Dawn's POV

I walked out into the empty hall to meet Jake, but I didn't see him standing anywhere.

"He's waiting outside on the overlook," said a voice from behind me.

I jumped and quickly turned around. I sighed when I realized it was just Corvo. I had forgotten he was there.

Corvo chuckled at my reaction. "He asked me to tell you to meet him out there."

Nodding in response, I was about to turn around when Corvo grabbed my arm. I instantly froze and tensed up.

He smirked at my reaction. "Relax Dawn, I just wanted you to know that Kaiden may seem like he has no soul, but he's really not like that.

"I don't know about that," I mumbled as I thought about his sudden mood swing.

Corvo released my arm and gave me a small smile. "You just need to prove that you're gang material." he explained. " I'll be here if you need anything."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you Corvo."

He chuckled. "Just because I'm one of Kaiden's body guards, doesn't mean i'm a heartless bastard." he said before he added in a whisper. "But don't tell any of the other members that, they think I'm all business."

I smiled bigger at what he was telling me, and I was glad I at least had someone to go to for help.

"Now you better go meet Jake, he's not one to be kept waiting." Corvo said as he gestured towards the end of the hall.

I chuckled as I said a quick goodbye to Corvo and took off jogging down the hall.

When I reached the end, I took a few deep breaths before opening the metal door. I quickly stepped out onto the overlook and shut the door behind me.

Jake was leaning on the railing and I walked up and leaned on the railing next to him.

He looked at me, with no emotion on his face, as he pushed off of the railing and walked towards the stairs. "Are you ready to go down into the dormitory?"

I was confused at his lack of emotion but I nodded anyways.

He started walking down the stairs, but stopped a few steps down, as he sighed and turned to face me.

"Alright Dawn, I can see your confused," he said harshly. "Let me explain."

I nodded, shocked this time. I really needed to work on covering up my emotions, but I was glad he was giving me an explanation.

"You met me outside the gang," He said quietly. "Outside on the streets where you didn't know I had ranking."

I nodded. "Yes that is true."

Jake nodded back. " Therefore, it didn't matter how I acted. However, as leaders within our gang, we may not show emotion."

I understood the part about being on the street and not know he has ranking. He just seemed like another scavenger to me. I didn't get the emotion part.

"Why can't you show any emotion?" I asked cautiously. His warning about asking the wrong questions was still ringing in my ears.

He smirked and I rolled my eyes, knowing what he may be thinking.

His face returned to a serious one again as he explained. "For leaders, showing emotion is weakness. Emotion shows others what we care about, and the things we care about will be used against us." He took a pause and sighed. "As leaders of this gang, we cannot show our weakness, or else we would be putting our entire gang in danger."

I was at a loss for words for his explanation. They gave up showing their emotions for the protection of their gang. Being a leader of the gang must not be an easy job then.

Jake waved his hand and motioned for me to start following him down the stairs.

"I'll explain more on the way down," he grumbled. "Kaiden's watching."

As we started walking down the first flight of stairs, I snuck a glance at the big window to my right, and sure enough, Kaiden was watching us with a smirk on his face.

Even from here, I could see his vibrant blue eyes, and I accidentally caught them, so I quickly looked away and paid attention to where I was going. I could feel his gaze burning into my back as we slowly made our way down to the crater.

"So because of this," Jake started to explain again as he slowed his pace down. "When you are around the other gang members, I will seem heartless, and a black pit of no emotion. And a complete ass most times."

I nodded, and as he turned the corner to walk down another flight of stairs I could see the cocky smirk on his face and it made me wonder what he was thinking about.

We were only a few flights down when Jake took a step onto a platform, and I quickly followed.

He walked to the right a little ways and stopped and faced me. I stopped a little ways away, confused as to what we were doing.

He chuckled. "Dawn you need to get better at hiding you emotions," he said. "We are stopped because I need to finish explaining, Kaiden's not watching anymore."

I mumbled an "I know" before I glanced up to the window, and he was right. Kaiden had disappeared.

"So along with what I said before," he started. "You must not let the other members know how you came to the gang, or that you know me and more about the leaders emotions than anyone else."

I was a little dumbfounded you could say. It didn't quite understand how these other members looked at their leaders. I thought they would know more.

"Wouldn't that be lying to them though? I didn't think that was something I should be doing to the people I should trust with my life." I stated, looking at Jake and waiting for an answer.

He nodded and sighed. "Normally yes, but under these circumstances, we are better off if you just say that you wanted to be apart of this gang because your family was gone, and you needed something else to be loyal to." he suggested. "That way they won't ask questions, and things don't get complicated. Everyone has a secret they don't share. Sometimes, more than one."

Jake trailed off at the end and had a lost look in his eye, and it made me wonder what secret or even secrets he was hiding.

He quickly regained himself and continued. "You will see soon enough how the other members act around us, as you get into the way things work around here." he said while glancing around looking for people. "It'd be best if you start to try and copy them."

Luckily we were still high up enough to where there were barely any people. I'd feel out in the open and almost unsafe if we were any lower.

"That also means that you must answer to Kaiden and myself with Sir. Kaiden will always be referred to as The Boss or Mr. Black. I usually allow all members to refer to me as Jake." He informed me. "Understood?"

"Yes Sir," I replied catching on. I was nervous that I was going to slip up an say something I wasn't supposed to.

Jake smiled at me as he walked past and back on to the stairs. "I think you'll do just fine here Dawn."

* * * *

We had made our way down the rest of the flights of stairs and into the Crater in no time. My curious mind had figured out that there were 30 flights leading from the Crater to Kaiden's office, and that I would soon have to learn and memorize what each was used for.

While making our way through the Crater, I would have lost Jake amongst the swarm of people. However weirdly enough people were moving out of his way making a tunnel for him, right before they stepped back in my path.

"The joys of having power,"I grumbled as I stumbled around people trying to keep up with Jake. I almost wish I knew what that felt like.

Eventually I had caught up and we made out way down a black marbled staircase, into another huge room almost as big as the Crater. The ceiling was made of glass, and the moonlight was mixing with the blue candlelight.

Jake said that they called it Ground Zero, because it connected everything from The Crater, to the dormitories, dining hall, and training floors.

My interest peaked when he had said training floors, but I figured I should keep my mouth shut because I would learn about them later anyways.

Jake had led me through a doorway, and into a less busy hallway.

"These are the temporary dormitories," he explained as he swept his arm around the area.

I glanced around, and there were blue numbered doors lining the hallway walls. The entire ceiling of the hallway was glass just like Ground Zero, and the moon was shining in and giving everything a silver glow.

He led me farther down the hall, and stopped in front of a door marked C3. I smiled knowing that my old apartment was numbered that.

He turned to me but kept a straight face. I realized that this was the start of the heartless and cold Jake I needed to get used to when I was around other people.

"Karla should be inside waiting for you. She will explain everything to you, and give you further instructions on what to do next." he said in an even toned voice.

I shivered at how easy it was for him to not be the person I met out on the streets. I then realized I had to play my part up a bit.

"Thank you Sir." I said while nodding at him and keeping a straight face.

Jake also kept a straight face, but his blue eyes were giving away that he was chuckling inside.

He nodded and started walking away. For the first time I was alone, and It really hit me that I had joined a gang. Not to mention that I already had a secret I had to keep.

Inhaling before exhaling, I then slowly twisted the handle to my temporary dormitory and pushed open the door.

I was surprised when the first thing I saw was a girl with fiery red hair sitting at the table in the middle of the room cleaning a sniper rifle.

Her head turned towards the door and her piercing green eyes met mine as she greeted me. "Hello, Dawn. I've been waiting for you."

She set the sniper rifle down and hopped out of her seat and walked over to me and held her hand out."My names Karla Hunt, and I'm the best damn sniper you'll meet in Gainsville."

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Hey guys! Dawn finally met Karla, the girl with the sniper.

Thank you for reading! I hope you're enjoying the story.

Please consider giving this chapter a vote if you enjoy it! and feel free to leave thoughts or feedback in the comments for me!

Oh! and sorry for the somewhat long wait for an update! My power has been out the past few days frustrating me beyond belief. Hope everything is still just as good!

- Delaney :)