PART ONE

me: kim

Kim: lauren.

so we meet again.

me: I always knew we'd end up like this

dueling above a poker game

in a smoky saloon

Kim: it was our destiny

our lives have been spiraling towards this moment since our childhoods

mine, on that ranch in Montana

yours, in the slums of Mexico

Sent at 9:42 AM on Tuesday

Kim: advancing all those years to meet our fate in this saloon.

me: if it weren't for that Montana-Mexico war

and our forbidden love

we never would have had to end up like this

I could have lived my whole life never knowing you

safe and happy, never knowing I was empty inside

but I am honor-bound to my great nation to take you out, General, no matter how I feel

Sent at 9:46 AM on Tuesday

Kim: As am I honor-bound to defeat you, Senora, as the drunken crowd looks on with increasing interest.

Sent at 9:48 AM on Tuesday

Kim: In another life, would it have had to be this way? Could we have ended this blasted war with our love?

Sent at 9:49 AM on Tuesday

me: Fools and romantics (but I repeat myself) say love conquers all, but all I have ever known love to do is to destroy

After the alien invasion and the Second Louisiana Purchase, there was no hope for us.

Besides, what could we have done? Formed a secret guerilla rebel team, living in the wilderness, sabotaging both sides?

Sent at 9:53 AM on Tuesday

Kim: Alas, the wilderness is but a memory since the alien invasion and the Second Louisiana Purchase. I saw my Montana destroyed by alien machines, overrun by howling clanking beasts. That was the day I bought my first laser-pistol, and walked across the border - that fateful day...

Sent at 9:58 AM on Tuesday

me: TO BE CONTINUED