Her fresh scent washed over me as she grabbed the bucket from my hand. “Choose carefully, though. I only have time for one game. Just for my Bunny.”
33
KIERA
With Spencer haulingthe bucket of coins, I took my time wandering up and down the aisles of games, pondering the best choice.
“We don’t have all day, Bunny.” Spencer called, though I could tell from the lilt in her voice that she was having fun watching me explore.
“Don’t act like you don’t love the view.” I called back, dragging out my footsteps a little slower.
In truth, there were far too many games to pick from. I could have walked the arcade for half an hour and not seen everything. So I turned on my heel, walking backward as I smirked at Spencer. “Any favorites, keeper of the keys?”
“I don’t play much. The ‘job’ part of my job keeps me kinda busy.”
“I don’t buy that for a second.” I rolled my eyes. We’d already passed by Frogger, Donkey Kong, and Galaga, but I was craving something more tactile. Nothing was speaking to me.
Until we rounded the corner where the classic cabinets gave way to a wall of shooting games. And at the center of theshooters, plastered across the cabinet in sunglasses and a leather jacket, The Terminator called.
“What about him?” I pointed with my chin. It was hard not to laugh at how serious he looked watching over the arcade, movie prop gun clutched at this side.
“That your type?” Spence tilted her head playfully.
“Why?” I laughed, “Would that intimidate you?”
“Me? Never.” Sauntering over to the machine, she carried the bucket of coins like it was weightless. “Let’s give it a spin.”
Giving me my pick of the big plastic guns holstered on the front of the cabinet, Spencer slid a handful of gold coins through the token slot before grabbing the gun to my right. The second the coins clinked at the bottom of the bin, the machine let out a long droning note, and the blue “insert coins” screen went black.
“Get ready.” Spence smiled, testing the trigger of her gun.
I grabbed my own gun, trying to get comfortable with the feel as a tinny man’s voice rumbled out. “It’s Judgement Day.”
Suddenly, the black screen opened to a pixelated wasteland. The ruins of Los Angeles burned blood red beneath a white scroll of text setting the scene. I peeked over at Spencer just in time to catch her mouthing the last of the words: “They lived only to face a new nightmare, the war against the Machines…”
I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t play the games.”
“I don’t now. Used to as a kid.”
Before I could press her on it, our tinny Terminator piped up with a new command. “Fire at will.” Suddenly, two crosshairs appeared on the screen, one red and one blue.
“Which one am I?” I waved my gun around the screen, trying to figure it out.
The red one let off a round, downing a drone as it soared over the distance directly toward us. “Not the helpful one.”
“Hey!” I nudged her, but her eyes never left the screen. She was too busy mowing down metallic skeletons armed with machine guns of their own.
Rolling my shoulders, I matched her focus, whipping my shaky gun around the screen and firing off at anything I could hit.
As one of the enemies died under my barrell, I smirked at Spencer. “See? Not so useless after all.”
But just as I was starting to get my bearings, the screen shifted, scrolling right as if we were walking through the battle field. Everything was a blur of motion, and I couldn’t keep track of the moving targets. “Shit…”
While Spencer cleared out the right side of the screen, I was quickly growing overwhelmed by enemies on the left.
“Fuck!” Before I could get a grip, a huge metal skeleton with blaring red eyes popped up directly in front of us, larger than life. I tried to aim for him, but the mechanical recoil of the gun made it hard to aim.
Spencer swung her crosshairs around, lodging a bullet right between his eyes before he could strike us. “Not that we’re keeping score, but that’s twice now that I’ve saved you. In case any special thanks are in order.”
