Glitch

Chapter Four

I close my eyes and nod. "I don't know what's going on, I swear." I tell him.

He sighs. "Tell me what you know."

I bite my lip. "Well this might be a little insane sounding." He nods and motions for me to continue. "I was at my house, In my basement, playing Xbox." He frowns. "Do you not know what a Xbox is?"

He nods. "I do, I just didn't expect a girl to play." I give him a 'you did not just say that' face. He laughs and puts his hands up in defense. "How old are you?"

"I'm 18 and a girl can play Xbox." He laughs again. "Anyway, I playing Titanfall 2." He frowns, but I don't ask. "And all of the sudden the power goes out, the Xbox turns back on, but nothing else does. The screen shows a glitchy skull before it turns white and blinds me. Then thing I know I'm in the video game. So basically what I'm saying is, I got sucked into a video game which is where I am now."

He frowns and probably thinks that in insane. "So a few questions, what's Titanfall 2 and are you saying that I'm a video game?" He asks me.

I nod. "Titanfall 2 is this. The campaign is the story of you and BT." He flinched at his old titan. He probably misses him. "The multiplayer is on the battlefields that have shown up out of nowhere. So yes I'm saying that your a video game."

He doesn't respond and it's obvious he doesn't believe me. "Prove it." He said. My eyes widen. How am I suppose to do that. "Tell me my story of BT and I."

I hesitate, but still do. "Well you started out as a rifleman and you were being trained by Captain Tai Lastimosa. The ship went down and you forced into a battle. You were going to be killed my titan if Lastimosa and BT didn't destroy the titan. He gave you something to heal you, it knocked you out. Then-"

Cooper puts up a hand, cutting me off. Probably too much to tell and he probably didn't like that part. "How did BT die?"

"He sacrificed himself to save the planet Harmony by sending himself into the fold weapon." I answered.

Cooper eyed me. "What did he say to me before he sacrificed himself?"

I pondered for a minute. "He said protocol three: protect the pilot. And you ask, BT what are you doing? And he answered, trust me. And as he threw you, you shouted BT." I replied.

He let out a long breath and looked away. "You know how crazy this all sounds." I nod. "So you're either telling me the truth, or you're a major stalker." I laughed lightly. "I know you're telling the truth, but you know that I won't be able to accept it."

I nod. Throwing this at someone, would be impossible to comprehend. "The unknown object that appeared when I and the others did, I think that's tied to me. I don't know how, I can feel it." I said.

Cooper nodded. "That would make sense." He said. I ran a hand through my tangled hair. "What's wrong?"

"I need to get home." I replied quietly.

"Am I that stinky?"

I laugh and shake my head. "No, it's just...my dad was pulled in with me." He fell silent. "He was killed and he made me promise him that I'd get out. But I look up to him and without him I feel lost and weak." Tears form in my eyes, but I blink them back.

Cooper places his hands on my shoulders. "I'm going to help you get out of this. I may not understand what's really happening, but I'll help in anyway I can." He told off his helmet and smiled at me. "I promise."

I look at him, straight in the eye. "Don't make a promise you can't keep." I told him, quietly.

He grinned. "Oh, I'm keeping it." I looked at him curiously as he put his helmet on and looked at his titan. He turned back to me. "How skilled of a fighter are you?"

I shrug. "I-I don't know." A weak answer.

He looks away for a second. "Just tell me." He commands.

I sigh and nod. "My dad put me in classes and I would beat some guys up if they did anything to me or my friends." I told him.

"Good, now you just need to get your confidence back." I shook my head. "You made that promise and if you want to keep it, you're going to have to." I sighed knowing that was true. "Have you ever used a gun?"

"Not until today." I answered.

"Well I'll just have to teach you." He replied and grabbed my gun. "So you want to hold it like this and..." he began to explain the basics to me and then allowed me to practice with a tree.

I tried but my breath was shaky and most of the bullets missed. I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Focus on your breathing. Only your breathing." Cooper suggested. I aimed again. Inhale. Exhale. I shot a burst. Inhale. Exhale. I shot another burst of bullets. I looked to see the bullets were mostly near the center of the tree.

"Nice work. You're a quick learner." Cooper commented. "Hey what's your name? I never learned it." He asked.

"Oh it's Reilly." I replied.

"Well we gotta move. RJ how are we going to explain this to Briggs?" He asked his titan.

"Pilot, I don't think you can even explain it to me." His titan, RJ, answered.

Cooper laughed. "Yeah that is true. I guess all we can do is try." He said. "Let's move." I grabbed my helmet and luckily had another hair tie and to put my hair up in a bun again before I slipped on my helmet. We started to walk parallel to the river to I don't know where.

Gunshots sounded behind us. We stopped and turned around. "Reilly get on top of RJ." I hesitated. "Now!" I used my jump kit to get on top of his titan as he embarked into him. We started to move quicker with being in and on a titan.

I looked behind us to see a reaper. "Cooper! We've got reapers incoming!" I shouted, hoping he could hear me in his titan.

"Damn! Reilly, were going to have to fight!" He radios to me. I mentally groan, not wanting to.

Cooper turns around to face the reaper. I notice grunts moving within the forest. I take a deep breath and jump down. The grunts were quiet, but I could hear their clumsy footsteps. I raised my gun and check my surroundings, looking for a grunt. I found one and shot it to the best of my ability. The grunt fell because of a bullet wound that I was barely able to get on him.

I slowed my breathing and focused on it. I check my surroundings again. Inhale. Exhale. I spotted a grunt and aimed. Inhale. Exhale. I felt the air pass off my dry lips as a pulled the trigger. I shot the grunt perfectly and looked for more. Luckily Cooper had gotten rid of the reaper and had even killed some more grunts. I shot another grunt before getting back on RJ.

We walked at a quicker pace and kept our eyes peeled for anything. "How you doing up there, Reilly?" Cooper radioed me. I don't know how to use the radio, shoot! "Feel on the side of your helmet for a small button next to a switch." Cooper told me.

I felt the button and the switch. "Ok I feel it." I shouted, hoping he could hear me.

"Ok now press the button and make sure that the switch is up. If it's up there your radioing to others around you, but if it's down you would radioing to the main ship and longer distances. That would be where you would call in a titan or a evacuation." He explained.

I press the button and make sure the switch is up. "Can you hear me?" I tested my radio.

"Yep, loud and clear." Cooper answered.