The blanket doesn’t exactly cover your feet, but you know it would make you feel a whole lot better if it did.

Each time Ranger’s blaster fires it pierces the blanket’s fabric with an iridescent green light that tastes a bit like salt. You weep a little and blow your nose on the blanket. You clutch the blanket and rustle through your pockets.

Inside your left pocket you find a pair of cheap Sony headphones that you bought last weekend to replace the pair you broke when you left it in the wash. In your right pocket, you find your shitty cellphone.

There’s a text message from your significant other saying that things are over between you.

Great.

Ranger rips off the blanket.

A spike is lodged in her side and she’s bleeding from the mouth. She pulls the spike out and throws it out of the window. Her suit is steaming at the impact site. The smell of blood fills the room.

“It’s cauterizing the wound and the nano machines in my blood will help me regenerate,” she says. “I’ll be ok.”

She slides down beside you and reloads her laser blaster. The tip of the once-pristine weapon is singed black from overuse. It sounds like hell on Earth outside.

A large explosion sounds in the distance and a bright flash starts to envelop the room. Ranger picks up the blanket and places it over you. She sighs.

“I hate this part,” she says.

The End.

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