The (not so) Good Girls Bad Boys: The Good, The Bad and The Abandoned

29- Just This Once...

"Why... Won't... You... DIE!" I growled as I swung my plasma sword at the bloodthirsty alien.

The Elite was covered in dark blue armor with wrinkly grey skin underneath. It's eyes were tiny compared to its massive jaws that separated into three parts, the top section jutting out deadly, white teeth. It held its own plasma sword in one hand while the other was decorated with long, sharp claws. The Elite charged at me with its weapon but I jumped out of the way in the nick of time before landing one final, deadly blow on the creatures head. Blue blood sprayed everywhere, forming a puddle around the deceased alien's armored body.

I grimaced as I zoomed in closer to the alien, staring at its relatively detailed face with its soulless, black eyes and sharp teeth jutting out its open mouth.

"Halo sure has gotten much better graphics since I last played..." I noted thoughtfully.

A blue hologram of a woman appeared in front of me as loud bangs and creaking echoed throughout the spaceship.

"Chief! The foundation of the ship has become unstable! The whole place is about to blow! Get to the escape pods now-!"

"Dang it, Cortana, stop yelling at me and just show me where to go!" I shouted at the program.

My thumbs danced across the controller as the blue hologram lead me throughout the crumbling ship, wires and mechanical doorways sparking and sputtering as I passed. We passed a couple Jackles that I quickly gunned down as we ran by but luckily there were no more Brutes or Elites. Soon we reached the escape pods and I watched as the game switched into a programmed narration as my character, The Chief, climbed into the escape pod and shot himself into space. The Chief glanced back through the window to see the alien spacecraft explode behind him into a colorful explosion of reds, oranges, yellows, whites and blues before the screen darkened and returned to the homescreen.

I let out a long sigh as I tossed the X-box controller onto the couch beside me and stretched my arms and back. So maybe I played a couple more games then the two that I had told myself I would play, but I haven't played Halo in years and I wanted to see the improved graphics in the newer versions.

I know you are probably thinking I'm a total gaming nerd right now but hey, I had a nerdy, cool dad, two brothers and a best friend that was basically another brother to me, so these first person shooter games grew on me over the years. However, nowadays I'm not a big fan of games like Call of Duty and Battlefield because of my traumatic experiences with guns. Even shooting virtual players makes me squeamish. The only reason Halo is different is because you shoot unrealistic aliens, not other people. Besides, most of the weapons are alien guns and swords and such. The unrealistic game was a lot more comforting to me than a game like Call of Duty.

I sank back into the couch and dipped my spoon into the tub ice cream for another scoop but frowned when my spoon came to my lips empty. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked down into the carton to see that there was indeed no more ice cream. I pouted at my empty ice cream carton before reluctantly getting off the couch and going to the kitchen to dispose of my trash.

I guess that's my cue to go check up on the boys.

I still had a little time before I had to be at Charlie's Place and I figured it would be smart to go check up on the guys to see how their man-hunt was going. I know it might seem like a bad idea to go to the people that just tried to lock me up earlier, but if worse comes to worse, I could always just run away again. To be honest, they probably left the crime scene a while ago, but I figured maybe I might be able to spot some clues that got left behind.

Throwing away the ice cream carton and turning off the gaming system, I found my backpack and shoes by the front door and walked out of the apartment. I was already in the elevator, hitting the button to take me to the lobby when I froze as a thought occurred to me.