Dawn 2

I can hear Ella panting inside the room. Leo is preoccupied with her, as are Sonya and Harriet. Those two girls seem to circle in like hawks, watching and waiting.

I don't know if I'd rather be in there or out here. Ella's screeching is pretty damn awful, not just for my ears either. I feel really bad for her. I let her be a distraction for the Griever, and it got her. Look where that got us. Maybe we are alive, but she might not be in a few days. It's easier to avoid thinking about her just outside the room.

It isn't any better out here though. The girls from the other glade keep staring at me. Their eyes are constantly lingering on me, and the whole thing sends shivers up my spine. Besides, I'm sitting between Teresa and Michelle, and I can't tell if they hate each other, me or they are just as standoffish as usual.

This whole situation is taking a lot of getting used to. Normally I'm fairly chatty, but none of these girls are particularly kind, nor pleasant. It doesn't help that I know no one and feel an imposter in my own skin.

Quite literally actually. The jean jacket the Creators left for me is comfortable. It fits well, and it's something new. There weren't any jean jackets in the Glade. Just plaid shirts, but those days are long behind me now. The Creators took all the plaid away, and all the clothes that made me blend in with the Gladers. Now, I feel unique in this crowd, without anyone wearing the same clothes as me. I'm starting to not feel like a prisoner. It's kind of nice, but also kind of lonely.

"How do we get back to them?" Michelle asks. She's talking about the boys, I think, which is odd. She doesn't like them very much, from what I can tell. All her friends died.

It still hasn't settled in me that we are gone. That Minho is gone. I still haven't told him that I'm pregnant. It feels as though the ground has slipped beneath my feet, my head hit the ground, and I am still too dizzy to recuperate. He can't be gone. He can't be far away.

"You want to go back to those boys?" Teresa asks. "Haven't they tried to kill you, multiple times? Isn't that enough?"

"They've also saved our lives," I retort, glancing up at them.

Teresa shrugs, but Michelle stays still. She neither agrees nor disagrees, which I guess means she is taking Teresa's side. Normally, Michelle is full of snarky comebacks. She picked now to be silent?

"Don't you want to get back to Thomas?" I whisper, glancing over at Teresa.

Ella's screams erupt, and a girl pulls herself to her feet. She stares over at me from across the room.

"Shut her up," It's the same girl who picked the lock to greet us. Her dark curly hair swings when she talks. "Her screaming is going to drive us crazy."

"Sure, we'll just waltz right in and ask her politely," I roll my eyes.

"Don't act like this has nothing to do with you," another girl snorts from across the room. She carefully tosses her black hair over her shoulder. "You chose to put her through the Process."

I stand up, looking between the two of them. "What the shuck are you going off about?"

"She got stung, right?" The second girl asks. "It's the Process."

She's talking about the Changing, I guess.

"What do you mean, 'put her through'?" Teresa leans in, her hand on her waist. She eyes the girl suspiciously. "She just got stung."

The girl freezes. She looks at two girls behind her on the ground, before back at us. Her mouth is slightly agape. "They don't make you do it?"

I am done talking to this girl if she is going to speak in so many weird words, so I turn to one of the only girls I know the name of. Marie, they called her at the meeting. She kept trying to get at Ella early, and she carries penicillin, so I assume that she is their Med-jack. Regardless, she seems to like to offer up information all the time. "What are they talking about?"

Marie takes a second to realise I am talking to her. "The Process? It's when you get stung."

"Happens to everybody in the first month," the first girl jumps back in. "It's how you get accepted to the Glade."

"Seriously?" That's totally jacked. Already, these girls are sadists. No wonder Leo didn't trust them. I've seen people go through the Changing, and I've nearly been killed by those boys. How the shuck do they do that every month, intentionally? They should all be dead, just based on odds.

"What did you see when you changed?" Teresa asks.

Ella screams again, and the first girl moves. Her foot collides with the door, a heavy thud.

"Stuck," she kicks the wall again, this time with less emphasis, and a furrowed brow.

"Would you quit it?" The other girl. "Seriously Rose, you're embarrassing."

Rose rolls her eyes, glancing at the girl across the room. She hides behind her curly brown hair, but I can see her twisted expression. "Thanks Hilde. If you wanted me to quit you could have just asked me too."

Hilde, I guess she's the girl with the long dark hair and the bitter expression. Her face turns sour, her brow furrowing. For a second, I imagine she is going to snap in half. Instead, she crosses her arms tightly over her chest, ignoring the three girls whispering behind her.

It's not simply because she picked the lock on our door that I dislike Rose, but because she seems to be like, unintelligent Michelle. At least now, the ginger beside me can keep her cool. Rose doesn't seem to give us that luxury.

Hilde jumps to her feet, her hair swinging behind her. She's short, but her red cheeks and tightened fist are just as intimidating as any boy I've ever seen. "Thanks Hilde." She mocks Rose's tone, and then a smile plays on her lips. "Funny, Jay said the same thing to me a few nights ago."

All the sounds in the room still, except for the huff of Rose's breathing. Her brown eyes flash for a second. She lunges forward, Michelle sticking out a leg and tripping the girl. Up and moving, Michelle pins the girl to the ground with one foot on the other's back. Her hair hangs down heavily over her, while Rose's arms behind her back, and presses a knee against her ribs.

"Enough," Michelle says carefully. She leans closer to Rose as she says it, but stares into Hilde's deep brown eyes.

Rose's fists ball at her sides, but Michelle has her planted firmly against the ground. Hilde walks over, staring at the girl on the ground. She doesn't quite smile, but she isn't frowning either. She twiddles her thumbs carefully, before tossing her black hair over her shoulder.

"What's on your neck?" Teresa asks, tapping Michelle's shoulder. "It looks like a tattoo."

Michelle lets go of Rose, lifting her hand up to her own neck. She looks at her fingertips after wiping her neck, but there isn't any smear across them. I move over, shifting her red hair off her neck. She doesn't stop me, which surprises me. The words on her neck, stamped in dark black ink, surprise me more.

Property of WICKED. Group A, Subject A59. The Hermit.

"They tattooed you," I tell her, my hands leaving her neck. She turns around to face me, putting her hand back up to her neck. "WICKED."

"WICKED?" Marie asks from across the room. "Like, the Creators, WICKED?"

Michelle moves away from me, continuing to rub her neck. It seems permanent. Subject A59. How many of us were there originally? We've gone down to 25 now.

"You have one too," Teresa points to Rose.

Rose gets up, backing away from us. "What do you mean?"

"We've been branded," Michelle turns around. "We're all branded."

The girls in the room break out into chatter. They begin to grab at each other, pulling them around to read the words on their necks. Everyone is covered in black ink.

I knock on the door behind us. "Lee."

From inside I hear shuffling, and the door clicks and swings open. Leo, with her hair spread about her head in a messy bun, turns to look at me. Shortly behind her are Sonya and Harriet, peering out.

"Can this wait?" Harriet asks.

I ignore her, grabbing Leo and turning her around. I flick down the collar of her shirt.

Property of WICKED. Group A, Subject A57. The Anchor.

"You've got one too," I say, recoiling from Leo.

"One what?" She turns around, rubbing the back of her neck. She looks at her hand but lowers it. She notices the commotion behind me, turning back to Harriet. "What's going on?"

"They tattooed you sticks," Harriet looks around at us. "How didn't you notice?"

"They got us too," Hilde leans into the doorway. "They got Rose. Property of Wicked. Group B, Subject 7. The Cinder."

Harriet turns to Sonya, gesturing for the girl to turn around. She looks for herself, reading the black words etched on Sonya's neck, running her hands along each letter individual. She takes her time to think, slowly and steadily.

"What am I?" Michelle asks, pushing past Hilde into the room.

"The Hermit," I answer, before turning to Leo. "And you're the Anchor."

I glance over, trying to catch a glimpse of Teresa's. Her hand flies up to her own neck, defensively. Michelle's eyes widen. Teresa backs away from the doorway, disappearing into the room. Michelle carefully mouths to me. The Betrayer.

"This is a load," Harriet turns towards the door and back to Sonya. With every move, her dreadlocks whip around her. It doesn't seem to bother her though, but the thick strands keep me from seeing her brand. "When would they have tattooed us?"

"They drugged us last night," Leo offers. "I only noticed because Ella kept me awake. They could've drugged you too."

Everyone begins speaking all at once, but that's fair. No one particularly likes being drugged. Maybe that didn't even drink in their Glade. It would suck if these shanks didn't know how to party, even a little bit. Ignoring the fight between the leaders, I move into the hall. Michelle follows just behind me.

"How did these barbaric chicks survive?" I move against the wall, watching the girls rush around.

She scoffs, looking around. "It's the barbarism that let so many survive."

She offers nothing else afterwards, instead standing and staring at the girls. They continue to fuss over each other and try to read their necks. I guess I would want to know everyone's too, if I was with my friends. I wonder who Minho would be. Maybe the soul, or the fire, or whatever. I don't really get what these names mean. How is someone supposed to be an anchor?

"You're the Cold."

"You're the Leader."

"Quit messing around, I know I am not the Load."

Their mouths move rapidly, spitting out klunk. I don't really want to pay the tattoos any mind, since it's probably WICKED just screwing with us again, but my stomach burns with questions anyway. Dealing with WICKED isn't a game, and it hasn't really ever been. These titles could be just as stupid as the name they assigned me, or they could mean so much more. I don't want to think either is true.

"You want to know your title?" Michelle leans over, asking carefully.

I guess it couldn't hurt. Worst comes to worse, it says I'm the mom and then I'm going to have an awkward conversation. Instead of worrying, I nod carefully, turning my neck.

Michelle's fingers lift my hair, glancing only for a second. I turn back to face her, but she isn't looking at her. Her ginger hair surrounds her, so I can't see what she's staring at. I bet she is just observing the chaos. This probably feels like she is right at home.

"You're the Roots," she offers, a smirk on her lips.

The Roots? What the shuck is that supposed to mean? I get the Hermit, because Michelle has no home, and the Anchor, since Leo tethers us to the ground, but not the Roots. Isn't that the same as an anchor? Seems like a bunch of klunk.

"These shanks are going to be a pain," I roll my eyes, turning to face Michelle.

She turns back to stare at me and shakes her head back and forth.

"Nah, they are sticks now," she gestures to the group, before patting her hand on the wall. "That's what they say instead of shank, anyway. Welcome to the big leagues."

She disappears into the crowd, and I expect her to start a fight, but from what I can tell she doesn't. Everyone seems to be settling down a bit, which is at least a relief. I don't want to deal with them any longer than I must. I already know five names, and that's too many.

Minho should be here. He would know what to do, and I would tell him I'm pregnant, like I've promised myself I will over and over again, and everything would be fine. Everyone here kind of sucks. At the very least, they are super annoying.

Sonya squeezes through the crowd, pausing next to me. She smiles at me, a smirk on her cheek, before heading over to the centre of the crowd. Okay, so maybe she isn't awful. Like, maybe she is, but I don't get that vibe off of her. She seems nice.

"Already, that's it." Harriet steps in the centre. The girls go silent as she does. "So, we've all got titles and numbers. That's it. WICKED doesn't have anything on us. We aren't stuck. Gotcha?"

I few girls repeat gotcha, and I can tell I'm going to understand my slang but do the best to avoid using it. Already, I can tell it is stupid and poorly thought up. I mean, ours is the same, but it's my home.

"You sticks good?" Harriet repeats. "Because we've got more important loads to worry about."

Like what? Like getting back to our respective people? Because yeah, I'm definitely more than on board with that.

"Like?" Rose demands. She's next to Michelle, leaning against a back wall. When I catch Michelle's eye, she nods. Is she already trying to make alliances? I guess it wouldn't hurt to have friendships, but in this whole Rose vs. Hilde fight, both options seem like the wrong choice. One is explosive and irrational, and the other starts klunk. I don't know why Michelle is trying to buddy up with the pair of them.

"Like," Sonya offers, "we don't have food, and we are only seeming to get water from the taps."

I glance over to Leo, who stands in solidarity with those girls. Great, so I'm already the only girl glader here who doesn't have a buddy. I didn't see this coming. If anything, I have way more friends in the Glade then either of them, no disrespect. Leo is just nervous, and Michelle kind of a nuclear bomb. I didn't think I'd be standing alone.

Then again, my Glade is filled with boys. Not that boys and girls are different, but the boys tended to flock to me to shack me. I don't think most of the girls are thinking about that right now. I mean, if they were, they would already be all cozied up next to me.

"So we starve to death?" Hilde asks.

Leo doesn't answer her and from what I can tell she doesn't know what's going to happen.

"WICKED wouldn't bring us here just to kill us," Teresa offers.

I roll my eyes, spinning to face her. "Really Teresa? Because last I checked, WICKED was more than content watching us get ripped to shreds. Or have you already forgotten about Dave, and Zart, and Joe, and Jeff, and your own shuck boyfriend?"

Teresa's face goes red, and I can hear her muttering under her breath. "Not my shuck boyfriend."

"Zip it," Harriet offers. "We perfectly know what WICKED does. They did it to us too."

I highly doubt that WICKED stood by while she was attacked in the Slammer by a boy but go off I guess.

"We'll figure out what to do in the morning," Sonya offers. "No use panicking until then."

I almost laugh. Seriously? Their policy is not to panic? Have they met Leo?

~~~~~~~~~

This took me way too long to edit.