A/N: I hope all of you reading this won't think of Crow as a Mary-Sue, I try my best not to let her fall into that troupe of OC, but sometimes it can be a little difficult, I want people to know that she's ... strong? Hopefully, it shows through my writing. I get so insecure about my writing sometimes :/

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BookRain: Minho's about 1/1 and a half years older than Crow and this Fanfic is set about 8 months before Thomas and Teresa come into the picture. I hope that clears things out for you. And Crow's past will come up in the next couple of chapters, so I'm really excited to write about it!
Zoey24: Thanks for your support Zoey, I'll try my best to compromise between speedy AND quality updates, who knows, maybe I'll even succeed?
Mazelover: Thanks for loving my story! It'll be in 3rd person, but it will center all around her, so no POV-switching, just Crow.

Thanks for all the love 3

*Sorry for any mistakes*

Chapter 4: Slammed.

A loud, shuddering clank above her head echoed throughout the strange, metal monster and despite the cool air, beads of sweat began dripping from her forehead. Her hands had trembled so hard and vigorously, she was afraid of them dropping off.

Another clank and the contraption lurched upwards, creaking heavily like an old lift that would shatter at any moment and send her plummeting to her death. Not that she knew if there even was a floor beneath her.

She shuffled backwards and struck a large, metal wall. She crumpled to the floor and pulled her legs up tight against her body, and hoped that somehow, her eyes would adjust to the darkness and her racing heart to the extreme bizarreness of this situation.

She couldn't help but think the worst when the pitch-black elevator began swaying. She was going to die in this cramped, dusty, stale box—no. If she was going to die, she was going down fighting. The lift swayed again, turning her stomach into slosh. She wanted to scream from all this madness, but nothing came, so she sat there, waiting. For what, she didn't know.

An eternity seemed to pass by, and Crow grew immune to the constant, harsh noise of chains and pulleys rattling. In this horrible jail, seconds had felt like forever and minutes had stretched into hours, although she knew that wasn't possible. Using her instincts, she knew only half an hour had passed.

One last clank and the box halted. She clambered up from her spot and looked up as she felt her recent fear whisked away and replaced by pure adrenaline.

A streak of ethereal light materialised at the ceiling of the box, and she observed it as it kept swelling. There was metal clatter before sunlight flooded into the room. After so long stuffed in the musty gloom, the light attacked her eyes, but she didn't look away. She needed as much time possible to think of a strategy to escape, and it all depended on who she had to escape from

There were voices up above; her stomach couldn't help but churn.

"Well, he's a pretty one ain't 'e?"

"Look at his hair!"

"What an ugly shank."

"Welcome to the glade."

"He's pretty pretty, don't ya think?"

He?

She was not a he. She looked down at her chest, finding it wrapped around with a thick, tight bandage, it looked like she had no chest; it was flat as a board. She then went to smooth down her hair, expecting long tresses, not short, cropped hair. She wheezed, what the damn hell? This can't be possible. She might be utterly confused, but she was not a boy, unless...was she cross-dressing?

"Hey. Get ready." She snapped up.

Her eyes had mostly adjusted to the bright lights, and the shifting, towering shadows soon melded into bodies, faces, and torsos-people bending down and examining her as if she were an interesting toy through the split open ceiling. They were all boys, all of them, some younger, some older.

She was slapped with uncertainty and confusion. They weren't what she had expected, at all. They were just teenagers. Kids. Not the horrifying, 6-inch long fanged aliens or the humans with shotguns and knives and scars the length of her arm. Kids. A tiny shred of fear melted away, but not enough for her to lose all scepticism. Kids can still kill, no matter how twisted it might be.

Suddenly, she got it, at least, a part of it. Someone or something sent her here disguised as a boy, for a purpose, for a reason she didn't have enough patience to figure out.

A figure lowered down thick, coarse rope, a miniature lasso tied at the end. She relucted for a moment, before gently placing her right foot on the lasso, gripping the rope hard as she was hauled toward the giant group of boys. Hands-lots of hands-clamped onto her, pulling her up. There was apparently no need as she was pulled up almost straight away. For a split second, she was terrified they would find out, but cursed herself for being that stupid, that's what they wanted her to do. To hide. To be controlled. To be their doll. She was not a doll to be manipulated.

The entire world spun, an array of different skin tones and faces and colours, but she didn't hesitate. There was one boy to the left of her, only one. If she was fast enough, she would be able to run into the humongous opening and when she escaped from their clutches, she would figure a way out.

She swung her fist as hard as she could.

A loud, large thud and she leapt.

Immediately, she regretted staring at the sunlight for so long, it left her eyes disoriented, leaving her to depend on her muscles, which were already aching with agony. There was an uproar behind her; shouting, swearing, foreign language. She felt a hand on her shoulder for a quick second, before she kicked into overdrive. Soon enough, she was halfway to the opening. Three-quarters.

She would have made it if it wasn't for her slamming into another person. Escape on her mind, she kneed the guy in the stomach before pushing herself up and running to the opening. It happened fast, she was tackled to the ground, groaning at the impact the hard earth had on her head.

She flipped herself over and was about to punch the guy in the face when she was pinned down. She wriggled for the life of her, but he was just too strong.

She glared at his dark brown eyes, desperation and frustration burning in hers, surprise and satisfaction in his.

"Alright, put the greenie in there." The guy in front of her commanded, he must be the leader. She didn't bother looking back as she was hauled inside a strange, lob-sided, wooden cage. She dragged her aching body across the cage, slumping into the solitary chair. She hated this. Being ordered around. She wasn't some dog that had misbehaved. She bit her lip hard, the kind of hard that would draw blood, and sucked it up. She needed time to plan her escape, and what better than being stuck in a cramped, bamboo jail than to plan? Despite that, she couldn't ignore the fact that there were 4 walls, 4 colossal walls, that looked like there was no way out.

Before, when she was pumped with adrenaline, she didn't care, hell, she didn't even realise they were there, or that they were so damn huge to begin with—she could see the grey concrete and the vines snaking their way up even from here.

That got her mind thinking.

What would happen if she had made it out? Would she even survive if she had? She was so focused on escaping that she hadn't even thought about what she would do afterwards. She realised it now. She was just being reckless. No planning, no weapons, no food—what was she thinking?

If there was a way out, there wouldn't be anyone here.

"Hellooooo? Greenie?" Her dull grey eyes flashed to his hazel ones. His eyes were dull, but not like hers. It was as if they were worn down by fatigue, as if being the leader had worn him down.

She cleared her throat before speaking, realising that focusing on her mistakes would only make her more prone to them. "How long?" Her voice had surprised her. It was low and husky, definitely too low for a girl. Once again, she thought about how this was all capable; how she could seem perfectly like a boy, how no-one had suspected her of being otherwise for so long. It couldn't be possible that she was trained to act this way, right?

"We do-"

She cleared her head of those preposterous thoughts, "In this...whatever the hell it is, how long?"

"A question. Well, that took quite a while, although I'm not complaining. No questions, greenie-not yet. Alby'll tell you everything tomorrow, on the tour, after you've calm-"

"I'm already calm."

"Well, then tomorrow-"

"Why can't it be today, right now?"

"That's another question, greenie."

"Just tell me how long."

He flashed a knowing smile, one that somehow seemed to piss Crow off. "Look, greenie, I get it. New place, new people; it's scary, it's confusing, you want to ask questions, you want them now, you need answers now. Totally understandable. What isn't understandable, is you completely disregarding me, and my rules. Tomorrow. Tour. Questions then. Yeah? Nod if you understand."

She chewed on the inside of her cheek. Another thing she hated, being talked down to, even if she didn't know a single thing. Besides the anger and frustration, pride loomed behind her. She wouldn't follow some somebody's rule, not without a reason, not when she didn't trust a single person. No damn way.

Nick scoffed, and she sneered.

"I've got to admit, you've got balls greenie." Balls. She had almost forgotten, how idiotic of her; she was disguised as a boy. Should she trust him with that information as well? No. Not when they've just slammed her away in prison for being a little feisty. Imagine when they find out that she's actually a girl; imagine when they find out that she was hiding it. What would they do to her then? Perhaps she will, maybe later, maybe when she's trusted them a little bit more.

Her belly distracted her from her thoughts, though.

Nick snorted, "All that punching hadn't done you any good, now did it? I'll be nice since this is your first day, green-bean, dinner's in an hour, so stay in here 'till then, 'till you calm down."

She sighed, "I'm already calm."

"Then I guess you'll just have to wait, an hour isn't so long-"

"I'm hungry. I'm hungry and I'm calm, let me go."

"Again with the interrupting, is it so hard to listen once in a while? One hour, then the baggers over there will let you go, okay?"

Crow didn't nod, in fact, she didn't even acknowledge him, finding a tiny little ladybug that had perched himself on Nick's vicious curls more interesting than Nick himself.

"One hour." Nick parroted, seemingly irritated, as he jogged away.