Gadina took off her pants that were dripping wet with her sweat.
Gosh, this reeks.
She thought, then pulled out another pair of short pants from her locker. Gadina swiftly put them on, and jumped back onto the bed. Although she couldn’t dress as she likes while she was serving, but they do offer laundry service there in the base. Someone would send their dirty laundry off to get cleaned, at least that was what happened while she was still in training.
The girl crossed her legs, staring at the bed board of the upper bunk. Gadina didn’t have a habit of taking naps, so she normally spent her time sneaking out to smoke. However, more people tend to hang around at that time comparing to other periods. This made things harder for Gadina since she needed to hide somewhere more secluded (or ask someone to keep watch for her) in order to not get caught. This noon was a special occasion though, she wasn’t exactly feeling up to it.
An entire morning of combat training had completely drained Gadina. She didn’t even stay outside after leaving the cafeteria, and was too lazy to go to the shops with her fellow mates of the same term.
Honestly speaking, those S.D.A’s self-run shops were that much attractive to her anyway. Although the items they sell were cheaper than what you can get outside, but she had looked through them already; none of them sell cigarettes.
Even if they do, I probably won’t be able to buy it anyway.
Gadina thought, since they need to show the code on their wrist when they checkout, and the S.D.A will never allow their Chasers to smoke.
No, there wasn’t even a single smoking area set up in the Belden Base. Apparently, they used to sell cigarettes in the base back in the days, but only departments other than the Wielders troops were allowed to purchase. Until the people in the S.D.A realized that secondhand smoke does more harm to the lungs compared to the person who’s smoking it. After that, all the facilities where Chasers were active in had completely banned smoking.
How boring.
Gadina sighed. Though she had heard from the others that the S.D.A protocols are now a lot more ‘humanized’ than earlier times, it was still a drastic change compared to her life before. The Belden Base wasn’t exactly small, but there were always things that reminded her that her life now is limited.
No…
She thought, but shook her head quickly. Joining in the S.D.A was a decision that she had contemplated upon for a long time. She didn’t want to have regretted her choice already.
All of a sudden, the noise of the door creaking open came from the other side of the dorm room. Gadina slightly lifted herself up and glanced at the doorway, where she saw a couple of female trainees walking into the room laughing and chatting.
How can they still be so happy?
She asked herself. The S.D.A wouldn’t even let them bring in any electronic devices, including smart communication devices. She knew that to some people, electronic devices were great for killing time. She used to have an old MP3, but it got taken away when she came in.
How can they still laugh like that without any entertainment?
It was pretty unbelievable for Gadina. She couldn’t care less about not being able to call on a phone, or use the Internet, but they can’t even play poker?
Sleep.
She urged herself, because she might just go mad if she continued on thinking about this.
The girl shut her eyes, but the chitter-chatters still caught her attention. Eavesdropping was one of the habits that she had picked up while she was on the streets, but she was already sick of listening to the dialogues between her roommates. She is a girl, after all. She knew what topics most girls discuss, especially when you’re leading an organized and routine life.
They weren’t all bad people, but unfortunately she just couldn’t seem to match their frequency. They’re either discussing some officers’ looks, complaining about the food served, or sharing their life before they joined the S.D.A. Gadina rolled her eyes while facing upwards at the bed board, at the same time turning to her side. She had already guessed where the girls were from, their hobbies, interests, and their backgrounds through their conversations. However, knowing these things weren’t exactly beneficial to her, it’s not like she was going to blackmail them with this information.
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“Who are you?” Another voice came from the other side of the room, waking up Gadina, who was at the brink of falling asleep.
Huh…
“You said you’re… looking for who?” Another roommate asked.
Weren’t they chatting?
Gadina half-opened her eyes.
Why does this feel like…
Curiosity drove her to lift her head up, which then she saw a girl she had never seen before with her luggage in her hands, walking into the room.
She’s not wearing the uniform?
She immediately realized. Her eyes landed on her roommates who pointed at her bed to the unknown girl.
Gadina shot up in bed at once. She sat cross-legged, staring intensely at the girl walking towards her. She watched her slowly getting close to the end of the bed frame, then stopped in her tracks.
“Hello, I’m—”
“Are you the one that’s filling in?” Gadina didn’t hesitate on cutting off the strange girl. She suddenly realized that she didn’t quite want to share her bunk with other people.
“Filling in?” The girl in casual clothes was caught off guard. “Uh…Corporal Walker told me that this is my dorm.”
“Oh…” Gadina grudgingly answered. “You can take the top, but do not step on my bed when you’re getting up there,” she warned, then lied down again.
The unknown girl nodded. She walked to the locker near the bedside and started unpacking her things.
“Is this…your stuff?” She asked after a quick second.
Damn it, forgot about those.
Gadina then sat up once again, her expression sullen; but she isn’t exactly in the right place to get mad.
“Sorry,” she answered with a rather insincere tone, then jumped off her bed. “I mean, this locker used to be empty, so,” she said, walking to the locker and starting to take out all the miscellaneous items inside. She carried everything in her arms, then piled them all into the locker at the other side of her bed, which was her own locker.
“Why are you using someone else’s locker?” The stranger suddenly asked.
“Didn’t I just say? It’s ‘cuz no one was using it before,” Gadina responded impatiently while she was trying to climb back in bed.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with whether the locker’s used or not, does it?”
Gadina stopped what she was doing, then turned to look at the girl.
“What’s your name?”
“What?”
“Your name?”
“I’m Hanister Dyner.”
“Dear Hanister,” Gadina gritted her teeth at every word. “You just asked if there’s any correlation. So now I’m telling you, yes there is,” she widened her eyes. “Heck of a correlation, actually. Because to me, if no one’s using that shit, I’d get to use it,” she emphasized.
“Why are you getting so aggressive?” Hanister couldn’t help but ask after she finished listening to the raging girl’s long rant. “Are you… mad?” She asked, seemed to be deeply concerned. However, Gadina only felt more provoked than before, as if someone’s invading her privacy.
“Miss Hanister, do you think you’re staying in a hotel now?” She retorted, sitting on the bed.
“I…”
“Why are you here?” Gadina continued asking. What she meant was that she wanted to ask why the stranger girl’s taking her top bunk. She didn’t like to let her guard down easily, especially against strangers.
“Why did you join the S.D.A?” She restated her question.
“I want to be a Chaser,” Hanister replied, filled with sincerity. “I want to kill every single one of those invading Star Creatures.”
Gadina was caught off guard by the answer, then reacted by throwing herself back on her pillow. “You idiot,” she said as she turned to lie on her side again, completely facing away from the person she was speaking to.
“Did you call me an… idiot?”
“That’s like the dumbest reason I’ve ever heard,” the girl said, with her back to Hanister.
“How could you say that?” Hanister placed down the pile of hangers she just took out from her luggage. “I mean, didn’t the S.D.A form in order to fight against them?” She asked, but the person lying on the bed did not respond.
“Didn’t you come for that reason as well?” Hanister popped another question. “Or did you…”
“Do not assume anything about others,” Gadina turned back around. “Unfortunately, I have no interest in some zealous maniac like you. People like you normally die the earliest,” she went harsh on her words.
“I’m not dying.” Hanister bit down on her lip hard, seemingly getting a little irritated as well. “I’ll prove it to you.”
I’ll prove it to all of you.
She said to herself.