Harsh banging rudely jolted me awake. Upon hearing the hammering coming from the front door, I jumped slightly, beginning to try and sit up - to which I paused, feeling an arm still around my waist. I looked down to Cody - whose hair was messy, sticking out in every which way, and a slight drool had made its way onto his pillow (darkening the white colour beneath him). "Dude." I grumbled, groggily. "Dude-" I repeated, wincing at the aggressive knocking - which was yet to cease. I glanced back down to him, watching the man slowly stir awake, with a confused expression.
"What?-" He began, squinting at me as he lifted his head off of his pillow, only closing his eyes upon hearing the noise. "Ugh, not so soon!" Cody whined, letting go of me to roll on his back.
"Who is that?" I grumbled, furrowing my brow as I began to rub my eyes, "Better yet, what is that?"
"WAKE UP YA FUCKIN' FRUITS!"
I growled, throwing myself back down onto the mattress. "Right. Jeff." I huffed, rolling onto my side and raising my eyebrows, "Stupid question, am I right?" I stated, sarcastically. I only earnt a groan from Cody - which caused me to carry on, "I mean, it's an improvement from him calling us the f-slur." This caused Cody to turn his head to look at me, sending me an unamused glare. "Right, getting up." I sighed, beginning to sit up again.
"I fucking hate this guy." Cody grumbled, "He's an annoying arse." The man complained, rolling his eyes to look at me with a frustrated expression. "A bigoted, annoying arse."
I sighed, beginning to slip out of his bed, nodding in agreement. "Trust me, I hate him just as much as you do." I retorted, "If we could swap him out, I would." I glanced to him, with a tired look, seeing his own.
"GET OUTTA OF BED, THE BOSS HAS A JOB FOR US!"
Looking to the window, despite not seeing the balding idiot, I took a deep breath. "DUDN'T SEEM LIKE MUCH OF A PROBLEM TO ME, COWBOY!" I yelled mockingly in retaliation, pausing to hear that the knocking had come to a stop - along with the yelling. With a bright, toothy grin, I looked to Cody with a proud expression.
"Mm, you're such a good person." He sarcastically hummed.
I hummed in response, forcing my expression into one of fake pride, instead, "Oh, I know, give me an award." I retorted, walking over to his drawers.
I could feel his eyes following me, to which was finally proven by his voice breaking the silence, "What are you doing?"
I shrugged, opening one of them up - taking a pair of argyle socks (black with green diamonds), and slipping them into my pocket. "Well, I'm getting dressed, and with Jeff so impatient, I can't head to my cabin - we won't have time." I answered nonchalantly, as I began to open up the next drawer.
"You can't just keep stealing my clothes, Toby." Cody grumbled, the mattress audibly dipping as he got out of the bed. Just because it was more comfortable than mine, doesn't mean it was any good.
"Well, I'm not. It's just long term borrowing." I stated, in a matter of factly tone, though it did have a teasing underlying tinge to it - which Cody seemed to pick up on.
"That isn't how that works - I've always asked for my clothes back as soon as possible, Toby-" Cody sighed, walking up beside me and pulling open the sock drawer, taking a pair for himself - black and blue argyle. "-And I haven't had one hoodie back, yet." He added, closing the drawer with a little bit of pressure.
I looked into the other opened drawer in front of me, humming slightly at the sight of shirt laid out next to shirt, all doubled up. It makes sense why this was twice the size of sock drawer. With a hesitancy, I glanced behind me to look behind at Cody - as if asking if it were okay to take one - to which his grimace had turned into a small smile with a nod. I looked away and back to the shirts, letting a tiny smirk tug my lips to the right, "So you don't mind me taking your clothes," I teasingly began with a smug expression, "I would go as far as to say you like it when I take your clothes, Coco, as long as I ask."
As I took a black shirt, Cody's arm snaked through to the drawer as well, grabbing a pale green shirt. "Don't push it, Rogers." He began, light heartedly - but paused, offering me an expression that I would do better describing than labelling; his green eyes wide, and his brow was furrowed - though he'd raised an eyebrow. "Don't - don't call me Coco, that was a middle school thing, don't bring that back."
"Why? Don't you like coco? It comes from beans, I could call you beans instead-"
He raised a finger, going to speak but hesitating. "Why do I put up with you?" Cody asked himself as he shook his head, beginning to pull away with the clothing he'd picked - discarding it on the bed.
"Because I give you something to focus on other than your mad science-" I answered, "-and, you'd have to deal with baldy-locks by yourself."
He walked up to me again, pulling open the drawer underneath the shirts, revealing jeans, joggers and shorts. He took a pair of black, skinny jeans as he retorted, "Maybe the pros outweigh the cons, then."
With a small scoff I quickly took a similar pair and closed the drawers, "Well, I'm glad to hear it."
"Leave that hoodie here - if you go into the back once you're dressed, you'll find a hoodie that you might prefer." Cody told me, glancing towards me with a small smile.
"A hoodie that I'll prefer over my own?" I retorted teasingly, as I began to walk to the bedroom door. This, only got a soft, glare of playful annoyance, to which I dramatically sighed, "Fine! If I must!" I retorted, rolling my eyes.
I quickly left, letting Cody change - and resorting to changing in the bathroom instead. I'd quite happily stripped, tossing the hoodie and sweatpants to the side and quickly throwing on the black shirt - which, was a bit tighter than I'd like - and the socks with the pair of black jeans (which luckily weren't the same situation as the shirt).
When done, I strolled over to the room at the end of the hallway - the back as Cody called it. Now, it wasn't as ominous as it sounded - it was just a storage room with a washing machine and a dryer. He put any of his spare or excess lab stuff in here - including rats and mice he'd caught - and did his laundry here too (obviously).
I twisted the door knob, pushing the door open, to be met with a dark and seemingly dusty room. Shelves and boxes and equipment could be made out, but it was almost unsettling, in a sense. I reached up for the chord that hung from the ceiling - tugging on it and letting go when it clicked, but sighing when the light didn't turn on.
"Lovely." I grumbled, glancing around as I began to walk inside - taking in the sight of the bent and busted cardboard boxes filled with beakers, pipettes, test tubes and racks, petri dishes and sealed viles of all sorts that lined the shelves. As I walked down the middle of the aisle, I finally caught sight of the hoodie neatly folded on top of the washing machine.
As I quickly walked over to collect it - I caught sight of a small, black metal cage - a drinker slipped through the bars as well as a feeder (that was emptied). I glanced inside it, seeing a small, brown mouse amongst the shavings and torn up toilet paper. I took a step closer, seeing that it was laid on it's side, unmoving. It didn't blink and it's feet seemed to be tucked inwards - it's tail floppy.
"Again, lovely." I muttured under my breath, turning around to look at the hoodie. It was a pale, light grey - the sleeves a mix of stripes consisting of the same grey, a darker grey and a smaller white sliver. Confused, I picked it up with furrowed eyebrows - this was once again my hoodie. But, this was the hoodie I was wearing when I'd gotten jumped. He'd gotten the blood out of it. I don't know how - but he had. I happily slipped the clothing on, shaking my hand through the sleeves and passed the cuffs, tugging the hem over my stomach.
I quickly left the room, making my way into the living area - spotting Cody hurriedly stuffing two transparent sandwich bags with cereal, nuts, dried fruits - having already gotten ready; dressed in his black and white hoodie (styled in the same way a baseball shirt would be) with the proxy mark scribbled onto it in a white, chalk-like dye, on the shoulders, as well as a pair of silver welding goggles (with dark blue lenses) and a silver and black half-gas-mask (on the left ventilator, the proxy mark was yet again messily graffitied on in white).
"You found it - hydrogen peroxide is a life saver." Cody commented, almost cheerily upon seeing me - quickly sealing a bag of the food and tossing it to me, which I barely managed to catch - having had to hold it to my chest. "Eat this along the way, 'kay? You need food. Did you eat Yesterday?" He rambled, cocking his head to the side, stuffing his own bag into his hoodie pockets before picking up his baseball bat - stained with blood and protruding, bent, rusty nails.
Baseball bat - why'd that feel familar?
"Toby? You okay?" Cody asked, dragging me out of my ponder, causing me to glance from the spot of floor I was staring mindlessly into - instead looking to him.
"Me? Oh - yeah, yeah.. I uh, I forgot. Sorry." I mumbled, nodding slightly - watching Cody's expression contorting into a visible concern.
"Okay..?" He mumbled quietly, reluctantly beginning to walk over to his coffee table to grab a handful of the syringes, filled with a bold green liquid, stuffing them into the small, black satchel that hung around his torso. "Let's go - your boots are still there." He rambled.
I nodded, putting the snack bag in my own pockets. I followed Cody to the door - beginning to put my shoes on again, as he opened it.
"Somethin' took a shit on your porch."
"That was Toby and it was muddy last night."
I could tell by Cody's voice that his demeanour had changed - he went quiet and deadpan around people he didn't know, nevermind people he didn't like.
I quickly finished tying my laces, looking up to Jeff - who stood on the outside of the door. His skin was paler than mine - though it looked boiled and blistered with patches that were red raw and looked like there were areas that'd pop if touched. The burn marks covered half of his body - including his scalp, face, neck and I would presume everywhere else. Consequently, his only the right side of his head had hair - which was thin, patchy and wiry; a stringy, black mess that had been flipped to one side. His nose was badly disfigured, up to the point that his left nostril was missing. His eyes were glassy, bloodshot and grey - wide, constantly as his eyelids had been badly damaged. However, the most noticeable feature being the messily cut, crusted Cheshire smile. It was gaping open, coated in his own, old blood and scars - revealing parts of his crooked teeth. It made him look like he was always smiling.
I would feel bad for him if he wasn't such a bastard.
His eyes fell to look at me, tossing a large, black object he was carrying by his side towards me. It hit me in the head - earning a hiss from me, which caused me to quickly look to it, seeing it was the muzzle. "There ya go, dog." Jeff greeted. I could feel him watching me put the muzzle on - grumbling under my breath about it - like he was amused. "Ya left it in your cabin. Hafta wear it, remember?"
Once more, I huffed as I stood up - giving Jeff a tired look. "Well, I didn't plan on being woken up at the crack of dawn by a fucking Alice in Wonderland cosplay." I seethed, "And you can't just go into other people's cabins, for crying out loud."
"S'okay, ya left the door unlock'd, mutt."
"Can we just get going?" Cody interjected with an already frustrated tone, which caused Jeff begin to walk off of the porch. He tugged at his blood stained, white hoodie, stuffing his scarred hands into it's pockets. I glanced to Cody with a slightly thankful expression - to which he only nodded, allowing me to exit the cabin first.
"So, what's the job?" I hesitantly called out to Jeff - who'd already gotten a head start on me and Cody (who was currently making sure his front door was locked)
"This chick has been followin' us - boss wants us to take her out. Gettin' too close and all. Ain't nothin' special."