His eyes shifted from one side of the room to the other, unsure of the company he was in. Eimose had awoken not too long ago to a cold floor and a wave of faces peering down at him that all backed away as if he’d contracted influenza. Any attempt he’d made to communicate with them was met with stares and a garbled mess of words he couldn’t understand spilling from their mouths. He was unnerved as the eyes continued to gaze at him wordlessly, and his current environment wasn’t soothing his nerves any.
Eimose was standing in a hallway similar to the one he’d burst in on, but the door behind him was different and the walls were a slightly lighter color of slate metal than he’d originally seen, meaning that he was in a different hallway altogether or he’d simply distorted the events in his mind due to overexposure. No matter the causation of his predicament, he was now under the watchful supervision of a mass of people he knew nothing about.
Terra lay a few feet away from him, surrounded by her own group of strangers, her breathing even and Eimose couldn’t hear any oddities in it. His own lungs felt like they’d been exposed to flames and then crushed, making every breath feel as if he was breathing through a straw.
“Ahh, the brave one awakens!” A voice bellowed out from beyond the hallway they were crammed in, creating a split through the crowd that revealed the large man covered in scars Eimose had first met before he’d collapsed. “How are you feeling?”
Eimose swallowed the lump in his throat. “F-Fine. You?” He cringed as his automatic response to the question resulted in an opening for small-talk.
The man laughed heartily and said something in the throaty language unfamiliar to Eimose and the people around laughed with him.
He didn’t know how he was able to pinpoint her groan of coming-to amongst the laughter, but Eimose heard Terra as her eyelids pried open and her elbows knocked on the metal floor as she attempted to get up. The crowd dispersed from around her, giving Eimose a clear path to her side.
“Wha--?” She rubbed the back of her head and looked around her. Eimose offered her a hand up, which she took, raising her arms in a fighting stance. “Okay, we're not under attack. Care to explain?” she whispered to Eimose.
The large man approached them, pausing a few feet away to make another comment that Eimose couldn’t comprehend, leading to the crowd laughing again. To everyone’s surprise, Terra yelled at the man in the odd language, which led to a collective ‘oohing’ from their audience.
“You can understand him?” Eimose loudly whispered at her.
“Of course I can. Can’t you?”
“No! I have no idea what language they’re speaking. How do you know it?” He asked incredulously.
She shot him a look of bewilderment but then focused her attention on the man who was approaching them again.
“It seems this young one has spirit. We may make use of you. Boy, what purpose is your hand?” The man asked, his voice commanding but hesitant as if he had to think about choosing the correct words.
“My han--oh right. The strange rock thing that is now my left arm. Uhhh, I don’t really know to be honest, but it could be of use to you?” Eimose offered, hoping to get on the good side of this man who was clearly in charge.
“Perhaps. Come, your companions are in the treatment room.” The man motioned for the two to follow him through the sea of people.
Terra and Eimose obediently followed, trying to keep pace with his long legs, nearly jogging to keep up. Eimose was was glad to see that the people that had surrounded them weren’t following them, dispersing as soon as their leader beckoned the intruders away.
“I wasn’t out for long this time, right?” Terra quietly asked Eimose.
“I woke up just a bit before you so I don’t really know.” He confessed. “Why?”
“Just tired of waking up in places I don’t know.”
“You and me both.”
Terra snorted and Eimose was surprised to see a grin on her face.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“It’s kind of nice to have someone who’s kind of going through the same shit. I don’t think I’ve been able to relate to anyone on this level.” She turned to Eimose with a sly twinkle in her eyes. “And here I thought I would be able to keep you as a hostage forever.” Her smile faded as she remembered Indo and Petri, but the sadness she’d once felt was replaced with determination.
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“Well, I wish I could say I’ve changed but I don’t think I have.” He whispered back as he saw her expression fall. “I swear that I will right my wrongs and fight back against Greenhouse. I’d like to say I’ll fight until my dying breath, but at the rate, I’m going that’s probably going to be tomorrow. I guess I can only promise that I’ll fight for the tomorrow that may never come.”
A pair of hands clapping interrupted Eimose’s monologue. He glanced up, startled, and was glad to see Brit and Regal standing a few feet away. Eimose noticed a stasis tube propped upright attached to the wall and through the small window he could make out Jer’s face. There was also an older woman standing near the tube as well, but Eimose suspected it was the standing physician of the ‘treatment’ center they were in. Truth be told, it looked as if someone had plucked whatever equipment they thought looked medical related and stuck it in this dimly lit area. It did little in comparison with the facilities Eimose had grown accustomed to as a Scout, though he did spot a few Greenhouse-built machines on the walls, particularly two of the five total stasis tubes propped up against the far wall, the MRI machine, the centrifuge on the largest table, and the surgical machine to the right. His curiosity was piqued as he wondered how they were able to get Greenhouse’s large machines in this makeshift medical area without raising alarms by the large company.
“Heart-wrenching speech, really.” Regal sarcastically droned. “Here I thought we were having a moment earlier and you go and have one with this random girl? You wound me!” He fell to the floor, dramatically clutching his heart and draping his other over his face. Brit slapped him across his face without hesitation.
“Ignore him, he’s just happy that Jer’s going to be fine. Aitaz was generous enough to accommodate us even though we destroyed his front door and intruded on his base.” Brit summarized, gesturing to the large man. “As compensation, I have volunteered us all for labor around the facility. Yes, even you Regal, don’t give me that look, you were there when we agreed. Aitaz, why don’t you take it from here?”
“My pleasure.” The man joined in. “First a tour of where you will be working. Follow me.” Aitaz left the room and the three followed, though Regal had to be dragged out. “This base consists of six floors. The top and middle floors are defense and weaponry. The second floor is food and water production. The third is the recreation room and information center. The fourth is the generator and laboratory. Finally are the barracks. We are low on space, however, so you will be sleeping in the defense center. Each defense floor also consists of a treatment center, which we were just in.
“We are on the middle defense floor, where you will remain under supervision. You must ask one of the officers in charge if you wish to eat or go to the rec room. If you feel you are better suited for a different position, you must pass a test. All recruits start at the defense floor, and those who excel will join above-ground missions determined by the Information team.”
The four walked through the hallway they’d come from, which was now sparsely populated by several people, making it much easier to navigate than before. The walls of sleet grey metal blended together as they crossed through a doorway and entered a much larger space with slits on the floors and ceilings that allowed for walls to be moved to accommodate different training exercises. He led them through, passing by the recruits training in marksmanship via rifles and pistols, to a door.
“This is where you will be staying until you have earned our trust and prove you are no enemy of the last uncorrupted few. Change into your uniforms and meet at the weapons cage where an officer will guide you through the rest. I must go, do not cause trouble or we will end you.”
Aitaz left with a surprising quickness for a man of his size, shutting the door and leaving the three with the threat of his words hanging over them.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I think he likes me.” Regal quipped.
Eimose didn’t even bother responding to the other man, scoping out the room they would be sharing. He was unimpressed. It was dimly lit, had dark grey metal walls that seemed to absorb all light, and had three thin mattresses that seemed to have been thrown in along with a pile of blankets he’d first assumed was the corpse of an unfortunate animal. A desk with a pile of clothing on top of it and a rundown chair was shoved in the corner, making for much less floor space. There was hardly enough room for a single person to be comfortable, much less three.
“I call the clean mattress!” Regal cried as he lunged for the one that partially lay atop the others. “Eww, it’s actually not that clean up close.”
Eimose straightened out the other two mattresses as Regal tried to cover his up with a blanket to make it more presentable. When Eimose was satisfied with his maneuvering he turned to Terra who had headed straight for the clothes. His face flushed red and he quickly turned around when he saw that was completely naked.
“My gods do you have any decency!” He screamed, starling Regal, who opened his mouth to retort but then quickly turned around when he saw Eimose’s comment was not aimed at him.
After a moment of silence, Terra finally responded.
“Are you talking to me?” she asked as she zipped up the oversized jumper with the letters UC on the back.
“Yes, you! You’re in a room with two other men and you stripped without a second thought!” He cried out.
“Yeah, and your point? Aitaz told us to get in the uniforms, so I did.”
“You don’t strip in front of men is what I’m getting at!”
Terra rolled her eyes and walked past the others and stood in front of the door, facing the boys. “Where the hell am I supposed to change then? I really don’t get what the big deal is. I’ll see you at the cage.”
A moment of silence hung as she left the room.
“I don’t know about you, but I think she likes me,” Regal stated with a coy smile.
Eimose slapped him across his face without a second thought.