The Frozen Horror Chronicles

Chapter lll Rec Room Shenanigans

III

Finally it was the weekend. Not that the weekend really counted for anything that different, but at least it didn’t entail work. The last 5 days had been grueling to say the least. Norris hadn’t been kidding about the amount of work there was to do or how much of it had slowly piled up over the course of the last few months. Page after page of processing lab work for Blair and Copper had gotten exhaustingly monotonous; not to mention the fact that the equipment they had to work with wasn’t exactly up to par when it came to modern standards.

 So far Gwenna’s shifts had been anywhere from 10-13 hours daily and she’d hardly had the time to interact with any of the crew excluding Blair, Copper, Fuchs, and Norris. Fuchs had been true to his word in showing her the ropes, and as they’d worked through plenty of tests together, he had demonstrated a generous amount of patience with her while showing her what the standard protocol for their assignments were. 

Fuchs had been the first one she’d really warmed up to with his amiable demeanor. He had actually seemed rather eager to work with her while explaining how to go about processing blood samples from the crew (which Gwenna learned had to be done every other week) as well as the tissue samples Blair had been collecting from a variety of species in the area. Since her prior training included microbiology, she was asked to assist with sampling not strictly related to the medical field and to help observe the evolving conditions of protozoans in the frigid arctic conditions. 

Now finally it was Saturday and Gwenna had actually gotten to sleep-in until 8:30, which was a hell of luxury compared to the usual 6 AM routine she’d been working with the last few days. She walked to the kitchen and picked up her plate of eggs, bacon, and grits from Nauls and was now sitting in the dining area alone, mildly sipping her orange juice and staring blankly at the wall across from her. 

“Well good morning, Sunshine,” said Palmer who sauntered in with a plate of his own. He sat down in the chair next to her and she immediately caught a whiff of weed that radiated off him. His hair was wild and stood out in all directions, making him look like he’d stuck a fork in an electric socket. “You’re looking cute this morning. You get a good night’s sleep?”

“I did,” She answered sweetly, “How ‘bout you?” He nodded a few times while crunching on a piece of bacon. “Yeah, for the most part. Childs snores like a freight train sometimes but you get used to it after a while.” She grinned at this remark and looked up as Windows, Childs, and Bennings walked in, plates in hand, and took their seats around the table as well. “I don’t snore that loud, mother fucker,” Childs grunted while cutting eyes at Palmer across from him. “Yeah you do, and how would you know anyway? You can’t hear yourself when you’re sleeping,” Palmer often argued unemotionally. “I’ve woken myself up, snoring before,” Windows interjected with a chuckle. “What?” Gwenna exclaimed, with a laugh. 

Just then, MacReady entered the room and suddenly Gwenna was very conscious of her messy ponytail, baggy sweatpants, and oversized T-shirt. She hadn’t interacted with him much, but still she couldn’t deny he was an attractive man. She didn’t care if the others saw her looking less than adequate but the thought of him thinking her unsightly bothered her. She averted her eyes from him hurriedly. She didn’t want to get caught looking. 

“I have,” continued Windows, “It don’t wake up Bennings though. He can sleep through anything if he’s had a few drinks.” “Not anything,” Bennings corrected. “You slamming doors to go to the John at all hours of the night woke me up plenty of times. Be glad you’ve got your own room, Gwenna” he said with a hint of jealousy. 

“Yeah must be nice being a girl and all,” Windows said, scratching his head. “Lots of perks seem to come with it.” 

Gwenna felt a little singled-out but didn’t take insult to his statement. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard something along those lines nor would it be the last as long as she was the only female in the company of 12 men. “Well I don’t know,” said Palmer, “having that time of the month seems like it wouldn’t really be a perk. I don’t think I’d like walking around with uncontrolled bleeding between my legs”