A thick cloud of steam sealed his eyes forward, in a lazy haze of white. Two rugged hands firmly planted against the white tile, Ozzy Baxter slumped forward under the hot spray of the shower. Standing there, the soothing streams of hot water spraying off the tip of his nose with random breaths, he continued his inert stance, staring into the nothingness.
"...THE DOORS! OPEN THE DOORS!"...
Baxter sighed heavily, the water continuously matting his white crop. He let his head drop down, the water coursing over a framed back. Streams of heat ran down his musclature, follwing the outline of sinew like tiny rivers.
..."Now, tell me, am I going to have any trouble out of you?"...
"...trouble..." Baxter voice whispered quietly, the shower catching every exhausted sound in a pristine accoustic nuance.
..."Yes, trouble. Miss Xiang filled me in on the details of your status here. I know you don't want to be here."...
Ozzy's closed eyes squinted against the memory, his sigh coming a bit deeper.
..."'A' for effort, newbie"...
"...effort..." his voice trailed off again, the steaming luxary of the calm heat doing little to settle his rattled state.
..."Sorry, Ozzy. No one's sleeping today."...
Ozzy snorted with an odd depressive shock, leaning his forehead softly against the wet tile, clamping both his hands against the back of his neck.
..."We've got a situation"...
"...god..." he breathed.
He had only known the man for a day or so. Brushed in and out of his life so fast. Like they all had.
His family. His friends.
Come and gone.
..."Kristofer Shanz"..."I go by Chance."...
Come...
..."But. . .but. . .they killed Chance!"...
...and gone.
..."I know that you are a selfish man, concerned only with your own monetary gain. I know that you have probably never performed an altruistic act in your entire life."...
Baxter slowly turned, flattening his back against the wall, allowing his exhausted form to sink onto the watery tile floor.
..."We're a team, here. We watch each other's back."...
Ozzy cupped his face with both palms.
..."Get me?"...
"...I get you..." he said, his hoarse voice echoing through the steam with a whisper.
..."You ready?"...
Ozzy held his face, the water coursing over his crumpled form...
"....no...."
