Walking into the Dorm was like stepping out into a blank nothingness, void of sound, bereft of the life and motion that one would expect from any hovel. There were no bodies stacked by the door awaiting feeding bells, no passion whores running for cover like roaches escaping the light. Nothing, still and calm as I made my way back to the bunk where I slept.
I could sense that those that were there, though thier absense, apparently in mind sent a small shiver up my spine had spent most of the day in the same state; deadend by some unseen weight. Frozen. I stepped into the cube where I found my roomate lying on his back watching television.
“What’s happened?” I questioned, setting down the book I carried with me from the library.
“Old man what’s his face…” He said without turning.
“Oh,” I answered back, and then again before he had a chance to return to his stupper.
“What that shit is?”
“What shit?” This time he turned to face me, lying there on his back and running his fingers over the remote, in his way telling me that I was interupting some show or his private time or whatever.
“What happened again?” I sat on my bunk and started getting out of my work suit.
“Dude in the corner, old guy, barely visable, half retarded….”
“Yea,” I cut in before he sat back and turned towards his show.
“He died.” He said indifferently.
“Really? How?”
“Grenade.”
“Grenade, no shit? How’d that happen?”
“Damn dude,” He snorted, getting up he pointed over the wall of our cube toward the back of the unit,
“You didn’t see all the black smoke pouring out of this building today, hear the sirens or see about a hundred cops crawl all over this bitch?”
“Uh, no.” I said matter of factly. In truth I’d been indoors all day attempting to find a copy of the Divine Comedy, which as is turns out isn’t the easiest book to find out of print.
“Is that why everybodies all zombie mode?”
I couldn’t tell if he was just sick of this conversation or if he really was that shocked that I’d have no idea what happened here today. The look on his face was kinda just, stuck.
“You really missed it? Half the unit is laying out across the back feild there, and the old man, along with his bunky and some new kid that just got here yesterday are spead out among that. Hasmat hasn’t even made it here yet so no ones been able to look at any of the wreckage, thier just there, guts and all…Bird Food. ”
“Huh,” I said, taking off my shoes and jeans and grabbing out what I would need to take a shower. “No shit.”
I wasn’t sure if he’d finished or not, but I could feel the look he was giving me as I walked back down the hall to the shower. I didn’t know old man what’s his name all that well, but he sure did go out with a bang.
Matthew Newton
DOC #81868
