Urban Fallout (hold)

(3.1) Central Zone

(3.1) Central Zone

Issa hadn't managed to get any sleep. She'd gotten off at five, and had intended to nap until she knew her bosses were in, but she'd just ended up pacing. Wall to wall in her tiny box of an apartment, Issa fought a battle within herself. She was currently faced with two options. One: she had just been given a task more important than anything her pathetic life had held so far. Or two: she had gone completely insane—about time. There was no evidence of what had transpired down in the storage locker—nothing to confirm that she hadn't just fallen asleep and dreamed it all. But she couldn't let it go. She couldn't.

For the first time in a long time Issa got out the picture. It was creased and faded from use, but she couldn't bring herself to have another one printed. Slumping down onto her mattress, Issa looked at her own smiling face, nothing like what she saw when she looked in the mirror.

“What should I do?” she asked the woman who stood beside her.

Madeline said nothing. In the picture, her white blonde hair was pulled up into a bun, her green eyes done no justice by the faded image. Issa ran her nail along the side of her face.

“I can't do this alone.” She waited as if she genuinely expected a response. “I can't do any of this alone.”

The love of her life stared back at her, smile immobilize in time. Outside, a streetlamp flickered. They had their arms around each other in the picture, and Issa felt an indescribable longing looking at it. She thought she'd promised to stop doing this to herself. And besides, if what the psychic girl had told her was true, there were much more important things to worry about than herself, and what she had lost.

Madeline would want her to do this. Madeline had never been the kind to sit back and hope that everything would work itself out. Issa slid the picture back into the book in which she kept it. It was almost time.

Approaching the building in which she worked, Issa felt nervous despite herself. It just looked so different under the light of day. She adjusted her suit jacket awkwardly. This really wasn't her thing. She felt like a teenager all over again, going into her first job interview. She knew her supervisor, he even considered her a friend, she tried to reassure herself. But what if he said no?

Issa passed the reception desk without stopping, scanning her security pass hurriedly. The labs looked foreign, full of life as they were now. A pare clad in lab coats were so deep in conversation they almost bumped shoulders with her. Issa dodged out of the way just in time. They didn't even look up.

“-and you're sure? Because I am not making that call if you aren't.”

Issa kept walking. She grabbed the handle of the security office before pausing, deciding to knock instead.

“Yes?”

The door was pulled open, and a bearded man stood facing her. Her daytime counterpart's mouth pulled up into a grin. She had not been expecting this familiar a face. Conner was on duty today? She hadn't realized. Her initial relief was quickly pushed aside by guilt. His missed calls lay unanswered, his messages unreplied to. It had only been one or two, at most. She'd just been so tired lately.

“Look who's finally out of her coffin?” he exclaimed, looking over his shoulder at his partner.

Issa threw the vaguely familiar woman a shy smile.

Conner pulled the door open wider, a signal for her to enter. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I'm here to talk to Rogers,” she answered promptly. “Is he in?”