3.3

“We’re going to start already, you can join whenever you’re ready.” The voice of Travis calmed her down almost immediately. No enforcers – or worse, Conqueron nobility – at her door to arrest her for conspiring against the law, just a friendly person asking her to join a friendly, relaxing gathering.
      Cass forced herself to finish her food, knowing she’d regret it later if she didn’t finish her meal now, even though she was a little nauseous. Hunger was not something you could afford in Underconqueron.
      Before leaving to the hall, she made sure to double check if the fake ration was well hidden amongst the others in the cupboard. She replaced some rations, putting the fake one in between the rest instead of at the top or bottom of a pile and carefully closed the door of the cupboard, locking it. Luckily enough, it wasn’t uncommon to have a lock on the ration cupboard. You never know who comes inside when you’re at work. A lock at least gives them a challenge when trying to steal rations.
      The hall was bubbling with laughter. She normally closed herself off for the sound, trying to read some fiction before going to sleep – mostly propaganda novels made specifically for the workers, but she had gotten her hand on some actual novels of Conqueron. Those books still contained a lot of fake information and were also meant for propaganda, but it was more nuanced and a lot less present.
      Near one of the bathroom areas, she saw a group of five young adults sitting on the floor. They were holding cards in their hands, playing some kind of card game, like Travis had suggested. When he saw Cass reluctantly walking closer, he coughed to draw everyone’s attention.
      “Everyone, we finally managed to get someone else to join our happy gathering here. Meet Cass. She lives in room 1519. Cass, this is the humble group of people that like to meet up.” Travis smiled sincerely as he looked around the circle.
      “Hi, I’m Norah. I live in room 1530 and work in one of the food factories. I prepare some of the fancy snacks for the enforcers, so I sometimes sneak some home with me to share here. And I have some spices in my room to step up the flavour of rations, if you ever need them.” A girl with pastel pink coloured hair spoke first. Cass was surprised by how easy she told her secret, as if she wasn't telling a secret to a newcomer who could rat her out. Weird. Cass nodded to her as acknowledgement.
      “My name is Luíz!” The guy with curly black hair and a lovely golden skin colour, like he had worked in the actual sun, introduced himself next. He seemed like he was the youngest of the bunch, but Cass wasn’t sure if he actually was or if it was due to having somewhat of a babyface. “I work at a food factory as well. I sadly don’t have access to spices or luxurious snacks, I just prepare the tins. They tried to make me cook first, but I wasn’t really great at it. Following the recipe, yes, but I am a little clumsy and dropped an entire pot of salt into the pan one too many times. The lid just kept falling off, I swear!”
      The group laughed at his defensive statement. He even put his hands in the air to add to the drama, accidentally showing the cards in his hand in the process.
      “I’ll go next then. I’m Liyeva. Nice name, I know. Not a clue who thought of it, it sounds like you have a stroke when you pronounce it fast. Lee-yeh-vah, who thought of that? Anyway, I think I’ve seen you walk towards the pill factories a few times, because I work there as well! I bottle medicine though, not the anti-radiation pills. Painkillers for the elderly, to fix their headaches due to the light, and cough drops mostly.
      Not many people get sick here, as you know, so it’s basically pills or tablets or gummies that relieve some annoying feats like a dry cough or pain when you walked into a wall,” the girl that was sitting next to Travis said calmly. She played a card from her hand and looked at the last person to introduce himself, while putting a few loose strands of straight black hair behind her ear.
      The last person remained awfully quiet though. He was focussed on the card game and didn't seem to pay any attention to Cass’ presence.
      “That's Sergei. He's not that keen on new people,” Travis explained, giving Sergei a little nudge to at least notice Cass. The guy who Travis called Sergei looked up annoyed and just gave her a little nod in acknowledgement of her existence before continuing, what appears to be, his winning course.
      “Yeah, he's not a talker to begin with. He didn't like me when I moved in here either, he needed some time to open up to me,” Luíz laughed.
      “Watch it, baker boy,” Sergei growled, playing the last card he was holding. “Looks like I won. Again.” He then finally looked up properly.
      Cass awkwardly waved at him. “Congratulations on winning.”
      “It's not a big deal, they're not that good at the game. I'm Sergei, I work at one of the nuclear factories. That's all you need to know.” He collected the cards of the others, shuffled them and all gave them a new deck to play with. “And don't expect anything from me.”
      “He's kind, don't worry. Sergei pretends to be all bold and scary, but he cares. In the end anyway.” Liyeva winked and shuffled through the deck she was dealt.
      “Have a seat. You should just watch tonight's game, we'll explain how it works next time. If you are brave enough to join us a second time, of course.” Travis laughed as he tapped the floor next to him, motioning Cass to sit down.
      “So, we introduced ourselves. Time for you to tell us who you are,” Norah grinned. “Love your hair colour, by the way. You got lucky in the DNA-modification draw as well I see.”
      “I guess so. So, I’m Cass, but you already knew that by now. I work in one of the pill factories, bottling the anti-radiation pills we take every day. After work, I usually go for a walk with the only friend I have and she takes me to the vending machine near bunker 312. She’s addicted to the sugary stuff and makes me spend my credits on it as well,” Cass laughed sheepishly. “And other than that, I read a lot since I used to think being social was useless here. But it’s not so bad having a talk every once in a while.”
      “I’m glad you’ve come around to think that. Life here gets pretty lonely if you only eat, work and sleep on repeat. Those sodas are amazing. You should try out the vending machine near our bunker. This one is filled with all sorts of snacks. Chocolate bars, candy, gummies, salty flavoured crackers, baked potato slices with different spices, it’s amazing. The bottom row is filled with soda as well, to hydrate after eating salt, but there’s only two flavours here.
      We could go there tomorrow before dark? Before you joined us, we were just discussing having dinner together in my room. Mine does not have a window enforcers can look through. I don’t even have a window, it’s adjacent to the “emergency walkway” around that plaza with fake plants in the middle. But I digress. Would you like to join?” Norah asked politely.
      “That seems nice. A bit crowded in one of those tiny rooms, but it sounds good. Especially with the extra food,” Cass replied with a genuine smile. Why did I pass up on this opportunity all this time?