The four of us sat in silence, looking at each other with smiles on our faces. It was really hard to believe that we were the same people we had been this morning.
"So, is anyone hungry? She did say that the dining hall is always filled with food. So, we could grab something to eat before heading to bed. Who's hungry?" Alma said at last. Nobody answered. To my surprise, I wasn't hungry. I couldn't remember the last time that I hadn't felt hungry. Every day there always seemed to be this underlying hunger that I couldn't quite get rid of. It had followed me everywhere that I had gone.
There hadn't been anything I could do to get rid of it. But now, it wasn't there. How had it happened? Was this magic or just the effect of being in a new environment? Maybe this is what Dr. Green had been talking about when she said that the cure was a lifestyle. Was the ‘lifestyle’ already starting to take effect? Could you even call this a lifestyle? After all, Sadie had only been here for a few hours.
"Nobody's hungry. Really? Wow, I'm surprised. But I myself am five times more tired than hungry so if it's alright with everyone I think I'll turn in for the night," said Alma. I nodded in agreement. My eyelids felt as if they weighed a million tons.
"Yes, I could use some sleep," said Vera. "But I'm afraid it might take me a while to fall asleep. This is all just so different. I'm not used to it at all."
"Not to mention the beds here are awful," muttered Blake. You just sink into them and it's so hard to move once you're lying in one."
"Oh, I haven't tried the beds yet. I was just planning on sleeping on the floor," said Alma. That wasn't a bad idea.
"Hm, I think I'll do the same. The floor still feels pretty comfortable to me. But I guess that's just because I'm used to it," I said.
"We're all still used to it," breathed Vera. "Honestly I think the thing that is going to be hard to get used to is sleeping in separate rooms." Right, I had forgotten about that. That was going to take some getting used to. But at least I wouldn't need to worry about tripping over other people on my way to use the bathroom. A deep yawn escaped me. I leaned back and watched as the yawn spread across the group the way that yawns always do.
"Well, I don't think I can keep my eyes open much longer. Goodnight, I'll see you guys in the morning." With that I headed down the hall to my room. Grabbing the blanket off my bed I curled up on the floor and closed my eyes. This felt wrong. The air around me was heavy and still. How did people sleep like this? In theory silence should make it easier to rest.
But it just made me feel uneasy. It was so comforting to fall asleep to the sound of other people snoring around me. Now, I was in a room in a building that was surrounded by people. But I felt as if I was totally alone. I strained my ears, trying to see if I could make out what the others were saying. But the thick walls didn't let a single sound escape.
So, this was what normal people did. No, normal people would be sleeping on the bed. Normal didn't feel natural. Normal felt lonely. Normal made me nervous. I didn't like normal. But my body was so tired that not even my own fear could keep me from resting. The unease faded away as the weariness took over. Everything melted into the shadows around me. Before I could even figure out what was happening, my eyes were opening, and I was waking up the next morning.
Dang, I must have slept really soundly. It didn't feel as if any time had passed. My head felt all soft and fuzzy but not in a bad way. I actually felt very refreshed. Perhaps I would just lie in bed and rest for a little bit longer. After all, there wasn't anything that I had to do. Normally, someone would need to go hunting and bring back dinner. But that wasn't something we had to worry about here. On the other hand, I was really hungry. My stomach growled with the might of a thousand ravenous grizzlies. Maybe I should get up. That deep hunger was back, and I knew that there was nothing I could do to distract myself from it.
THUMP THUMP THUMP! The sound of someone banging on my door pulled me out of my head. Well, it appeared as if my mind had been made up for me. But I really didn't mind getting up. I was excited to see more of the labs that I hadn't seen before. I had been here before but somehow it felt like it was a whole new place. There was so much for me to explore and see and learn about. Really, this was all very exciting. It was without a doubt the most fun that I had had in months. What in the world had I been so worried about yesterday? I had let bad memories from the past keep me from seeking out the future. It all seemed so silly now.
"Sadie! Are you there!" Blake's voice reminded me that I should be getting up. "Can you hear me?"
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"Yes, I can hear you," I said, opening the door to greet her.
"I kept knocking and knocking and you just wouldn't answer!" she complained. Oh, wonderful, grumpy Blake was back. I hadn’t missed her.
"Sorry. I was kind of asleep. What's up? Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened. But the others are all heading to the dining hall. Alma told me to tell you. Are you hungry, Sadie?"
"I'm starving! Where are the others?"
"They're just waiting down the hall. Come one, I'll show you," Blake took hold of my arm and led me down the hall. My hunger grew more and more intense with each step that I took. Had I been the last one to wake up? Goodness, how long had I slept for? Vera and Alma were standing at the edge of the hall, waiting for us.
"You weren't still asleep, were you?" asked Alma.
"I was. But that's fine. I woke up feeling really hungry," I explained. It was also true that I wanted to stick with the group. This place was strange and exciting, but I didn't want to explore it alone. So, sticking with the group made everything a little easier. So, I was okay with sticking with the group.
The four of us all headed down the hall together. To my surprise, there were several other people walking and talking in the halls. That really shouldn't have surprised me. After all, this was a big place, and it was filled with many people. But it just felt strange to see so many people walking and talking together.
There was no fighting or yelling in sight. Nobody was attacking each other. They all seemed to be more or less existing in harmony together. How strange. Normally putting this many infected together in one room would be an amazing way to destroy all of those said people in an instant. As we walked through the hall, people looked up and smiled at us. That just made us all huddle closer together.
There was no fighting or yelling in sight. Nobody was attacking each other. They all seemed to be more or less existing in harmony together. How strange. Normally putting this many infected together in one room would be an amazing way to destroy all of those said people in an instant. As we walked through the hall, people looked up and smiled at us. That just made us all huddle closer together.
Who were these people, and why were they smiling at us? We didn't know any of them. This all felt so strange. Why did smiles suddenly feel strange? Argh! I just wasn't used to seeing this many people in one place. I wasn't going to have to talk to any of these people, was I? That would be awful. Talking to Dr. Green was hard enough and Alma had done most of that. Hopefully, we would be able to just keep to ourselves.
The last thing I needed was new friends. It was hard enough to put up with the ones that I already had. The walk from our area to the vault was pretty short. Soon the heavenly smell of soup filled the air. My stomach growled. But I was a little bitter about the fact that I was going to have to eat cooked meat. I couldn't remember the last time I had had to force down that awful stuff.
Cooking meat, it made no sense. I understood that raw meat carried some diseases and parasites. I also understood that the uninfected stomachs hadn't adjusted to eat raw meat the way that the infecteds had. But what I didn't understand was why people liked burning their meat to a crisp. Did people just enjoy eating flavorless food? Cooking just took away everything good about the food. But I was too hungry by this point to really care. All that I needed right now was some food.
The dining hall was dizzyingly huge. There were so, so many people here. You could probably fit a sports stadium’s worth of people. Sports, I hadn't thought about sports in ages. Now my mind was filled with memories of my childhood. Childhood, that was a word I had forgotten. It had been so hard to believe that there was a world outside of the woods where I was kept. Now that I was back in the labs, life felt real to me again.
"Hm, I just remembered that I used to like baseball," I whispered. "Haven't thought about that before. My dad used to take me to baseball games, when I was little. He take me with him whenever he visited America. They love that game over there."
Vera gave me a confused look. "Good, I guess. Did you just now remember that?"
"Yeah."
"I've been remembering a lot of long forgotten things lately," Vera added. Interesting. Was this an effect of Dr. Green's 'lifestyle'? But we had only been here for a little while. There was no way that it could already be taking effect, right? We got in line behind a huge group of people. But to my surprise, the line moved really quickly.
The workers smiled warmly at us as they heaped our plates. We all nodded when they asked us what we wanted. I wasn't going to say no to a single morsel. There were countless workers, no wonder things were moving so quickly. Before I knew it, I was sitting at a table with a plateful of delicious-smelling food sitting in front of me.
"I can't believe how amazing everything looks," laughed Blake. "To think that this is cooked meat! I think I might actually enjoy this," she added. There were at least six different kinds of meat on my plate. Every single piece looked and smelled like heaven. Vera was already halfway through her plate. There wasn't any point in hesitating.
I dug in. Never before had I ever tasted anything so wonderful. Every little bite was filled with a million different flavors. The outside layer of the meat was crispy and thick but the meat at the center was soft and juicy. I closed my eyes and ate and ate until there wasn't a single speck of food left on my plate.
Every bite had been heavenly. Yet I didn't want more. I was full. It wasn't an unpleasant kind of full. It was a warm and contented kind of full. My eyes opened and I happily leaned back with a deep sigh. The other three were also leaning back with happy smiles on their faces.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but that was the most amazing meal that I have ever eaten," I breathed. To think that this food would always be here for us whenever we felt hungry was crazy. This was amazing. "I must admit that I was worried about coming back here. But it looks like things have actually changed. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we're all going to be very happy here."