Angel Among Roaches

14. Shadows

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          The sky become dark almost in a moment as the sun sunk into the horizon. Inside of their bunker community they began lighting candles and turned on some solar powered flash lights to illuminate the musty place. The newcomers had all been shown to a large room where they would sleep until their rooms were finished. All of the children had their dinner then slept on the hard cracked ground, the teenagers and women still awake to inquire this new community.

         Peter and Rachel had been asking questions to most everyone they came across. Mostly personal questions like, "What's your name?" and "what do you do around here?" Most were very vague with answers, not used to these strange pleasantries, while others were more than prepared to tell them most everything. Although they had heard a lot of information about mostly useless things, they were never told about what happened. All of what they knew had come from Angel who had told Ben about the rain to shut him up.

        Although two of the volunteers to become scroungers were in the light and speaking, Benjamin had found a dark corner to sit in. He kept his eyes on his friends for no apparent reason. Although he presumed himself undetected, one pair of dark eyes had spotted him. The dark skinned girl named Lily walked over to him. "Hey, you're Joe, right?" She spoke in a lower voice than one would expect from her stature.

      "Ben, actually. You're Lily, right? The old woman said that's your name, right?"

      She nodded, her curly hair bouncing as she did. "Can I sit with you?" Before he had a chance to answer she was already next to him.

      "Sure," he said sarcastically after she was already nestled against the wall.

      "So you all came from a different colony," she asked skipping the small talk.

      He glanced at her for a moment nodding. "Yeah," he said.

      "Where was it?"

      "In a bunker... underground." He narrowed his brows due to the fact he wasn't used to questions.

      Lily gazed at her feet which were resting out on the floor. "What was it like?"

      Ben gazed forward also at this point as he took a deep breath. "Darker than it is here. More metal, less dirt. A lot more commodities."

      "Commodities? What does that mean?" She turned her head to look at him with a questioning expression.

      Ben turned his head also when she did, taken aback by her question. "You don't know what that means?"

      She shook her head. "No. There are lots of things I don't know."

      He narrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

      "What do you mean? No cockroach is educated, unless they're really old. Like, forty or something. There are better things to do though than learn." She spoke on this subject so nonchalantly that Ben hadn't realized what she was saying. She then changed the subject. "You don't really like being around people, do you?"

     He looked away from her at the personal question. "I do," he replied unconvincingly.

     "I don't believe you," she said plainly. "If you did, you would be talking to the people you don't know. Or at least to someone you already know. Aren't those your friends over there?"

     "They wouldn't want to speak with me right now," he said drearily.

     "Well, if you really want to stay here, you might want to get to know people. If people don't like you, you'll probably be in our next stew."

     Ben turned to her with wild eyes and a pale face.

     She burst into laughter at his response. "I'm joking!" After a moment her smile faded. "But I would talk to people if I were you." With that she brought her legs closer to her then stood up in a swift motion. She then walked over to Angel who happened to be speaking in what looked like a serious conversation with an old man, sitting down next to her before glancing back at Ben with an expression he couldn't decipher.