TCS: Fate Of The Cosmos

Chapter 11: Legend of the chosen survivor

Once more, Cole found himself retreating to a local bar that still holds open for the civilians aboard the genesis ship, ironically named "The ARK", which the federation sergeant had always found quite amusing. But this wasn't a place of joy anymore, not a place of song and cheering, nor a place where people would go for a good time.
As one would assume, after everything that had gone down in the past nine months, this place has lost the majority of its customers. Once crawling with federation soldiers singing about a distant future, and a past they left behind, and ordinary folks coming in to share a drink with a friend or a loved one, but now, all this bar had become was a place for certain individuals to catch a break, and find a temporary and painful escape for the much harsher reality. He was one of the most regular customers at this bar, and there is no surprise in that.

The bartender who once thrived here, with a constant grin on his face was now looking back at Cole with empty eyes, certainly looking as if he had seen better days, and Cole could only nod to greet the man. Sitting at a barstool, making little to no chatter with the bartender, the sergeant had his usual slide over to him, and as it arrived in his hands, he looked down into the golden whiskey, to meet his own eyes staring back at him. From the open tek helmet visor, Cole's nearly soaked hair hung by small strands over the drink, his eyes struggling to keep open and the corners of his mouth drawn downwards.

It was miserable, looking at himself this way. He too had seen better days, but that was long, long ago. You hear stories of cryo-frozen people, who awaken again after hundreds of years feeling as if not a single second passed since they were last awake, but that was all bullshit, and Cole knew it was. He felt as if he had been present and experienced the centuries go by, and it was nothing like in the movies. Having only been awake for two-thirds of a year, it still felt like he had spent an eternity out here, waiting for something good to finally happen. But no, here he was, at the end of the world, all over again.

Twirling the glass of whiskey around in circular motions, letting the ice seep into the liquid, Cole lifted it to his face while watching the artificial sun set on the horizon, beyond the Eden habitat ring walls that kept them safe. Turning back to miserably stare at the ice cubes in his drink, Cole flinched as a tek helmet landed on the bar top next to him, and a heavy individual took a seat on the chair to his right.

"Mind if I join you?" Locke asked, groaning while taking a seat for the first time ever since he woke up today."

"Sure." Cole forced a smile but was unable to hold it for long before his face turned to misery again.

He couldn't hear what Locke was ordering from the bartender over the sound of his thoughts, and his own voice in his head, but from the corner of his eye, he can the bartender eventually hand Locke an exceptionally large cup of strange orange-colored drink, with something that looked like small black gummies in it.
Cole genuinely couldn't help but turn to Locke with curiosity, as the large guy made an obnoxiously loud noise stabbing the lid of the cup with a big straw.

"What's that?" He asked.

Locke looked at him with a blank expression, and it was almost silly how easy it was, to read on his face that he was unsure how to explain, and was at a loss of words, nearly a bit embarrassed. "Uhh, Bubble tea."

"You drink boba?" Cole asked in amused awe as he let out a chuckle, and this little action- not forced at all. It was genuinely funny to him that a big beast of a man like Locke would be drinking bubble tea. "What type is that? Black tea?"

"Hrggnh." Locke snorted, absolutely sure of what Cole was thinking right now. "Thai milk tea, actually. So I guess yeah, black tea, in a way."

With a sigh, Cole continued. "Had a girlfriend once. She was all on about that stuff. Matcha was her favorite."

"It's better hot."

"Oh, you're fucking right about that." Cole smiled with a smug look in his eyes.

An awkward silence ensued as Cole fell back into thought again. Talking to people is merely a temporary distraction from it, but as soon as the final words are spoken and all goes quiet again, Cole returns right back to the mental hellhole he just can't seem to escape. Coming all the way here just to drink was truly Cole's only method of escaping the pains he carried within, and although getting completely wrecked wasn't his sort of thing, it at least kept him busy dealing with hangovers instead of sharp and got-wrenching guilt.

Cole's past was haunting him, and it was having no mercy on his state of mind in the aftermath of all that happened. It was practically impossible to tell if it was the literal PTSD from the tek war against the United Republics, or if it was survivor's guilt, something he had dealt with since his very last day on earth.

Locke could tell that his friend was not feeling it this late evening, and the awkward silence said it all, as usual, Cole would be obnoxious, loud, rude, hell- the entire package. The federation sergeant had always come off as a smug, ruthless but incredibly friendly individual to Locke, so seeing him like this was certainly new.

"So... Work's started again. Haven't seen you around the past couple of days since the beach, how's stuff working out for you?" Locke attempted to start small talk despite knowing how awfully bad he was at it.

"Tough, that's for sure. Constant shit coming from the higher-ups, and I've been training soldiers for hours on end." Cole sighed. "Bullying them into running faster and fighting harder every now and then to piss them off, is only fun for a while."

"I see." Locke nodded, understanding his bud's struggle. "Must be difficult being a sergeant. How'd you get that title anyway?"

Cole froze ever so slightly, unsure of what to proceed with next. The man was literally asking about Cole's past now, something he had come here in the hopes of escaping. A drop of sweat rolled down Cole's nose as he sat there thinking to himself, keeping Locke waiting for a reply.
"I don't... It's a long story. A story for another night."

Nodding again, Locke turned to the ongoing sunset and stuffed the large straw in his mouth, sipping up the tapioca pearls one by one and enjoying how chewy they were.

"How's... earth?" Cole then asked all of a sudden, throwing Locke off for a bit as he had not expected such a question here and now.

At the topic of his own past, Cole began to wonder what Locke's must've been like. Actually thinking about it, the federation sergeant began to realize that he knew basically next to nothing about Locke's past, as a normal human being centuries ago, and now as a clone born and forged from the twisted machines within the ARKs. Locke had witnessed the dawn of a reborn homeworld, and apparently had a relationship back at home, but that's all he knew about this giant that was sitting beside him, a someone who was shrouded in mystery.