Chapter 28: Hunger II

The inside of the building wasn’t much better than the outside.

Frost stepped through the doorway behind Samuel and immediately found himself inside what could only be described as a gloomy mess hall.

The room was large enough to accommodate perhaps a hundred people at once, with several long metal tables and benches arranged in uneven rows across the floor.

A handful of dim lights hung from the ceiling, flickering every few seconds and casting dull shadows across the stained walls.

The air was warm, humid, and carried a strange smell Frost couldn’t immediately identify.

It wasn’t exactly pleasant.

There were already quite a few people inside, most of them locals from what Frost could tell, along with several unmistakably human faces scattered between them.

Some ate alone, while others sat together in small groups, quietly talking amongst themselves.

Some did look their way as they walked in, but they didn’t spare them any more than a glance.

Samuel gestured toward the far side of the room.

"Food is distributed over there. Your current registration grants you three meals a day during the grace period; after that, we are on our own."

Frost nodded and followed his gesture toward what looked like a serving station built into the wall.

His eyes then wandered across the room until he noticed a familiar group sitting around a single table nearby.

’Ah.’

So these were the people Samuel had been talking about.

Jennifer, Lois, Cassie, and Naomi were seated together, along with two other guys Frost recognised from their class.

Adam and Ryder.

Frost didn’t know Adam particularly well beyond the fact that they had shared several classes, while Ryder was considerably easier to remember, mostly because he was one of Jason’s friends.

Strangely, despite all six of them having trays sitting directly in front of them, nobody appeared to be eating.

Frost didn’t think much of it at first.

He was far too hungry.

Jason seemed to share the sentiment, because neither of them bothered joining the others immediately. Instead, they followed Samuel toward the serving station.

The closer Frost got, however, the more his earlier concerns returned.

The smell was much stronger here.

’Oh no...’

A few people stood ahead of them in line, and Frost tried peeking around Jason to see what exactly was being served.

He caught sight of a large metallic container.

Steam rose from within it.

’Okay. Hot food. That’s a good start.’

He watched with interest as the person in front of them received their portion, eager to know what they were serving.

Frost’s optimism died immediately.

’What the fuck is that!?’

The server poured what appeared to be a watery, almost colourless broth into a shallow metal bowl, with something dark floating inside it.

Something else moved.

Frost blinked.

’Did that just fucking move?’

Before he could get a better look, the person walked away. Frost slowly turned toward Jason, but Jason was already looking at him.

Neither said anything.

Unfortunately, there was no alternative menu.

A short while later, Frost found himself holding a tray containing a bowl of the mysterious broth, a cup of water, and absolutely nothing else.

He stared down at it while walking.

’Well...’

His greatest fear had come true: The food was fucking horrible, or at least it looked horrible. Perhaps it tasted wonderful.

Frost wasn’t too optimistic about it.

He and Jason made their way toward the table where the others were sitting, and Ryder was the first to notice them approaching.

His eyebrows rose, and then a grin spread across his face.

"Well, I’ll be damned."

Jason frowned.

"What?"

Ryder looked between him and Frost before letting out a laugh. "Jason hanging out with Frost the nerd. How poetic."

Frost’s brow twitched.

’Oh, fuck off.’

Jason’s expression darkened.

"Shut up, Ryder."

Ryder raised both hands defensively, although the grin remained plastered across his face.

"Alright, alright. Just saying." Jason dropped onto the bench beside him with considerably more force than necessary.

Frost chose an empty spot farther down the table and sat as well.

A very strange silence settled over their table. Frost finally understood why nobody had been eating.

His eyes lowered toward his bowl.

Up close, the situation was somehow even worse.

The broth was almost completely transparent, with only a faint yellowish tint to it.

Several unfamiliar herbs or plant-like fragments floated along the surface, accompanied by a collection of things Frost desperately wished were vegetables.

They weren’t.

One looked like a beetle, while another had far too many legs. There were several tiny black insects floating motionlessly near the edge of the bowl.

And then there were the worms.

One pale, finger-length worm slowly curled in on itself, and another squirmed beneath the surface.

A third wriggled its way between two pieces of some unknown plant matter.

Frost’s expression went blank.

’...It’s alive!’ He leaned slightly closer, watching as the worm squirmed again. ’It’s actually fucking alive.’

Frost slowly looked around the table.

Jennifer was staring into her bowl with a deeply conflicted expression.

Naomi had both arms folded over her chest and hadn’t even picked up her spoon.

Cassie looked vaguely offended by the food’s existence.

Lois simply stared down at her meal in silence.

Adam had a spoon in his hand, but judging by the fact that it was still completely clean, he hadn’t managed to gather the courage to use it.

Even Ryder’s amusement had disappeared the moment his attention returned to his bowl.

Frost looked toward Jason.

Jason looked toward Frost.

Then both of them looked at everyone else’s untouched meals.

It finally clicked that these guys hadn’t been waiting for them: Of course not!

They had been sitting here the entire time trying to decide whether eating this shit was actually worth it.

Another worm slowly surfaced in Frost’s bowl; it wriggled, as if daring him to put it in his mouth.

Frost watched it as his stomach rumbled loudly, urging him to feed it something.

He closed his eyes.

’Fuck my life.’

Taking a breath, Frost looked around at his compatriots.

"If you guys don’t mind me asking, has any one of you actually tried taking a bite yet? You know... in case it’s not actually as bad as it looks."

Their expressions darkened considerably.

"What do you think?" Ryder said, giving Frost a slight snarl.

Frost didn’t have an answer for that.

’Fair enough.’