Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 4 - The Council of the Awakened - II

  "This is it?" Alden asked.

  "What were you expecting?" Rika asked, amused.

  He felt very underwhelmed. It was a pretty normal meeting room at the university, with a table set on the side with a bowl of punch and a single sad-looking plate of cookies. He took one gingerly and nibbled on it, but thankfully it tasted much better than it looked. He turned away from the snack table to the rest of the room, where a few people were still setting out cheap plastic and metal chairs in rows facing the front. A lectern sat off to the side, with a very tired looking middle-aged man seated behind it playing a game on his phone. In the center below the blackboard, a table with three chairs, clearly intended for the leadership of this thing, whatever it was. In fact, the only thing that stood out as unusual in the room at all were the gently flickering candles, spread out evenly through the room in spite of the fluorescents humming away in the ceiling.

  "What do we do?" he asked. Rika was standing idly at the rear of the room near one door, carefully watching people file in through the other.

  "Well, I'm here to find someone. I don't know about you though. Why are you here?" she asked pointedly.

  "I'm here to..." he hesitated. Rika munched on a cookie, glancing at him with only a passing interest. "Find someone too, I guess."

  "Who?"

  "I don't know," he answered honestly.

  "Good luck with that."

  A few more people filed in as they spoke. Most ended up taking spots around the edges of the chairs. The people setting up had set out some sixty-four chairs, in eight rows of eight, but only six or so were actually filled. The three chairs at the front were still empty, and most of the newcomers hadn't sat down at all, but remained at the edges of the room as Rika and Alden did. The majority of the room must have been in their twenties, though a few were clearly younger or much older. More than a few furtive looks came their way, although Alden couldn't be sure if they were looking at him or the exit he stood by. He decided to ignore the people on the fringes and focus on those who actually sat down.

  The man behind the lectern was dressed in a dark blue suit and tie, which stood out compared to the hooded sweatshirts and plain jackets most in attendance wore. He had a very clean and professional look to him, with short well-trimmed hair and a clean-shaven face. He'd since put his phone away, though his nervous expression remained. Every few seconds he'd glance at his watch, clearly wanting desperately to just get on with it.

  Of the people in the chairs, Alden could only clearly make out a few of them from behind, since most were either unremarkable from his angle, or wore hoods up over their heads. Concealment and secrecy seemed paramount amongst this group.

  In the front row, a very impatient young girl fidgeted, her head snapping around the room constantly as she rocked back and forth in her chair. From her height and the pigtails, Alden would have guessed her to be middle school aged, if not younger. She wore a set of denim overalls, and had brought a thick pink jacket emblazoned with a cartoon unicorn she'd draped over her chair, rainwater sluicing onto the floor from the downpour outside. As he watched, the girl chewed anxiously on one fingernail, but her expression was anything but worried or nervous. If anything, she seemed angry and impatient. Dangerous, even. Alden decided to look away.

  The second person he spotted was a gaunt looking man seated in the fourth row, with a thick black cast on his left arm, held in a sling in front of him. He was dressed in a heavyset military-style jacket and combat boots, with long stringy black hair masking the edges of harsh-looking tattoos on his neck just above the cuff of his jacket. The man's demeanour shouted military, even more so than one might typically expect. He was grizzled and rough as sandpaper, and as Alden watched he took a healthy swig from a hip flask, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.