Brady Tyson's Walk Along the Precipice

The Things That Humans Cannot Bear - 3

There's a loud sniff from the man behind me as my vision bores into the Anubis kid's head. His cold blue gaze remains fixed on the fat man who looks apprehensively between me and the kid.

"Well, let's see," he says, and the projection behind him disappears with a click; "how about we discuss your rewards over dinner, mm? And we can get the rest of our introductions in order."

More walking through identical hallways. That pulse has begun to pound in my head again. We take an elevator this time. The tiny closed off space doesn't help things. My left side is pressed up against the kid's wheelchair.

"Um, if not it's fine, I'm just- well I was wondering if there are any vegetarian options where we're eating?" Akil asks the fat man.

"Our cafeteria has pretty much anything you could wish for. It was a necessity for me to sign on to this job." He slaps his stomach.

"Wait-" I do a double take, my vision properly focusing on the lanky brown-skinned man wedged between the fat man and the elevator wall. "Wait, holy shit, Akil! I didn't recognize you!"

"Yeah, hi Brady." The librarian looks down at the ground.

"You got out of that mess alive!" Something catches in my throat, and I turn away, batting my eyes.

"Yeah, I sure did."

"Oh, right..." My excitement is washed away as I remember the dying expression of his wife. "She-"

"Save it." He says.

I close my mouth as the elevator doors open. The fat man tells us to go get our food and then to meet up at a table in the back corner of the vast, dingy room. Akil practically dashes out of the elevator and I decide to go the opposite direction of the fat man (who is pushing the bandaged Anubis kid along with him).

I slowly walk along the long row of displays, trays of food stashed on the other side of the glass divide. Mean looking lunch ladies stare at me with ladles in their gloved hands, and I absentmindedly wonder if this is what public school feels like.

Whatever appetite I had built over however-many-hours it's been since I last ate disappears as I get to the section with the meat. Suppressing the urge to vomit, I hurriedly ask for a plate of fruit salad before finding the rest of my... group at the other end of the cafeteria. I put a fork in my mouth and focus on keeping the grapes from rolling off my plate as I make my way over to them. The last seat at the table of four is across from Akil, and I pretend to still be focused on the balancing act as I slide down into the plastic chair.

The fat man clears his throat as I spear a piece of honeydew and jam it into my mouth. The Anubis kid loudly slurps some sort of digestible concoction from a glass with a straw. Akil stares at his plate wordlessly.

"Where's your food?" I ask the fat man.

"I'm on a diet."

"Right." The Anubis kid sneers at me, and I stare straight back into him.

"I know that I'm asking a lot of you three." The fat man continues. "Which is why in return I can guarantee total government funding for anything that you would wish to do for the rest of your lives. Housing, travel, food, parties, you name it. You'll never have to work again in your lives."

"Well, count me in!" The Anubis kid grins, his eyes searching around the table; "I certainly don't want to go crawling back home after all of this is done."

"Let me just say this then." The fat man toys with the sunglasses in his hands; "I know what I promise may seem too good to be true. Especially in this country. But let me speak to you for a moment as its citizen, rather than as an employee of its government. These riches are nowhere near payment enough for undergoing even one single trip into that... space where Eternity lies. I wouldn't take it if I had a starving family to feed."