Gamma Stellaris

Chapter 6

        Stefanie wanted so desperately to get a nice, warm shower. She had never gone more than a day without a shower, and while she hadn't quite reached that point yet, she had also sweat quite a bit while in the amusement park.

         She felt sticky and she hated it.

         As she attempted to braid her hair, Kassidy started to stir awake.

         "Morning." She said with a soft yawn.

        "G'morning."

         Brian yawned as he slowly sat up, starting to stretch. "God, I thought this was just a nightmare."

        "Yeah. I think we were all hoping that." Kassidy whispered.

         "Leanne and Jared seem completely unbothered by how uncomfortable this floor is." Stefanie said. "That is so not fair."

        They were both sound asleep, curled up looking as comfortable as could be.

         "Lucky them." Kassidy hissed softly.

          "Good morning." Charity said softly, walking into the classroom. "How are you all this morning?"

          "Been better." Kassidy whispered.

          Brian rolled his eyes. "We're fine."

          "Sorry I didn't have a better place to offer you all."

          "No, we're fine here. The fact that you're helping us at all is enough for us." Brian answered. "Thank you."

          She smiled softly. "Of course."

           Leanne slowly sat up, pushing her hair away from her face. "What time is it?"

          "About ten." Kassidy answered.

          Jared sprung awake, sweat clinging to his skin. He panted for a few deep breaths.

          "You okay?" Leanne asked softly.

           "Uh-huh. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry."

           Stefanie fiddled with her shirt. "Can we try to find some fresh clothes? This outfit is starting to feel disgusting."

         "It's been a day." Leanne said with a soft chuckle.

         "Well, if any of you girls are my size I can bring some clothes by. I'm sure Lonnie is willing to offer the same to you boys." Charity said, smiling softly.

         "Thank you." Leanne answered.

          Stefanie made it to her feet. "I'm finding a shower."

          "Are you nuts?" Brian asked softly. "We have no idea where we are or what half of the rooms do! You could walk into an alien shooting range or something!"

          "I'm willing to risk it. I have never been this sweaty in my entire life and if I don't wash my hair soon, it'll get frizzy. When my hair gets frizzy, everyone is miserable."

          "Stefanie-" Jared started.

         "It's just a shower, relax."

         Stefanie walked out of the room, shutting the door to the classroom. She started walking quickly before anyone could try to stop her.

        What harm could a silly little shower do?

         Really, she was doing everyone a favor. Her B.O. got awful sometimes and she wasn't going to deal with it.

        Stefanie carefully inched a door open and grinned. The room was entirely tile and had multiple shower heads positioned all along the ceiling.

          As soon as she walked in, the door slammed shut and locked. She tried to pry the door open, but a few moments later she slowly shrugged.

        Sure, the situation seemed really bad, but Stefanie figured this was the universe telling her that she really  needed a shower.

        The shower heads all started at once, although she hadn't done anything to turn them on. Instead of spraying a liquid, they sprayed gas, and it felt like it was burning her lungs.

         She started coughing, staggering to the door. Once she finally managed to get it open, she almost collapsed.

         In a matter of seconds, sweat had started to gather on her skin. Her heart was fluttering so hard against her ribs that she was waiting for one of them to shatter.

         Although her hair was no longer frizzy, it was starting to stick to her skin.

        She rushed down the hallway, wondering what the hell was in those shower heads. She was wondering if that was what aliens used to bathe, and she was starting to feel bad for them.

       Her heart did a backflip and she hunched over, nearly vomitting. Stefanie let out a small gag followed by a groan, rushing down the hall.

        Every step she took spent the world twirling further and further out of focus, and she had to use the wall to steady herself.

        She grabbed a door handle, forcing the door open.

         "Are you okay?!" Leanne asked, rushing over to her.

        Stefanie collapsed down to a knee. "God are those showers nasty."

         "What happened?!" Jared asked.

          "The freaking shower went cr-crazy on me." Stefanie muttered, barely stopping herself from collapsing forward.

           "Wait a minute, did the room have about twelve showerheads on the ceiling? Door closed as soon as you went in?" Lonnie asked.

          "Y-Yeah. How'd yo-you know?"

         "That isn't a shower. Those showerheads pump out a pathogen that the aliens use to turn humans into them. After kids reach a certain age, the whole fishtank method doesn't work on them, so they developed that room."

        "So Stefanie is gonna turn into one of those freaks?!" Kassidy asked.

        "Not necessarily." Charity answered. "Some people are able to fight off the pathogen naturally. If she can't, we'll have to figure out some way to get the antidote. But right now, we need to get her comfortable. This is gonna be rough."