Project Meyburn

9

Amber

My voice echoed across the room and the girl whipped her head around. We locked eyes for a split second and I leapt off the bunk in shock.

"Amber?" Megan squealed excitedly, a blinding smile on her face. Then she turned back around to face the guard and I saw her smile drop and her elated expression turn to one of fury. That poor guard. Megan wrenched her bag out of the guard's hands and practically threw him out of the room. "Good riddance, jerk!"

The metal door closed with a clang and a few girls applauded dramatically. I rushed over to her and embraced her, our hysterical laughter filling the room. We swayed for a few seconds, not letting go of each other, until eventually my foot caught on her obnoxiously huge duffel bag and we crashed to the floor, which resulted in more laughter.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Megan exclaimed.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"What the hell are we all doing here?" A voice echoed from the other side of the room. The girl in the corner of the room reading a book finally came to her senses and realized what was going on. She watched the action with a kind of authority and serenity. I immediately liked her.

"Oh my God I can't believe you're here! What are the odds of that?" I stuttered as we sat up on the floor on the mountain that I called "Megan's Luggage". My best guess was that she had around ten pairs of shoes with her. And I didn't even want to think about the jewelry.

Megan choked back her laughter. "I know right? This is crazy!"
Together we took in our surroundings. The girls seemed to have gone back to doing their own things, so I helped Megan drag her bags over to my bunk. I asked Megan if she had seen Evie anywhere lately, but she only shook her head. We both came to the conclusion that she had to be around here somewhere. We sat and chatted a bit longer and things quieted down after a while. Eventually all we could make out were hushed whispers and occasional snores here and there. It was either really late, or really early—I couldn't tell.

Megan took the top bunk and I snuggled into the bottom. It was surprisingly comfortable. Luckily, Megan packed two blankets so she gave one to me.

At that moment, things didn't seem so bad anymore. Sure, this might be our life for a while, but not forever. And if we got through this—and found Evie— I believed things would be okay.

"Hey Megan?"

"Yeah?" I could tell by how she responded that she was just about to nod off.

"I'm glad we're here, together."

"Me too, Amber."

And for the first time during this whole disaster, things were good.

God I was so clueless.

⇔

Evie

Hot steam hung in the air, making it muggy and extremely hard to breathe. Evie had been sitting in the locker room for about forty-five minutes waiting to take a shower. With nothing but a towel wrapped around her body, she tapped her foot impatiently, watching as a singular female guard directed traffic to and from each of the five showers.

Dirty puddles littered the locker room and water seeped out from under the flimsy curtains of the showers. It was atrocious. Disgusting. Not to mention the smell. All of the lockers were rusting profusely, and the addition of dirty water and sweaty teenage girls produced a musty metallic odor that made me want to gag.

We need some music in here or something. Anything that could serve as a distraction from this situation, honestly. Apparently most of the main medical centers had immediately filled to full capacity, so Evie had been rerouted to Kensington Medical. Unfortunately the base had overflowed with children as well and the standard hygiene requirements were all but ignored. But it was better than nothing, she supposed. Although at this point just skipping a shower altogether sounded mighty appealing.

"Next!" The guard's agitated voice echoed through the room, startling her to attention.

Evie self-consciously clutched the towel to her chest as she stood, keeping her head down as she slowly made her way to the indicated shower, trying not to slip on the slick tile floor.

She imagined how Megan would react to all this, having to bathe in this rust bucket. I would rather be hosed off by a firetruck. Megan's playfully dramatic voice echoed through her head, and she quickly pushed the thought of her away. She didn't want to think about Megan. Or Amber.

She could hear the patter of water hitting the plastic shower curtain as she approached, undoubtedly having been left on by its previous user. Ugh, by now I bet the water is freezing. Evie yanked her ponytail out angrily, disregarding the sharp pain that shot along her scalp. She just wanted to get this over with and go to bed.

She pulled the curtain to the side and immediately froze the moment she saw her. Apparently the guard lady did not get the memo, because this shower was still very much occupied, and now Evie was staring at some girl's ass. She didn't seem to notice her presence because she just kept ringing out her long dark brown hair, humming simultaneously to herself.

Evie sensed the guard staring her down and knew she was about to get a major scolding if she didn't get in. Maybe if she just cleared her throat? The girl would probably hear Evie and turn around, right? God, that ass though. Evie could feel her face heating up as she silently stepped into the shower, trying to ignore her previous thoughts. "Um..."

Her voice cracked awkwardly in a partial whisper and she cringed as the sound of her awful greeting echoed through the small space. Before Evie could say anything else the girl whipped around, facing her fully now, and seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was butt naked.

Evie was shocked. By everything. The girl's deep brown eyes—eyes that contrasted perfectly against her warm chocolate skin—met her own. Her dark brown hair was far longer than Evie's too, it must have hung down to her waist. And then of course there were her other assets that were on full display that she noted were quite beautiful as well.

"Hey sexy," the girl purred. She smirked confidently and crossed her arms over her bare chest, leaning slightly against the wall. She couldn't have been more than two feet in front of her, not to mention she was a few inches taller too.

Evie replied sheepishly, "Uh, hi. I'm so sor—"

"Did you wanna join me or something?"

Evie sputtered at her, "Oh, my god no. No, the guard told me—"

The girl held up her hand, palm out, and rolled her eyes. "Hey, I was just kidding baby girl." She gaped at the nickname, probably looking very much like a dying fish. I don't look that young, do I? At that moment Evie was very tempted to look down at her chest in comparison but then she noticed the lilt in the girl's voice. She had a very subtle accent, making her all the more attractive.

Come on Evie, think. Do something. Anything. Don't just stand there! She spotted the girl's towel laying discarded on the ground close to the shower curtain, so Evie shakily took one step towards it, slowly bending down. She could feel the stranger's eyes on her back the entire time. With one of her hands keeping her own towel secured, Evie lifted the drenched towel off the grimy floor and tossed it to her.

"Thanks babe," she chuckled. Evie muttered something inaudible as a response and stepped aside so her back was against the wall as the girl's athletic form slipped past her. She stopped just outside the shower, giving her hair a graceful flip. "Oh, I'm Darya, by the way."

She didn't look back when she said it, but she had to have been talking to her. Evie ripped the shower curtain shut as fast as she could and braced both her hands on the cement wall next to her, letting her own towel fall to the floor. She took a stuttering breath in and tried to calm her racing heart, but the burning in her cheeks refused to go away. Memories that she had locked away in the back of her mind slowly began creeping out, but Evie refused to acknowledge them. Instead she found herself smiling nervously. What the hell just happened?