Author's note ~ Bit of a long one this time. I hope you enjoy
"Actually, I have an idea about that." Adrian grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at the blank stare on the dark boy's face.
The runners trouped into the dining area, tired, sore, and thoroughly famished. Newt personally felt like he could eat the better part of a cow, and still have room for a chicken or two afterwards. Though he hadn't garnered any new information from the day's run, he still felt like it had been a productive day. The positive feeling, after so many months of returning dejected at the end of the day, had Newt in almost a euphoric state as he lined up behind the others to get his meal. He noticed right away that Adrian was already at a table, and he appeared to be having an intense conversation with Alby, Fynn (the keeper of the sloppers), and Gally, of all people. The little group broke up as Newt approached the table with Minho close behind, both boys dropping quickly into seats and immediately starting to scarf down their food. Adrian sat quietly, seemingly deep in thought, turning drinking jar of water in slow, repetitive circles. Newt was almost finished when Jeff joined them, dropping a small cloth wrapped bundle on the table in front of Adrian. Minho studied the man curiously, a calculating look in his eye as he polished off his own meal.
"Thanks man." Adrian said absently, not looking up and still playing with the jar.
Newt leaned back, satisfied but feeling a little overstuffed after eating such a sizable meal so quickly. He shoved his limp, sweaty, straw colored hair out of his face, idly wishing he'd taken the time to tie it back that morning. Eyeing the man across from him, Newt couldn't decipher the odd look on his face.
"So, what did you get up to today, greenie?"
Coming back to reality, Adrian set the glass aside, sighing a little internally at the irritating title he'd been saddled with.
"Got the office all finished up, so that's one thing taken care of. Showed Jeff here how to set a broken nose, so that's another feather in his cap, so to speak. I was thinking about spending a chunk of the day with the slicers but Alby caught up to me at lunch, wanted to chat. Ended up in a meeting with him, and others, here for the rest of the day. Not exactly what I'd planned for the day, but productive, none the less."
"You've been here since lunch?" Minho asked, a little sardonically. "How terribly taxing that must have been for you. Such hard work, you must be exhausted. Do you need to lie down?"
Knowing the best way to deflect Minho's sarcasm was to simply ignore it, Newt did just that.
"What's up with Alby?"
Adrian only smiled, looking over his shoulder at the front of the dining area where the sturdy leader was standing silently, scanning the tables as though looking for something. The dark boy nodded to himself as the confirmed that everyone was accounted for.
"Listen up!" While Alby pitched his voice over the general din, he didn't shout; he didn't have to. Within seconds, the silence was complete as every head turned to look at their leader.
"I'm aware that there was a bit of a disagreement between some of you and the new greenie, Adrian, the other day." Several boys shuffled nervously at their tables, looking away from the boy who held everyone's attention. "After reviewing the situation, I've decided that punishment is in order, though I've been...convinced to apply a bit of leniency. To the six of you slintheads involved in the scuffle, meet me at the pit at dusk; you've earned yourselves a two day vacation. When you've done your time there, you get two weeks working with the sloppers. I'm sure Fynn could use a hand with the dirty work." There were mutters from the crowd, and a couple of groans from the boys involved; they'd thought that they'd managed to avoid repercussions for their rash actions. Still, the punishment outlined was by far preferable to receiving a death sentence. Alby once again cut through the noise.
"You earned worse, and you know it. You'll take your shucking lumps, and you'll do it without whining about it. You break the rules, you pay for it. That's how it works. That goes for the rest of you, too, so you best be remembering it. I won't be inclined to show mercy a second time." Giving them a moment for that to sink in, the boy watched the group intently, pleased to see they understood the poorly veiled threat. Satisfied, he moved on to a happier subject.
"Now that that's dealt with, I have another announcement. Things around here have been more than a little tense, lately, and everyone's on edge. It's time to take a breather from the stress I know you're all feeling. In two day's time, we are going to throw an all out, all in, all night party!"
A stunned silence descended over the boys as they looked at each other, then back to their grinning leader. One voice shouted out from the crowd.
"A party? Why the shuck would we throw a party?!"
"Look, we've been stuck up here by a bunch of slintheads, trapped in here for weeks, months, years. We've learned to run the maze, build our own shelters, grow our own food. We've survived. And you know what? It's about shucking time we celebrated that! They've taken our memories, but they can't take our spirit! They've locked us in, but they can't put us down! Lets show them that they haven't broken us, that they'll NEVER break us! I say SHUCK them, let's PARTY!"
The boys, roused by Alby's strong words, stood and cheered, hooting and hollering with the sheer pleasure of the idea of taking a strike, no matter how small, against their captors.
As the boys laughed and talked excitedly, Adrian silently rose from his place at the table and made his way to where Alby was standing at the front of the assembly. With all the commotion, Newt didn't even realize he was gone until he was standing right beside the smugly grinning leader. Seeing the man appear at the head of the dining room, voices quickly fell into hushed mutters as the boys waited to see what the newcomer had to add to the exciting announcement.
"While everyone is here, I figured I might as well use the opportunity to let you in on a couple of things." Adrian stated. An irritated buzz of muttering rippled through the boys. "Firstly, everyone should take a minute in the next couple of days and thank the builders for busting their asses on the med-hut office; there's no way it would have been finished so quickly without them." Several approving yells rang out above the din and Gally, to a chorus of wolf whistles and snickering, stood and took an exaggerated bow. "Great job, guys. Really." Another bow, accompanied by a clearly condescending wave and cheesy grin before Gally sat back down. "Now, the office we've built is designed, intended, and exclusively for serious illnesses or injuries; it's a place of life and death, and a major tool for our Med-Jack. While I hope none of you will ever have to be treated in there, I do have to ask that you don't go in there if you aren't bleeding from the head or sporting broken bones. Some of the equipment and supplies are delicate, and who knows if they'll ever send us replacements if these ones get trashed. So, unless Jeff, or I, I suppose, okays it, stay the hell out of the office. Or you may just end up needing it, after all."
Some mutters, some nervous chuckles, but no outright defiance from the boys.
"One last thing. Looking out at you all, I see dozens of smart, resilient, hard-working boys, strong even in the face of the awful circumstances you've faced since you were trapped here. I also see dozens of ratty, wild, scruffy buggers that even the damn cat wouldn't bother to drag in."
"Hey!"
"You ain't so pretty yourself, shuckface!"
"Sorry, didn't know tonight's dinner was supposed to be formal!"
"In light of the upcoming party," Adrian shouted over the mildly outraged rapid fire defenses and insults hurled his way, "I figured some or most of you might want to get yourselves tidied up a bit. Long hair can be such a pain in the ass, and while the clothes may make the man, a decent hair cut can seriously improve your mood; make you feel a bit less like a caveman. Anyone wanting to shed some extra, to feel less like a prisoner and more like just a regular dude, come see me at my table on the other end of the hall; I'll have you looking like a new man in no time."
Adrian turned and walked briskly back to his table, ignoring the chatter rising from the gathered boys. When he reached his table mates Jeff didn't look at all surprised by Adrian's unexpected offer, but both Newt and Minho were staring at Adrian with 'what the hell' looks on their faces. Newt's forehead was scrunched up as though Adrian had just announced that two plus two is five, but Minho at least seemed to be considering the offer, a bit of calculation in his eyes. Both started talking at the same time.
"Really greenie? Haircuts? How the hell is that any kind of priority when -"
"Well, it might be nice to not look like your cousin Annie anymore."
Newt looked at Minho, shocked at his instant acceptance of the unorthodox service. As long as he'd known the keeper of the runners, his thick black hair had been tied down in half a dozen tight, neat cornrows and gathered into a little stub of a tail at the back. Once, long ago, Newt had made the mistake of asking Minho how he always managed to keep his flawless hairstyle despite the rigors of running all day. The boy's deeply cutting and obviously sarcastic offer to braid the junior runner's hair like the princess he was had deterred Newt from ever asking again, though he occasionally wondered.
"Really Min?"
"Why not," Minho shrugged casually. "I certainly wouldn't mind something a bit more low-maintenance."
"No doubt," Adrian agreed cheerfully. "Stay put, I'll fix you up."
Adrian opened up the small cloth wrapped bundle that Jeff had brought him earlier, revealing a small silver pair of scissors and a bag of dozens and dozens of various elastic bands, obviously unearthed from on of the miscellaneous supply boxes. Without bothering to explain, he made short work of untying Minho's carefully coiffured locks and retying the shoulder length tresses into a few strategically placed pony tails. Watching curiously, Newt heard a chorus of snickers from behind him and turned, seeing a small crowd had gathered. While the tails looked ridiculous on the proud asian boy, their purpose became obvious as Adrian picked up the scissors and ruthlessly chopped them off, laying the neat little tails on the table in a sleek dark pile. When all the tails were removed, Adrian ran his fingers through the short, wild, chopping mess left behind. Working smoothly, competently, he trimmed the sides and back of Minho's hair to a buzz cut short length, and the top just a little longer, giving the boy a nicely polished, even stylish new look in hardly more than a matter of minutes.
When Minho stood up and turned around, the other boys couldn't help but exclaim at the difference. Adrian held up an empty tin plate from the table, bottom towards the keeper, so he could see his reflection in the dully polished bottom of the dish. Minho reached up with both hands, running them through the short, easy do, then shook his head in mock-frustration, a big grin on his face.
"But I said I wanted curls! Don't you do perms?"
The other boys laughed, jostling each other a bit as they tried to get to the front of the group, suddenly eager after seeing the positive results in front of their own eyes.
"Alright lads, listen up. Anyone who wants a trim, sit down in a line here on the bench, back to me. I'll go down the line and clip you. Jeff, wanna give me a hand here?"
The med-jack was agreeable, so Adrian showed him where and how to separate a head of hair into properly placed tails, set him the task of going down the line and prepping heads while he focused on the actually cutting and styling himself; he gave some boys almost military short cuts and leaving others with a longer shaggy style. Working together the work went fairly quickly, and Adrian had worked through five or six more boys before he recognized the dark blonde head of pony tails that was his next 'client'.
"Here and I thought you'd decided that haircuts weren't a priority." Adrian teased Newt, snipping away efficiently. Newt shrugged.
"They aren't. But, what the hell, might as well. One less thing to fight with every morning."
"Oh, sweetheart, having problems with your beauty routine? Need some make up tips?"
"Sure, Mary, if you have time. Seeing as you're apparently a consulting style expert, now. You're awfully good at it, you sure you weren't some posh stylist before you got here?"
Adrian had a vivid, and unpleasant flash of himself in a tight fitting white jumpsuit with a silky purple robe over top, sporting a cheesy grin and healed boots as he simpered to overweight middle aged women about their clothing choices and skin care routine. He shuddered, damning his active imagination.
"Word to the wise, Sally," He grumbled, "If you insult the guy with the scissors in you hair you run the risk of going to bed bald."
"You wouldn't."
"It's only hair," Adrian said easily, grinning at the clear warning in the boy's voice. "It grows back."
"Adrian!"
"There you be darlin', all done. You might want to find a hat, your head might get a tad...cold for a couple of days. I'd love to stay and chat, but clients to see, work to do. Enjoy!"
Newt stood up in a hurry, frantically patting his head as the man laughed at him. Relief flooded through him when he felt the three inch crop of hair that covered his skull. A little irritated at the man, a bit embarrassed at his panicked reaction to the joke, Newt stalked off towards the forest, leaving Adrian to his scissors, deciding a little walk would help his settle down.
It was twilight by the time Adrian finished trimming the hair on the last boy; all said and done, he'd clipped more than two dozen boys, finishing up with his trusty side-kick Jeff, carefully clipping his frizzy curls to a more manageable length. Tired from standing for in one position so long, his leg achy from the strain, his ribs throbbing painfully from bending; he was more than willing to call it a night. He sat down with a groan, lighting a cigarette and inhaling deeply, massaging his almost healed leg lightly. Jeff could see the man's fatigue, his pallor, he spoke up.
"Why don't you head home, Adrian, get some sleep. I can clean up here, get rid of all these tails, get the scissors cleaned like you showed me and put away."
"I'd appreciate it, Jeff. I'm done in. Don't throw the tails out though, lay them in a box and leave them at the med-hut for me; I'll get them tomorrow."
"What on earth are you going to do with dozens of little pony tails?" Jeff asked, flabbergasted.
"You never know, man. Waste not, want not. I may yet find a use for them."
Bidding the boy a good night, Adrian wasted no time getting back to his little house, barely taking the time to rinse his hands and face at his little sink before blowing out his candle, stripping off his shirt and all but collapsing onto his bed. Laying spread eagle, he sighed in near ecstasy. Putting on his music play, he turned the volume on low and let the music soothe him to sleep.
Broken frames
So dark inside
Faces mismatched
Trickle out in a line
Waves of shadows
Scattered dreams
Where are you?
Where are you?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Running. Running, running, running. Fully dark in the shadows of the trees, Newt could hear the fast footsteps behind him, the muffled laughter vaguely sinister in the otherwise silent forest. His heart beat rapidly, his panting breaths too loud in the dark. He crashed through the underbrush, tore through the reaching arms of branches, jumped fallen logs in his urgent flight. Just a little further. Just have to get back to the buildings – and the safety – of the center of the glade. He heard one of his pursuers try to circle around on his left, cut him off from his goal. He poured more speed on, feeling like his heart might explode from the effort. He could see the trees thinning ahead...
A figure stepped out of the shadows, directly in his path. Newt stifled a cry of shock and dismay, skidding to a stop, muscles bunching to execute a quick about-face...
"What, don't you get enough during the day Newtie? What the shuck are you doing running through the bush like a shuckin' gazelle?"
"Minho!" Newt gasped, bending from the waist and trying to catch his breath.
"Who did you expect, the Easter Bunny? What the hell's going on, Newt?"
Newt just shook his head, swiping at the sweat on his face and feeling a prickling burn in the back of his eyes; tears of relief that he refused to shed in front of his old friend. Straightening, looking Minho right in the face, he had no qualms about lying.
"Thought I saw something, bloody spooked myself. I'm alright now, Min."
"Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?" Minho sniggered, then suddenly sobered up. "Well, c'mon, early day tomorrow. Better get your beauty sleep while you can. Most of the guys are in bed already; we'll protect you from the boogey man."
Newt fell into step beside his friend, his heart rate beginning to slow to a more reasonable beat. He accepted Minho's teasing without comment, chanting one word over and over in his head as they cleared the trees and headed towards their hammocks.
Safe. Safe safe safe.
The forest behind them was silent now, no crashing footsteps or rustling foliage betrayed the hunters as they slipped away into the night, their hunt thwarted.
For now.
Author's note~ The song in this chapter is Betty Steeles - Where Are You? from the move Malice in Wonderland. Crappy movie, though; that song is really the only worthwhile thing about it.
Anywho. See you next chapter!
~Ruby