The rest of breakfast was terrible. Newt and Alby kept pestering me for details of who said what. I was done with this conversation. When Minho glanced at his watch and stood up, I got up with him. We slowly walked over to the doors.

"Have you thought about my offer?"

"I have. A lot. I'll give you an answer at supper. Good that?" I said, watching the ground.

"Ya know if you suck at it I can always fire you...I know you enjoy the kitchen with Fry and Vinny. They're good guys."

"Thank you Min. Your a good guy."

He raised an eyebrow, "You got some emotions behind that right hook!"

"Sorry, I tripped and fell into some feelings, I'll go wash it off." I rolled my eyes.

He chuckled. We had made it to the doors, where a blond kid was waiting. He was tall and skinny, he had watery blue eyes, but a kind smile.

"Charlie, this is Ben. Ben officially meet Charlie. Or Tiger." Minho swept an arm out towards me.

Ben held out a hand, and smiled.

"Nice to officially meet you. A little late, but welcome to the Glade."

I shook his hand and nodded. I let go and shoved my hands into my back pockets. I felt the familiar rumble of the walls, as the doors slid open.

"Well. Run Fast. Run Safe." I gave him a tight lipped smile

Minho grinned and held a hand up for a high five, which I slapped. Ben held a hand up hoping for one, I hesitated, but slapped his hand as well. He had been polite.

"See you at supper Min. Ben." I nodded.

"Don't pull your punches Tiger. Be safe."

He nodded and together the boys turned and jogged into the maze. I watched them go further and further into the gloom. What would it be like to run those maze halls? Be lone away from the comments and eyes, away from the uncomfortable crowds. It sounded amazing. But the words from breakfast slithered into my mind, 'you don't know what your joking about, talking about Grievers.' But what did Gally know? He was stung, but he wasn't a runner...how did he end up getting stung? No one ever said they came into the Glade. I furrowed my eyebrows. Something didn't add up. I was standing and staring into the hall when a hand grabbed my shoulder.

I shrieked, and spun around, a fist going into the kids stomach. He crumpled to the ground in a groan and moan.

"Oh shuck! Fred! Oh Shuck!" I yelped, I dropped to my knees, "I'm so sorry! Fred! Are you okay?"

He lay on his back, holding his stomach, trying to get his breath back. He held up a finger, to indicate he needed a second. I sat back on my heels waiting for him to prop himself up on his elbows.

"Note to self. Do NOT walk up behind you! Shuck it woman!"

He rubbed his stomach. I gave him a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry Fred!"

"You better hope Gally didn't see that!"

He gave me a cheeky smile. I rolled my eyes.

"Though after you steamrolled him at breakfast, I think he's gonna lay low for a bit." He chuckled.

I stood up and held out a hand, hulling him up.

"I was supposed to come get you and bring you to Jeff."

_______________________________________________

I sat on the bed in the MedHut, Clint was standing outside the door, making sure no one would walk in, while Jeff checked my ribs.

"How are they feeling?" He asked as he poked around a bit.

I shrugged. The bruising was now an ugly yellow brown. Though the first few days it was an intense black blue and purple.

"It's still sore, but I can move without hissing. I don't think I'll be lifting anything for a bit. If I sleep on that side I can defiantly feel it!"

He nodded, "Okay, we will keep it wrapped and ice it in the evenings. Light duties for another 2 weeks. But it looks like it's healing quite well."

He proceeded to wrap my rips again. Once he was done I slipped my shirt back on. He went to open the door for Clint.

"Okay, now Charlie, your here for the day. We'll get you to help out as much as you can. We'll show you what to do as they come in." Jeff said as he was cleaning up the area.

I nodded.

"We get mostly builders and slicers. The odd time a cook- though that's rare. The odd time a runner if they get heat stroke or rolled an ankle. Very rarely we've had any major trauma."

"What about...being stung?" I asked hesitantly.

Both boys head snapped up, and eyed me. I rolled my eyes, huffing and crossed my arms.

"Guys, come on. I ain't stupid. And I ain't scared. Just tell me straight." I snapped.

Clint held his hands up in defense, "Okay Snips, Okay."

"At the beginning sure, happened a lot more often. But I got here right at the tail end of those days. I was here nine months ago, and Clint was seven months ago. You've been here almost a month, Snips, sheish!" Jeff said, leaning against the table.

"Anyways, yeah, only saw one guy go through the changing." Clint added, running a dustpan hand through his hair.

"Gally." I offered.

"Gally." Clint nodded, "It was a nasty thing to see. Makes the shank look like a monster, they scream and thrash and wither like their in pain. And then...they slowly come back to themselves-"

"-if they get the grief serum in time." Jeff cut in.

"But then they wake up, tired cranky and..different."

I just nodded, same information Fry and Newt had said. No new information, my decision was swaying to the one side. It was a risk. But then everything Newt said about the pressure and how hard it was jumped into my mind, I could hear his voice and how haunted and sad it was when he explained it the first night by the fire. I hadn't brought up the subject with anyone. Worried that they would scoff at me thinking I couldn't do it because I'm a girl or try and persuade me to change my mind, with how dangerous it was.

"Can I ask another question?"

Jeff slowly nodded, unsure where this was going. Clint raised an eyebrow, folding his huge arms.

"Gally was stung what.. three four months ago?"

Both boys nodded.

"Okay. Do the Grievers ever come into the Glade?"

"No. Never. They don't come inside, its weird. They come out at night. However Runners have claimed they catch glimpses of one every once in a while. So they must roam the halls, just not as often or as numerous."

I nodded, this confirmed what I already knew.

"Okay. And Gally has always been a thick skulled Builder, ya?"

Both boys nodded, they had knowing smirks on their faces. They knew where this was going, they figured it out.

"Then that just leaves one option then!" I whispered to myself as all the pieces fell together.

I looked up to the guys. "Gally went outside the shucken walls, didn't he?"

Both boys nodded in unison.

"No idea what went through the shanks head, but the doors had just opened, and he booked it inside. Some of this builder crew saw him, and went to get Minho and Alby. They found him around the first corner, just as the Griever rounded the corner out of sight. They hulled him out and to us." Jeff explained.

"That shucken hypocrite! The two faced lying slint head!" I jumped off the bed and stormed up and down the MedHut swearing and cursing.

The boys sighed.

_____________________________________________

My day as a MedJack went as I expected.

The few slicers that came in Clint showed me how to clean and stitch the cut. It didn't make me as squeamish as I expected, but my bedside manner was terrible. The slicers had a bit more respect for me, Winston had vouched for me and I had worked with them my second day and they seemed like half decent guys.

It was the bricknicks and builders that made keeping my composure very hard. They were sneaky about it too. It was only when Jeff or Clint had stepped away, they would nutter it under their breath.

"Keep those skanky hore hands to yourself."

"I think I need it kissed better, hey sweetheart."

"How many guys have you been through so far? Just banging the whole Glade? When's it my turn?"

I kept my head down and yanked on this guys stitches. Jeff and Clint were at the back of the room, at the shelf, going through the supplies. He leaned in, keeping his eyes on the MedJacks, he whispered in my ear what he wanted to do. I had enough, I couldn't do it.

I stood up so fast he jumped, making him fall backwards, I spun away making the chair go flying.

Jeff and Clint spun towards the ruckus and came hurrying over as I stormed towards them and the door.

"I'm done." I spat through gritted teeth. And stormed out of the door. Jeff and Clint followed me.

"Wait! Charlie! Wait! What happened?"

"Jeff. Clint. You guys are great. Seriously, thank you for treating me like a human who has a brain, but I can't do this. But I can't do this if I'm going to have to deal with jackasses waiting for an opening to sexually harassing me, to degrade me to just my body parts!" I raged.

I could feel the angry tears rising. I felt hot and angry. Clint's eyes narrowed, and I could see his shoulders tense up. He spun around and slammed the door open.

"Hey slint head!" He yelled.

There was some banging around and some yelling, and then the door flew open and Clint came storming out, dragging the builder with him.

"Jeff? Would you mind getting Gally? He's this guy's Keeper."

Jeff nodded, a solum look on his face, he spun around on his heel and hurried off to get Gally. Clint looked furious, and the guy looked worried, he was stuck in a weird half Nelson, he wasn't going to wiggle out of Clint's iron grip.

"Please stay a moment Charlie." He said.

I crossed my arms, slight ammused at the situation. A few minutes later, Jeff came back, Gally, Alby and Newt following him.

"What's going on Clint?" Alby asked.

Gally didn't even acknowledge that I was there. His eyes on Clint and his crewman. All the guys folded their arms.

"Well, this Nasty Shuck has something to say." Clint said calmly.

The guy said nothing. But his eyes were downcast.

"Want to repeat what you said to our MedJack?" Clint growled.

The guy shook his head.

"Why not? You thought it was okay to whisper it to Charlie. Why not whisper it to Alby? Or Newt? How about Gally?" Clint growled again, tightening how hold on the guys neck.

"Why don't you get into Gally's personal space and whisper what you said to him?"

Gally and Alby both frowned even deeper, there was a fire in their eyes. Newt looked absolutely disgusted.

"I don't want to..." He whispered.

"Hmm. You had the cockiness just a moment ago, and you told me, why not then?"

Clint threw the guy onto the ground by Alby, Newt, Jeff and Gally's feet. The guy scrambled to his feet, slightly dishevelled. By this time there was a slight crowd, all circling around us.

"That's too bad because I will repeat it. He said. And I quote. I would like to shove my-"

Alby held up a hand, and shook his head.

"I don't want to hear it. I get the gist."

All the guys had stepped back in disgust. My blood was boiling. I was so angry, so disgusted and hurt. Alby couldn't even handle one comment and I get them thrown at me every day all day.

"Why Alby?" I hissed, rounding on Alby. "I had to hear it. Why can't you?"

He opened his mouth, but closed it again, all of them were looking either at the ground their feet or somewhere else.

"Look at me!" I demanded.

They all sheepishly looked up. Gally caught my eye and quickly glanced away. He couldn't maintain my eye contact. I couldn't read the emotions flickering his eyes, but he kept shifting back and forth, and run a hand through his wavy bling hair. Was he nervous? Is the big bad Gally experiencing guilt?

"How is that equality? He doesn't go around telling other guys he wants to tie them up, rough 'em up, until they beg for mercy, or for him to finally ride 'em until they scream."

The guys all blanched. There were a few sharp intakes of breath from the peanut gallery around us. Gally's head snapped up, his face went from red to white back to red. His eyes looked murderous.

"So if he can go around sayin' that shit to me, he should say it to other Gladers. Or am I not a Glader? Gally? Am I an equal or not?"

Gally glanced at me, quickly made eye contact and curtly nodded his head.

"And another thing, how come I have to sit all calm and listen to shit like that? How come I'm not allowed to respond and hit the jackass but Clint is allowed to half Nelson him and throw him to the floor?" I snapped.

I paused and turned to look back at Clint.

"Clint I don't mean to throw you under the bus. Just making a point here. Seems like there isn't equality in these shuck rules."

"None taken Charlie. You make a great point." Clint said evenly.

Newt turned to look at Alby and Gally, an eyebrow raised, his arms crossed.

"Slammer. Two full days, no food." Gally growled.

He was looking at the guy, like he stepped in Griever poop. The guy looked up glaring.

Gally looked around the crowd, glaring. Alby stepped forward and turned to look at each guy.

"He's a lesson. If any of the Keepers hear about klunk like this again it'll be two days in the slammer no food and a demotion to laundry duty. Understood? I'll make an announcement at supper!"

"Get back to work! NOW!" Newt roared.

Everyone scurried off. Alby and Newt came over to me Jeff and Clint, arms folded and scowls on their faces.

"Charlie, are you okay?" Newt asked, placing a hand on my arm and squeezing it gently.

I snorted. Alby ran a hand down his face.

"This is a lot harder then I expected."

"Let me slam my fist into anyone who says klunk and I'm sure it'll stop." I shrugged.

Alby froze and looked at me thoughtfully. And grunted, "It might come down to that Snips."

"Let me know when you decide."

"Well I'm going to assume you're done with MedJack?" Jeff asked, disappointed.

"Well is there anything I can do that doesn't involve me interacting with most of the idiots around here?"

"Well...we could use your help to go through the supplies making a list and organizing the new supplies."

"Sure, Jeff. I can do that." I gave him a smile.

"Also, Clint?"

The big buldozer of a boy turned, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Thank you. For what you did."

He smiled gently at me, "nothing I wouldn't have done for anyone else."

I smiled at him and Jeff again. Another two guys I could add to the list of Gladers I could trust.

_____________________________________________

**Oooo. She rips Gal a new one!**
**Shuck I love Clint! 💖**