Rifle

Chapter Ten

"What do you mean by that?" Elizah stopped dead in her tracks. Her head turned back towards Haza.

"Since the flood are no longer held to the artifact, they can roam this planet freely." Haza titled his head a little sideways, his face blank- His emotion gone. Wasn't he sad a second ago?

"Then…I'll go check on Aron"

Haza's eyes flickered down. He seemed sad again, just as sad as earlier, she thought maybe she had imagined it. Maybe that one sentence made him bright up.
That wouldn't make any sense, though, so she had to have been imagining it, she did that a lot anyways, so she concluded.

Okay then, I'll just tell Aron first.
She needs to hear all of this. Then we could tell Kyle, wherever he ran off to.
I'm surprised he isn't kneeling at her bedside constantly, keeping watch over her like a hawk. Or, better yet, a vulture. Kyle, the vulture…it doesn't really fit though…he's more like a 'momma bear'.

She laughed at that- Kyle being a momma bear. It made more sense to her, with how Kyle followed Aron around.

"So, how have the scientists been working so far?"

Bant asked Haza- they stood behind glass, while watching scientists perform experiments of sorts. They had samples of cells and other things along the wall. The flood they captured wasn't anywhere visible, though.

"Pretty well, I guess. They haven't really told me anything." He shrugged.

"Oh, really?" Bant wondered about that. What reason would they have to keep the information from Haza? It made some sense, with him being somewhat new, still, the Lacid- but Haza was an important part of the team. It would only make sense to let him in on anything they knew, didn't it?

"They refuse to speak to anyone but Elizah, unless you have some password." Haza shrugged again.

"Why would that be?" Bant's eyebrows drew closer to his nose in confusion. Why are the Scientists keeping things from everyone but her? He couldn't really think of an answer- maybe some of the scientists distrusted them, maybe those scientists also knew her. There was a full range of possibilities- endless possibilities.

"I dunno. Maybe they see her as the leader, or maybe she knows the password." Haza shrugged a third time

"Leader? Password?" He never thought Elizah would ever consider herself as a leader; she seemed a little to introverted to be able to lead a bunch of people. Then again, she was an honest person…most of the time. She was always trying to do the right thing over all, but she sometimes did bad things too.

"Yeah, I mean, she got that whole dominance mindset." Haza shrugged and shook his head with a grin.

"What?" His words only confused Bant more and more. What is a dominance mindset?

"Oh, you haven't noticed?" he laughed. "So you haven't…" his eyebrows raised and he looked away.

Bant's mind was just a little too innocent to what Haza was trying to say.

"I mean…you guys live together, right?"

"NO. No that's not what…. Just no." Bant turned red and avoided Haza's eyes. He rubbed his forehead. He couldn't believe he suggest such a thing.
I mean…Elizah's…Elizah…and I'm…me…but…why am I thinking about such a thing!

Haza chuckled, and continued to observe.

She turned the corner to the hospital room. The door was closed and the lights were off, she tried opening it, but the door was locked, too. She must still be sleeping. She's usually an early-riser…but then again she's kind or sick. I'll come back later. She needs her rest, anyways.

I wonder why the door's locked.

She spun on her heel and towards the snack machines again. She couldn't help but get hungry with how little she ate earlier. This time she told herself that she'd find a cafeteria of sorts.

After searching a small bit, she was in front of a cafeteria. She wondered if there were any cooks present. She peeked her head between the double doors and looked across the large room- many tables were set up, not used in a while except for one or two. A single chef of sorts stood behind a counter. It was an older lady, and most likely was recruited by one of the scientists or the team. She wore one of those things upon her head that kept her hair back. Elizah couldn't recall the name of it when she thought about it.

The lady knew what she was there for.

"No food has been prepared in advance, but you could ask me to make you something all the same." Her voice was groggy and shriveled- like a witch from a fairytale. Her eyes, in the middle of tired and wrinkled skin, peered.

"Can I have two old-fashioned biscuits with gravy? Like they used to do a long time ago?" Elizah kept herself from drooling. Her mother had always used that recipe that was passed down through the aging world and never faded- it was used back on earth hundreds of years ago.

"Sure, whatever."

She turned and started working, so Elizah slipped out.

She soon found out that the men were near the science lab that was placed on the other side of the hospital; she followed the makeshift signs that were made following the evacuation. Sick or healthy- all the people went elsewhere during those weeks.

She turned another corner, pacing, thinking, as she followed the signs.
There weren't a lot of nurses; she wondered where Aron's nurse was.
Why was the door locked?
The answer kept biting at her.
Aron couldn't have…
no.
Stop thinking like that, she's fine, she's asleep, she's having a lazy day. She's just sleeping in a little later- it's still early in the morning.
…But why's the door locked?

She found the guys soon enough, and walked to them casually.
Bant turned away when he saw her approaching; he seemed a little flustered. She figured it was none of her business, but she was still quite curious.

"Speak of the devil~" Haza tuned in, tilting his head up in a smirk. His lids covering a bit of his eyes, he crossed his arms.

Elizah raised her eyebrows, this made it clearer yet more confusing. They were talking about her, but she still didn't understand why Bant looked so…embarrassed.
Then again, Bant gets flushed sometimes out of nowhere. I do too sometimes, when my mind wonders off and thinks about stuff like…
Elizah got it, and as soon as she did, she turned around so they wouldn't see- she was sure they'd catch it anyway. She giggled when she thought about Bant getting any redder- he would feel so guilty.

She started to smell biscuits, she hoped they'd be done soon, her stomach responded to her in a low growl.

"Are you two hungry? I could get you something from the cafeteria…" She just stood there, her back facing them as she spoke. Her right arm looped around her back and held her left arm.

"I'm not hungry." She could hear Haza laughing- she imagined he shrugged. "But I'm sure Bant is" he laughed even harder. Now that she was calm, she turned around and looked at them. Haza nudged Bant with his elbow and chuckled happily. She could have sworn she heard a muffled giggle, but it must have just been Haza- it made sense to her, with how girly he looked, anyways. Haza was looking ahead at the hallway, though, just smiling. Bant was only covering his face with his hands.

Bant then sighed a heavy sigh of annoyance "Food would be nice, yes." He pursed his lips and gave Haza a sideways glance.

She decided to go get the biscuits. She then noticed the smell was gone- she wondered when that happened. She wondered how, too, because she could have sworn she smelt them a second ago.

"But first, can you ask the scientists what they found? They refuse to tell anyone but you- unless they have some sort of password." Bant was avoiding her eye contact- she could only guess why. It was probably the same reason as earlier.

"Sure, but why are they keeping the information from you?" confused, she brought her hand up and held her own chin- looking at them through squinted eyes. She would think Bant or Haza would better understand science than her. She hated studying sciences. She hated studying. Learning science-stuff made her want to somewhat roll over and die.

"I'd sure like to know." Haza shrugged. Bant noticed how he did that quite a lot- he quite wondered why.

"Fine…" she grumbled and walked to the door by the glass window; it was tightly sealed around the edges. She knocked on it with a slow and even rhythm.

It opened, as doors usually open, with a click. A scientist with full protection gear-practically a HAZMAT suit- stepped out and removed their mask. They talked in hush voices that the others couldn't hear.

"Password hint: What are Phelibrashans?"

"Zombies, if you get touched by one, you're a zombie too."

Bant and Haza watched as Elizah and the scientist chatted by whisper, neither of them caught a word of it. Elizah soon returned to them. Her hands shaking- fear in her eyes, she looked up at Brant- ignoring Haza's existence. She gulped and her forehead creased-up- she looked afraid, nervous, sad, and every other bad feeling packed into one.

"The experiments all failed. The Flood kept in captivity died completely."

Elizah looked to the ground and shook her head; she looked as if she was about to cry. She pushed past them and ran, full speed down the hallways. They just stood there, watching her leave. All her hope was gone again. Where am I supposed to go, she thought, what am I supposed to do?

She kept running until she found the cafeteria again- might as well become fat before I die. I'm going to have no more chances at life, now. It's already halfway up my arm; it'll eat me eventually. Why do we keep trying only to fail? Once again I have almost nothing to live for! If there is no cure, I'm doomed, screwed, whatever. I didn't want this. I didn't choose this. I didn't cause this. Why, God, is this happening to me?

When she got to the cafeteria, the lady was cleaning up; the cafeteria is as it was earlier- empty. The smell of biscuits was not there. There was no one but the old lady who had been there before. There was no food prepared anywhere.

"Oh, someone else came through here. They took the biscuits, said it was for you." The old lady shrugged, looking with those same tried eyes at Elizah.

"No one I know went to get the biscuits for me…unless Aron's awake, I guess." She swung the door back and forth, moving herself along with it. "Could you make two more anyway?" she asked, just in case someone had stolen her biscuits. Actually, though, one was for Bant, the second one was originally for Bant anyways. She was going to get him food whether he wanted it or not. Now, though, she knew for sure he wanted it, but that didn't matter.

"Sure, whatever." The old lady sighed and got back to cooking.

Elizah stepped out into the hallway and saw the nurse passing by. She waved her down and the nurse approached- dressed in her heels and her hair in a bun, her glasses on her nose. She looked like a very sophisticated business woman.

"Hey, when did Aron wake up?" She casually just popped her fingers. She had always been told not to, but she couldn't help it.

"Aron Kitsume?" the nurse shook her head, confused.

"She's been missing since this morning."

She was right; someone did steal her biscuits.

More importantly, though, her best friend was missing.