Chapter 21: Calm Between Storms
The announcement screens remained dark.
No games. No countdown. No divine threats. Just a morning.
A pause.
For once.
The food court was unusually quiet, not from fear, but a collective exhale. Survivors milled about with trays, some seated alone, others in small clusters. The tension wasn't gone, but it had softened, the sharp edges dulled by the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, they had more time.
June sat at her usual table, the one tucked in the far corner by the water dispensers. Miguel sat beside her, their hands touching but not holding. It wasn't silence between them. It was something better.
Comfort.
Across from them, Tobi slumped sideways in his chair, half-asleep, a protein biscuit balanced precariously on his forehead.
Maeve flicked it off with a spoon. "You keep that up, I'm putting syrup on your eyebrows."
"Honestly, might be worth it just to feel something," Tobi muttered without opening his eyes.
Alyssa rolled her eyes from the next seat over. "You're such a drama queen."
"I prefer 'emotional icon,' thank you."
They laughed. Quietly, but genuinely.
Even Hideo smiled as he sipped from his tea, seated at the end of the table, his back to the wall, always watching.
The hours passed without alarms.
After breakfast, they wandered.
Past the court, in a section of the prison rarely used, was a half-recreation area lined with scuffed couches, chessboards, and screens looping strange alien commercials none of them could understand.
Maeve immediately plopped down on a stained green couch, legs splayed, arms behind her head. "Welcome to Crappy Club Med. I'll be your bartender, but we're out of drinks, out of hope, and out of snacks."
June sat beside her, curling her legs under her. "Do you think they did this on purpose? Gave us a day off to get... comfortable?"
"Of course," Alyssa said, walking the perimeter. "Give the rats a moment to breathe so they forget they're in a maze."
"Still," Miguel muttered, joining Hideo near one of the chessboards. "I'll take it."
Hideo tilted his head. "Want to play?"
Miguel raised an eyebrow. "You any good?"
"National runner-up."
Miguel blinked. "...I'll be black."
June sat watching them, the clack of pieces somehow relaxing.
Tobi sat on the floor nearby, trying to decipher one of the alien ads. "I think this one is selling toothpaste. Or possibly weapons. Or both."
"Probably both," Maeve said. "Minty fresh murder."
Noon.
Lunch was slower. They sat beneath one of the skylights, bathing in artificial sunlight.
"So," Tobi said, spearing a cube of synth-beef, "what did you guys wanna be? Before this."
June blinked. "Like, career-wise?"
"Yeah. Life-wise."
Maeve shrugged. "Nurse. That was the plan. I was in my second year."
"You'd make a cool nurse. Like the kind that punches people who try to skip the line," Tobi grinned.
"I'd have enforced flu shots with a taser."
Alyssa took a bite of her bread, thinking. "Architecture. I liked designing things. Still do."
Miguel answered without hesitation. "Coach. Boxing, MMA. Wanted to start a gym for kids in my neighborhood."
Tobi gave him a fist bump. "That's dope."
"You, Tobi?" June asked.
"Sound engineer. Wanted to make music for games. Used to mix weird beats in my bedroom."
Everyone looked at Hideo.
He didn't answer at first.
Then, quietly. "I was one. A teacher. Taught martial arts. Mostly to kids."
They all nodded.
It felt normal.
More real than the walls around them.
June hesitated.
Then said softly, "I wanted to write. I had stories in my head. Always. Didn't think anyone would ever read them, but... I wanted to try."
Alyssa gave her a surprising nod. "You should. If we ever get out. You will."
Afternoon.
Later, some napped. Others paced. Some just sat in quiet, appreciating the nothingness. Miguel and June leaned against each other on a couch, not speaking. Just sharing warmth.
Tobi and Maeve played another round of rock-paper-scissors.
Hideo meditated.
Alyssa drew with a broken stylus on a sheet of ration paper.
It was still a prison.
Still dangerous.
But for that single stretch of hours, it was something else.
Peace.
When the lights above finally dimmed slightly, casting long shadows on the walls, they all stirred.
Because even peace couldn't last.
And somewhere behind the silence, the gods were watching.
Waiting.