Antoinette did not know how long she had been asleep when Alby shook her awake.
"Hey," he gave as a greeting before motioning her to follow him out of the Med-jack hut.
She followed quickly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"What is it?" She asked stumbling to the door.
She jumped as she stepped out to find everyone from the Glade except Jeff and their patient. Every other person was carrying a torch as it was pitch dark outside. Alby smiled at her.
"Everyone. Welcome Anthony to the Glade. Our newest Med-jack."
A cheer erupted from the ring of boys. Antoinette flushed from embarrassment, but she was happy at the reception. Alby raised his hand to quiet everyone.
"Once Newt is up and about again, we will have a bonfire to celebrate. For now, everyone be kind to the new member of our community."
"ANTHONY!"
"YEAH, GREENIE!"
She was given a few pats on the back and kind words as the boys filtered off to sleep. The last to leave were Gally and Alby. Gally pulled her into a headlock.
"Showing off on the first day, huh?"
"Ow!"
Alarmed, Alby tried to get Gally off her. She put a hand up to Alby as Gally let her go.
"I didn't mean to…I just…knew what to do."
Gally folded his arms in front of him and shrugged.
"You did well, Anthony. See you tomorrow."
Antoinette felt her face heat up as he walked away. She thought her heart would explode with how happy she felt. Alby tapped her shoulder.
"Med-jacks get to stay in the hut. Pretty sweet deal except for the fact that you have sick and injured in there sometimes. Jeff is cool and Clint's pretty quiet for a Keeper. Since they are nice …you know. As they don't know…"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"You'll let me know if someone figures it out. I'll come see Newt tomorrow. Give him time to heal up before I really give it to him."
Antoinette nodded.
"Got it. Thanks for everything, Alby."
He left with a wave. Antoinette went inside to find Jeff organizing the shelves closest to Newt by torchlight, Clint snoring softly from his corner of the hut. He turned as her heard her come closer.
"Still out?" she asked, grazing the side of Newt's face with the back of her hand," Seems he doesn't have a fever or anything."
Jeff shook his head.
"No, he has been completely out. Had to keep him from moving his leg sometimes, but that's about it. Mainly, I'm just trying to figure out what all the meds are for. Honestly, some of them came with labels and we get a new set of stuff if we ask for it via a note in the box, but some things are beyond me and Clint."
Antoinette moved over to him and looked at the supplies.
"I know what pretty much all of this does. Weird…Anyway, I can spend some of the time babysitting writing out what everything does. Cool?"
"That'd be great. If you don't mind, though, I'm going to crash. You don't mind having the night shift?"
Antoinette shook her head. She was oddly excited to look through the supplies.
"I'll let you know if I need you."
"Alright. Goodnight, Anthony."
She just nodded, starting in on the supplies. A pencil and paper sat just on the edge of one shelf, so she used that to write out her notes. She was pleased to find a slew of pills in the back that she was not surprised the boys did not know the use for. She made a mental note that she would have to plan ahead when asking Alby to put the pills on the list for the box. She would just pretend it was a medication she did not know. Besides, why would any of them need to know about pills that made it so that girls did not have their periods? There were a couple other items she was not completely sure about, which was good. Clint and Jeff would hopefully not suspect anything as long as there were multiple things she could not name. She was just about to start writing descriptions for everything on the list when she heard a pained groan. Glancing over, she saw Newt's eyes fluttering. She quickly grabbed a bottle of painkillers. Jeff had conveniently left a jar of water on the table next to the cot. She put down the meds as Newt swore.
"Ugh, my bloody leg."
She was taken aback at his accent. She hadn't considered that someone in the Glade might have a different accent.
"Actually, your leg wasn't the bloody one. It was your head."
Newt turned his eyes to her. He was trying to focus through his pain.
"Greenie?"
Antoinette poured a couple pills into her hand and grabbed the glass of water.
"Saw "ah" and yes," she told him.
She was glad he didn't protest, probably being in too much pain to fight. Once his mouth was open, she dropped the pills in before handing him the glass. He drank down the pills with a sigh. After handing the glass back to her, he grinned.
"And yes."
Antoinette's eyebrow raised.
"Well, you're obviously going to recover well if you managed to keep your sense of humor intact."
He huffed, slightly.
"Yeah, well…you started it. Where is Clint, anyway? Or Jeff? How did you manage to become a Med-jack so quickly? Wait…have I been out for a while?"
Antoinette glared at him.
"If you had succeeded in what you did, you would have been out permanently."
Newt's face went sour.
"Oh, so you're in the loop now are you? Bloody fantastic! Alby's telling the newbie things, Jeff's not here, and I'm alive. Having the time of my life here."
Antoinette sighed. He was a chatterbox, this one.
"Jeff and Clint are still Med-jacks. They didn't know what to do to fix your 'bloody leg' and I did. I've been here for less than 24 hours, so you have not been out long at all. The fact that you can talk so much in so much pain is astounding."
He grimaced at her.
"Alby would say I never shut up. Yes, Greenie, I jumped from the wall after climbing halfway up. You'll understand why I did it when you live here for a year like I have. I'm not pleased to be trapped in this place. All of them think they can get out, but we can't. It's bloody impossible."
Antoinette got up and moved back to the supplies shelf.
"Look, Newt, I'm not judging you or anything here. It's just…no, I haven't been here long. I just see the potential for keeping a community together. You have to keep hope. It is when people lose hope that things get…uhm…klunky."
That put a smile on Newt's face.
"There you go, Greenie. Well, your optimism is…good. I guess. Just don't come crying to me when you lose that hope, hm? Let's not talk about my failures. I know Alby is going to let me have it tomorrow, isn't he?"
He took her silence as agreement. He sighed.
"I suppose I bloody deserve it. I'm meant to be here apparently. So. You look like the youngest we have gotten by far. What are you? 11 or 12? Remember your name yet?"
"It's…Anthony…"
"Ah, well…nice to meet you. Especially since you had to put me back together. I take it I wasn't in danger of dying?"
Antoinette was not going to get anything done with this guy being up, so she went back over the cot and leaned against the wall.
"No. More of a risk of being crippled for the rest of your life. Honestly…there is still a bit of a chance you won't move the same. You should at least be able to walk, though."
Newt's face darkened as he looked down at his leg.
"Broken foot?"
"That, a dislocated knee, and a dislocated hip?"
"Klunk, that's a lot…"
"Well, it was all in one leg. You aren't moving for a while yet. Two months of resting. Maybe Jeff and I can get someone to fashion you some crutches to try walking in about three weeks or so."
Newt was quiet.
"Great…now I've gotten myself even more caged up."
Antoinette smiled, moving over to the water bucket in the hut. She put some water in a bowl and grabbed a nearby rag.
"Tell you what. I'll stick around and be caged with you. Jeff and Clint, too."
"Urgh, its getting bloody worse by the second!"
She caught the twitch of a smile on his lips as she turned. Moving back to the side of the bed, she dipped the rag in the water. As she went to clean up Newt's face, he stopped.
"Don't, I can do it myself."
"Can you see yourself? No. Shut up and deal with it."
"Dude, its-"
"Shut up," she growled.
Newt laughed.
"You mean to say "Slim it," Shank."
She ignored him as she rubbed the dirt and blood off of his face that Jeff had left. She was done in less than a minute.
"There, was that so bad?"
"Bloody torture."
Antoinette left the bowl and the rag by the side table and moved back over to the shelves to start the descriptions of the medications.
"Hey."
She turned to see Newt looking at her.
"Thanks, Annie."
Antoinette dropped her pen.
"Do-don't give me a girly name like that!"
Newt just laughed at her.
"Don't get so bent out of shape. I frequently give people nicknames. Yours is just…kind of funny."
"And…something like…Tony is beyond thought?"
Newt appeared to consider it for a moment.
"Nah, boring."
Alby was going to love that nickname as much as he liked hearing that Newt jumped from the wall. She just went back to writing and within five minutes, the patient was asleep once again. Moving over to the cot, Antoinette noted crease to his forehead as he frowned in his sleep. She finally found the time to look at him now that he had a personality. He had a slim build, but was still muscular. Probably from all the running he did. His golden blonde hair wasn't long, but it wasn't short. Grabbing the rag and the water again, Antoinette took the time to clean the blood from his hair. Once finished, she went back to the shelf and stared at the paper before her. Would she fit in here? How long could she hide that she was a girl? The pills would make it easier, but if they were stuck here for years things would only get harder and harder. With her medical knowledge, she was sure she was put into the Glade for a reason. She went back to writing the descriptions. It was easier than thinking.
