Short Story Collection

The Room Part Three

Week Two, Wednesday - 1832 hours...

"What's taking so long," one of the inmates whined.

Jackson rolled his eyes and huffed, "will you shuddup, already?"

"Why bother talking to the ingrates," Dimitri mumbled from his perch on one of the computer consoles.

"Do you even know what that word means," Eyal asked absentmindedly, refusing to make eye contact with Dimitri and instead checked his rifle chamber. He turned his attention to the control center, on the other side of the soundproof glass behind the consoles, where Kara was on radio with 'the other side' ordering a transport. His lower lip twitched involuntarily and he put his rifle down on the console before walking away, towards the bulletproof glass that separated the hub from the hallway.

Kara came out from the control center on their side of the hub, "Okay, I got a hold of Ruth. He's opening the passageway now."

"Good," Dimitri said as he fidgeted. He jumped down from the console and shifted his weight from leg to leg, drumming his fingers on the side of his rifle.

Kara indicated to the gun lazily, "That won't do you any good. The bullets went right through it."

"Maybe it's not for them," he replied darkly, his eyes shifting around the room at the dozens of prisoners that moved around the small hub like a lost herd- the smell of sweat mixed with cleaning chemicals could make anyone gag.

"What is wrong with you," Jackson asked, his lips curled in disgust.

"What?" Dimitri shrugged then made a harsh sound in the back of his throat, "It makes me feel better, 'kay?"

Jackson frowned and ignored Dimitri by conversing with Kara, "How long until TOS starts the transport?"

"Don't know, maybe half an hour," she diverted her gaze and looked around the room.

The tension in the hub was palpable, the inmates quiet and tense. Kara was genuinely surprised and relieved that the prisoners weren't trying to make a move but she figured the impending doom of death by radioactive wraith was enough to keep them in line.

It didn't help the mood that Dimitri insisted on holding the rifle and twitching like a drug addict coming down from a high. She turned away from the jumpy man to her left in order to look for one specific man in a crowd of testosterone. Eyal was standing in the corner, his nose nearly touching the glass to the hall.

"Eyal," Kara greeted as she came up behind him and placed a gentle hand at the small of his back, "you okay?"

"Don't do that again," he said harshly without looking away from the hall he studied, watching for signs of the wraith.

She blinked rapidly and pulled her hand away as if burned, "do what again?"

He pivoted so quickly, to face her, that Kara didn't have time to step back. He took her arms in his hands, holding her in front of him, "risk yourself like that. I don't want you sacrificing yourself for anyone, you hear me?" Eyal's voice was low but forceful, "I won't lose you."

Kara smiled even as she felt her hands start to tremble, "Eyal, you-"

"The door's open!" Dimitri announced and was the first one in the room despite procedure. The prisoners piled in like scared animals.

"Wait, only fifty people at one time! It won't work if there's any more than that," Kara shouted and shoved her way through the shifting bodies to the front of the hub to look at the status panel above the door; 57.00. "No, it won't work, there's too many in The Room right now. I need seven of you to get off!"