Specimen 54559

Chapter 12

  Lyon leads me through a maze of halls until we come to a white door. He stops in front of it, causing me to stumble to a halt so that I don't walk into him. He opens the door and steps through, revealing a large room. I had thought that he was taking to me a room with a large table and office chairs with 'important' people in there waiting to question us to no end. Instead, I was welcomed into a room with light blue walls, a white ceiling, more fiber covered floors. There were two leather couches, at which Jason and Doc were sitting on one, a TV Wall, and Quinn at a weird table with six holes and blue stuff covering it with balls in a triangle on its surface. I could see a smaller table in between the two couches filled with food and small boxes with tiny straws on them. At the end of the room there was yet another table but this one had four chairs on one side and two on the other.

  I step into the room, with Jeff and Lyon behind. He shuts the door as he enters and the three look up at us. Jason jumps up from his seat and makes his way to me.

  "Lilly, thank the Lord that you're okay," he says as he gives me a quick hug, careful to avoid my wings and I his horns. As he pulls away I can see little crumbs on the side of his mouth and catch a whiff of what I think is cackers emanating from him. I point to the side of my own mouth, mirroring where his crumbs lay, and act like I'm wiping away invisible crumbs of my own with my pointer finger. He reaches up and wipes them away with the back of his hand and murmurs a 'thanks' as he takes me by the shoulder and lead me to the couch with Doc.

Before I can ask Lyon anything I hear something hit the ground and a huff coming from Quinn. "What even is this table for?" she asks as she bends to retrieve a solid black ball with the number eight inscribed on it.

  "Do you not know that is?" Lyon asks with an arched eyebrow towards Quinn. After a wave of silence passes he lets out a light cough.

  "It's a pool table. You, uh, play pool," he explains, not very well though.

  "I thought a pool was some type of plastic circle that held water for people to play in. They call it 'swimming' right?" I ask.

  Lyon lets out a sigh and runs his hand along the top of his shaved head. Do all guys do that, I wonder. He walks around the couch we are sitting in and goes to Quinn. He takes the black ball and puts it in the triangle of balls. Then, he reaches for an odd looking stick from the wall and places a white ball at one of the points of the shape. Lyon lays the stick over his right hand, his left holding the stick and the elbow up in the air. He pulls his arm back as he aims for the white ball and hits it, causing it to hit the ball at the tip of the triangle and having the rest flare in all different directions. He then precedes to walk around the table, eyeing all the balls that are scattered across the blue surface and then leans over to take up the same position as he did before, aiming for the white ball, hits it, and causes it to bump a nearby ball into a hole.

  Lyon stands up straight hands the stick to Quinn. "You see," he starts as he casually walks around to the other side of the table across from Quinn, "the point of the game is to make the white ball, or the Cue ball, hit another ball into a hole, or pocket. You save the number eight ball for last, and whoever gets it in first after all the other balls are gone, win."

  I slowly nod my head, along with the others. Doc speaks up for the first time since I've come in. "So, why is it called 'Pool'?" Lyon shrugs and goes to sit in the other leather couch.

  We talk quietly and I get a few things to eat from the table. I grab what Jason had told me were 'Graham Crackers,' whatever those are, but they do smell nice though. I also get a napkin that I dab into some water from a bottle and have Quinn clean the dried blood from the side of my face.

  Jason hands me one of the small boxes with the straws attached and says that they are called juice boxes and that you had to take the straws from the plastic and poke it into the silver circle that's on top. I do and take a sip, tasting something weird as I drink. I pull away from it and give it a skeptical look.