Free Stone Soldiers 1: Mythical by C. E. Martin Page A

register where a young girl with several piercings in her nose, ears and lip rang them up.
    Mark could hardly break his gaze from all the studs and loops in the girl’s face, as she folded all the clothes and put them in the bag with his old pants.
    “Letting your kids pick out some new clothes?” the clerk asked when she gave Mark his change back. He was running low on cash now. Just a few hundred dollars remaining.
    “Something like that,” Mark said.
    “Finally,” Jimmy said. “Can we go get something to eat now?”
     

CHAPTER NINE
                 
     
    The Mall’s food court was bustling with activity- most of it younger people in their teens and twenties.
    Mark at first was amazed by the number of restaurants available. But the longer he stood there, it started to seem familiar. Not this particular food court, but the idea. His memory was indeed returning.
    While Josie and Jimmy went off to get dinner, Mark purchased a newspaper and sat down to read it. The front page was filled with depressing news. A war in the middle east. Rampant crime. And the current President embroiled in some kind of scandal involving a mistress.
    Not much different from a newspaper in 1962.
    Across the food court, Jimmy and Josie balanced their trays carefully as they walked back to Mark. They had purchased a lot of food. Five orders of fries. Several burgers. Two orders of chicken strips and three chicken sandwiches. And three thirty-two ounce soft drinks.
    “What if he doesn't like any of this?” Jimmy asked.
    “He’s bound to like something,” Josie said.
    “Did we get enough?”
    Josie frowned at Jimmy. “You have seen him, right? I'm pretty sure he could eat all of this.”
    The duo finally reached Mark’s table- a square plastic thing with two pairs of seats on either side of the table. Josie slid in next to Mark- much to Jimmy’s dismay. Jimmy glumly sat across from Josie.
    Mark folded his paper and set it down on the table.
    “Anything ring a bell?” Josie asked, setting a burger, a chicken sandwich and fries in front of Mark.
    “Lots of them. But it's all still hazy,” Mark said, eyeing the food suspiciously.
    Josie helped Jimmy set out the rest of the food. She gave herself a set of chicken strips while Jimmy opted for a burger.
    Josie pushed the fries closer to Mark. “You've had french fries before, right?”
    “Yes,” Mark said, frowning. “We had french fries in 1962. And hamburgers.”
    Jimmy pushed an order of chicken strips in front of Mark. “You didn't have chicken nuggets. They came out in the eighties.”
    Josie laughed as she chewed on a piece of chicken herself. “Jimmy is a fast-food historian... Among other things.”
    Mark eyed the deep fried chunks in their small, paper container suspiciously. He poked at them with his finger. They looked like fried chicken. But with no bones. “I'm not really hungry. I'd just like some water.”
    “I think you're in shock,” Josie said. “You know, waking up in the 21st century. You need to eat something.”
    “We've established I've been here before,” Mark reminded her. “In the present.”
    Josie ate a fry. “Yeah- but you don't remember. It's like you get to discover things all over again.”
    “Like who tried to kill you,” Jimmy pointed out.
    Josie frowned at Jimmy, and picked up Mark’s drink. She moved it toward his face, trying to get him to try it. “I got you a Coke. I know those were big back then.”
    Mark reluctantly took the drink and gave it a sip. He immediately made a face at the taste. “This is not how I remember it tasting.”
    “Right!” Jimmy said, snapping his fingers. “They used to put sugar in coke.”
    Jimmy then started unwrapping his burger.
    “What do they put in it now?” Mark asked, a little worried.
    Jimmy was about to take a bite of his burger, but stopped. “Corn syrup- it's cheaper. Oh, and they've changed the formula a few times over the years.”
    Mark set down the drink as Jimmy took a