❤︎ |2| The Tour

    The blonde and the brunette walked into the gathering room to see Alby and Minho talking about their current predicament.

    Alby noticed them first and looked at his second in command. "You do realize that she has to do it right?" He then looked at Andréa with a sorrowful look. "I really am sorry about this Andréa but we need you to do this. Do you know what that paper meant by the doors not closing at night? You don't. And that's an okay response but you should know what it means. So come with me."

    She glanced up at Newt before quickly following after the leader, leaving the two boys behind.

    Andréa suddenly stopped in her tracks when a loud noise sounded all around her. She let out an almost inaudible, "wha..." as she watched large concrete doors close. The field being closed off from whatever lay beyond the ivy covered walls.

      "These walls?" Alby started off as he turned to look at her and away from the walls. "They close every night and open ever morning at the same time. They protect us from what horrors crawl around at night."

      "What's out there?" She asked worriedly.

      "Grievers."

      "What the hell are grievers?"

      "They're ugly little buggers and they're something you do not want to come across."

      "How do you know?"

      "One of us was unfortunate enough to get attacked by one. Long ago. He didn't make it. Which is why you need to do this. These walls keep us safe while we sleep. And we need those supplies to live." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "We need you Andréa. I would never force this on you any other time but this is crucial for our survival."

    Andréa nodded her head. She knew this was her life. If she was to survive; if any of them were to survive she had to do this.

      "Can we go inside now?"

    Alby nodded his head and took his hand off her. "I think that'd be good. And I'll get Newt to give you a bed to sleep on tonight."

    The two started across the field and towards the area where the boys slept.

    Hammocks. Just hammocks hung on trees.

      "We will get you something so you can have privacy." Alby assured the girl. "You won't be sleeping out here with us for long."

   Andréa let out a quiet breath but her attention found its way to a group of boys sitting around a fire, talking and laughing.

      "Do they know?" She asked, catching the leaders attention. "Do the boys know what the paper said?"

      "No. Not yet. I was planning on telling them after your tour with Newt." Alby noticed the look of distress on her face and frowned. "You don't need to worry about them. Newt, Minho, and I will keep you safe. No one would dare touch you unless you. Uh..."

     Andréa chuckled despite herself. "I get it." She cleared her throat before asking, "where's Newt?"

      "I'll go get him. Stay right here for just a moment."

***

     After a few minutes, alone a small kid with chubby cheeks and a mile-wide grin walked up to her. His smile seemed contagious as one lifted onto the older girls face. He looked around thirteen and a lot more free going then the rest of the boys here.

      "I'm Chuck." He introduced himself while adjusting the pack he had slung over one shoulder. "You look a little lost. Are you lost?"

      "Hi Chuck. I'm Andréa. And no. I'm not lost. Just waiting on Alby and Newt."

      "Oh okay. Well I'll wait here with you."

      "Tell me about yourself Chuck."

      "I'm thirteen. I'm the last one to come up here before you. My favorite food is this special chicken that the cook makes. And...that's about all."

    Andréa laughed. "Interesting."

      "Is everything okay?" Newt asked walking over to the duo.

      "Yeah. Chuck was just keeping me some company until you came." She replied.

       "Okay. Well I'm here now and I can show you where you are going to sleep and answer some questions."

     Andréa waved bye to Chuck as Newt lead her through the hammocks. "Doesn't it get cold?" She asked curiously.

      "You bet. But we bundle up to the best of our abilities." He stopped near an area where hammocks were vacant. "Alby and I sleep around here. You can choose one and we'll be here to make sure no one goes near you."

      "Thank you." She smiled at him. She untied her green jacket and threw it on the closest hammock near the two boys. Her stomach growled and she turned a shade of red in embarrassment.

      Newt chuckled causing her to turn an even brighter shade. "We can get food. Dinner should be ready by now."

       "Good because I'm starving." She admitted before following him to a place where food steam rose. It seemed to be a makeshift food cart made of wood mud and stones.

      "Two bowls Fry," Newt said to a dark-skinned boy with a hair net over his head and a dirty apron.

    Frypan handed over two bowls, one larger then the other. Andréa got the larger once considering she was the greenie. He smiled at the girl watching as her face lit up at the smell of the food he made specially for her.

      "It smells so good Fry." She praised him, looking down at the stew the contained, beef, carrots, peas, and broth.

      "I appreciate it. Now if you'd kindly move along."

    Andréa smiled one last time before following Newt to a log where they could eat.

    The girl scarfed down her food as if she had been deprived of food for weeks. Newt laughed when she finished and he was barely half way done with his bowl of stew.

      "Would you like the rest of mine?" He asked.

      "I can't." She shook her head. "You need to eat too."

      "You need it more than I do." He held out the bowl for her. "Here."

    Andréa looked into his brown eyes and saw that he really didn't mind if she had his bowl.

      "Thank you." She gave him a soft smile while taking the bowl.

***

    Newt had given her some of the supplies WCKD sent up for her which contained hair ties and a soft blanket. One the boys had never gotten. Whoever gave this to her obviously cared for her.

    She slept soundly and had no trouble with any of the boys.

    Well it was soundless until a voice filtered through her drowsy mind.

      "I don't want to lose you." A young male voice echoed.       "I don't wanna lose you either." A young female voice replied. "Just...stay strong bubba. I'll always love you. Even if I don't remember it."

      "Help her!" An older male sounding voice replaced the last. "No! Please! Please..."

      "It never gets easier." An older female voice echoed.

      "I miss him T." Came the response of another girl.

      "I love you." The voice of the second girl echoed but this time in a different tone.

      "Forever." A different male voice replied.

    Andréa shot up in her bed, breathing heavily, sweat beating her head. She thought over the dreams but they just seemed to get hazier the more she thought.

      "You're up." Andréa's hazel eyes shot over to Newt who had two trays of food. "Good. Saves me from having to wake you." He handed her a plate as she sat up from her hammock. "Sunny side up eggs with bacon. I think Fry likes you." Newt smiled. "This is his best stuff."

     Andréa chuckled. "Well that's good for me then."

      "So after we're done eating I can give you the tour. The boys should be at work and then we'll do the meeting, then lunch, then to work again where you will try a job then we'll have a celebration during dinner. Sound good?" He asked cutting into his scrambled eggs with his plastic spork.

      "Sure." She shrugged digging into her food. She set her spork down when a thought popped into her head. "Are there any showers here?"

      "Are you suggesting something?" He asked with a mock offended look which caused a giggle to escape her lips and he smiled at the heavenly sound.

      "No. I would never." She teased as she pinched her nose together and waving a hand in front of her face.

     Newt shook his head in amusement. "Yes. We do have showers. You can take one after the tour and before lunch."

      "Thank goodness."

***

    After breakfast Newt showed her where everything was. He even pointed out the obvious.

    First he started with the dining area where some logs are and the makeshift kitchen cart. Then he lead her to the gardens where people were starting to work. Then the Med-Jacks hut where she woke up. Then if needed the mapping room for the Runners. Then to the slaughter house where the Butchers worked. Then the farm area where the animals were taken care of before their demise. Then to the dreaded place, the dead heads which was another word for the graveyard. She sent a silent prayer for those who passed before he showed her to the hammocks.

    Throughout the tour Andréa noticed that no one gave them any problem or even really looked at them. They were either to busy or Newt was giving them this look that said try it and you'd end up in the dead heads.

    Eventually he brought her to the tree house like thing where he allowed her to ask all the questions that she has been dying to know.

      "What is this place?" She asked as her first question. Her legs dangled over the edge and her head rest on her hands while her hands were leaning on a horizontal piece of wood.

      "Out there." He pointed star the walls but she understood he meant beyond that. "It's a maze. It's what we think could lead to our freedom. The place you came out of was the box. It's what gives us our supplies every week and a greenie every month. The Glade is here, where we work, eat, sleep, play, etc."

      "Do you know why we're here?" She asked.

    Newt shook his head softly. "No. Not a bloody clue on who sent us here, why the sent us, where they sent us, or how the sent us. We just know some people sent us here and keep us living. And they placed those grievers out there to stop us. Though we have Runners go out everyday to calculate the maze."

      "Speaking of Runners what are all the jobs?"

      "We have Builders, they build things obviously. The Bricknicks, they are like Builders but they usually repair stuff instead of building. The Sloppers, they do the dirty work meaning clean the bathrooms, wash the dishes, take out the trash things like that. The Baggers, they take care of the dead bodies. The Cooks, who prepare the meals. The Track-hoes, they work in the gardens. The Med-Jacks, they are our doctors. The Slicers, they prepare the meat and take care of the animals. And lastly the Runners. The ones who go out there."

    Andréa let out a small, "wow..." before looking at him. "And what do you do?"

      "I am second-in-command. Though I use to be a Runner." He revealed. A look past through his eyes. A look that Andréa couldn't decipher.

      "What happened?" She asked.

      "Got hurt." He brushed off. "Haven't you noticed my slight limp?"

    The hazel-eyed girl shook her head. "Not really."

      "Well that's why I can't be a Runner. Not that I miss it." His arms hung over the horizontal piece of wood just dangling there.

      "What will I be?" She asked curiously. She didn't want to be a Slopper or even Slicer but anything else seemed fine.

    Newt tucked in one of his legs and turned to face her, his arms now at his sides. "Well that depends on your...state."

    Andréa pursed her lips knowing he meant the whole pregnancy thing. "Right."

      "I really need to ask. Are you...are you going to do it?"

      "I don't know, Newt." She replied as she brought her legs in and curled her legs to her chest. Newt moved over to her and slung an arm around her. She instinctively placed her head on his shoulder and felt better. Safer. "I don't want to but I don't want to be responsible for everyone's death. And I really don't want to die." Images of death floated through head head and she shook them away. "I can't not do it."

      "It wouldn't be your fault." Newt disagreed. "It would be the Creators for putting us in this situation."

Andewt? Neréa? Lol.