Poison Paradise - Damned of the 2/19th

Exits and Underwear

They moved slowly back through the underground redoubt, stopping twice to punch in the codes to open the door after Sarah looked them up on the paperwork. Sarah kept shuffling through the maps, seeing if there was anything that might be of use.

"Whatcha thinking?" Charlie asked Renee, who was chewing on her thumbnail as she walked through the hallways.

"Trying to figure out where the best place is to shelter up," she said, wiping her thumb on her pants. "We need somewhere with heat

Kevin chose that moment to sneeze violently, wiping his face and looking miserable.

"And good enough to keep the rain off of us. We can live for a couple of days without food, we can't survive out in that storm," Renee finished, making a motion toward Mike, who sneezed again and wiped his face on his sleeve.

Charlie nodded. "Don's not doing good either."

"I'm also trying to figure out a place that we don't have to worry about Kull the Monkey Killer charging out of the jungle and killing us all for invading his sacred ancestral land," Renee added. She shook her head. "Something about him bugs me."

The klaxon went off as the door code was accepted.

"Like what?" Charlie asked as the door slowly opened.

"Why him? Why here? What's going on that required him?" Renee asked.

"You don't think it's just coincidence?" Charlie asked.

Renee shook her head. "No. No way it's coincidence. He was coming here. I don't know how, I don't know why, but my gut tells me he was coming here for some reason. I already thought that he might have been sent here to open it up, unlock the doors, but the more I think about it, the more I'm pretty sure he was sent for a reason."

"That's dark thoughts," Charlie said.

"This is a dark place," Renee said softly as the door to the locker room slid open.

"Did you find food?" Lori asked from where she was sitting on a bench, holding the baby, who immediately held her arms out to Sarah.

"No," Raincloud said, his voice thick with disgust. "It's all bullshit in there. Nothing we can use. This whole thing is bullshit."

Lori shook her head. "Not all of it. I'm glad we came in here."

"Why the fuck are you glad?" Raincloud frowned at the woman and she flinched back.

"I just... I just changed my underwear," she said, her voice full of a mixture of fear and pleading. She held one hand out toward Raincloud in a motion that was both pleading and as if to hold Raincloud off.

"Leave her alone," Charlie said, stepping between Raincloud and Lori.

"I didn't... what did I do?" Raincloud asked, Lori's body language suddenly dawning on him. "I mean, I wasn't..."

"It's OK," Lori said, sitting back down and holding the baby close while staring at the floor.

"She's got the right idea," Sarah said, moving over to one of the lockers with FEMALE on the top of the locker door. She opened it up, looking at the stack of cellophane wrapped underwear on the top shelf. "We've been wearing our underwear for several days. I don't know about you guys, but my nipples are starting to get a little raw."

"Plus we need to air out a bit in some clean panties," Renee said, moving over to another locker and opening it.

Sarah turned and looked at everyone, clapping her hands. "All right. Everyone, pay attention," She said. When everyone turned and looked at her she smiled. "We've been dirty, wearing the same clothes we were wearing when the plane went down, and none of us have bathed. We'll go back to the other locker room first. Then we'll find a locker with clothing and underwear your size, then we'll shower, change, and leave."