"Tyler. Tyler. Time to wake up. Open your eyes."
The voice is low and twitchy, like a radio with bad signal. The words pour out, and Tyler's blurry mind can't analyze them correctly. His breathing is slow and deep. He's still half-asleep.
"Tyler! Open your eyes!"
This time, the voice comes with a movement, fingers that claw at his left arm, imprisoning his flesh. Tyler is certain these fingers will leave a mark, again. Still impassive, but surely more awake than a few seconds earlier, Tyler let his eyes open.
"Tyler!"
The man crouching before him stands up, the joints in his knees popping softly and resonating in the dark and humid room. He's now pacing, his hands nervously pulling at his hair. Tyler blinks. He says nothing.
"Failed perimeter escape, Tyler. We're all expected at the Centre. How can you be so careless?"
Tyler blinks again, letting the words penetrate his mind, trying to make sense of them. But only one thing comes to him, and he opens his mouth reluctantly.
"It's only eleven in the morning. We're not supposed to talk."
The man suddenly stops his restless steps, turns to Tyler and kneels, visibly annoyed. "For Bishops' sake, Tyler. Failed perimeter escape! Does it mean anything to you?"
Tyler shrugs and places his hands on the muggy ground, uncrossing his legs to finally stand up. "Who was it?" he asks, drying his hands up on his black trousers and taking a few steps towards the hook on the wall, on the left side of the door, where his jacket hangs.
"We don't know," his partner replies while Tyler slips on his jacket above his black shirt. "That's the thing, we don't know. I've gone around the Regions on my way here, and everyone seems present. It's strange."
Strange, that's the word Tyler almost repeats, but doesn't. He's not supposed to talk. Instead, he nods, tightens his jacket around his skinny shoulders and puts on his shoes. He's not afraid. It's probably a false alarm, an error from the surveillance team, simply. There has never been a perimeter escape from Dema. Not since he's been here, anyway. And Tyler has been here since... that many years, at least. And who would want to escape anyway? Dema is the only place where humanity is safe and sound. Dema is everything.