In stead it was a hospital gown. It was kind of weird seeing a copy of me in the corner. My body was recovered and brought there. Then it dawned on me. These bodies, they were never real. Just a mental connection from our real body's to the new ones. A super soldier that would always be in control by someone else on the other side. Ready to take over when they wanted." His story sounded hard to believe, but at the same time, he isn't wrong. He was here. Standing before me in his human flesh, real flesh, and he's alive. "If that's the case, then the others, Taylor, were they there?" I asked getting my hopes up. "They were, but they were completely dead. I checked. No pulse." My eyes were on the edge of crying, but I thought of something else. "So the creatures we saw today. They were there when you woke up?" He nodded to my question. "That's another thing. They just showed up. I didn't have any means to protect myself so I locked myself in so they couldn't get to me. They can move but they aren't smart." He replied. "So this whole time you were down there and you didn't try to communicate? I could have been there sooner, I could have helped you!" I had to get it out. It couldn't be bottled inside for much longer. He looked at me with a sad look on his face. "I wanted to, but the communications were down. There was no way to." He came over to the bed and sat down. "I missed you. I missed Taylor, I missed Diaz, Kane, I missed them all. Seeing you next to me, gave me hope. Till I saw it wasn't this body. I will admit it freaked me out. It reminded me of that night. It was all my fault. You being this way was my fault. You have no idea how sorry I am. I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." He said with tears in his eyes. I felt sorry for him. "It wasn't your fault. It was never your fault. But put it this way, without me being torn to shreds by that robot we wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be friends..." "I wouldn't have loved you." Hendricks said as he looked up at me. My heart skipped a beat. Did he really say what I think he said. The girly side of me was jumping up and down going "ssssqqqqquuuuuuueeeeeeeee!!" And the other part of me was shocked. "You...you love me?" I said "since day one. I mean come on, what guy doesn't like a girl who can shoot from a mile away and still hit the target?" My blushing levels were so high I bet my face was bright red. "I know it's a weird question to ask a lady such as yourself but, do you feel the same way?" He asked with a shy look. I didn't know how to answer. I couldn't make up my mind. So instead of saying anything, I leaned in and kissed his lips. They were so soft they felt like the delicate petals on a rose. We broke apart and looked into each other's eyes. "I take that as a yes." He said as he smiled. I couldn't help but smile too.