i try to warn its waiting game Who: Chris & Matt. What: Two Pax "employees" compare notes. Where: Outside the Pax building, in the snow. When: Dec. 5.
Slow steps saw Chris make his way carefully out the front door of Pax and into the cold yonder. He'd opted for his brace, which, now actually in the middle of trying to go outside and get to his car, after the fact seemed like a poor idea as he tried to retain his balance as he shuffled slowly across the concrete and toward the parking lot. He had lots to show potential clients; errands to run. Sitting at home was no longer an option, despite the inexplicable weather.
Hands shoved deep into the thickest jacket he owned, he toyed with the idea of stopping by a sporting goods store to pick up something more acclimated to the weather. It was hard to say whether or not he'd need it for that long, but then there was always New Year's donations. He made the mental note and kept his gaze down, fixed on the sidewalk. One step, two, now his cane didn't seem like the symbol of aging that it did and more like a proper security item. But he was already more than halfway to the parking lot, and turning around seemed like an idea his pride could not handle.
He really needed to let go of that particular sin.
With his concentration focused solely on the one thing in front of him, Chris missed the person coming up in front of him.
“Hey!” Matthew called out, walking across the parking lot with a long, professional-looking jacket on. When he moved to California, his mother had insisted he taken a winter coat “What if you fly home and it’s cold here, you should have a coat with you when you land,” she had reasoned and he was glad for it now. “Chris!” He called again, gaining on the man quickly with sure feet on the slushy mess of the parking area.
“How are you doing? We met, remember? At the Halloween party,” he said as he caught up to Chris’ side. He offered the man a smile and made no comment to the slow progress he had been making. There was obviously an injury to his leg, but Matthew bet that Chris wasn’t a native to a snowy climate as well. Still uncertain if Chris remembered him, as the man had been so far gone that night, he added, “I’m Matthew Buchanan?”
Chris was taken a little aback by the other man—it would take some getting used to, this exposure. How Matt didn't care about his involvement he didn't fully understand, and he came to a careful stop.
"I remember," he said, studying the other man's face for some joke or other reason why he'd be talking to the local scapegoat. "Help you with something?"
“No, I just wanted to say hello, you know, after all that had happened.” Matthew smiled at Chris, trying to appear as best as he could to not be a threat. Since Halloween a peculiar thing had happened to Matthew. He felt more confident, more comfortable, in his position at the apartment. Granted, he still didn’t like being forced into performing experiments on neighbors but now he felt like he had a better purpose. Figure out who his employer was, figure out how the gods came to reside in them, and ensure no one was leading them blindly along. Chris, now that he had been outed to the community, surely could use a friend and could certainly provide some insight--and if not that, likely companionship that he and Alex were not alone.
“I don’t know your dealings with it all, but you didn’t look happy to see that...werewolf,” Matthew continued, his voice lowering to a whisper. “By the looks of the other people in the room, you were singled out and people weren’t pleased. I just… you know, wanted to extend an olive branch. I think you were in a tough spot and I hope it turned out alright for you.”
Chris's jaw worked for a moment, tightening as he ground his teeth together.
"It's not really a subject I'd like to talk about, but... Thanks. I guess." He peered around Matthew to the parking lot, then returned to studying the other man.
"You drive on this yet? Make it in and out of the place OK?"
“Yeah,” Matthew replied, kicking the toe of his shoe into the slush as he glanced around the parking lot. “It’s a bit slippery but not bad. Then again, I grew up in Pennsylvania so I think I’m more used to snow than most people around here.”
He looked back at Chris and studied him for a moment. “Sorry to be so upfront, but I’ve been trained in the medical field and… it looks like maybe you broke your nose recently? At least after Halloween. I hope it wasn’t due to all of that, you didn’t deserve it if that’s what happened. Who the hell knew we were possessed by gods, you know? Well, other than Vidal.”
Matthew blinked and took the slightest step back. For a moment, he looked surprised, then he managed a smile--although shy. “I suspect the same way you do?” He admitted.
In normal circumstances, Matthew would have been panicked and certainly he felt the tremor of fear jolting through his stomach and into his chest, but that fear was quieted, calmed, and brushed aside. He held the power of the conversation now, didn’t he, a voice seemed to remind him. So there wasn’t anything to be afraid of. His shy smile gained some sense of bravery and brightened as he looked at Chris. “As I said, you didn’t deserve anything that happened to you. I’m sure of it. Your matter of business, I am certain, was not necessarily something you volunteered for.”
Chris's jaw worked for a moment, and he came to a slow stop.
"I don't know if I'd say that. After all, we were both approached with a job offer. Maybe not all the required details were made clear, but... it was an offer, wasn't it?" His eyes searched Matt's face for a moment, weighing his reply in every muscle tic as well as the words that fell from his lips. You could tell a lot more about a person by their expressions—what they didn't say was often more interesting than what they did.
"What, exactly, did you volunteer for, if I might ask?"
“Lab work,” Matthew replied, his smile fading as he looked over the parking lot, seemingly casual from a distance but there was tension in the way he stood. “Like I said, medical background, you know? It was a job opportunity when I was looking for a job, so I took it. It gave me the freedom to do some of my own research.”
He pressed his lips together into a thin line and took in a deep breath. “Do you know if he’s still around? He ran off and I half expected to be without a job, but my job’s still there. The office, the people, they’re still there.”
Chris shook his head, dancing on his feet a little to turn both toward and away from Matthew.
"No, not since the party. Haven't heard a peep, so I just assumed... I mean, I didn't see what Obed and his... I don't even know what they are, but they followed him out to the pool area and... You saw them in the lobby, right?" His eyes dropped to the pavement for a moment, before climbing back to Matt's face.
"Hang on, though, you said office? People? What are you talking about?" His brow furrowed, confusion plain on his face.
Matthew frowned. “I didn’t see them in the lobby. Not really. The whole...event sort of left me without clothing. I was focused on getting out of there,” he admitted before shoving his hands into the depths of his coat pockets and letting out a puff of air. “Yeah, I work in an office. Well, a lab. There are other people there. I don’t recognize them though, none of them live here to my knowledge. So it seems we’ve both been kept far apart. I don’t know if there are other people who are in ties with him, maybe there are. People working at housing offices or I don’t know what. The cleaning services. Who knows.”
He intentionally didn’t mention Alex, happy to pretend she didn’t exist in just this instance. If he went down in flames it was one thing, but he wouldn’t take her with him.
Chris eyed him for a moment, then nodded. "I'd suspected there were others, but not...other tenants." He stopped for a moment, his mouth making a moue of curiosity.
"So what lab work did he have you doing?"
Now Matthew’s true personality won out and color rose to his cheeks. He looked to the ground, shifting on his feet for a moment before he answered. “There were samples from people here. Blood, hair, saliva, the normal stuff. We were looking for inconsistencies amongst them. But...I hadn’t known…” He looked up at the apartment building and for a moment looked as sorrowful as he felt. “I hadn’t known they were people here. I had no idea. I don’t believe any of them knew it was happening either.”
Chris's eyes went wide, his jaw almost hitting the concrete. His immediate reaction was to strike out—not physically, necessarily—but to say something, to accuse Matt of something. But the man's tone and his own experience told him that the man standing across from him had been played as thoroughly as he had. He deflated a little, sighing.
"I believe you, for what it's worth," he said, shifting in place. "Sounds like he kept us all separate. Hedged his own bets. What... what exactly were you looking for?"
“Differences in the building of people. You know, the makings of us. How we differentiate from one another, from other people who I assume don’t have…” He referenced himself and Chris. “You know, gods inside of them. Of course, I didn’t know that then. I was just looking to see how we were different. How, if I gave a serum to the patients, things may change. And they did. Fucking growing flowers and fangs and all of this. But not everyone. It still doesn’t make much sense.
“I didn’t even know that I was a part of it all at that time though. I didn’t realize I had this… thing inside me. I’d rather do experiments on myself than everyone else. As a scientist, a doctor, it’s interesting. I want to know how this came to be. But I don’t want to keep testing neighbors.”
Chris fell silent again, mulling over the new information Matt provided.
"So did you... Did you find out how we got these things in us? Did someone put them there, or were they just...?" He shrugged, one hand coming out of a pocket to gesture at his implied meaning. Were they always there?
Matthew looked at the man, his lips pressed into a line as she shook his head. “No, I haven’t figured it out. In a way, maybe I’ll be able to now that we all have experienced this. Turned into those beings and let them control us. I feel like at least now I have some guidance just based on experience alone. I’ll test myself if I have to, see what I could figure out. But there’s nothing, nothing that I could find. Then again, maybe he had more information I wasn’t privy to. I had to submit my calculations and notes and then never heard anything back. I’m just completely at a loss.”
He frowned and stepped back, his hand reaching to rub at his chin. “Based on your experiences, do you think that’s wise? Or do you think we should find new apartments asap and get the hell out of here?”
Chris shook his head, tiny movements that kept Matt in his line of sight.
"Look, whatever these things are, they're in us, not the apartment building. I think he did this to us, and I think he was responsible for all the weird shit happening. Moving... moving's not going to fix shit. I don't know about you, but I want some say before I turn into a goddamn dog again."
He moved again, shifting his leg, his left feeling like thousands of needles.
"You know what, let's get out of the snow. I have errands to run, but I have time for a drink. You?" Chris jerked his thumb toward the parking lot. "I know a few good holes in the wall that aren't too expensive nearby."
Matthew studied Chris then glanced at the apartment building looming above them as snow swirled about. Looking back to Chris, he gave a nod. “A drink sounds like a good idea. You want me to drive? My car’s right there and I already dug it out.”
Chris's eyes drifted in the direction of the parking lot; he'd feel more comfortable in control, but that was one thing he'd been lacking for awhile without actually acknowledging it. He nodded.