Meals and Wheels
Characters: Zach and Drea Setting: Cafeteria, lunchtime
Zach had made his way to the library, finding another book to replace the one left in his old room, upset that it wasn’t Copperfield, but it was hefty enough as it was. He’d made himself lunch as well, settling into the cafeteria book next to him but not open. He was thinking about his new room, Kyle’s old room, and what it meant. Especially with it being Kyle. He was relieved that Ru was on this side of things at least. That made things easier.
Well, that was an adventure, Drea thought as she headed out into the cafeteria. The kitchen was clearly not designed for someone who was cooking while sitting, but she’d gotten creative enough to make a sandwich and get something to drink. It was better than nothing, although she made a mental note to make friends with someone who could cook. That would definitely be helpful. As she rolled through, trying to find a spot to park, she almost lost control of the tray she was carrying her lunch on. As she corrected, her chair decided it needed to go left, directly into another person. “Oh, shit, sorry about that,” she said, thankful that she’d at least managed to save her food and not have to go back to the kitchen. Too bad it wasn’t another pretty girl. Still, she was going to have to get used to having men around again.
Zach reacted late, just barely reaching out to catch her food, but not much else. It took a moment before he realized who she was, nodding a little at her. “It’s fine. Are you alright?” Not that he cared, but it was right to ask wasn’t it?
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Drea said, checking to make sure she was, in fact, okay. She’d have to make sure to check for bruises later, but aside from a little embarrassment, she seemed to have escaped without incident. “I didn’t get you did I? Sorry, I guess I should have left my training wheels on a bit longer.” She’d only really been using it on a regular basis for a few months, after all.
“You’re fine.” He wasn’t hurt. Maybe bruised, but he’d had worse. Setting her plate on the table he waved towards the space near him. Meet someone new. It was the instruction wasn’t it? “Is the chair a new situation?”
“Kinda, yeah,” she said with a slightly dark smirk. “A little over a year, and I just got this one not long before I got here.” At least they’d given her a newer one and a nicer one before transferring her. That clunky institutional model was not fun. “Well, I guess I might as well park here. If I’m not bothering you, that is?”
“No,” Zach said shaking his head. Not anymore than she already had and he did have an additional reason to talk to strangers today. “New yes?” he ventured, assuming he would have noticed someone bound to a wheelchair.
“You got it.” Once she’d gotten everything in the right place and her brakes set, she paid a little more attention to her new lunch buddy. She supposed he looked alright, if a little bookish. Which made sense since he was reading a book. “Just off the elevator this morning, apparently late for all the fun. I’m Drea, by the way. You?” She still wasn’t sure how things worked around here, but she figured if she introduced herself, she might avoid getting called “Wheels” again. She’d hated that.
Zach nodded sagely, making a mental note of her arrival. “Yes they had us move rooms this morning. I’m afraid everything I had before is now on the other block, which is cut off. Luckily I managed to get the room of a friend of mine he was willing to loan his things.” His tone was even, despite the words, he didn’t carry much in the way of emotion with them. “Zach Briar.” He knew what weight his name carried. People tended to remember him.
And remember him she did. How could she not? That had been quite the story, and they’d all had a nice meeting on how to deal with both school shootings and the aftermaths of them. At least her story hadn’t been quite so public. She wondered a little how many other “big names” were in here. She did want to at least give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, surely they wouldn’t put anyone truly dangerous into an alternative program like this, would they? She simply nodded, though, not flinching at the name. “Well, that was nice of him. You think they’ll let you get the rest of your things at some point?”
No flinch, no obvious recognition. It was interesting to see who reacted how. Most people hid any acknowledgement. “Perhaps. I think this is part of the game though. Just to see what we’ll do.” There was no doubt it wasn’t one giant experiment. Today had proved that much.
“Because that’s what you do to a bunch of people in unstable situations, right? Play games with their emotions?” Drea had always tried to treat people they arrested like people, and not wild animals or dirt. Or something to be played with. She fiddled at her sandwich. She honestly wasn’t very hungry, but she figured she needed to eat something. Breakfast had been just some toast before she left. Maybe dinner would be something non-bread related. “I suppose it’s still better than the alternative. Even if it’s kind of what you deserve...” She let the comment die in the air, realizing she’d probably already said more than she intended.
“If one is conducting some sort of social experiment, yes, which is what this is. From what I gather that’s not usually standard behavior.” But honestly what did Zach know? He was too distanced from the world to properly weigh in. Her last comment actually garnered something close to emotion out of him, one eyebrow raised as he listened. “What I deserve?”
“Yeah...” Drea was lost in her sandwich, so it didn’t register immediately how he’d taken it. “I mean, no! No, fuck... I meant me. Not, you. I mean.” She flushed. That had been a pretty big faux pas on her first day. Especially to someone like Zach. “Sorry. I was talking about me. Honest.” She took a drink to try and distract herself from what she’d done.
He was watching her, no emotion on his features, but that wasn’t really unusual for him. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she had meant him. Some might think as much. Some might agree with his methods. “Why do you deserve it?” he asked instead, wondering what her reasoning was behind that.
She sighed. Might as well get that part out of the way, even if she was going to try to hide her former occupation for a while. “Because I made a stupid, selfish decision. And a mom and her two kids ended up dead because of it.” She put her sandwich down. Now she really wasn’t hungry. “If that doesn’t mean you deserve the worst that can be thrown at you, what does?”
She had his interest now, his eyes not wavering from her. “What decision was that? I would think it all depends on the decision. Self-preservation is often considered selfish, but not illogical.” With as skewed as Zach’s morals were, he wasn’t the one to ask on morality or if anyone deserved anything. “A good example is that the court believe I deserved the life in solitary sentence I received, while I stand behind the fact that the punishment I dealt out was deserved.” His victims had survived tragedy and hadn’t learned. They’d been targets in the shooting for a reason and instead of being better, they were more selfish than before. Zach was merely finishing something that had already started. And he’d given them ample time to prove his friends wrong. In the end his friends had been right.
Well, at least he was embracing what he’d done. A lot like she did, although there was debate as to whose sin was worse in the eyes of the Almighty. “Well, I got into a stupid fight with my girlfriend, decided to head down and get drunk off my ass, then got behind the wheel of a car. Next thing I remember, my legs don’t work and I’ve got friends telling me I killed three people.” It definitely wasn’t self-preservation. More like a cry for help that had ended up backfiring. “But hey, even if I get out of here early, I’ve still got the constant reminder, right? My own prison.” She patted the wheels of her chair for emphasis. “I didn’t fight it. I admitted I was guilty and deserved what I got. The lawyer really didn’t like that.”
She was right. Zach had to agree with her almost complete. That would go against his own moral code, and he’d agree with the courts. Maybe less on sentence given her condition, which was more than enough, but he didn’t say any of it. It wasn’t his place. And her guilt was of a satisfactory level. “I admitted mine as well. Or did after the trial. Much to my lawyer’s dismay as well. I think he was holding out hope that I would be acquitted.” The evidence had been complicated enough.
Drea laughed a little despite herself. “Well, here we are, then, a couple of lawyers’ worst nightmares.” Admittedly they were totally different situations- Zach’s had been premeditated, possibly insanity, while hers had been an act of sheer stupidity. “Admittedly, we’re probably not the only ones around here.” She sighed and looked down at her pathetic little sandwich. She knew she really should eat it. “Do you know if they let you take stuff back to your rooms? Because I just don’t feel like it right now, but I don’t want it to go to waste.”
“We aren’t. There are a few others that would be...difficult cases.” At least from what he’d seen so far. At her question there was a ghost of a smirk on his features. “No one’s regulating.” He gestured around them. “Watching, yes, but not regulating. Outside of the occasional messages and drills like we had today, mostly we are only aware of them via the computers. It’s your room. Do as you wish.”
She smiled as she wrapped her sandwich in a napkin. “Maybe I’ll go check out the gym and work my appetite back up. Gotta at least keep the upper half in good shape, right?” Zach didn’t seem like the type that worked out much, but being cooped up sometimes drove people to the gym when there was nothing else to do. “Enjoy your lunch. And your book. Or whatever.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Zach confirmed her guess. He wasn’t the type to work out. “I will do my best. Good luck getting settled.”
“Well, it’s not like I have a ton to settle in. Putting my clothes in the wardrobe took all of five minutes.” She tucked the sandwich between her leg and the side of her chair. “Nice meeting you Zach. I’ll see you around, I guess.” Almost out of habit, she put her hand out. No sense being unfriendly after all. They were going to be there for a while.
“There’ll be no shortage of that. The place isn’t all that large.” Zach paused when she put her hand out, not one to enjoy physical contact, despite his recent experiences with Ru and Kyle. After the pause though he did reach out and take hers, shaking it soundly.
She could tell it had been a bit awkward for Zach to do that, but at least he’d done it. Maybe there was more to him than what the papers had said after all. She had a feeling that was going to be happening a lot to her while she was here. “Take care,” she said, releasing his hand, then the brakes before heading to her room.