Project LOSS

Chapter 14

Over the course of the journey, Kai and his newfound friend Tobias swapped anecdotes and stories. The lad hung onto his every word with the avid adoration of a fan for his hero as Kai recounted the time he slew the giant spider mutant. He did not mention how freaked out he had been, or his feelings of guilt and sorrow on surveying its crushed, broken form. He also exaggerated the size of the thing but Vrethie had told him this was acceptable, expected even, when describing either arachnids or fish one had caught.

Meredith had chosen a seat nearby enough to overhear the conversation, but not quite close enough to be considered part of the group. Kai noted she was yet to turn a page in the magazine she was reading.

It must be one interesting page.

Her interest in the conversation became apparent when she could bite her tongue no longer. “Why do you insist on encouraging him?” she barked at Tobias. “Your hero there has the power to save the world but does nothing.”

Tobias turned to her and coolly replied, “Has it ever occurred to you he could also use that same power to destroy or enslave the world, but doesn’t do that either?”

Apparently stumped by the question, she merely huffed and turned away, hugging her knees to her chest in a defensive posture.

“Well that told her,” commented Sky under his breath.

Kai didn't need anyone to defend him; however, he was chuffed to see Meredith put in her place for the second time in a single day.

The bus shook and rocked as Miaka guided it through increasingly rougher terrain the further north they travelled. Little spots of rain gathered on the windscreen that had only a single operational wiper.

The weather worsened just as their destination became visible in the distance—one illuminated building standing out, proudly unscathed amongst the rubble. Light blared from every one of its many windows. It created a beacon in the night that would no doubt lure any unsuspecting passers-by like the call of a siren to an unsuspecting sailor.

Miaka parked the bus beside a partially intact brick wall about a ten-minute walk away from the building. “So that no one steals our ride,” she explained before Kai asked why.

“We’re going to get soaked,” complained Meredith as the group left the relative warmth of the bus in favour of the torrential rain that flooded the concrete rubble wasteland.

By the time they arrived at their destination, their clothes clung heavily to their forms, fully saturated and dripping excess rainwater onto the floor of the shockingly pleasant hotel lobby. Kai looked down guiltily at his boots, squelching and squishing as they tracked muddy footprints everywhere. Brown splodges now dappled the otherwise pristine white tiles that sparkled in the light of the chandeliers hanging above.

Comfy looking royal blue sofas sat to the left of the rich mahogany reception desk among a forest of plants, flowers and vines that hung from frosted glass balconies.

“This is nice,” Sky commented, echoing Kai’s thoughts. “I’m starting to see why no one leaves this place.”

The sleek, highly polished reception desk was unmanned, and no guards or workers of any kind made their presence known. The group looked around then back at each other. Given the information the CDA had provided, Kai had been expecting a prison of some sort and instead had stumbled upon a palace. After what seemed like a lifetime, a figure appeared from the office behind the counter.

Grinning, the lady chirped, “Checking in?” She posed the question at no one in particular.

“Uh… yeah,” Kai said, unsure of himself. He looked to Vrethie for reassurance, who shrugged and nodded. “Why not?”

“Will that be three double rooms?” she asked after a brief scan of the group.

“No… six singles,” corrected Meredith.

“We only have four singles, I’m afraid,” the woman said, her tone apologetic despite her enduring smile.

After a brief uncomfortable silence, Miaka declared that she didn’t mind sharing. “At PAVE I slept in mass shared sleeping quarters,” she revealed with a shrug.

“Do you want to share with me?” she asked Kai, who reeled a little at the question.

“Why me?” he squeaked.

“I bet I’ll be safer with you,” she replied. “Plus, I know you won’t try anything.”

“How?” enquired Meredith quietly, speaking from the side of her mouth.

“He already turned me down,” Miaka whispered to Meredith, as though a little embarrassed, but Kai overheard.

Why does Meredith care who I share with? Kai wondered. He had felt the telltale signals of attraction radiating from Meredith many times in the past but had always found reason to dismiss them. If Meredith had any s****l interest in Kai, she was doing her best to hide it.

“Riley will show you to your rooms,” the receptionist stated, gesturing toward the stairs, where a uniformed man awaited them.

“No keys?” asked Vrethie before they departed the lobby. The woman continued to smile as she shook her head but did not offer up any explanation.

After Riley led the group up six flights of red carpet-lined staircases to their rooms, Kai entered his underwhelming suite and observed the sparse furnishings, soaking up the distinct lack of ambience. The room contained only a bed, plastic storage unit and a small white twin bell alarm clock. No paintings or wall hangings of any kind adorned the stark, whitewashed walls. There was not even a lampshade to cover the dusty, cobweb-laden lightbulb that dangled from the ceiling.

The lack of quality was heightened by the contrast between the room and the lobby, but it did not bother Kai. He wouldn’t be staying long.

“Well now I can see why they don’t bother with keys,” Miaka said. “There’s literally nothing to steal.”

Riley informed the group of dining hours. Breakfast was from seven to eight am, lunch would be from noon to one pm and dinner would be between six and seven pm. The communal areas were open from seven to nine pm. It had past time to take advantage of those amenities, so Riley left them to retire to their rooms.

Kai was unaccustomed to sleeping so early or so sober. He sat on the double bed and patted it as if testing the firmness of the mattress. In reality, he felt nervous, having never shared a hotel room with a woman.

He lay down on the bed, fully dressed and above the sheets, resigned to a night of uncomfortable boredom when Miaka poked him in the side with the question, “You sleeping?”

“I was,” he lied, giving her a sideways glance.

“Wanna play cards?” she asked, pulling a pack from under her dress and waving them in his face.

“You brought cards?” Kai asked incredulously.

“No, I stole them from reception.” She grinned.

“Good thinking.” Kai smiled. He was rarely so loose with compliments but was overjoyed at the introduction of a social buffer and somewhat impressed by her skills as a thief.

“Shall we ask the others to join us?” Kai asked.

“Missing your little clone?” Miaka teased, causing Kai to screw up his face in genuine confusion.

“Tobias,” Miaka explained. “He is so badly trying to be you.”

When Kai continued to display confusion she went on, “The clothes, the hair, the ‘I’m too cool’ attitude.”

“I don’t have a ‘too cool’ attitude,” Kai replied defensively. If anything, Tobias was the cool one, but Kai had to agree with Miaka; Tobias appeared to be the tiniest bit too interested in Kai’s past exploits.

“Okaaay,” said Miaka with a wide smile as she patted down the crinkles in her dress. “Shall we do this?” she asked getting up to fetch the others. They all gathered in the double room and sat in a circle, even Meredith, which came as a surprise to Kai. He had her pegged as too sophisticated for card games.

 “If only we had music,” said Vrethie.

“I can sing?” suggested Sky, who was abruptly told, “No… you can’t,” by Tobias. Choosing to trust Tobias’ better judgement, they dealt out the cards in silence, playing a few hands of poker and various other half-remembered and half newly invented games devised on the most part by Sky, who, Kai discovered, did have a talent for creating games, if not for singing.

“Let’s check Brain Mate for card games,” Sky suggested.

“What’s that?” Kai asked.

“Oh, my god!” Meredith interrupted. “Brain Mate? You still use that?”

“What is Brain Mate?” Kai asked again and was ignored.

“Yeah. We mostly use it for CDA work but all the old files are accessible,” Sky explained to Meredith.

Vrethie turned to Kai, “Brain Mate was a function of the computer implant that went live about four months before the Event. It was a social network where people could upload their thoughts into Brain Space.”

“Some people think it was responsible for all the s**t that went down,” Meredith added.

“I don’t see how it could be. It was sophisticated for sure, but it was only a small step up from using smartphones to socialise,” Sky argued with a shrug. “It was hardly Sky Net.”

The group laughed, except for Kai.

“Sky Net?” Kai turned to Vrethie and made sad eyes at him, pleading for an explanation. He hated conversations about the past with a passion.

“It’s just something from a movie... nothing important,” Vrethie dismissed.

I give up, Kai thought. He grabbed the pack of cards and tried to shuffle the way he’d seen Tobias do it, by splitting the pack in half and rubbing his thumbs up each stack, but the cards seemed to have a mind of their own—flying from his hands and scattered all over the floor. As he tried to gather up the slippery pile, he clashed hands with Miaka who had crawled over to help. She flashed the same apologetic smile she had been giving him since he’d strangled her, a smile that said, ‘please don’t change your mind about killing me’.

“I know a fun game,” Miaka announced with a different kind of smile.