Thank you all who reviewed! I'm glad other people think my story is good. I'm sorry if my character seems a little 'out of character', but have faith in me. It's only the second chapter, so her personality is still developing.

I do not own Holes, any of its characters, or Alien 9 in any way.

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Chapter 2: Cold Silence

I was still sitting on the cot when Zero came in. His curly hair was sopping wet and drooping around his face. His jumpsuit was tied around his waist, showing his white wife beater shirt. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me. Once he recovered slightly from the shock of seeing a girl, he slowly sat down on his cot, which happened to be right next to the one I was sitting on. He had a very intense gaze, and I was almost intimidated.

"Uh... hi," I felt that I should say something to him. "I'm Madge. I heard your name is Zero."

I was never good at small talk.

He just kept looking at me. It was so weird. His face showed no emotion. I looked at my hands, feeling uncomfortable in the silence; then I got an idea. I reached in my bag and pulled out some Japanese comic books.

"Do you like Manga?" I asked him, showing him a copy of Alien 9. Surprisingly, he nodded. I handed it to him, hoping that he wouldn't trash it. I had already learned that lending things to your prison mates isn't such a good idea if you expect to get it back, but, I don't know, I guess I wanted to trust the guy.

"Thanks."

I flashed a small smile, one of few I have to give. After zipping my bag up, I flung it over my shoulder and went looking for the rec room.

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My frustration was getting to me as I was looking for the stupid room Mr. Sir mentioned. I'd been wandering around, looking for it for almost ten minutes. Already, I was starting to feel sick from the sun. I don't know if I was trying to look around, or purposely avoid something. The place was too small to have much to look at.

Out of nowhere, I started to hear voices. I was afraid that maybe it was because of the sun; it wouldn't be the first time. Turning around, I saw three orange blobs on the horizon. I turned around and ran towards the rec room. I spared a glance at the figures walking towards the camp; they were getting closer. They were also getting rough, starting to push each other and yell, so I ducked inside hoping to avoid them. The boys here didn't know that a girl was coming, let alone that the state was planning to bring more if it was successful. I didn't want them to know until it was absolutely necessary.

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When I walked in, I noticed one thing; this place looked like crap. The sign wasn't lying when it said 'Wreck Room.' Sitting down on the lumpy couch, I felt my body sink down so low that my butt almost touched the ground. I stood up and sat on the armrest. At least this way I wouldn't end up gouging my eyes out with my knees.

I leaned back and closed my eyes. Since I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, I might as well get used to it. My brain was buzzing. I remembered some AFI lyrics that I loved. I said them to myself, hoping to relax:

"We held hands on the last night on earth.
Our mouths filled with dust, we kissed in the fields and under trees, screaming like dogs,
bleeding dark into the leaves.
It was empty on the edge of town but we knew everyone floated on the bottom of the river.
So we walked through the waste where the road curved into the sea and the shattered seasons lay,
and the bitter smell of burning was on you like a disease.
In our cancer of passion you said, 'Death is a midnight runner.'

The sky had come crashing down like the news of an intimate suicide.
We picked up the shards and formed them into shapes of stars that were like an antique wedding dress.
The echoes of the past broke the hearts of the unborn as the ferris wheel silently slowed to a stop.
The few insects skittered away in hopes of a better pastime.
I kissed you at the apex of the maelstrom and asked if you would accompany me in a quick fall,
but you made me realize that my ticket wasn't good for two.
I rode alone.

You said, 'The cinders are falling like snow.'
There is poetry in despair, and we sang with unrivaled beauty, bitter elegies of savagery and eloquence.
Of blue and grey.
Strange, we ran down desperate streets and carved our names into the flesh of the city.
The sun has stagnated somewhere beyond the rim of the horizon and the darkness is a mystery of curves and lines.
Still, we lay under the emptiness and drifted slowly outward,
and somewhere in the wilderness we found salvation scratched into the earth like a message."

When I opened my eyes, there stood three guys in orange.

Great, didn't exactly want to put on a show.

The first to say something was a guy with, what looked like, a shirt on his head with a hat on top. "Man, I'm seeing things again. Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees a girl reciting poetry."

"Naw, man," said a Hispanic guy, " I see her, too. Ya think we got too much sun?"

This was getting old.

I stood up and walked over to the kid with the hat. I snatched it off and backhanded him.

"Ya feel that?" I asked him.

"Yeah, you brat!" He yelled back, holding his cheek while his eyes watered in pain.

I raised my eyebrow and smirked, "Then, just maybe, I am real."

The other two guys snorted with laughter. I can't help it; I can be very violent at times. Hence the reason I'm here, even though that was out of self-defense. I should rip off the judges' body parts. I'd probably start with his arms, then I'd sever… Sorry, I'm still a little bitter about that.

Once they recovered from their spastic fit, the Hispanic dude sat beside me on the couch. I tried to scoot over in the other direction, and he noticed, so he gave me my space.

Thank God for observant people.

The big black boy sat on the other armrest, and the moronic white guy walked over to the pool table. I looked beside me at an old chair Zero was sitting in.

Huh?

Dang, that kid was quiet.

"My name's Magnet. That's Armpit, and the guy you bitch-slapped is Squid."

I laughed at his interpretation of the situation. From what I could tell, I had severely bruised Squid's ego. Yeah well, he'd get over it. Just then, two more guys walked into the room. One had shoulder-length black hair, a lip and eyebrow piercing, dark brown eyes, and was pale and tall. The other was a little shorter and black. This guy had muscles upon muscles.

Hmm. The guys didn't look too bad here. I'd kill them the second they touched me, but no harm in looking.

The second guy quirked his eyebrow. "Finally got a girl here," he said to his friend. He had an evil glint in his eyes. "I can't wait."

Like I said, I hate when guys say things like that.

Magnet came to my rescue. "Hey, you piece of crap! Don't be saying stuff like that about her."

Bless him.

"You got a problem, squirt?" Mr. Muscle was now heading towards Magnet. Oh great. Why do guys have to start fights?

Armpit and Squid stepped up and defended Magnet.

"Come on, dawg, just lay off." Armpit spoke for the first time. "We're all tired."

The guy didn't look like he wanted to drop it, though. His pale friend quickly walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. He looked him dead in the eyes and said, "Drop it."

The big guy complied, but shrugged his friend's hand off and headed to the other end of the wreck room in a cursing fit. As his friend turned to follow him, he looked back at me and met my eyes. A huge chill went up and down my spine until he broke eye contact.

Man, that was weird.

I didn't feel like talking after that. That gothic guy gave me the weirdest feeling. I felt like crawling into my dark hole of a room and listening to my music.

Well, oops, that ain't gonna happen.

The Three Musketeers went back to their respective sitting spots, with the exception of Squid, who was now standing closer. I looked at Magnet. He was again sitting beside me and I said, "Thanks," in a dull, flat voice. He didn't seem to notice my tone.

"No problem, girlie, that boy just don't got any manners, that's all." He said with a smile.

By now a few more boys were in the wreck room, ready to relax after taking a short, freezing shower, if it could be called that. Most responded to my being in there with shock, but some were too tired to care. With the coming of more people, Zero had decided to go back to the tent where it was quieter. I wished he would stay; I was starting to feel nervous around all these guys. He was the only one I felt comfortable around in this place.

When I was getting up to follow him, someone asked me my name. When I looked around, I saw it was Armpit who had asked me.

"Madge," I said simply, and sat back down.

They each gave me weird looks. "What kind of name is that?" Asked Squid.

"What kind of a name is Squid?" I asked defensively. He shrugged, but didn't answer.

"So, what tent you staying in?" Asked Magnet.

"I'm in D-Tent."

All three cracked identical grins.

Oh boy.

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Zero was lying flat on his stomach, looking the comic book I gave him when the rest of the D-Tent boys came in. I was still in the wreck room, feeling as annoyed as ever, so I didn't find out about this until later.

X-Ray, Barf Bag and Zigzag came into the tent still wet from their showers to see Zero reading. Well, not really reading; more like looking at the pictures.

"Whoah, man, where'd you get that?" Asked X-Ray and he snatched the book out of Zero's small hands. He made no fight for it, only sat quietly as X-Ray and Zigzag thumbed through the pages. Barf Bag passed out on his cot and fell asleep.

"How the heck did he get a comic book here?" X-Ray asked Zigzag.

Zigzag shook his head. He didn't know anymore than X did. 'No use in asking Zero,' he thought. 'He wouldn't talk if his life depended on it.'

He flipped to the back of the book, and just like he thought, a name was written on the bottom corner.

'Madge E. Delaney'

Zigzag's eyebrows drew together in confusion. That was a girl's name. Zero didn't have any family. He definitely didn't have a girlfriend, or at least he didn't think so. So who was Madge?

While they were trying to work that out, someone from C-Tent came charging in, out of breath.

"You guys have to come see this!" He said with a lopsided grin.

The two boys looked at each other once, and raced after the other camper to see what the big deal was.

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End of Second Chapter

The lyrics are from AFI's Sing the Sorrow album. The song is a hidden track at the end.