Radioactive

Chapter 11

After the horror show, Joseph leads us back to the room we were in before and tells us that he will be back at nine in the morning. It's midnight and we all lay in the beds, blatantly awake trying to forget that the Arena just happened. Alex sits up and runs his hands over his face. Amy stares up at the ceiling blankly. I sigh loudly and cover my face with my hands.

"What are we gonna do?" I ask quietly.

"We could leave right now." Amy says.

Alex gets up and jiggles the handle on the door.

"Locked."he says and sits down on the edge of his bed.

After a few moments of silence Alex lays down on his bed and turns away from me and Amy.

"Maybe we should just embrace them." his muffled words still echoing around the room.

Amy and I sit up in surprise.

"You want us to just embrace these people that watch others die for entertainment?" Amy exclaims.

"They kill those monsters though. It's not really their fault if the Cons die while killing the Freaks." he responds.

Amy looks at me as if I should tell Alex he's insane.

"I don't like the fact that Cons die either, Amy, but I'd be fine with wiping out an entire hoard of those Freaks any day. Plus,this place seems pretty safe to me."

Amy looks at me in shock.

"Whatever."she says and then lays back down with the blankets covering her face.

I look at Alex and purse my lips. He nods his head slightly and then turns over on his other side. I lay down and stare at the ceiling until I hear Amy's light breathing and Alex snoring like a bear.

I close my eyes for what seems like seconds and suddenly there is a pounding on the door. I spring up from the bed and grab my revolver from the floor. Alex and Amy push themselves out of bed and ready their weapons.Another knock comes from the door and then the door handle begins to twist. Iaim at the door and wait as the door slowly opens.

"Itis 9:00 in the morning, I am here to escort you to breakfast. We are hav-" Joseph says and then stops when he sees our weapons.

He nods his head and then opens the door wider. He flips open the holster on his waist to reveal it is empty.

"No need for weapons. Mr. Lawson wants to get to know you three while having breakfast."

We all look at each other and then slowly lower our weapons. Joseph gestures for us to follow him. I tuck my pistol in the back of my pants and we follow him out.

Joseph leads us to a large area that looks like it used to be clothing store but has been transformed into a kind of dining room. Hot plates are arranged across a round check-out desk in the middle of the room with what smells like and looks like eggs and bacon. My stomach growls as we make our way through the rows of make-shift tables and people sitting on the ground eating their food.

Joseph points us to a check-out counter with only a quarter of its area taken up by food and the other three-fourths with chairs. Derrick sits in one of the chairs eating his food and casually reading a five year old newspaper. As we approach the counter he looks up from the paper and smirks at us.

"You must be starving, yet I do not see you clamoring for the nice meal we have all prepared here." Derrick says as he sets down his paper.

He brings his plate up to his nose and  in-hales deeply.