6.1

Cass’ ears were ringing due to all the different sound propped up into one small room. She could barely follow the conversation and was completely overwhelmed by the new situation, not used to the feeling of company yet and definitely not used to this much noise.
      The cacophony had started right after grabbing dinner items from the vending machine near their bunker, like they had agreed upon. Everyone had contributed to the snacks and drinks and were now in the process of joyfully gobbling everything up. Sergei was softly humming a happy tune while enjoying his paprika flavoured potato slices and unicorn soda. Cass had thought it was hilarious when he picked the same pink drink Arah loved. For how tough and unapproachable he had appeared yesterday, this was definitely not the drink she would’ve picked for him.
      The others were loudly discussing their day and bringing up nostalgic things, like playing ball on the green patches of fake grass with a half deflated ball.
      “Are you okay?” Norah asked her softly, while Liyeva and Luíz were loudly arguing about which soap was better.
      “Yeah, it’s just a little too much. I’m not really used to this many loud voices in a small space.”
      “It’s fine, it’s very overwhelming the first few times. That’s why we usually pick the hallway to meet up. More space for everyone, more room for the sound and it doesn’t get so bloody hot within a few hours.” She fanned herself with a piece of cardboard from one of the snack packages. “Don’t get worked up over it. Let me tell you a story about how Sergei joined us. He was acting all tough and high and mighty, because he worked at the nuclear power plant and was strong and manly. The first time he came in here and Liyeva and Luíz were their usual selves, he almost bolted out the door.
      I’m not even joking, he turned around and sped towards the door. Only to realise he would look like a joke to us if he would actually leave. So he stayed, drinking some sour citrus drink, because it was cool. He hated it, I could see the disgust on his face every time he took a sip. And at some point I just accidentally gave him the unicorn drink and boy, did he down that drink within seconds.”
      “I’d never expected that of him,” Cass laughed softly.
      “No one did. But it was extremely funny, especially when he bought the drinks himself the next time. Luíz tripped over his own shoelaces when he entered my room for the first time, squishing the cookies and bottles with his full weight. Safe to say, the cookies still tasted good although broken, but the drinks were a little ruined. Took me four days to get all the sugar off my floor.
      Travis and Liyeva were totally awkward the first time we hung out with the three of us. I’m not saying I wasn’t awkward, but none of us really knew what to talk about. Until Liyeva pulled out her deck of cards and we started playing. She taught us how to play.”
      “Seems like you’ve been together for a while then,” Cass responded, relief sweeping through her.
      “It seems like a lot longer than it’s actually been. Travis, Liyeva and I have been here for maybe a year or two more than you guys. Sergei is actually the youngest of us all, he arrived here ten months ago, but he was quicker to join us than you.” Norah opened another can of lemonade, which seemed to be a tropical flavour with all kinds of fruit wearing sunglasses and one of them saying ‘Conqueron is even greater when you have your Sater’.
      Very creative…
      “I did not know you haven’t been together for that long actually. I just kept to myself, it’s not like me to talk to people actually. Never talked much.”
      “Time to make up for that missed time of friendship and fun then! But if you need some time alone now, we understand.”
      “It’s fine, I can cope with a bit more I think. We should be heading to our rooms soon anyway, right?” Cass asked expectantly.
      “Well… normally this goes on until the middle of the night. We become more silent, but we stay up late. Really late. It’s not like work is going to spare us if we sleep or not, so we just decided it would be much more enjoyable to spend as much time together as possible. The only thing you have to be cautious of is turning lights on when you go to bed. It’s best to not do that and just walk into stuff than turning the lights on and having one of those creepy enforcers stare right at your face.” Norah shivered at the thought of the enforcers.
      They were definitely not pleasant to look at, especially not in the middle of the night. Cass remembered almost being caught by one. She had taken a late shower after awaking covered in sweat after a nightmare and had returned a little past bedtime. She could see the red and green lights patrolling not too far away from her room, so she quickly turned off the lights and went back to bed.
      She’d been absolutely sure at least one enforcer had stared at her through her window, but she was too scared to take a peek from under her blanket. Those helmets gave her the creeps in the night. The black and grey military helmets had something that resembled a respirator at the front, with a tube for fresh air attached to the side of it. Where their eyes should be were two white circles that reflected every source of light in an immensely scary way. It was meant to protect and anonimise whoever was behind the mask. Next to their eyes, near the ears, were a red and green light, one above the other, so they were able to see better in the dark.
      Cass was sure the helmets were made this way on purpose, though. They could’ve designed them to look far more kind and less creepy, but the anxiety-inducing factor they had given the helmets made sure people respected and feared the enforcers. No one even knew if there were actual humans behind them.
      “How do you guys manage to keep conversations going when you see each other so often though? Our lives are boring as fuck down here and we all had pretty much the same childhood, so I don’t really understand how you could keep it interesting,” Cass said, trying to shake the memory of the enforcer’s helmets off her.
      “Well, it’s difficult, but we manage. Mostly because we work in different factories and some of us share the gossip we hear during work, but we don’t always talk this much. When we play cards, we usually focus on the game and get too into that – which is why we get loud as well. We sometimes pretend to be someone else as well. Remember those very few books about adventuring parties we read in school? I think I’ve read three or four of those, all about a group of friends that went out to defeat evil. All similar to each other – a villain that threatened to destroy a peaceful kingdom and was trying to sow chaos. And the heroes, brave as they were, defended the peace of the city or land at all costs.
      But we like to pretend that we’re an adventuring party sent to defeat evil sometimes. Making up a story and a new character, we try to make our lives a bit cooler and more bearable. We also sometimes discuss what books we’ve read. Some of us still read the shit Conqueron sends down here for the adults to read. I know you like to read, so you’ll definitely have to join us next time we do that.”