Cafeteria

Even after our last disaster, we still needed to eat. So our trip to the cafeteria continued. With Ahriman dead, another proxy took over leadership. I don’t really know who it was; he was from outside the circle of people I interacted with, so I’d never met him. Lepidus probably would have known his name.

There weren’t any more encounters on the way down. It actually didn’t take that long to reach the cafeteria; after we took a few minutes for everyone to relax, the trip was mostly a straight shot.

The cafeteria didn’t have any window to let the red sun in, and the electricity was still out, so it was pitch black inside. A few proxies with flashlights went ahead to light the way for us. The inside was just creepy. You never realize how cavernous a cafeteria can be until you try to navigate one in near total darkness. There were no signs of any people inside, but several of the tables looked like they had been moved from their original positions.

We went straight back for the kitchen, where all the food would be stored. A lot of us were hungry enough that we might have just charged in if whoever it was who was in charge hadn’t organized everyone into a line. My stomach wasn’t happy with the idea of having to wait, but it made sense.

I got stuck toward the back of the line, so almost everyone was already inside the kitchen by the time I got near. But before I could go inside, Sky started tugging on my arm, until she pulled me out of line. Manton had been watching Sky carefully, and when she got out, he took his team out of the line as well. The people behind us didn’t complain, and moved up to take our spots.

D: “Manton, what’s going on?”

M: “I don’t know, but that girl’s been remarkably good at predicting whenever something bad was about to happen. If she doesn’t want to go in there, we’re not going in there.”

He was right about that. I started looking around to try to see what was coming, but with the flashlights inside the kitchen, the rest of the cafeteria was black. The rest of the line went inside the kitchen, and I could see people being served up food and eating inside. Nothing seemed to be happening to them, and I started to wonder if it was a false alarm.

Then I heard a PA system above us turn on, and music started to play from it. The gate to the kitchen slammed shut in front of me. And from the other side of the door, I heard Arkady’s voice.

A: “Ladies and gentlemen! I present to you, your deaths! Accompanied by Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony Number 8, Movement 3!”

We didn’t wait to find out what happened to everyone trapped inside the kitchen with him. I’ve seen the consequences of Arkady’s actions enough to have an idea how it turned out. We made a beeline for the stairs, and didn’t stop until we had three floors between us and the cafeteria.

That just left me, Sky, Manton, Nightgaunt, Fox, and Valar. We’re the only ones left now. Out of everyone… it’s just us.

I don’t think I can take much more of this.