Never As It Seems

Caught

"Can I help you?" said the lady sitting at the desk.

Rick smiled at her. "Um, let me see if I've got this right. Twenty-three fourteen twenty-eight?"

She nodded and stood up. "Right this way."

"I never was one for codes," said Rick to Flames as she led them through one of the doors in the wall.

"Here you are," she said as they walked in. "Stay safe."

"Whoa," said Flames.

The woman had led them into an overly huge room packed with people. Most of these people looked quite bedraggled, with less than nice clothes and tired expressions. Some looked worried; others seemed to remain calm, with serious looks upon their faces. None of them looked very happy to be there. There were a multitude of three-tier bunk beds in the back of the room, with some foldable beds still out, presumably from earlier in the morning. There were also couches and chairs, ones very similar to those in the room they had just left. There was also a stack of food, along with crates of water bottles and cheap juices. Further doors along the walls led out of the room, although there weren't as many as the previous room. This was obviously a long term place of residence, albeit a not very fancy one. People who obviously ran the place (judging by the state of their clothes, which were more official looking than anyone else's) were hurrying all over the place; some were crouched by groups of people with clipboards, others were standing by the stacks of food, most likely checking the quantity. They looked very busy, whereas the majority of the residents didn't seem to be doing much at all.

"We'll probably stay here for a bit," said Rick. "I don't have a house or anything here, so I had to find resources. It's good enough, there's a place to sleep and everything." He indicated the bunks beds with a sweep of his hand. "And food, which is always nice. But don't worry; most likely we're only going to be here when it's night time."

"It's all right," said Annmarie.

Flames shrugged.

"But I need to get us checked in first."

As if on cue, a smiling lady with a clipboard walked towards them.

"Are you here to check in?"

"We are indeed."

"All right. Three beds... you can have those, third down on the right by the wall." She pointed to one of the empty bunk bed sets. "And I'll need your names."

"Rick Young, Annmarie Monson, and Flames Pond," said Rick, hesitating after each name.

"Got it." She smiled at them again. "Enjoy your stay."

"I wonder how she manages to keep up the cheeriness," said Annmarie. "All these people look kind of dismal, don't they?"

"It's a dismal time," said Rick. "Want to grab a chair or three?"

They nodded and headed over to the chairs and sat down.

Rick turned to Flames. "So. Are you going to tell us what happened in the interrogation room?"

He wrinkled his nose. "If I have to."

"It wasn't bad, was it?" said Annmarie.

"I wouldn't say it was particularly fun. Then again, I've gotten used to being locked in rooms with a guy who thinks he's so much smarter than me. Although, the fact that it wasn't a Fuzzy Guy was a big improvement."

"I thought Fuzzy Guys were the ones who asked the questions?" said Annmarie to Rick.

"They tend to trade off," said Rick. "Depends on the type of impact they want to have. Anyway, Flames, carry on."