AN: I'm feeling hyped for this story so I decided a follow-up was in order. Hope y'all like it. :)
Disclaimer: First chapter.
She stood on the rickety tower, taking in the view. The Glade was quiet. No one was really awake except for the cooks and some of the Runners. Alby and Newt were awake as well. Deciding that there weren't a lot of people, she thought of finally bathing.
Getting a pair of underwear and some comfortable clothes, she headed to the bathroom. There was no one around, but she wanted to be safe. She went to the corner-most portion and stripped. She hurriedly washed herself and finished in about 5 minutes. She didn't have much time to change as several boys already made their way to the bathroom carrying towels and clothes. Most of them looked too afraid to even face her. Maybe they knew of what she did last night. Those boys ended up in the Slammer last night.
Before doing her first official job trial, she ate her breakfast. It looked better than the last time and she looked very pleased at that. She still sat at the Keepers' table seeing as there were no other girls. She decided it was best of keep quiet about it. There was no need for such unnecessary questions with no answer to.
No one said much. Others seemed hostile to her.
"How did you do it?" One Keeper asked.
"Did what?"
"You know… escaped from them?" He seemed hesitant. Something in her snapped. Monroe was snappish and if she just answered what she really felt, she'd be obvious.
"Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I'm not capable of defending myself." She retorted. He fell silent but recovered his wits.
"You look weak─" Alby and Newt exchanged glances. From their experience, the girl could loosen up, could have almost bipolar qualities and get pissed easily. They both looked at Monroe for some sort of sign. She seemed to be almost like a bomb. One wrong word could make her explode.
"Shut up. You don't know anything. I look weak to you? There's more to defence than brawling and throwing punches." She replied, hissing. Minho had come and sat beside her. He noticed how hard she was trying to keep her temper in check.
"I'm sorry." He replied in shame.
"You should be." She left the table, grabbing her foo with her and eating somewhere else.
"The hell, man?" Alby queried.
"It's true!" The Keeper insisted in a hushed hiss.
"You never know with her." Newt added.
Minho hesitated. Should he tell them? No. You shouldn't. She asked you not to.
Minho made his mind. He was going to keep her secret, for now at least.
Monroe got up the rickety tower and ate her breakfast in peace. The soft breeze drifted through, messing her short, already-messy blonde hair.
"Hey. I just want to apologise." Gally had climbed up to the tower.
"What for?" Monroe replied nonchalantly.
"For what those slintheads did to you. I was being honest last night, greenie. I didn't tell them to do it." He explained.
"There's nothing to apologise for. Unless of course, you're lying to me at this moment."
"Like I said, you're not worth me getting to the Slammer."
"Then I doubt you'd want another go to make my life hell. You're forgiven."
"Good that."
"Good that, indeed." He laughed and went down.
At least he was some sort of friend to her now.
By the time everyone had finished eating breakfast, most have already gotten to their jobs.
She had returned her dishes to Frypan. No one else dared talking to her, except him, who still thought she was still a twig. She laughed it off as usual. It was good to see that there were some people who didn't treat her like dirt.
"Hey, greenie, ya ready to meet Winston and be a Slicer?"
"I need this over and done with." Monroe replied, determined.
"Well, then, let's get him to ya. That good?"
"Yeah. Not really. But I have to do this."
"Why, you really scared of blood?"
"No. But I prefer not to slaughter animals."
"Whatever you say." He mocked.
Arriving at the Blood House, as Newt called it, Monroe had noticed a lot of blood, of course, it was a Blood house after all.
"This is Monroe. Monroe, this is Winston." Monroe looked at Winston, he had a face with acne.
"Right. Hope you're fine with getting your hands a little dirty 'cause you'll be spilling blood all over." Newt left laughing as soon as Winston said that.
After some short instructions, Monroe was ready to slaughter an animal.
Imagine WICKED. Those animals are people from WICKED. She assured herself. She was never afraid of blood but the fact that once something loses blood, they lose their life as well was what made her terrified of slaughter.
Carrying a knife with an impassive face, she held the chicken's throat gently, almost as if stroking it. Like a calm-before-the-storm moment. Monroe raised the knife then cut the chicken's throat cleanly. Blood burst from the chicken, Monroe held on to the body, not noticing her face had been marred with blood spots along with her clothes. She looked almost murderous.
"That's good, greenie. Might I suggest toning down on the psycho face though?" Monroe blinked and looked down on her clothes, she had some blood on it. Putting the knife of the slaughter table, she wiped her clean forearm on her forehead, seeing blood mix with a little sweat.
Winston had dismissed her to go clean herself up, then proceed to the next job.
Since Zart told her it was fine not to do gardening anymore, she proceeded to the Builders, Gally being their Keeper. She didn't mind much. She was in some sort of understanding with him so it was okay. Several Builders sent her dirty looks. She shot them all back a deadly glare. If looks could kill, they'd be all dead.
Gally had given her a couple things to like carry logs to the Kitchens for fire, or hammer things shut, or make an extra pen for the animals they housed. It was easy. The logs were light and easy to carry, hammering, was a bit more difficult, but achievable nonetheless. Making the pen, however was a combination of two. It was easy to get the resources there but it was difficult to begin the building. She definitely didn't want this job.
Right after lunch, she began her next job, which was repairing things. It was a bit easier than Building as it was almost as if only making the old new again. Nothing significant happened and by mid-afternoon, she was ready to start med-jack training. Again, it was boring. No one trusted her with the medicine. But they had told her of a cure. She needed one. It was a cure for when someone was stung by the pesky creatures that roamed about the maze. She needed one in case she really had venture there. When they had their short conversation, Monroe excused herself to do her business. Or so they thought.
Once she was sure that they knew she was out of sight, she snuck in, got a syringe from the box that they mentioned, she discreetly put it in her jeans pocket and told them she was ready for the next lesson.
AN: Kinda a filler chapter. But I need this to be able to transition to the next chapter a bit better. I'll update this next week along with TLT for other readers.
Replies:
AsgardianGrizzly: Sass is their common trait! :) Thank you!
The real world is scary: Not much OC/Minho here, but there's more to come!
green angel01: Think of it like revisiting an old cliche and giving it a twist! :) I understand you about that because it gets really tiresome for me to have to make the girl wait for her saviour.
StarRunner1: The dreams will not be commonplace. It is too cliche for me, so that'll be in minimal scenes, but thank you for that comment. The flashbacks however and the Switch POVs will be appearing a lot, building up to how my characters became who they are in the present.
I'd like to thank everyone for helping this story reach 1,100+ views! For a couple chapters, that's a lot for me! Thank you all for the support!
Reviews are loved and extremely appreciated! :)