GUARDIAN|M.LANGDON

PART 2|STEW

Day one in the apocalypse
No, not apocalypse- our new 'Life'
And it was a nightmare already, I shuddered thinking of the events at lunch

It had started off fine, well I say fine
I had met everyone, and had a meal with them, as expected of us all

But when I say meal

Quite literally a cube

Filled with "VitAmINs" as the woman I now know miss venable says, the woman who greeted me at the cell

I caught on shortly that they've done something quite, weird, I'm unsure what kind of dystopian madness I've fallen into but we seemed to all be playing some sort of character

Most of the residents had been dressed in some renaissance era outfits, all purple, gallant and Coco seemed to be enjoying it more than others, whilst me and this other girl- called Mallory, were both greys, nobody even looked at us through the whole dinner- once again solidifying our place as unimportant in this establishment

I was sat biting my nails in the library, thinking of the trauma that went through of day 1 dinner

We sat down at the table, shortly finishing our food- when ms mead came over all of us, a strange device in her hand
I waited nervously as she passed over me- nothing to tell me what was wrong, but then it got to mr gallant and a man by the name of Stu- a loud wire sound eminating from the device

"Radiation, both of them"

I watched in fear as I saw mr gallant and Stu get pulled away from dinner with a struggle due to some strange radiation- it felt impossible if we had all been together for so long- nor did I ever see them leave,
so how?

God knows what happened to them, I feared to even think, but the look gallant had when he came back, along with him staying deadly silent after, made me not want to know
And as for Stu- we never saw him after

Some time had passed, and we had all been sat down for more food I sat in the corner with Mallory, hearing coco bitch and being a bit insensitive to the whole situation, calling him a 'waste', I felt my stomach churn at the situation, that man had a whole life to live- his family, friends, all thought he was somewhere safe
And now- rest his soul

At last Ms venable came in to announce something, I backed away from the table trying not to be too involved with the chatter of the group

"We have a special treat" she spoke ominously

I watch as Ms mead, the other woman, started to place down bowls filled with hot stew, it smelt delightful, not to mention the awful food we had this morning made it harder to resist, I watch in awe as everyone gets greedily ready to eat it, gallants mother seemingly devouring it without a seconds though

I pick up a spoonful happily, going to put my mouth to the spoon when I get a tingle, and start feeling heavily sick, as if the worst illness washed over me

Don't eat it
I can't eat it

I shouldn't be eating it, as I placed it back down the feeling vanished, I looked at it concerned
Why couldn't I eat it

I look back up and I see both Timothy and Emily not eating the stew, and I did realize- this was suspicious of them to give us so late, why not off the bat?
But I get my answer only seconds after

'The stew is stu!' I hear mr gallant scream

Everyone gets up away from the table, myself included as havoc insued, aside from evie of course who continues to eat it unphased, I furrow my brows at this and gulp down, trying to keep my stomach together, and I look at Ms venable as she stands up, to start talking about some bullshit morals

Without a second thought I left the room, a fast walk of repulse as I thought of the vents that happened, but another concern graced my mind as the shock died down

How did I know not to eat it? It smelt fine, it looked fine, there was absolutely nothing to tell me
So how did I know?

A chill went down my spine as my hand went to my mouth, making my way back to the library

I had a minute peace before I saw Mallory- a girl I quickly got acquainted with in the bunker for both being gray, sat down beside me, she let out a sigh

"A mess" was all she needed to say, I agreed quickly

Everyone else soon came barreling in, all talkative and fine as if- that didn't just happen, I decided to keep my mouth shut as I start to zone out, words muted and drowned by the random conversations and music occurring around me

But my thoughts begin to be interrupted by Emily talking

"Just listen"

We all stay silent as we try to listen to what Emily was hearing- but nothing seemed to ring to be out of place

Mr gallant seemed to hear my thoughts as he replied "I don't hear anything" worry still plagued his face from all the yelling, and maybe he had some sort of heart, that made him also I'll from the 'stew'

"Exactly, the song stopped" at that we hear a click, and a new song starts playing, the first different song in two weeks

I speak up "why would they change it?" And then room is silent again, aside from the new song

Mr gallant gets up happily, "don't you get it?! It's a message! The corporate is trying to tell us something- we're saved" I seemed to be wrong about my previous statement

At this several of the group start cheering in excitement, I want to be happy, but...

I look up to Mallory "Mallory-" I'm interrupted by more screaming and shrieking as they start to sing along
I guess we're saved?