Generation Zombie

Chapter 17: Where The Wind Took Us.

The sound of the rain against the windows soothed the tensed air in the room with its calm ambience. There was expectation of a thunderstorm judging from the earlier menacing storm clouds, but instead, the town was experiencing a peaceful shower of rain. The world slowed down and took deep breaths, the wind soft and playful.

The atmosphere made Ajax Cassini drift off to sleep, despite his curiosity to know more about the fifth player. He laid sprawled out on a couch, hugging a throw pillow and slightly drooling on it.

Ruby Bancroft wiggled her toes under the blanket, as she stretched out on the bed and heaved a sigh of contentment. She was glad to get off her feet, glad to feel the familiarity of rain, and glad that Arthur wasn’t trying to poke his head into the bubble of her comfort zone. There was something relaxing in the air that made her muscles unwind, and made her feel sleepy. Still, her curiosity kept her awake. She suppressed her fifteenth yawn.

Arthur Halifax munched on a bar of chocolate and skimmed through the Gene-Z Virus file, making faces of confusion, understanding, and everything in between. Half of the terminologies were gibberish to him, but he felt smart when he saw homeostasis twice and knew what it meant, so he kept going. Now and then, he’d glance up at the two women staring each other down, then at Ruby’s yawning face, before burying his face back into the papers.

It had been almost an hour since it started raining and Elham suggested they wait out the drizzle in case it turns into a heavy storm. And now, for the past ten minutes, she and Juniper had been boring holes into the faces of each other.

The proper introductions had already been made; if one would call the half-cursing, half-insulting, fully meant-to-be-offensive statements the two women had thrown into each other’s faces, —a proper introduction.

Elham glared at the septum-pierced, ghostly pale Russian woman who looked like a dancing pole with blonde hair. She had hoped the fifth player would be someone with more potential that would take half the responsibilities of getting out of the game off her shoulders. But no, it had to be this Russian goth with hollow cheeks, sunken eyes, and sharp, bold eyeliner.

Elham weighed the possibility of her being an escaped convict, or a criminal. She had a knack for detecting people’s vibes, and something told her this woman was no good.

Juniper stared blankly back at Elham. She could recognize intelligence when she saw one, but this particular lady’s intelligence was amassed with determination and an instinct to win, —much like Juniper herself had an instinct to kill. It poked the curious side of her, and questions stayed poised at the tip of her tongue.

“So!” Ruby began cheerful, pretending the tension in the air was nonexistent. If science had developed a way to cut thick, formless, unseen atoms, she was sure the tension in the room could be sliced like a birthday cake. “Did you... take a while in here? In the game? You know... before you found us.” She laughed nervously.

Arthur closed the file and watched with interest, silently chewing the hazelnuts in the chocolate bar.

“No.” Juniper replied curtly, not even bothering to look Ruby’s way. She was determined not to lose the staring contest between her and Elham.

Ruby snuggled further into the blanket. “Oh... kay...” she dragged uncertainly, looking to Arthur for help.

He shrugged and took another bite.

“So ah... do you know how to see your personal player information?” Ruby pressed. She feared that if the staring contest went on for too long, one of them might grab a weapon against the other and then they’d be back to square one.

Juniper played with a sharp, star-shaped blade; twirling it around her fingers. “Yes.” She replied again, maintaining the same cold, uninterested tone.

Elham folded her arms. “Oh am sure little miss point-a-g*n-at-my-problems knows everything that needs to be known about the game.” She said sarcastically.

Juniper narrowed her eyes, pausing with the blade still in her grip. It’s smooth killer-sharp edges was cool against her slender fingers. “Is that supposed to be an insult?” She replied in a manner that was meant to sound threatening.

“That depends on your IQ level.” Elham shot back with a smirk, knowing she had strum a nerve.

Ruby; wide-eyed and scared, looked from one stubborn woman to the other. She gulped and chuckled nervously. “Guys, maybe we should just...”

“And what is your IQ level?” Juniper cut her off, reclining back against the sturdy, study chair. She had more questions, and planned to anger her into answering them.

“Undoubtedly higher than yours.” Elham threw the words back with no hesitation, without missing a beat. She straightened her posture on the edge of the bed and jutted her chin into the air with triumph.

Juniper gave a cynical half smile. “You hold yourself at a very high esteem.” She replied almost humorously, like a not-so-funny joke had been shared.

Elham tried not give her the satisfaction of seeing that her body language was enraging. She kept her cool, eyed the possibly Russian-American up and down, in a mean, disrespectful way. “Hmm, and is that wrong?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “Not really... most people are okay with lying to themselves.”

Arthur quickly stuffed the rest of the chocolate bar into his mouth to hide his smile and avoid snickering. He was too engrossed in the exchange of masked insults that he didn’t even notice Ruby’s wild gestures and sign language for him to do something and intervene.

Quickly, realizing Arthur was pretty much useless in this situation, Ruby grabbed the tray of toast from the nightstand and lifted it up into the air. “Oh wow, look... the toast is ready... yum...” She announced dramatically, even though the toast had been there for a while, and had even gone cold.

Neither Elham, nor Juniper paid her any attention.

She looked to Arthur for help again, and saw him suppressing a laugh, trying not to let her see how his shoulders shook like a hyena. There wasn’t much success in that area. Ruby felt like smacking his head with the silver tray until his skull dents. She glanced at Ajax who snored away peacefully, oblivious to the volcanic eruption building. Men, in general, were a disappointment. But the men —or so called “men” in this game were really taking the disappointment factor up a notch.

“I was hoping for a battle of wits, but it turns out you’re unarmed.” Elham taunted, a glint appearing in her dark eyes. She had strummed more than a nerve now. The thought of getting under Juniper’s skin and somehow ruffling her feathers her made her excited.

Juniper grinned, showing her tiny sharp canines. “A battle of wits because you can’t handle one of guns?” She raised one dramatically straight eyebrow. Civilized conversations were always so intriguing. She leaned forward in her seat, sunken eyes chaotic and untamed. The dispute was putting her on a high. If she couldn’t have opium, she’d have this.

Ruby felt her heartbeat accelerate with fear. She had never before seen such a feral look in a person’s eyes. She feared the possibility that one of them was a psychopath, and would hurt the other, dooming them to be stuck in the game forever. Her voice wavered. “Guys, please, let’s not talk about...”

Elham c****d her head to the side. “Awfully confident now, aren’t you?” Now she was sure. Juniper was addicted to something, and from the looks of it, she hasn’t gotten a hold of that something in a while.

Petty neighborhood villain, or trained sinister crime expert? Elham couldn’t decide which. Considering she mentioned the CIA when they first met, her guess inclined further towards the latter. She rejoiced in the victory that she had gained one vital information and weakness from the war of words. Juniper was in withdrawal.

“I can kill everyone in this room with only this blade. Excuse me if I’m a little self-confident.” Juniper bragged, throwing the small but deadly weapon up in the air and catching it as it whizzed back down. The maniacal grin stayed plastered to her face.

Elham clenched her jaw and took in a sharp breath. Just because she was good with weapons didn’t mean she had the right to threaten their lives. “How did you manage to get your head that far up your a—”

“Guys!” Ruby jumped in loudly, struggling to get to her feet but falling off the bed in the process. She landed with a thud and the blanket tangled her feet together. A dull pain shot up her spine, but at least it had done the trick.

Elham and Juniper stared at her in surprise like they had both just been pulled out of a trance.

Arthur swiftly got to his feet and rushed to Ruby’s side, attempting to aid her stand up. She smacked his hands away and glared at him. Now he wanted to help? She sighed and scampered to her feet on her own.

“It stopped raining. Let’s get a move on.” She informed and limped to her backpack that was stuffed with snacks and books.

The world outside the windows shone brightly in a new light. The rain clouds had moved on, giving way to cheerful sunshine that smiled down upon a squeaky clean world. The view might’ve been appealing to Ruby, if the people inside hadn’t soured her mood already.

Just then, Ajax’s eyes fluttered open and he stretched like a cat, yawning contentedly. He blinked away the blurriness of sleep, and his eyes focused on the many other eyes watching him. “Did I miss something?”