CHAPTER 93
Seth stared at the bright, red, plastic surface of the coke machine that lit the dark cafeteria. He was reading off the different flavors in his head, trying to pass the time. It only took him a minute, and he was going as slow as he possibly could. He had already memorized all the snacks in the vending machine that stood next to it. He thought perhaps that he might count the ceiling tiles next.
There were no beds or foldout cots in the main operations building. There was another emergency bunker within the compound, but for the time being Ms. Murdock wanted everyone to stay in the main building unless they had work to do.
Laying on his back, sprawled over one of the tabletops lined throughout the room he had yet to get a single minute of sleep. Kyra and Shelly were occupying nearby tables and had somehow managed to do what he couldn't.
Seth thought for a moment that he was getting delirious with sleep deprivation when he heard a whistling echo through the cafeteria. It took him another second to realize that someone had actually entered the room.
A tall lanky man appeared through a doorway, casually letting the door swing closed behind him. Still whistling, he cut a direct path to the vending machines, not seeming to notice that anyone else was around. A crinkled magazine half held his attention as he started feeding coins into the snack vendor. With a few clinks of change and the punch of a button the man had his bag of chips. Turning on a heel he was sizing up the coke machine when his whistling came to a halt. It was in this moment that Seth knew he'd been discovered.
The man lowered the magazine from his eyes and regarded Seth with curiosity. The silhouette of his twisted bed head of hair gave him the air of a mad scientist as light from the soda machine set it aglow. Seth was examining him with equal curiosity. Although it was dark it didn't take a telescope to see that the bent and folded book in the man's hand was a dirty magazine. When he caught Seth spying at it he promptly stuffed it under his armpit.
"Hey, kid. You wanna coke?"
Seth nodded. "Sure."
The man retrieved two sodas from the machine and handed one to Seth with a long stretch of his arm. "Name's Gary," he spoke through a crunchy mouthful of chips.
"Seth."
"Yeah, I've seen you around. You're Dr. Johnson's kid aren't you?"
Seth nodded as he cracked open his soda.
Gary looked around somewhat suspiciously. "Have you and the ladies been here all night?"
"Yeah." Seth slurped at the foaming mouth of his coke can.
Gary shook his head with disappointment. "You know, for scientists your parents can be a couple of idiots."
Seth was taken back by the bluntness with which he spoke about his superiors.
Sensing his thoughts Gary rectified the situation. "I'm kidding, but seriously there's two couches in the other room." Gary nodded to the far corner of the cafeteria. "Come on."
Seth felt a bit uncomfortable about following him. He was already in enough trouble with his mom as it was. When she went into loose cannon mode there was no telling what the boundaries were. He looked over at Kyra and Shelly, wondering if it was ok to just leave them where they were.
Gary had already started walking away. "They're asleep. They'll be fine. Come on."
Seth hopped off his table and caught up to Gary who was already pushing through the door where the alleged couches were. As he flicked on a light switch he said, "my next question to you, Seth, is, do you like video games?"