06192078 EOD A-Uniform

### **678 [KF] [DB] and [MS]**

**Below is a past conversation recorded found on a device of [KF]/[St]'s invention tucked far away in her original home. A time capsule to a time before disaster (translated to English from German).**

[DB]: You can back out of this, you have a choice.

[KF]: No, I'm going through with this.

[MS]: Are you sure?

[KF]: Yes, I'm sure.

[MS]: Well, we can find a way to bail you out of jail if the police catch onto this. Somewhat big publicity for such an event.

[DB]: The fact that you haven't a clue about street racing until now proves that even something of this caliber can be discreet.

[MS]: Well, alright.

[DB]: Are you certain you think you're good enough to face this guy?

[KF]: He's been a dick to us, he'll deserve what I give him.

[DB]: I can race for you.

[KF]: If I back out, it'll just be more pain. You should know this.

[DB]: This guy, he's got a 911 he'll leave you in the dust.

[KF]: Well, the fact that you haven't a clue as to what I mean proves even someone like me can be discreet.

[DB]: What?

[KF]: I even took this quad-rotor drone and put a live capture camera you can control with your phone so you can watch us race! I'll grab it from my car.

[MS]: What did she mean by that?

[DB]: I think this is going to be a race where she teaches me for once, instead of me teaching her.

[KF]: Here you go! Go ahead and connect it to your phone, and don't worry I tested to make sure the signal was at least difficult to hijack.

[DB]: Alright. Take your place now, people are getting anxious.

[MS]: We should tail them with the drone, I wonder if people will do the same.

[DB]: The future is now Marius, yet we still drive cars almost a century old.

[MS]: She started before him, by- by that one second!

[DB]: Playful from the start, she must have innumerable skill in that AE86 if she's confident she'll win.

[MS]: Follow her with the drone!

[DB]: Already on it. Here comes the first turn, let's see if I taught her anything. What?!

[MS]: What is it?

[DB]: That- that was amazing! I've never seen such smooth entry and exit with such haste from anyone!

[MS]: That must mean something since people like to challenge you quite a bit.

[DB]: Yeah they all suck compared to what that was.

[MS]: You weren't kidding! That looked absolutely amazing!

[DB]: The other guy is only able to keep up because of sheer engine output on straightaways. She beats him on every corner. This race will be a test of this guy's patience before he snaps or Kari's confidence before she makes a mistake from it.

[MS]: Did she really learn anything from you like she said?

[DB]: I understand what's going on now. She's been playing me a fool for weeks.

[MS]: How could that be?

[DB]: I've realized it.

[MS]: Her dad.

[DB]: He had her run errands for him all these years when he's been piling up with work, given how Kari's driving is I'd guess he'd been letting Kari do that before she was legal to drive.

[MS]: Even then.

[DB]: That would also explain why she knows this city so well. Where officers go, where turns are, and where she is simply by what turns she makes.

[MS]: All of this accounted for, why not tell us?

[DB]: At this point it is clear to me what she's doing, this is revenge for how he treated us.

[MS]: She's screwing with this guy to make him angry instead.

[DB]: Yeah, exactly that.

[MS]: This is a lot to take in.

[DB]: She wanted to shock not just all those riding bets on the faster car, but us as well.

[MS]: Being in front of him must slow him down, given that her car can't go faster than she pushes it.

[DB]: Normally the person second would have this time to analyze how the first place driver operates and determine how to beat them. But this guy has the temperament of a school bully, he's probably losing his mind at not only how slow the race is but how she's pushing him to his breaking point.

[MS]: They're approaching the last turn.

[DB]: He's close, and unless he's either suicidal or cocky he won't be able to go on the outside to pass her on the left turn.

[MS]: She's thinking like she wants to show off to that guy, do you still think she'll crash if she does something like that?

[DB]: I have no doubts about her anymore, whatever she's going to do it will ultimately be the last trick she'll pull.

[MS]: Look!

[DB]: She's breaking.

[MS]: How did he not rear end her?

[DB]: And she hooked her right-side wheels into the storm drain, he's too slow to drift and catch up after this straightaway end.

[MS]: She just won!

[DB]: I won't lie, there's much that she had done that even I didn't pick up on or think of doing in her situation. I have no doubt one day she will contest my title as the undefeated street racer in this area. I don't see anyone more worthy than her at this point. But, no matter if I think she won't beat me, our race will be one told until the end of time.

### **390**

[St]: I remember that day like it were the one preceding.

[??]: Your first street race.

[St]: I'm glad I kept this here, in the drone, I'm pretty sure the computer I had before the apocalypse couldn't have had its data retained.

[??]: Not just because the entire workstation was in ruins?

[St]: Considering that as well, yes. I was 16 years old back then. Now I'm 87.

[??]: Must've felt like a different time altogether.

[St]: Right about now like a normal person, I could be married, have kids and grand kids at this point, live a comfortable life in retirement. Well aside that I don't feel like I deserve a family like any other anymore, it's too late to retain any kind of normal generational timeline.

[??]: You still wish for a happy family life, I know.

[St]: I got wrapped into a society of abnormal people that I was unhappy with. I've learned to like a few that I used to spite, but back then it led me into a depression that ultimately didn't cost my life but my freedom.

[??]: I know you get along with Ashton more than Nate at this point.

[St]: Nate isn't so much like an ex-boyfriend to me, but more like a fragment of an old life. Everyone else, well they're just everyone else. I know Ren looks up to me, Aki on the side has her lusting desires of me, and Ashton is kind of like someone I can work with and have as a confidant. I've been gone for so long that Nate misses the times we had rather than me missing the times I had with my two best friends.

[??]: Now you have this memory, this fragment to cherish. It's the last remnant of their existence to the outside world other than their graves. When Europe was rebuilt, a new era began and the old one was forgotten. So much was lost that it's no different if you were to live a normal life. You'd still have your generation forever altered.

[St]: It makes me wonder, am I really the only last living real German in existence? I only hope that Germany was rebuilt because it had enough real Germans to repopulate it with, otherwise I'm all that's left of what Germany was for the last few centuries.

[??]: Nate said something similar when he was told about you retiring from the field.

[St]: How do you know this but I don't?

[??]: Trust me. At first, he says, "You know, I used to know this girl. Expert in covert ops, people knew her not by name but that she wore a bandana". Then whoever he was talking to says, "I heard she retired". And then that's when Nate replies with, "So it's just me". Supposedly the face he made then was one of pure shock and despair, and that if he weren't a professional he possibly would have teared up a little.

[St]: How is it that you know this but I don't?

[??]: Deep in your subconscious I learned this information. You heard this conversation before.

[St]: I can't help but leave most everything in the past, but I am glad I was able to hear this race one last time. It's best to move on.

*[St] puts one .45 ACP round from her USP into the drone, then making its data forever lost*
[St]: It's best not to linger on the past, but to remember it from a distance.

[??]: Their voice, their emotion. Lost forever.

[St]: No, they're not lost. I still remember them. I always will.

*end*