Chapter 21 "Evening Dinner"

Without any further ado, William would use his ID card to go out of his cell and take a breather. He wanted to explore what he could find on this site and take a walk to get used to the site without being watched by the guards at all times.

He could open his cell and get through the door leading to the outside of the containment area. He tried to use his card to open one of the cells that supposedly another SCP was contained in, but the door wouldn't budge, and he had guessed it right that his card had some limited access to what it could do.

He walked up to the upstairs, where he could go to the main lobby of the site by himself. It was weird for him to be in such a situation where he could go freely as he wanted, knowing his status as an SCP.

Walking down the hallway in the evening, which isn't the busiest time of the day in the Foundation, looking left and right as he was curious to find what rooms were there. While most of it, he could only look at it from the outside since he can't go inside it without a higher level clearance.

The researchers and the guards were acting pretty normal with William wandering around the site. While most of them were just continuing their activities, some of the guards were nodding their heads as they walked past through William. Showing a sign of respect for what William did towards the SCP-049 incident.

William then decided to go to the site's canteen, where he thought it would be full of people and probably made friends with someone.

But as he arrived at the canteen, there was no one else besides some of the personnel who were eating their dinner alone and some lunch lady cleaning up the trays that were left by people who had just eaten there.

Just as William was about to leave the area, the lunch lady called him, "Hey there, don't you want anything before you go?"

He then turned his back and looked at her, seemingly confused as to whom she was talking with. William asked, "You're talking to me?"

"Of course, I'm talking to you. Come here." said the lunch lady as she tried to carry the trays to the kitchen.

William followed her lead, arriving at the food counter where all the food for the personnel in the Foundation could eat. The lunch lady walked into the kitchen, put the trays on the sink, and grabbed a clean tray.

"So, what do you want to eat?" asked the lunch lady as she held a ladle to prepare him the food.

He was shocked that the lunch lady had asked him this. He said, "Wait, I can ask for one and eat here?"

The lunch lady laughed jokingly and said, "Of course, you can. I'm the one who's responsible not only for managing the food for all the personnel here but also for those D-Class and those so-called SCPs. Since you're here, then I won't need to go to your room to bring you food and save my time."

William was astonished how the Foundation kept its logistics management service to be good. It's amazing to have this kind of service be implemented for all the people within the Foundation.

He was a bit confused about what he was going to eat, he hadn't got his dinner yet, and there were a lot of options on the food counter. There were macaroni and cheese, some green beans, mashed potatoes, meatballs, tomato soup, and some other basic military kind of food buffet.

It was a bit confusing for him what to choose since he usually only gets mashed potatoes, chili, and scrambled eggs when he is in his room every day.

Seeing his confused look and not knowing what to choose, the lunch lady just picked a combination of food that was different from his usual diet. She grabs a spoonful of mac and cheese, meatballs, some rice, and a few sausages.

"Here, grab plenty of it. There are still a lot more left, and it's already late at night, so there wouldn't be a lot of people who are going to eat at this time, such a waste, you know? Besides, you deserve to eat a lot. You've made a great contribution to the Foundation, and while this ain't much, I could at least give this to you."

The lunch lady handed him the tray that was full of food for him to eat, while people may have seen this as just a normal thing to happen, but for him, it was kind of touching that people in the Foundation admired him.

William looked at the lunch lady and said, "Thank you for the food. I have missed this kind of food since long ago, and I could relish it."

"Don't mention it. If you need anything or you want more you could just ask me. Just ask one of my kitchen staff or me here for it. Oh yeah, the name's Emma, by the way." said Emma.

William then picked up the tray of food for him and said, "Thanks again. I'll definitely enjoy this."

Emma gave him an OK sign with her hands and continued her work in the kitchen. William then walked his way to the table that was empty for him to enjoy his dinner without anyone bothering him.

There were a lot of empty tables since there were only a few people eating at the canteen at the moment, so he just sat down at the nearest table to him.

William then proceeded to enjoy the dinner alone, and it was pretty relishing to him that he finally ate something different than the same food every day. Not to mention this is a bit luxurious for him to be given a lot of nutritious and delicious food than being a D-Class.

Someone walked up to him with a mug in his hand as he was eating his dinner. The man just started to sit in front of William at the table just as he was busy eating. William stopped for a moment and looked at the man in front of him.

"Enjoying your dinner, I suppose? I hope I don't bother your evening." said the man as he took a sip from his mug.

William was a bit confused as to why someone would walk up to him and sit with him at the table. He then asked that man, "Sorry, but do I know you?"

"Oh right, sorry. My apology. I suppose that you wouldn't recognize me without my mask and helmet on. I'm Owen, one of the guards that were under Captain Grace's lead. We've met and worked together before. I'm one of the guards that were helping you and Captain Grace to get to the maintenance room before. Sorry to barge your evening dinner." said the man as he put down his mug.