Shinigami-cat: Hey people! At the last minute my teachers decided to give me a lot of assignments, so the next few chapters might take a little longer to get out… I OWN NOTHING!

Gardeners

After a few days Canada and Gilbert had settled into a routine; in the morning they would get woken up by Pip and follow her to get food. From then until lunch they would wander around together, doing their best to avoid any S-Plagues, G-Plagues or Hunter if he ever showed up. After lunch it was pretty much the same and at night they would either hang out with Pip and Hank or go back to their room and try and come up with plans about how they would kill Hunter.

They also met the other three people that were picked up. Raven; a tall, thin woman with black hair and chocolate eyes, she was taken by a Grabber in India. Her skill was cooking. Zero; a teen with light brown hair and blazing blue eyes, he was picked up by a G-Plague in New Zealand. His skill was plumbing. Finally there was Scrap; he was similar to Hank in build except his hair was dark brown and he had copper coloured eyes, he was taken by a Grabber in America. His skill was metal works.

At the moment it was night and they had all congregated in Hank's room to relax. Zero was sitting in front of Raven while she trimmed his hair with a knife she took from the kitchen. "Careful with that Raven." Said Zero. "Don't want to lose an ear."

Raven rolled her eyes. "If I wanted to take off your ear I would have done it long ago, you little punk. Now hold still or I'll stab you."

"She'll do it!" Said Scrap. "She's crazy enough!" Raven poked out her tongue and went back to cutting Zero's hair.

Gilbert smiled slightly. Everyone here, even though they were all brought together by this horrible tragedy, it was amazing how they acted like a family. It made everything seem a little better than it really was.

Canada sighed and cleaned some dirt off his glasses. "Anything interesting happen today?"

"Like what?" Asked Pip as she sat next to Canada, her eyes wide and curious.

Canada shrugged. "I don't know… Just stuff…"

"Hunter mutilated an S-Plague today." Said Zero. "I think he was bitching about his garden or something… I think he's pissed about it becoming over grown or something."

"About time he did something about the court yard." Muttered Gilbert. "I swear there's something living in that long grass."

Scrap chuckled. "Not the court yard. Hunter doesn't give a shit about that place. We're talking about his own private garden." He scratched his chin, scraping off some of the thick soot that caked his face. "I guess even crazy psychos need a place to relax after a hard day's insanity."

Pip sighed contently. "I'd love to see it… It's supposed to be huge and has three smaller gardens inside it! One's all tropical and stuff, the other one's like forest filled with pine trees and junk and the last one is like a proper garden filled with flowers and fruit trees."

"How do you know that?" Asked Gilbert. That garden Pip described sounded amazing, but there was no way Hunter would have something like that. Besides he would need a place much larger than his floating island to have it.

"The last gardener." Said Pip. "He was my roommate before he got killed." For emphasis she dragged her finger across her neck and pulled a face.

"Why was he killed?" Asked Canada curiously. "If Hunter likes his garden so much why would he let his only Gardner die?"

Pip grinned mischievously. "I think it was because he was going crazy. He said he saw someone in there… and everyone knows that Hunter never lets Plagues go in there at all for any reason. Only Hunter and the gardeners are allowed in there… And since he was the only gardener in there, who was that other guy?"

Zero smirked. "Perhaps it's a special Plague."

Scrap raised an eyebrow. "A special Plague?"

Zero grinned. "Yeah… His special Plague. His lover! Too evil to go out and get one so he made one." Raven nicked Zero's ear with the knife. "Ouch! What the hell Raven? I was just saying!"

"Well your comment is not appreciated." She hissed. She hid the knife back up her sleeve and pushed Zero away. "Hunter isn't someone who has lovers. He's more like a reptile that needs something warm under its cold belly. It's disgusting."

Gilbert glanced over at Canada. He had his eyes fixed on the floor. It was obvious that this conversation was making him uncomfortable. "So Hunter goes in there often?" Murmured Canada.

"He practically lives in there." Said Hank.

"I see…" Muttered Canada. Gilbert could tell a plan was starting to formulate inside the Canadian's head.

"Can either of you garden?" Asked Pip.

"A little." Said Gilbert. "Why?"

"If Hunter's pissed that his garden isn't being taken care of the S-Plagues are going to look for a new gardener." She said, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Canada nodded. "We can garden… I guess that'll be our skill then."

"Then we wish you the best of luck." Said Scrap. "You'll need it. Gardeners get killed much faster than H-farm people. They last about four to five months."

Gilbert smiled. "That's fine. Not like we're going to live forever anyway."

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After that the conversation died down and everyone retired back to their rooms. When Gilbert and Canada were alone Canada grinned. "Well now we know where we can kill him, and they'll have to give us gardening tools so we'll have weapons. Hunter's dead for sure!"

Gilbert beamed. "Yep! One swift stab to the heart or wack with a shovel and it's all over! This nightmare is over! Everything can go back to normal!"

Canada nodded enthusiastically. "Hunter's going to die… He's going to die…" Just as quickly as his enthusiasm came it went. "Let's get some sleep okay?"

Gilbert frowned but agreed. They didn't have a blanket so they had to rely on each other to keep warm. Canada, being the lighter of the two pretty much slept on top Gilbert. Gilbert didn't mind this though. It was a very efficient way to keep warm.

Gilbert sighed and wrapped his arms around Canada's torso. "You don't really seem that happy about the plan."

"I'm just worried." Muttered Canada, his head resting on Gilbert's chest. "If it all goes wrong…"

"Don't think about it." Said Gilbert. "We'll get him in the end. He'll die. I'll make sure of it."

"Thank you." Muttered Canada. "When all this is over I'll get you back home."

Gilbert smiled and ran his fingers through Canada's hair. "I don't care if I never go home. As long as I'm with you I'm happy." Canada muttered something and took off his glasses, putting them on the floor before closing his eyes and falling into an uneasy sleep.

Gilbert sighed and ran his fingers through Matthew's hair, thinking about the garden Pip described. 'That place… It sounds weird… Wonder if that guy really went crazy or if he really saw someone… But I guess Zero's right. It would probably be a lover or something like that…'

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Once again they were woken up early again by Pip running into their room and jumping on top of them. She was probably the most efficient alarm clock either of them would ever have. Reluctantly they got up and started their routine all over again.

They walked over to the kitchen where Raven and a few H-farm people were working. The kitchen was enormous; seven industrial stoves, eight ovens, one large fire place where things could get barbequed and a work bench as long as a small tennis court was placed done the middle.

As soon as Raven spotted them she grinned and waved them over. "Hey guys! Nothing too fancy like gruel today, instead you're going to have to stomach burnt bread and slightly off butter." She tossed three blackish rolls at them.

Gilbert was able to catch two and Pip caught one. Pip took a bite and skipped over to Raven. "So… what are you going to make for lunch?"

"Rice stuff mixed with flour stuff with a broth made using the left over cow and grabber bones." Said Raven with a sigh. "I wish we had something to make curry…"

Pip grinned. "Curry, curry, curry, curry… What's curry?"

"A very spicy dish." Said Raven. "It's an acquired taste really."

Pip shrugged. "Okay… I'm going to go play in the court yard!" She stuffed the bread in her mouth and ran out of the kitchen, humming happily.

Raven chuckled and grabbed a bread roll. "She's so cute."

"She has a few screws loose." Said Gilbert as he gave Canada one of the rolls he caught. "So how's it hanging?"

Raven shrugged and took a bite out of the bread. "It's pretty good… Any S-Plagues recruit you two for gardening yet?"

Canada shook his head and nibbled on the bread. "Not yet. But I'm guessing any time now… Maybe when Hunter starts to randomly kill things again they start looking."

Raven shrugged. "Perhaps… Oh boy, more metal heads…" She put on a fake smile at the three metal heads, who walked in with their S-Plagues sitting on their shoulders. "What will it be today? Bread? Meat? Poison?"

The S-Plagues started to chatter quickly and the metal heads spoke in unison, in their cold metallic voices. "Very funny Raven… Give us what we need… to keep these meat suits alive…"

Raven sighed and handed them bread rolls. "I hope you all choke and die horribly."

The metal heads grabbed the bread rolls and started to quickly munch on them. While they were eating their S-Plagues started to chat to each other in their language of clicks and strange whistles.

Canada sighed and tugged on Gilbert's sleeve. "Come on… Let's go… Not like we can find any seeds to plant or anything…"

Suddenly the S-Plagues stopped talking and looked over at Gilbert and Canada. One of them started to chatter than their metal head spoke. "You two can garden?"

"Yes." Said Canada. The confidence in his voice didn't waver.

"Yep." Agreed Gilbert. "There's nothing that Mattie and I can't grow."

The S-Plagues quickly chatted amongst themselves before nodding quickly. "You two will come with us now." Gilbert and Canada nodded and followed the S-Plagues with their metal heads out of the room.

"Kill those two and I'll poison your next meal!" Shouted Raven.

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They were lead down a flight of steps, deep into the bowls of the island. The further they walked the more nervous Canada became. He started to cling to Gilbert's arm and mutter to himself under his breath, like he knew where they were going, and he was terrified.

Gilbert bit his lip. 'Shit… Maybe this was a bad idea…'

After what seemed like hours they eventually came to a room. Well it wasn't exactly a room. It was more like a pit with a staircase wrapped around the edge of it. At the bottom was a large dome the size of a basketball court. When they eventually got to the bottom the S-Plagues started chatting again.

"You two will be the new gardeners…" Cracked one of the metal heads. "You will be allowed access to Hunter's private garden… Everything that you see in there is confidential and should not be repeated to anyone…"

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "It's just a garden. What's he hiding in there? Gold? Not that gold would do us much good anyway."

"Shut up." Hissed Canada. "Do you want to get killed?"

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Right, because those morons are going to kill the only two humans that know how to garden. I bet Hunter would just love that. I thought the S-Plagues were meant to be the smart ones. Turns out they're just as dumb B-Plagues."

"We only need one gardener…" The three of them said in unison. "Think about that before you speak next time…"

Gilbert sighed. "These things can't take a joke can they?"

Canada rolled his eyes and stamped on Gilbert's foot. "Shut up!"

"Fine!" Hissed Gilbert as he hopped a little.

The S-Plagues seemed to be amused by this small display and laughed. Well, one could only assume that they were laughing, they were making odd, high pitched clicking noises. Once they stopped laughing one of the metal heads spoke. "Stupid people… Report back here tomorrow and you'll start working…"

Suddenly a door opened up in the side of the dome and Hunter walked out. He was covered in mud and vines. "Why are there vines everywhere?" He growled. "I can't fucking see where I'm going and when I do I trip over! When the hell am I going to get new gardeners?"

"We have them right here sir." Said one of the metal heads.

Hunter raised an eyebrow and looked over at Gilbert and Canada. He chuckled and walked over to them. "So it's you again… Mess up in anyway in there and I'll slit your throat."

"Noted." Muttered Gilbert.

Hunter nodded and looked at Canada. Said Canadian was starting to tremble. "Have we met before kid?" Asked Hunter. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you before somewhere…"

Gilbert growled and stepped in front of Canada. "His name is Matthew. He was with me when you threatened me… He's not from a H-farm like those other freaks."

Hunter smirked and grabbed Gilbert's chin. "You like talking don't you? I'm pretty sure it would be hard to talk if I ripped out your lower jaw right now."

"Please don't!" Cried Canada. "Gilbert's sorry! He won't talk to you like that again! Please don't kill him!"

Hunter chuckled and let Gilbert go. "How cute. You got yourself a boyfriend. Now you can pretend you have something to live for, like the pathetic worms you are…" He chuckled and walked up the steps. "Just a bit of advice, try not to get eaten by the Venus flytraps in there… I've lost too many gardeners that way…"

TBC

Shinigami-cat: Man that took way too long to write… coming up next is Hunter's chapter!