The next morning Qiufeng was awakened by the sounds of boys rising from their hammocks. They were hushed, but the Chinese girl who wasn't yet used to sleeping here was easily awakened. It was a little weird sleeping in a room full of boys, she couldn't really fall asleep in the first few hours after settling in for the night but eventually fatigue took hold of her.

She stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes drowsily, curiously watching the boys pack up their belongings. Yawning, she sat up, startling a few of them before they went back to packing. She assumed these were the Runners. It was pretty easy deducing that from the fact that they weren't there when she arrived yesterday, and only came back at sundown with Minho.

Qiufeng glanced around at the thought of the Korean boy. He was the keeper of the Runners, so he should be up too, but he wasn't around the Homestead and his hammock was empty.

When the boys got up to leave she slowly stood up as well, blanket draped around her and all, and after a moment of hesitation, followed one group of them across the field to the East wall. She felt a little self-conscious of the glances they gave her as they walked along, but didn't say anything. When they reached the large stone doors they stopped right outside, waiting for it to open.

The Chinese girl busied herself by staring upwards and gaping at the looming gates, hugging the blanket close to her body. She had never really seen anything quite like it, it was almost so surreal, to see walls this huge. It was dizzying to look up at them from down where she was, and she struggled to keep her balance in check while stubbornly refusing to tear her eyes away from the top.

"What're you doing here greenie?" A voice from behind her asked and she jumped, almost falling over.

"I- I was just curious." She stammered defensively, turning back to face Minho. "Also my name is Qiufeng if you remember."

"Your name is greenie as long as you're the newest." He smirked. He didn't say anything about her curiosity, as long as she didn't take a step out of those gates he figured.

She frowned, and was about to retort when there was a loud groaning sound. They both glanced upwards to watch the gate slowly pull itself open as did the other three around the glade, making the same cringe inducing grinding noises like yesterday. She peered out even before the door was fully opened, and saw a long pathway down with many other visible paths connected to it. Vines draped across the large stone walls, and ivy flourished everywhere. The Korean looked back at her, slightly amused. "Satisfied?"

"Mm."

"Good that." Minho said as he sent the other boys off first. He glanced up to someone behind her and she looked back to see Alby. They both nodded at each other and Minho turned away from them, running out of sight within seconds. She stared after him, wondering where he was headed to and what was out there.

The dark skinned boy then guided her towards another section of the inner wall that had all the glader's names etched into it. Some were struck out, and it didn't take much to know what happened to them.

Alby handed her a knife. "Qiufeng, was it?" He asked, her name sounding weird in his accent.

She nodded.

"Nick is busy, so I'll be taking you on the tour. Let me tell you a little about the early days..."

Later on after the tour, she was sent off to Winston, Keeper of the Slicers.

"We handle the animals, making sure they have enough water, grooming them, cleaning up their klunk..." Winston threw her a packet of seed as he gestured to the pens. "We'll be feeding them now."

Qiufeng caught it while wondering if the word klunk was what she thought it was, and followed the other to the chicken coop. It didn't take long for her to find out that klunk was exactly what she thought it was. But besides that she didn't mind feeding the animals, and actually got along pretty well with them. The goats were a bit terrifying though, one chewed her sleeve off when she wasn't paying attention.

Towards the end of the day when it seemed like all the hard work was done, Winston beckoned to her to follow him into the barn. "Now, usually an hour before dinner we need to prep the ingredients for Frypan to cook, so for your first time, we'll slaughter a couple of chickens to start." He bent down and picked up one of the chickens that was wandering around the floor by the neck, making it flail and screech in panic.

Oh right. Slicer.

Qiufeng couldn't hide the horror on her face.

"So in the end you didn't?" Newt asked during dinner, amused at the new design of her one sleeved shirt.

"Nope." She shook her head and poked at her food with a fork, the incident earlier had made her lose her appetite.

"You eating that?" Minho who had joined them, gestured to her bowl.

She handed it over without hesitation.

The next day it was time to try out with the Med-Jacks.

Clint was a great mentor, and all she had to do throughout the day was treat small cuts and bruises, mostly from the Slicers or the Builders. Qiufeng was pretty satisfied with herself the whole day, she felt like she could actually be a Med-Jack! Or so she thought.

Just as she was complimenting herself, yells came from outside the door as Minho bust in with an injured runner. "This shank had an accident, I think his shucking leg is broken." He huffed as he set the moaning runner on the bed.

Qiufeng stared at the horrific wound that had flesh hanging off the side and swallowed slowly at the slightly exposed bone, becoming aware of a fear she didn't know she had. But it was okay, she could still handle this. She could still handle this.

"I've got the numbing solution!" Clint yelled and settled beside her.

Okay, it's just numbing medication, she could apply it no problem. Blood and flesh? No problem, she could just wash her hands later an-

"Right, inject the numbing solution to numb the pain, I'll guide you." Clint said, pointing a needle upwards and checking if it was working. He turned to the girl and held out the syringe. She felt her stomach turn at the sight of the tiny needle and she froze.

Qiufeng went pale.

"You passed out?" Newt burst out laughing along with Minho who was relaying the story.

"Shut it." The girl growled as she handed her share of dinner over to Minho, who seemed to be laughing too hard to eat.

"Heard you had a rough time over the past few days."

Qiufeng glanced up wearily to look at her teacher for the day. "Don't even talk about it."

Frypan laughed as he handed her a cutting board and pointed to some garlic hanging over a shelf. "You'll be okay with garlic right?"

The girl nodded and got to work. She washed vegetables and meat, chopped them and seasoned them for Frypan to cook. The dark skinned boy almost seemed impressed when she took over the stove for a while when he needed to take a drink of water. To be honest she herself was surprised that she turned out to be decent in the kitchen, she was expecting herself to burn water, faint at the sight of raw meat or at least something bad to happen gauging from the past few incidents over the last two days.

"Do you want to work in the kitchens?" He asked at the end of the day when they were done prepping dinner.

Qiufeng's eyes widened but she quickly nodded.

"You're a cook?" Newt raised an eyebrow, and Minho choked on his dinner.

"Well, it isn't official, but everyone can probably tell I'm better at being a cook rather than a slicer or a med-jack." Qiufeng gave a quick glare to the Korean boy, before smiling. She took off her apron and joined the other two for a proper meal, finally.

Meanwhile, both Minho and Newt mentally reminded themselves not to laugh so hard at her again, lest she poison their food.

AN: Trivia time! I actually struggled with the decision of giving Qiufeng a job between the three above.

Which one did you guys think she would be? xD

Do consider leaving a review if you've enjoyed this chapter! ^^