Whenever I thought of hazmat suits, I always either pictured the biohazard agents from Monsters inc with the very rubber suits with multiple arms and heads, or a kind of space suit you’d see in shows like Lost in Space, or Firefly. One thing though was that the suit I pictured was always very well fitted, and very banana yellow. The suit I was wearing was neither.

I stared at my reflection in the counter as I stood outfitted in the hazmat suit I had grabbed, and grumbled to myself.

“Can’t be that much bigger, can it?” I huffed and tucked my helmet under my arm. 

When I say the suit was baggy on me, I mean it was baggy on me. It gave off the look of one of those blow up sumo-wrestler get ups you can buy for halloween, and was overly loose. Though it was yellow, it looked as if something had drained all the color from it, and then spilled coffee all over it. The end result? Well it wasn’t exactly a color I would ever find myself wearing in public.

“Did I put this on right?” 

I looked up from frowning at my reflection, to see Callum standing behind it. He was wearing the hazmat suit he had grabbed from the pile, which fit him rather well compared to how mine fit me. His to was also an off yellow, but only in certain splotches. 

“It looks right to me.” I answered shrugging, the whole suit rising and falling with my shoulders.

“So there's no chance I’ll die from anything in the air?” He questioned. 

“Well I can’t promise anything, but as long as you have your helmet you should be fine.” I replied, as I adjusted my giant gloves, which even though they looked like clown props squeezed my wrists like one of those machines that checks your blood pressure.

“My helmet! Right!” Callum quickly went back to the kitchen to grab his helmet, as I tried to make my suit even a tiny bit more comfortable.

After struggling to bunch up the pant legs I sighed in defeat and let them puddle around my feet. 

“Okay, I’m good to go.” Callum said, as he came to stand in front of me, helmet and broom stick in hand. “What about you?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I sighed as I pulled up my sleeve, only for it to bunch at my shoulder like an 80’s shoulder pad times five.

“You sure you don’t want to look for another suit?” He asked, frowning at my oversized suit.

“I’ll be fine.” I said waving him off. “Now follow me. Biochem is this way.”

With this I began walking to the door separated the cafeteria from the rest of the compound. I say walk, but in reality it was more like a kind of waddle mixed with a flamingo strut, and was overall no where near regular walking. I fought the urge to look back at Callum to see his expression, as I pulled open the metal door for him to go past. Once he was through the doorway I let the door close behind me, only to get part of my pants leg stuck in it.

“Everything okay?” Callum inquired as he turned back to face me. I nodded as I tugged my leg out of the door, nearly stumbling as it broke free. He frowned, but said nothing as he waited for me to show him where to go next.

“Biochem hall is upstairs.” I said, pointing to the staircase. Callum eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“But isn’t security on the first floor?” He asked, pointing to the way we had gone to get to security earlier. 

I nodded as I began sizing up the stairs. 

“Then how is the biochem hall connected to security?” He frowned, as he tried to work it out in his head.

“You’ll see.” I answered vaguely as I raised my foot and placed it on the first step.

You’ve got this Kaylan, I thought confidently to myself as I took another step, then slipped. I fell backwards and threw out my arms wildly, only to smack Callum who had jumped forward to catch me. 

“Ow.” He winced as he helped me stand again. I had hit him across the face with the back of my hand.

“I’m so sorry!” I apologized, as he rubbed his face and looked at his hand as if expecting blood to come away. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” He sighed, as he winced after touching his face again. “What about you?”

“I’m good. Just need to figure out a way to get up the stairs.” I glanced at the staircase and narrowed my eyes, no longer trusting that they were a safe route. 

“Is there an elevator we could use?” Callum inquired, glancing around. I shook my head.

“No, they would have all shut down once the power went out.” I responded, wishing that wasn’t that case. 

“I could always carry you up the stairs.” Callum offered after a moment. I blinked in surprise.

“Are you sure? I mean I’m not exactly very light and-”

Callum walked over, placed his hands on my arms and easily lifted me off the floor.

“Do I even weigh anything to you?” I asked as I glanced at the full foot between me and the floor.

“Not really.” He admitted as he set me back down. “It’s like holding a couple of grapes.”

I flushed in embarrassment, before clearing my throat.

“Well I guess you can carry me up the stairs.” I conceded, after I imagined all the ways I could die trying to walk up the stairs.

“Okay. Great.” Callum gave me an awkward smile as he quickly sealed his helmet on before nervously trying to position his arms around me to pick me up. “Uh, may I?”

I nodded as Callum swept me off my feet and began walking up the stairs. I held my helmet to my chest as well as the broomstick he had given to me to hold. I stared blankly at the wall adjacent to me as I tried not to look up at his face. When we reached the top of the stares he carefully placed my feet on the ground, though he made sure we were far enough from the stairs that I couldn’t fall back down them. Good. It meant he was learning, which was more than I could say for myself.

“Well biochem is this way.” I said as I began walking down the hall.

“Aren’t you going to put your helmet on?” Callum frowned through the screen of his helmet.

“I don’t need to. There’s a set of double doors that are sealed so that nothing can get in or out.” I explained, as I turned around a corner. 

“So then I don’t need to be wearing mine right now?” He asked. 

“Well now you do.” I answered, as I gestured to the first set of doors that sealed off biochem from the rest of the compound.

“This is it?” Callum questioned, as if disappointed.

“Yep.” I replied as I carefully sealed my own helmet on, careful not to get my hair stuck in the seal again.

“Now, once we go inside you’ve got to stick close to me.” I spoke, as I stared out over the edge of the screen in my suit as the helmet slid forward, smacking me on the back of the head. I centered it again, as Callum nodded.

“Stick close to you.” He repeated.

“And don’t touch anything.” I added quickly. “Who knows what they were making when the whole apocalypse went down.”

“Right.” Callum shivered, as if thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Or well, that's what I was thinking. I had no clue what was going through his head.

“Okay. Good.” I said, as I gave a reassuring nod, only to have my helmet slide forward again. After I had centered it once again, I took on a solemn look of determination before I pressed the release button on the door and Callum and I stepped through the threshold the doors sealing behind us.

“What do you think will be on the other side?” Callum whispered to me as he gripped the broomstick handle he had brought along.

“Whatever is, I’m sure we’ll be able to handle it.” I reassured him, though in truth I wasn’t so sure myself. I felt an uneasiness settling in me as there was a click and a hiss, and the doors in front of us slid open.