Authors Note: Hello readers! Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter, but I kind of liked the whole situation. I must admit that I'm winging a little bit, but don't worry, I won't let this go astray! Thank you. -Can'tHandleIt
I immediately move forward, reaching up to grab Jack before he falls back. I slowly lower him down on to floor, and move my fingers up to his neck. I use two fingers to feel for a pulse. For a small moment, I don't feel a heartbeat, but then I feel a kathump, and I sigh with relief.
"Somebody give me something to stop the bleeding!" I turn and say to the nearby gladers, which includes, Newt, Minho, and Louisa.
Minho snaps out of it and moves quickly towards the counter. He reaches over the counter and takes a towel from the cook. He rushes over to me and hands me the towel.
I take it gratefully, and press it around the knife. Once I feel that there is no gap between the towel, Jack's chest, and the knife, I grip the knife, and ready, I quickly pull it from the mess.
"What did you do?!" Newt moves over to me.
"I removed the foreign object from the area in question, after surrounding the wound and stopping the blood flow." I stammer.
"How?" Minho comes over and takes the knife from my hand, bringing it to the counter.
"You saw." I shrug.
"I saw you perform rough surgery that only a doctor would know." Minho walks back towards me with another clean towel.
"I guess I was a doctor before I ended up in this place then." I say, offhandedly.
"Well then, the whole job choosing thing won't be too hard for us." Newt says.
"So you guys have so doctors here?" I ask.
"Yeah, we couldn't live without 'em." Minho continues.
"Then why am I the only one trying to keep this boy alive?!" I shout in Minho's face.
"Yep, didn't think of that, I'll go get Clint." He stands and jogs into the homely building.
The blood has soaked through the towel, so I lift the clean one Minho gave me and get ready to switch. I grip the bloody towel and hold the other right above. I count to three in my head and then I quickly slide the dirty towel away and press down the clean one. In the few seconds where the blood is free to flow wherever it wants, I feel it splatter into my face.
I hear loud footsteps from behind me and I turn to look over my shoulder. A short boy with dark hair is rushing over to me. Once he comes closer, I can see that there are little patches of lighter hair on his head. How long have they been here, if the stress is enough to give some of the boys gray hairs?
I look past the boy and see Minho standing with another boy I've never seen before. This boy has dark skin, and hair cropped closely to his head. He has a large build and by the look in his face, I can tell he's no one to mess with.
"What happened?!" the boy who walked towards me asks.
"Well, Louisa and me were just getting food when he stepped in front of us. Newt and Minho came over, and they were about to tell him off, when he turned around with a weird look on his face. It was like he wasn't paying attention to any of us; yet, it also looked like he was very aware of all of us. Then, he started shouting about how it was all someone's fault and we were all going to die. Then he said, since we're all going to die anyway, might as well get it over with, and he stabbed himself." I say, reluctantly leaving out the part where he accused Louisa.
She sends me a grateful glance over the boy's shoulder, and I know I made the right decision.
"Did you get any names?" the boy standing by Minho says.
"Well, yes. He said it was all my fault, me and something that he called T and T." Louisa steps up.
"Did he say anybody else's name? Anyone at all?" the boy asks.
"He told me that I could try to persuade Louisa to stop, he said that she would listen to me, and that I had been against it from the beginning." I pipe up.
"Against what?" the boy that is now attending to Jack, asks.
"He didn't have time to elaborate on that part, as he was too preoccupied trying to kill himself." Minho answers.
"I want to talk to Louisa, anyone of you can join me, but I suggest that you," the boy next to Minho motions towards me, "clean yourself up. I'm sure you've had enough excitement for one day."
With that, I sigh with relief, standing from my painful crouch position and walking towards the door of the homely building.
Before I go in, I here someone behind me whisper something, and a few seconds later, Minho joins me.
We walk up the stairs in silence. He leads me down the hallway past my room, and to the last door on the left. I push it open, and it reveals a small room, with a bed and a mirror and a small cabinet with a sink. I move towards it and twist on the water.
"Who was that guy?" I ask, not looking up from the sink.
"Well, you're going to have to be more specific, you see, there were three guys you had never met before, Jack, Alby, and Clint." Minho said.
"Oh you know, the one who told you to keep an eye on me." I twist the sink handle away from me and dry my hands on a towel next to the cabinet.
I turn and face him. His eyes are wide with shock, and it takes me a great deal not to grin. I just tap my temple and say, "Perceptive." Then I move around him and out the door.
I walk down the hallway, and as I do so, I realize that just this morning, I was sick in bed, and just yesterday, I was attacked by that... thing.
I'm jolted out of my thoughts as I hear footsteps behind me. Soft, light, I can tell this person does not want me to know that they are there. I keep my feet steady, giving no sign that I am fully aware of the figure moving towards me.
Suddenly, I feel an arm reach around my shoulders and pull me back, another reaches up and clamps my mouth shut. I think to myself, this person has it coming to them, when I hear a reassuring voice.
"It's okay, I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm going to let you go now, just don't scream."
I nod my head, and the hand slowly removes itself back to its owner. I whip around to face my attacker, and I'm surprised to see Ben, the light haired runner who was with Minho when I met him yesterday. I'm even more surprised when I realize that I only met Minho yesterday.
"What do you want?" I whisper, accusingly.
"I just wanted to show you something." He shrugs and motions the staircase.
I look down the stairs, then back to him, then down the stairs again, before finally shrugging. What could go wrong (with no weapons)?
His arm shoots out and grabs my hand in his pulling me down the staircase.
I struggle to not tumble down the stairs, as he practically drags me out of the building and into the grassy field in the center of the place, and towards the trees that seemed like the place you go to be alone with your thoughts.
I finally regain my footing and he continues to pull me along deeper into the woods, until we finally stop at a huge knotted tree, with thin but sturdy looking branches that look great for climbing.
"So, you going to tell me why you dragged me here now?" I look at Ben sideways and raise my eyebrow, questioningly.
"Oh yeah, yeah sure, I just thought you seemed like the kind of person who could enjoy climbing a good tree." He motions to the branches.
"Well, that's actually really thoughtful, thanks." I look back to the tree and rub my hands together.
I move forward to a fork in the bottom of the branches. I lift my foot to the middle of the two logs and pull myself up with a couple other, smaller, branches higher up.
I continue to pull myself up the tree until I reach around twenty feet off the ground, finding a particularly comfortable sitting branch.
"How you doing up there?" Ben shouts up.
"Fine thanks." I yell back.
"Right, I'm real sorry for this." He yells up.
"For what? This is fun." I look up to the darkening sky.
"It wasn't my idea, I swear. Minho made me do it!" Ben yelled back up.
"Dude! You weren't supposed to tell her that I made you do it!" I hear Minho's voice join in.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" I shout at Ben.
"I lured you out here so that Minho could talk to you." Ben says looking down at the grass below him.
"Come on! I thought you were okay! You're telling me this was a trap?" I yell at him.
"Maybe," He smiles up at me and then spins around and runs away.
"Hey! Come back here! I'm not done with you!" I yell after him.
I start to make my way down, when I see a dark figure start climbing up.
"You did not just trap me!" I yell at the figure.
"Just a little bit." I see Minho in the dim light; he's smiling his smug little smile.
"There are other ways." I say, mostly to myself.
I continue to move downwards but stop around seven feet off the ground. Then, I will myself to not look down, and I push myself off the branches and jump to the ground.
I fall with a grunt, luckily I remember to keep my feet straight until impact, then bend my knees to lessen the force. But that doesn't mean it didn't hurt.
I remember my current situation as I hear rustling behind me. I take a chance and look over my shoulder, just as Minho lowers himself to the ground. I turn and then take off ahead of me, subconsciously knowing that I'm going the wrong way.
"Oh come on! This is already hard as it is!" I hear Minho pant behind me.
"Then why don't you give up?!" I shout over my shoulder.
"Cause... Minho... never... gives up." He says between breaths.
"Yeah, right." I laugh.
I keep running, I can tell that the only way that he's not caught up to me, is because I am continuously dodging all the branches and things that come my way, while Minho is being hit by them, therefore he's being slowed down. If it weren't for the optimal setting, he would have caught me along time ago; as I said before I'm not a fast runner.
I realize with dread, that we have reached a clearing. Minho seizes the opportunity and speeds up, finally tackling me to the grass.
"Get off!" I shout in his face as we wrestle on the muddy ground.
"Only if you say please!" He yells back, pinning me to the ground.
"Never!" I yell, I jerk my legs out from under him and he rolls away from me, I quickly gather myself to my feet and move towards him. I stick my foot in his back, and press down, keeping him pinned.
"Second time this week. Really, I thought you'd be smarter about messing with me." I say triumphantly.
"I have said it before and I'll say it again, you're obviously a ninja sent here to make sure we follow the rules." He says, through breaths, struggling to get up.
"What rules?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.
"The unspoken ones..." He stops struggling to wave his hand dramatically.
"Right... So, are you gonna say that girls are better than boys, or am I gonna be here all night?" I ask.
"Guess you're gonna be here all night." He says, going back to struggling to rise.
"I don't think so." I bend down and pull one of his arms behind his back, pinning it in the painful position, which I know I've gone through many times.
"Argh, quit! That hurts like heck!" He shouts.
"Say it!" I say, pulling harder.
"Never!" He yells, stubbornly.
"Say it already!" I half laugh, at his expression, he's pouting like an angry two year old.
"Agh fine! Girls are better than boys!" He yells after a few seconds.
"Thank you." I smile and release him.