Terrorscape by Nenia Campbell Read Free Book Online

what happened to
you yesterday? At the resident meeting. I thought I
saw you, but then you disappeared.”
“I went to sleep. I was tired.”
    “I can see that.” Mary's tone was dry. “Listen, I
won't be here long—I was about to head out to the
DC with some friends. You know, for dinner. I just
wanted to change shirts. You can join us, if you want.”
“I'm not dressed,” Val began, plaintively.
“I can wait. They're all slowpokes, anyway, and
the DC doesn't close 'til eight.”
     
“I don't want to impose.”
    “Again with the imposing thing.” Mary rolled her
eyes. “Don't give me that talk. Back home, my friends
would just waltz right into my house, sit down at our
table, and ask, 'What's for dinner?' You're fine—okay?
Good,” she said, without waiting for an answer.
“Now come on, get dressed, slugabed. I'm starved.”
    Which left her with little choice but to pull on a
fresh change of clothes and follow her roommate
meekly out of the room. Her stomach churned, and
the thought of putting food into it boded ill.
    But if she went back to bed now she wouldn't be
able to sleep later, and the idea of spending the night
with
her
chronic
insomnia
was
slightly
more
unappetizing than the prospect of cheap dorm food.
And Mary already thinks I'm a freak, anyway .
    Mary would think she was an even bigger freak if
she opened her mouth. All she had to do was
remember to act like a normal human being, and
since her conversational skills totaled zero she would
just have to do her damndest to keep her mouth shut.
“Goody,” she muttered.
    “Did you say something?” Mary asked without
breaking stride.
“I said 'pretty,'” Val said, nodding at the building.
    The DC was built rather like a solarium, with a
high glass ceiling to let in the light. The setting sun
gave
the
buttery
walls
a
warm
glow,
and
the
darkening
sky
provided
an
interesting
contrast
against the yellow wall lamps and the smell of hot,
cooking food.
“Yeah, I guess it is, huh. I never noticed.”
    Val
could
see
why.
She
looked
around,
intimidated. Food was, quite literally, everywhere . It
was completely overwhelming.
    There was a salad bar in the back with all the
fixings; a sandwich station with everything from
provolone and salami, to tuna fish and American
cheese; fresh-cooked pizza in three different varieties,
including Philly cheese-steak and a dessert pizza
made with sliced nectarines, berries, and cream
cheese; barbecue; hot-plots covered with ceramic pots
of soup; frozen yogurt machines; drinks—
    “You can eat as much as you want,” Mary was
saying, handing the lady at the register her student ID
card so she could be swiped in. “You just can't leave
and come back, or leave and take food with you—
though that doesn't stop some people from trying.”
Val handed the sour-faced woman at the register
her own ID. “So it's like an all-you-can-eat buffet?”
    Val had never liked buffets; she could never stand
to eat large helpings of food all at once, especially not
with people around watching. Then again, she had
never liked eating in public, period.
    Or being in public, period.
“Exactly,” Mary said.
“This doesn't look too bad.”
    “Well, they're trying now. It's the first week, so
they're showing off for the parents. Yup. You'd better
eat up,” she said. “The food will never be as good as it
is now.”
    Val took one of the plastic trays and made herself
a Cobb salad, with cubes of ham instead of chicken.
Then she grabbed a slice each of the Philly cheese
steak pizza and dessert pizza, and an orange, before
setting
her
food
down
at
the
table
Mary
had
indicated.
    The tap water smelled like the wet dogs she had
washed at the animal shelter, so Val dumped it out
and poured herself one of the watered-down sodas
instead. It didn't taste any better but at least it didn't
smell funky.
    Her legs wobbled a bit as she headed back to the
table. The dining hall was so crowded. She felt as if
she were out on display, and that everyone could