I felt a piece of rough fabric against my nose, almost like a burlap sack. I opened my eyes and tried to get them to focus. My body ached all over. I raised my head and looked around. I was laying on a bed covered in a rough material, but it wasn't a normal bed, it was in the shape of a circle.
"You're awake," A girl's voice said. I looked and saw that it was a dark skinned girl with short hair.
"Who are you? What is this?"
"Don't play dumb with me, get up, we're in 1217F today."
I followed her out the door and into a rock hallway, the only light came from glowing disks situated along the walls every five feet or so.
"Where are we?"
"Shut up."
I followed her through another door and into another hallway, this one was shorter and lead into a huge area filled with people. It was lined with round tables and chairs. At the front was what looked like a lunch line, people standing in line, waiting to be served.
"There he is!" Someone shouted. I looked around. A man walked up to me, he stood uncomfortably close. "So you're the one who tried to escape.." He said, his eyes narrowing.
“I...I just got here..” I stammered.
“Thanks to you,” His voice got louder so that everyone in the room could hear, and everyone fell silent. “Our rations have been cut in half!”
Everyone in the room started shouting, looking angrily at me.
“Give me your food ticket!” Someone yelled.
“No, give it to me!” Someone else shouted. I backed away, looking around nervously.
I didn't have a food token, no one had given me one.
“I have it!” The girl shouted. “It's mine! "
Everyone in the room turned and regarded her, looks of irritation on their faces.
She grinned at me. “You never asked for it.”
“You never told me about it!” I protested . “How am I supposed to eat?”
She shrugged and walked toward the food counter. I numbly followed her as she put both tokens into a large metal machine. It beeped and spit out two wrapped bars into the tray below.
“Nutrition bars,” She explained, handing me one, practically hitting me with it. “I know they don't have them where you came from, but they'll take care of your body and all that stuff.” She took off walking toward one of the steel tables at a brisk pace, I stumbled trying to keep up with her.
“You know where I came from?” I asked excitedly. If she knew where I came from, maybe she could help me get back!
“Camp 716? Yeah it's right next to us. Guys try to escape from there all the time, then they end up here.”
My heart sank. She thought I was from this world. I followed her to a table, she sat down on the bench, not facing the table, and began to eat.
“I don't understand any of this!” I told her. “Where are we?”
“Hit your head did ya? Not my problem. You better get your issues cleared up fast if your going to survive in the mines.”
“Listen! I'm not going to the mines, I'm going home!”
“Look around you. This is home. There's nothing outside.”
I looked around the dull grey room. The low ceiling. The rusted metal benches and tables. The people standing around in ragged work uniforms. Their faces were worn. Maybe it was true. Maybe this was it.
“No..I can't believe that, I want to go home.”
She sighed and shook her head. “You bumped your head hard didn't you?” I sat down beside her on the bench, stared at the energy bar in my hand. Why was I here? Where had I come from? Did my home really exist?
“If you're not going to eat that...” I heard her say. Suddenly I felt very hungry, I took a bite of the bar. I immediately spit it out. It tasted horrible! She laughed at me and grabbed it from my hand.
“My name is Michelline,” She told me. “Who are you?”
“I'm...Eric..” I said, still not quite trusting her.
She nodded. “Well Eric..welcome to your worst nightmare.”
2335 Category:(Scifi) Created:(10/2/2007 12:31:00 PM)