Project LOSS

Chapter 15

The time was 6:10 and as usual, Kai was the last to rouse. He was blessed with the uncanny ability to sleep through anything—including the din his companions were creating in their efforts to prepare for the day ahead. They conversed, took trips to the bathroom and dressed clumsily while trying to retain their dignity and not fall on top of each another. Kai heard Sky doing a lot of complaining about the lack of soap.

“Soap?” cried Vrethie. “I’m surprised there’s even a toilet, to be honest with you, I went in there half expecting a hole in the floor or a rusty old bucket.”

“Ready?” asked Tobias, looking at Kai before turning to the others. Everyone was as ready as they could be given the circumstances. They left and shuffled to the dining hall with a little help from the only other guest late to breakfast. A nervous-looking man hurriedly informed them of the canteen’s location on the third floor before scurrying off like a rat leaving a sinking ship. The group did not follow suit, taking a leisurely stroll while scanning their surroundings for any clues that might point them toward their missing CDA friends.

 The dining hall bristled with activity; a hive of bodies rushing back and forth, grabbing food from the serving station that was constantly being refilled with huge steel trays of food from the steam-filled kitchen beyond. The server passed Kai a grey plastic plate loaded with piles of food and a bottle of orange juice.

“Ugh, please me tell there’s coffee?” Meredith said, staring down at the offerings with revulsion.

“Coffee station’s at the end,” informed the large apron-clad woman while haphazardly spooning out piles of slop.

“Grab me a coffee,” Kai barked the order to Meredith as she left to retrieve one for herself. He didn’t hold out much hope she would comply, but was pleasantly surprised when she returned, two coffees in hand, and passed him one without so much as a sarcastic comment.

Kai squeezed into the end of one of the long wooden benches and sipped their coffee while picking at what was probably the worst meal Kai had ever eaten.

“It’s all watery,” complained Kai. “How do you even make watery eggs?” he wondered, poking at the scrambled eggs with a flimsy plastic spork. It broke under the pressure, releasing plastic prongs into the eggy mix. He shoved the tray away in defeat. He wasn’t even sure he needed food to survive, so missing a meal was of no consequence.

The others found a space at a separate table, including Tobias who stared longingly over at Kai. On the whole, the other guests paid little attention to the newcomers, except for a small elf-like man whose bug eyes fervently regarded Meredith’s unopened juice.

“Are you going to drink that?” he piped up at last. Meredith threw the juice to the man, who smiled.

“Thanks… this stuff is the best!” he declared, guzzling the entirely of the bottle in a few gulps.

“Is it?” Meredith nudged Kai in the side with a bony elbow. She looked sceptical and was right to be.

“No,” he laughed after taking a sip, “the only orange this juice has ever seen is the picture on the bottle.”

Upon the ringing of a bell, the canteen was once again alive with activity. Guests hurriedly loaded their trays into the slots provided and piled out of the exit. The avid juice fan jumped out of the seat as if electrocuted.

“Time to get to work… gotta earn our keep,” he announced cheerfully before disappearing into the sea of bodies.

Kai and his team dawdled at the rear of the mob, interested to find out exactly what this work entailed. The mass of people moved as one out of the exit, grabbing shovels, hard hats and various other tools as they stepped out into what appeared to be a huge excavation site. Kai felt rather stupid for not having noticed the giant pit in the ground prior to approaching the foot of the gaping hole.

He stood, out of place among the crowd of workers who pulled together in seamless union. Some dug and collected pails of dirt, others passed buckets along in lines up to the top where more workers deposited the soil in mounds.

 “Here!” Meredith shouted to the others as she spotted her missing friend among the bodies digging below. Kai jumped in after Meredith who half jumped, half slid down to greet her friend. The girl looked up and smiled, not at all surprised to see Meredith standing beside her.  

“Oh, you’re here now,” was all she had to say, showing no signs of duress.

“Andrea, what are you digging for?” Meredith asked.

“I’m digging for fire,” she answered with a dreamy smile.

Kai must have looked as confused as he felt as Meredith explained that these were song lyrics; however, she was as clueless as Kai about what they meant.

“Why don’t you just leave?” Kai asked the girl whom he vaguely recognised from the City Defence meetings. She laughed softly.

“Leave? I love it here. I have everything I need; honest work, three meals a day and a home,” she said happily, continuing to dig.

“You’re toiling in the soil, for heaven knows what, in return for three plates of slop and a shabby room!” Kai shouted at her. It was hard to control the anger at the sheer stupidity of her reasoning. Vrethie was always telling Kai that he should respect the views and opinions of others. However, but this was one matter on which Kai did not bow to Vrethie’s superior knowledge and wisdom. He thought opinions could be both plain stupid and downright invalid, regardless of this presumed entitlement.

“I love it here,” Andrea repeated in whisper before tiring with the conversation and moving to dig in a different location.

Thunder crackled overhead, the overcast sky becoming a deeper shade of grey, threatening to release its bounty of thick droplets at any moment.

“Great. I hate to agree with Meredith but I’m really not dressed for this,” complained Miaka. Kai almost felt sorry for her as she made her best efforts to fit in; digging in the silk evening dress that now covered in mud and about to become rain-soaked for the second time in less than twenty-four hours.

“So… what now?” Vrethie asked.

“Way I see it, we have two choices. Take them by force or stay and try to find out what’s really keeping these people here,” Sky suggested. The others agreed on staying a while as the best course of action. They agreed to canvas the other diggers for information and meet up later.

Kai didn’t mind the work. His muscles never tired, and no weight was unbearable, making manual labour child’s play. It was, however, repetitive, dull and left his mind free to wander. He thought back to his embrace with Meredith and considered questioning her about it. In his mind, he played out hypothetical conversations, imagining all possible results of a confrontation and ultimately decided against it. She wouldn’t admit to her feelings, and he didn’t want the argument.

Upon the familiar ring of the dinner bell Kai speedily gathered up the members of his team, ensuring they all found seats together to discuss their findings. Meredith threw her juice to the little elf-like man who had also guaranteed himself a seat at their table, anticipating his request as he sat, greedily eyeing her unopened bottle.

The guys, even Vrethie, were eating with more enthusiasm than at breakfast. They shovelled mounds of what appeared to be carrots, peas, some variety of dodgy meat and little round potatoes into hungry mouths.

 “This meat is goat… and human!” Kai spat his mouthful back into the plastic tray. “Gross.”

He expected a similar reaction from the others, but they merely continued eating, unhindered by the cannibalistic revelation. It was not wholly uncommon for food to contain human meat, but enough so that it was at least a little shocking to come across it. Only Meredith stopped and slowly evacuated the chewed-up food back onto her plate with as much dignity as was possible while spitting up a masticated globule of grey foodstuff.

“Did you find out what they’re digging for?” Kai asked at last, fielding the question to the oddly quiet group. The consensus was that nobody knew precisely why they were digging; their orders were to report anything interesting to the foreman. The group jumped up on the sounding of the bell—except for Meredith—in a convincing impersonation of the other digging enthusiasts and left to continue work without a word. Meredith and Kai exchanged a worried glance as they followed.

“Do they seem a little off?” Meredith asked Kai, who nodded. They ran after Vrethie, ever the unofficial leader who confirmed their unspoken fears with a smile.

“We like it here,” Vrethie told them, “We’re going to stay.”

Warm breath burst from flared nostrils. Teeth bared.

I can’t cope with this insanity...

Before Kai could explode in a fit of rage, he felt Meredith pulling him off to one side. He sighed and fell limp, deciding not to fight her. What was the point?

“You plan on staying too?” he asked her.

“No way.” She screwed up her face. “I’m with you. Those guys are all high or something.”

“I know you’re kidding, but I think you might be right.” Looking at those bent on staying, Kai detected subtle markers indicating the use of a mind-altering substance; their pale, sweat-slicked skin and glazed eyes.

“What have they eaten that we haven’t?” Kai asked, trying to cast his mind back to meal times.

“We were all served the same slop. I gave away my orange juice, but you drank yours.”

“Only a sip. It was disgusting. It contained traces of blood and all sorts of chemical rubbish,” Kai told Meredith who stared blankly back at him.

“And you didn’t think the blood was of any significance?” she asked before fixing Kai with one of her open-mouthed stares.

“No… most stuff we eat or drink has traces of bodily fluids or even full chunks of human flesh mixed with goat innards. As gross as that must be to learn.”

“Well, in this case, I am all but sure it was added quite purposefully. Blood magic.” Meredith stood with her hands on hips, her atypical argument pose. Kai couldn’t be bothered to partake in another science versus magic argument.

“Vrethie says there is no magic. Just science and things we don’t understand yet,” Kai said with a sigh and a look that said, “We’ve been over this.”

“Whatever.” Meredith huffed. “We need to find out whose blood it is.”

“Probably belongs to whoever is running this joint?”

Kai stomped his way to the ever-smiling receptionist and asked to see the foreman.

“Do you have an appointment?” The receptionist asked with a smile.

“Yes.” Kai lied.

“Can I see your written invitation?” she asked, still smiling, likely aware that Kai did not have an invitation, written or otherwise.

“Yeah, I lost that,” Kai lied again, scratching his head and pacing about the pristine white tiles. He felt the familiar increase in his heart rate that all too often preceded his fits of rage.

“I’m afraid no one can—” the woman started before Kai’s anger rose past boiling point and Kai lunged at her. Meredith grabbed him by the back of the shirt and dragged him away a fraction of a second before he could rip the smug smile from the receptionists’ face.

“Come on. He’s bound to be in the penthouse suite,” Meredith whispered into Kai’s ear, guiding him to the staircase. Kai hated to admit it but she was probably right.

Bounding up the stairs, taking three or four steps at a time, Kai quickly reached the top floor.

 “Hello, Sir,” a smartly dressed man greeted from behind a similar, but smaller, reception desk. Kai bypassed the counter, making a beeline for the double doors at the end of the corridor. Papers flew from the receptionists hands as he flew into pursuit.

“Sir, I need to see your invitation!” the man shouted.

Kai spun on his heels to face him.

“It’s on the end of my fist. Need a closer inspection?” Kai loomed over the man who took a timid back step and retreated to the safety of his desk, no doubt intending to call security. He let Meredith pass unquestioned, sighing in defeat as he knelt to gather his documents.

Brian Walters, or ‘The Foreman’ as he was better known, looked up in shock from behind his huge oval desk as Kai burst into his private office. He was dressed regally in a soft blue velvet suit and frilled collar, boasting a style that did his considerable size no favours. The Foreman stuttered, jowls aquiver above multiple chins as he tried to raise his large form to meet the intruder head on.

“Addictive blood?” Kai accused before the man could form a sentence.

“Very clever, but you’re going to undo it,” Kai ordered.

“Impossible, little man!” Brian scoffed with amusement. “My powers are impossible to reverse. There is nothing you can do… short of killing me.”

Kai shrugged. “Then I guess you die.” The death of this guy would be a small price to pay if it saved his friends from a life of slavery.

  “Guards!” Brian called, waving his hands in dismissal. Four stocky men marched briskly into the room, as though in practised formation, moving to form a protective ring around their smug looking boss who had already returned to his paperwork.

Kai curled his foot beneath a simple plastic chair that sat off to his left, propelled it upward, then sent it slamming into one of the guards with a swift and impressive spinning kick. A second, nervous-looking but brave guard ran into Kai fist-first with an overly loud battle cry and was picked up by that fist and swung into the man to his right, connecting with a thud. Brian’s face became a little less smug with each guard Kai defeated, watching as the teen dispatched them with ease. A swift punch here or perfectly placed kick there. Brian shrank visibly, head almost disappearing into his frilly collar.

“I was lying! I can undo it!” Brian cried as Kai propelled himself toward the cowering man and gripped him by his oversized collar.

“I almost wish you were,” Kai said with a small degree of genuine sympathy. He took no pleasure in killing, but knew he must if he were to free his friends and countless strangers.

“Tell me one thing before I kill you. What were you digging for?”

“The truth,” Brian said simply before his eyes cast downward. Kai, realising he would pry no more information from the man, pried his head from his shoulders instead.

Blood fell in crimson strays atop the limp, lifeless body as Kai flung the head aside. He looked up from his kill to find Vrethie and his companions recoiling at the sight of the beheaded man who lay at their feet.

“I had no choice,” Kai told them.

“I trust your judgement,” Vrethie told him kindly.

“Find any truth while digging out there?” Kai asked after a few seconds of blank staring.

“Nope, just a whole lot of dirt.”