Chapter Text
When you finally came to, you were lying on a bed, the ground no longer spinning. Suddenly, the memories of where you were came flooding back, panic rapidly beginning to set in, as you abruptly sat up to take in your surroundings. You were in a small hut constructed of primarily wood, miscellaneous medical supplies scattering the tables, the warm morning sun filtering through the gaps in the walls.
“I must’ve been out all night ” you thought to yourself, unfortunately recognizing the painful feeling prodding at your empty stomach, not too pleased that you hadn’t eaten since you arrived.
“Oh you’re awake! How are you feeling?” came an unknown voice to your right, your eyes snapping to observe the boy approaching your bed. He was dark skinned, rather tall with cropped black hair and a skinny, yet toned build. Above all else, you noticed his face wearing a concerned look, as he sat next to you, awaiting your response.
You simply look at the boy, no words finding your lips. Your eyes scanned him before returning to examine the bed you were sitting on, a not so soft mattress beneath you and a single pillow at the head of it. You return your gaze to the boy silently sitting next to you, your mind drawing a blank at his question, too busy trying to make sense of everything that’s happened.
“Why don’t I introduce myself first,” he chuckles, attempting a more casual approach, “I’m Jeff, one of the glades med jacks. Which just means I make sure everyone stays healthy and patched up.” he explains, quickly adding the explanation after noticing the confused expression making its way onto your face.
“Med jack? Where have I heard that?” you racked your memory till it hit you, that was what one of the boxes in the crate had been labeled. “ Okay, so that stupid metal box brings up supplies for them. ”
“I’m…” you start before the realization hits you like a train, you don’t remember your name, or anything for that matter. “I can’t remember.” you quietly say, more so to yourself than to Jeff, a pit forming in your stomach.
“It’s ok, greenie, you’ll remember it soon enough, it’s the one thing the creators let us keep.'' Jeff responds, the ghost of a smile appearing on his lips before he adds, “now, how are you feeling? You took quite the fall out there, had Gally more worked up than I’ve ever seen him. Took a lot of convincing to get him to leave you here.”
Gally, that name feels familiar, but why? Then it clicks, he was the only boy who succeeded at getting you out of that dreadful box, that is, until your exhaustion and fear won the harsh battle you’d been fighting since you arrived, and your legs gave out on you. The last thing you remember is someone picking you up, his big arms holding you tight to his chest, the warmth of his body lulling you to much needed sleep. You feel your face heat up at the memory, earning a worried look from Jeff.
“I feel better.” you say as Jeff reaches to feel your forehead, trying to gauge your temperature. He reluctantly withdraws his hand, looking out of a nearby window as you hear a voice exclaim, “Breakfast!” before the sound of 50 boys excitedly making their way towards the voice reminds you of just how outnumbered you are.
“Feel better enough to eat breakfast? You should get some food in your system, you’ve got a busy day ahead of you.” Jeff asks, getting up to put away some medical supplies before walking back over to you. “Plus, I’m sure Gally would like to know you’re up and on your feet.”
Food does sound heavenly right now, so despite your mind hating the idea of being perceived by so many strangers, you simply nod at Jeff. You felt nauseous, unable to tell if it was from hunger or anxiety, more than likely a mix of both. Your legs were less eager to carry you, slightly shaking as you lowered yourself off the bed onto the dirt floor.
“Speak of the devil!” you hear Jeff exclaim, your head jolting up to locate whoever that was directed to, only to make eye contact with none other than Gally. He was standing in the door frame, arms crossed against his chest, his serious expression softening at the sight of you. “If you’re here to check up on the greenie, she’s awake, as you can see, and doing much better. In fact, I was about to take her breakfast, but since you’re here would you mind doing that for me? I still need to put some stuff up and fix this bed before the day fully starts.”
“Oh, uh yeah, sure,” Gally obliges, reluctantly taking his eyes off you to look at Jeff, “she doesn’t have a concussion or anything, does she? She hit her head pretty hard when she fell.”
“Not from what I can tell, but if you notice anything,” Jeff turns to you, indicating this goes for you too, “let me know and I’ll do another checkup. Now take her to breakfast before it gets picked over, she could use the fuel.” he adds before turning to the box you recognized from the metal crate that brought you up.
“Follow me, greenie” Gally ordered, making his way out of the med shack, not checking to see if you were behind him.
By this point, your legs had begun to get used to your weight and were no longer putting up a fight, much to your relief. You hastily made your way out of the small building, your eyes examining every inch of the big open field you found yourself in. Multiple buildings, similar to the one you just emerged from, were scattered across the green area, no one accompanying them at the moment. Your face dropped upon realizing you hadn’t dreamt up the enormous stone walls blocking you into this completely foreign place.
You were so busy trying to get a grasp on where you were, you hadn’t noticed you’d stopped walking entirely, that is until you heard Gally’s tired voice call for you to keep moving, dragging you back to reality. Reluctantly you tear your eyes from the walls to look at him, he was standing a good few feet away from you, an unreadable look on his face as he waited for you to join his side.
“Sorry”, you mutter, as you both resume walking towards a building much bigger than the rest. As you get closer, you can hear loud chattering coming from inside, the sound making your heart drop to your stomach. You were terrified of being in front of so many eyes at once, not knowing what to expect upon entering, that nauseous feeling more prominent than ever.
Gally, seemingly picking up on this, stopped right in front of the door, turning to you. “Just stay by me and you shouldn’t have to worry about any shanks doing something stupid, okay?”, he assured you, his voice soft but stern.
“Okay”, you managed to get out, barely above a whisper. With that, Gally turned and made his way into the building, your small frame following close behind. The mouth watering smell of bacon and eggs practically smacks you in the face the second you step foot into the large dining hall of sorts, a line of boys eagerly waiting to be served their portion, the rest sat at several tables, talking amongst themselves. Your joy was short-lived as the entire room went quiet upon your entrance, every pair of eyes locked on you, some of innocent curiosity, the rest on you, just as they had been when you first arrived, like a piece of meat for the taking. Without a second thought, you shift to hide yourself behind Gally's tall frame, a hand reaching up to take a hold of the hem of his shirt, wishing you could disappear in that moment.
“What are you ugly shanks looking at?” Gally hollered at the crowd, an assertive tone you hadn’t heard out of him before now. Within an instant, the boys begrudgingly tore their eyes off you and returned to their conversations. “You okay?” Gally asked, turning to face you, a hint of genuine concern in his voice.
“Yeah...thank you” you breathed, heart still racing a bit. If this is how things were always going to be, you were not excited in the slightest. You follow Gally to the line, that thankfully had shortened quite a bit, the two of you not needing to wait very long till you were face to face with, you guessed it, another boy.
“Greenie!” the boy exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear, “Heard you had a rough start yesterday, sorry ‘bout that. I’m sure today will be better though, especially tonight, you’ll love the bonfire. I’m Frypan, by the way.”
“Bonfire?” you questioned him, seeing as no one had informed you about a bonfire. As a matter of fact, no one had told you anything, not even why you were here or why they kept calling you greenie.
“Yeah! You know, the monthly bonfire celebration we have after a new greenie arrives.” Frypan happily responded, his smile faltering at your puzzled expression. “Has no one told you about that, yet? Gally,” his eyes drift to the taller boy standing next to, “have none of you really gone over things with her? No wonder she looks so lost.”
“I’m pretty sure Alby is planning to hold a meeting with the keepers to explain everything to her after breakfast. He would’ve done it yesterday but seeing as she blacked out right after leaving the box, he thought it was best to just move it to today.” Gally quickly explained to Frypan, “now can we please get our food.” he huffed in annoyance.
“Oh right,” Frypan mumbled as he gave you and Gally each two strips of bacon and a healthy heaping of scrambled eggs, the smell making your stomach growl a little louder than you’d like, “I’ll let you go eat now,” he chuckled, “see you later for job training, greenie.”
“Job training? ” you thought to yourself, you sure did have a lot of learning to do. You followed closely behind Gally to a table near the back, 4 other guys occupying the benches on either side. They clear a spot big enough for the two of you to sit down, faces all with identical looks of shock. You weren’t really sure what was catching them by surprise, until one gains the courage to ask what everyone was thinking.
“How the shuck did you, of all people, gain the greenies' trust? You’d think you’d have been the first one to scare her off!” the boy blurted out, rather loudly, almost as if the words had left his mouth before he could comprehend the weight of what he was saying.
At that very moment, the dining hall went silent, everyone anticipating Gally’s response, as you shrunk into your seat, staring at your eggs like they were the most intriguing thing in the world. Gally stiffened beside you, but ultimately decided not to play into the others' antics with you next to him. The silence was becoming unbearable, so in an act of either bravery or stupidity, you decided to speak up.
“..I think he’s nice.” you responded, just loud enough for everyone to hear, still staring very intently at your untouched breakfast. You didn’t really understand everyone's disbelief that Gally could be nice, sure he looked mean but he was the only guy who approached you like a person and not some prize to win and he had taken you straight to Jeff when you blacked out. You’re scared to think what might’ve happened if it hadn’t been Gally helping you out when you lost consciousness.
The room exploded into fits of laughter at your words, causing a feeling to bubble up in your chest. Was it rage? Embarrassment? You couldn’t tell, but what you did know was that it was building at an alarming rate and you weren’t going to be able to keep it from spilling out.
“He’s the only one here, it seems, that knows how to keep it in his pants, unlike any of you shitheads! Maybe learn how to approach a girl without trying to claim her before you speak next time.” you snapped, standing up from your seat to make sure everyone heard you.
The satisfying looks of shock and bewilderment at your unexpected outburst were definitely an enjoyable sight, but the excruciating silence was enough to bring you back to your seat, your face growing warm. After what felt like an eternity, everyone returned to their conversations, people slowly filing out to start their day.
“Nice one, greenie,” Gally remarked, his voice full of amusement, “though I don’t need you defending me. I can handle the shanks myself, that’s not for you to worry about.”
“They were pissing me off, I don’t even know what came over me,” you admitted, heart still racing with adrenaline. You turned your attention to the bacon and eggs still sitting on your plate, your stomach growling at the sight. Without a second thought, you stuffed the food in your mouth, savoring every bite. It could’ve been because you were starving, but the food was unbelievably good and gone too soon.
It wasn’t long before you and Gally were done with your food and were getting up to leave when you were met with two faces you didn’t recognize. One was fairly tall and skinny with pale skin and blonde hair, the other was a little shorter with tan skin and a more athletic build with pushed up black hair. They looked friendly enough but you still found yourself inching closer to Gally, just in case.
“That was quite the first impression, greenie,” the blonde one teased, an airy British accent coating his every word.
“Yeah, I was waiting for you to slap the shank,” laughed the other boy, his arms crossed against his chest.
You felt your face heating up, unable to hold eye contact with either of them. You were still a little shaken up from your little show just moments ago.
“Oh right, we should probably introduce ourselves, I’m Newt and this is Minho. You’ve got a meeting to attend and we’re meant to take you,” Newt explained, a small smile etched into his face.
You’d be lying if you said you weren’t even a little nervous about this meeting. Frypan had mentioned a meeting earlier, something about explaining everything and job training. Part of you was hoping he'd be there, he was so nice to you and being around him felt easy, and you could use another familiar face.
Your eyes drift up to Gally, not sure what you were hoping for, but he was the only person you could say you trusted right now. He returned your gaze, for only a moment, before looking back up at the two boys, one of which had begun speaking.
“Don’t worry, greenie, Gally’s coming too,” Minho said, playfully rolling his eyes, “All of the keepers will be there, in fact, and we better head that way, don’t want to make Alby wait, that never ends well,” he finished, making his way out of the dining area, the rest of you following closely behind.