We're Slightly Less Screwed

I was sitting at the usual table in the mess hall with Epps, Lennox, and their team. Fig was there, so was Mike, the smart ass. He and Blake bickered nonstop, Jared, the nice guy of the group, Graham, the Captain Serious of the squad, and Katherine, the only girl on the team, were there as well. Fig and Bobby were bickering about some fuckery, and I was ignoring it. I was thinking about all of the shit I had to do at work today. I snapped out of my thoughts, when I heard one of the guys yell, “Red!” I looked up and saw Blake walking toward us, snickering.

“How the fuck am I still Red?” Blake asked as she sat down. Her hair grows fast as shit, and she neglected to dye it. I’ll have to take care of that later, I thought to myself.

“Shit!” she looked down at her nails.

“I have never seen someone so damn obsessed with their nails,” Lennox said.

“She’s OCD,” I replied.

“Fuck off, Slater.”

“Make me bitch.”

“Cat fight!” Mike said in that happy voice most boys have perfected by the age of twelve.

Katherine smacked him upside the head as she called him a pig.

Blake and I laughed. It’s always funny, when Katherine tries to keep them in check.

“So what’s on the agenda for you guys today?” Blake asked.

“Training, training, lunch, training, a meeting with Galloway, then dinner and we’re done for the day.”

“So glad I don’t have to deal with that asshole,” Mike said.

“I’ll agree with you on that one,” Katherine said.

“What do you two have to do?” Fig asked Blake and I.

“I have to work,” I said, getting up from the table.

“You still work?” a few of them asked at the same time.

“It’s an apprenticeship. I’m not going to be some fucking scratcher. Hell no!” I replied. No fucking way was I going to skip my apprenticeship and tattoo from some shady back room in a club or some shit. Fuck no.

“Scratcher?”

“It’s a tattoo thing,” Blake explained, knowing I couldn’t without going on a long ass rant. “I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t end up in Diego Garcia like I thought we would. Diego Garcia would be pretty and isolated, but we’re much better of here. Even though I’m still isolated,” she added with a scowl, I refrained from saying something about wrinkles, and waved goodbye as I set off for work.

I walked into my room, got dressed, and left base for work. After an hour and a half of hardcore jamming to Green Day and The Foo Fighters, I parked my car and went into the shop.

“Look who’s here!” Shane said, attacking me with a bear hug. “It’s my favorite blonde bitch!”

“Suck my dick, Miller!”

“Why so formal with the last name?” Shane asked me, letting me go.

“No reason,” I shrugged and walked over to the main desk to get shit ready for the day. “I just like your last name.”

“Weirdo.” He laughed and threw a wadded up piece of paper towel at me, which I caught and threw away.

“Suck my dick.”

“Suck mine first.”

“You wish, fuck face.”

“Fuck your face? Okay.”

“You’re an ass, I’m about to smack you.”

“Smack your ass? Little bit of an odd request but I’ll- OW!” He was cut off by Kendal smacking him upside the head.

“Stop tormenting Slayer. Poor kid gets enough shit from douchebag clientele,” she said, walking over to me and patting me on the shoulder.

“Thanks Ken,” I said as I went over and set up her station. The rest of my work day went pretty much the same. I drew up some sketches of the bots, dealt with some skank ass bitch bag, and fucked with Shane. It was a little past closing time when I gathered my shit and told Kendal I was leaving.

I went to a Starbucks and got B and I both coffee and drove back to base.

I walked through base, greeting everyone as I looked for Blake. I saw her sitting down looking like she was trying to figure out the secrets of the universe or some shit.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked.

She jumped and the desk lit up blue, all of the electronics that were scattered around on it transformed and started shooting at us.

“Shit! Run!” Blake said, pushing past me.

“God damn it!” I dropped the coffee and ran like Hell.

“LENNOX!”

“EPPS!”

“KAT!”

“MIKE!”

“ANY BOT WITH A HOLOFORM!” We were screaming for anyone who could take care of them when something occurred to me.

“Blake why didn’t you just fry them?” I asked.

“Cause they’re the first ones I’ve made,” she answered.

I resisted the urge to say something about her being a mother and followed her towards the med bay.