1/2021

3:00am

Rogan sat upright against his cabinets and stared straight ahead. He couldn't sleep. The nightmares that plagued everyone for days on end seemed to fade away and now everyone would sleep for hours- even days. Their exhaustion finally getting resolved in a lengthy rest. Rogan didnt know what day it was, he took a stab in the dark and guessed they were in January, 2021 but how far through, he couldn't deduce. The constant thunderstorm outside made it increasingly difficult to count the days.

Rogan shuffled and glanced over toward Janet and Glenda who were both sleeping peacefully. The two, as different from one another, physically, as night and day. Janet was young, maybe mid twenties with medium length chestnut hair. When her eyes are open she had a soft brown that almost looks red under certain lighting. She had soft pink lips, and a cute little nose. She was thin but still managed to have curves in all the right places. Rogan would be lying if he said he didn't find her attractive. She wore a white buttoned up, long sleeved dress shirt and a skirt that was an appropriate dress black. Covering her legs she had black stockings that traced all the way to the tip of her toes. She had removed her shoes when she slept to make it more comfortable.

The woman lying next to her, Glenda, was an older woman, possibly in her early sixties- late fifties. She had fading, short red hair that slowly descended into grey. Her eyes were a deep blue, like the ocean, but she always managed to put a warmth behind her words like a grandmother would when talking to a grandchild. Her cheeks were a bit saggy, only just starting to form wrinkles but her skin was surprisingly well kept. She was sorter than Rogan and Janet, only coming in at about five-foot four. She had nice pink nails at the end of every finger that had been decorated by a grandchild, a photo of which is on her desk always. She wore the same outfit as Janet but with a dark grey-blue cardigan over her top half. She was pudgy but Rogan assumed it was because of her baking habits, often bringing in some sort of muffin or cookies for everyone at work.

Rogan yawned and proceeded to look at the wall, thinking about the dream where he met the monsters. He vividly remembered each one and their laughter and could only describe them as something demonic. He assumed the only reason he was able to see them, unlike everyone else, was because of his psychic abilities, which he had kept a secret from everyone else. He refused to use his powers again since starting the new job and deliberately shut out any thoughts he would pick up, inadvertently learning how to block out others. A lot of the things he learned to do with the power was completely accidental. Learning to shut out others thoughts and even other people like him was due to him forcing himself to do it for so long that it became like a switch he could flick on and off. It made his life easier when he could walk around, pretending to be a normal person again and do his job without listening in on everyone. It was too much for him at times, so it was relieving, learning to switch it off.

Rogan spotted movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head slowly. A small group of five people stood all speaking in hushed voices. They hadn't noticed Rogan staring from the dark and he decided to switch on his psychic power to listen in. A flow of fear was wafting in the air, Rogan felt just an ounce of it, at his distance of a ple metres. His heart thumped hard. The man at the head of the group was Daniel, he was the self appointed leader, he was also the one who proposed the sleep experiment. He spoke and his thoughts trailed along with his words. Rogan assumed he thought as he spoke.

Our food is dangerously low, we need to go out and find some more otherwise, people are gonna start getting rowdy

He thought. Rogan looked down at his feet, he knew that Daniel was right. For the last couple days, the rations had been getting less and less and if it weren't for all the sleeping everyone was doing, there would be more fights. Another man put in his two cents.

Maybe we should just keep the remaining food for all the higher ranked staff and tell the others that its all gone. That way, they can go look for food and we will still have some for ourselves.

Thought a man named Trent.

Wow, what an asshole.

Rogan thought. The group seemed to sit in pondering for a moment, Rogan picking up all of them weighing the pros and cons. It became a bit of sensory overload so he switched off the power and continued to watch them in silence. They inhabited a part of the office where nobody else slept. After the man who played into daniel's sleep experiment died, a section at the back of the office was quarantined for the body. The man was named Kyle. Upon searching his belongings, Daniel found a wallet with a photo of Kyle and two children that a couple people confirmed were his kids. The group stood next to his body, glancing at it periodically. Rogan began to feel tired again and tried to stay awake for the decision but found himself closing his eyes. When he was awake again, people were talking and moving around, the now lighter, office.

Janet stood, looking outside into the rain and Glenda was off talking to a small group at the other end of the office. Daniel and his group were nowhere to be seen. Rogan approached Janet and stood beside her, looking outside. They said nothing for a while. The silence between them was painstakingly long and Rogan thought she wasn't going to speak at all. Then she did, under her breath.

"We ran out of food this morning"

Rogan shot a look at her trying to act surprised but ultimately knew why.

Those bustards

Rogan thought. He decided to talk next.

"How are you holding up?"

He said with a sincere look of worry at her. She turned, her eyes glassy and starting to go red. The tears sitting on the edge of her eyelid almost spilling over.

"Not good"

Rogan looked down with a frown. He wanted to help her but didn't know how. She turned and sat against the window frame looking up at the roof, trying not to break. Rogan stood upright, he had an idea.

"Y'know i had a house plant at home. Havent been there for so long its probably dead now"

He said jokingly. Of course the plant was fictitious, his house was a mess of pizza boxes, cans of drink and a small coffee table in front of a normal sized television with a futon that doubled as a bed. She laughed, almost crying at the same time then bent down to let out a few more stifled laughs, then pushed her head onto Rogans chest and crumbled. She wept and Rogan wrapped his arms around her. He could feel his shirt soaking through where she cried and grimaced. All he could do was hug her.

Daniel and his crew emerged from inside an office that was previously closed behind a door. Daniel clapped his hands together and with a frown gathered everyones attention. Janet continued to cry, but softened her cries when Daniel spoke.

"As of last night, there is no food left in the building"

Dissatisfied moans came from the twenty or so people left in the building. Daniel hushed them and spoke up once more.

"As a result, we will be splitting everyone into groups of- how many are there?"

He began to count quietly to himself.

"Twenty four? Well we will have four groups of six people each searching the neighbourhood for food"

"What about the thunderstorm?"

A woman at the front called out. Daniel pointed to her then wagged his finger.

"Thats not gonna be a problem anymore, we are going to be completely safe with these"

One of his group rolled out a cart, that Daniel recognised from his cleaning room. It had a stock of rubber dishwashing-gloves. Daniel spoke up again.

"Anyone who had steel capped boots can you please come forward?"

Rogan looked down at his feet and swore when he seen thick rubber boots covering them. He released Janet but she refused to let go, so instead followed him to the front where eight other people stood. Daniel inspected each person to confirm their item. He nodded his head approvingly.

"Alright, you guys have an important job. You are each going to a separate building with one of these flashlights I found in the storage room. Once there, search it for any supplies and if you find something, wave the flashlight up and down in view of our building. Ill have people here keeping an eye out for you guys to let us know if there's food or not. We will then send out groups to retrieve the supplies. Now since there's eight of you, you'll be going in groups of two"

Daniel was surprisingly enthusiastic, but Rogan assumed that was easy for him to do when he knows that he has food regardless of the search parties success. The group of eight formed four groups of two. They geared up with the rubber gloves and used plastic ponchos to cover their clothes from the storm. The groups were established. Rogan was with Janet, Glanda, Mark, Peter and Anthony. Rogan and Peter were the 'runners' and had their building to search chosen as the one directly across from the one they were currently in.

Daniel lead the groups down a set of stairs, located at the back end of the building, into a ground floor car park. The level was flooded with ankle deep water and fears of electrocution ran rampant. Daniel pointed out that the driveway sloped on the way in and outside it wasn't flooded as they sat at the top of a hill. The worries dispersed but Rogan was still wary. He felt like this was all part of a plan to thin the numbers. As the shutters for the car park opened, the sound of the torrential rain became defeaning. Out on the ground, bloated bodies of those who attempted to run earlier lay motionless. Everyone froze, even Rogan. He felt a numbness in him that was only dispersed when Daniels voice boomed over the rain.

"Alright! Go!"

Rogan felt his body kick into gear and with Peter next to him, they started to run.