Endangered

Chapter 2

I think my least favourite of all places to work is in the greenhouses. They are hot and muggy, the dirt gets all over my clothes. Sometimes erudite have to come to repair any broken equipment. They spend the whole time looking down their noses at us as if we are simple-minded labourers and they are geniuses for fitting a sprinkler system.

Every greenhouse is developed slightly different depending on what is being grown. Some support walls thirty feet high and can span for miles, whereas others are just tiny sheds or tunnels dotted around fields. I suppose I enjoy the fact that every shift here is different. I never know if I am going to be climbing a twenty-foot tall banana tree or picking the juiciest strawberries (that taste even better when you sneakily munch them behind the tool shed). I enjoy watching the food I eat to grow and almost take pride when I witness people from other factions enjoying a ripe peach knowing there is a good chance I picked that.

This afternoon I am in the tomato greenhouse. Not terribly exciting but they are incredibly popular they have to be grown all year to keep up with demand. There's only a couple of other people here, each with their section to work in. I prune one plant, slicing off any dead leaves or new branches, before moving onto the one next to it. A lot is going on in my head that has nothing to really do with tomatoes. It is a poor attempt at a distraction, but I take some form of comfort knowing the whole city is probably also feeling stressed, confused, scared and that is just the tip of everything building up inside.

Is there even any point of producing food if there might not be a city to eat it? If Erudite wins they will no doubt replace us all with incredibly efficient farming robots or invent a nutritious chemical-based goo everyone is forced to eat. I love food; nothing compares to how a good meal makes you feel. I love the simplest of foods sometimes. Like a steaming bowl of vegetable soup during a cold winter night or scrambled eggs on a Sunday morning.

I would typically spend my Sundays with Oak. Sometimes swimming in the lake, riding horses through the faction or having a campfire at night. We'd always been close, and I struggle to think of a memory he isn't a part of. At one point our friendship just grew into something else, and it felt really natural but not everlasting. It's desperately hard to admit this to yourself about someone you care about, that we have an expiration date. Part of me enjoys the fact that Oak will forever be part of my memories of growing up here in Amity. When I leave, it'll be like he's frozen here with the rest of the faction I leave behind.

The other part of me understands that he won't be frozen at all just as I'll be experiencing a completely different life. He'll be happily married to Dove June. They'll have a dozen perfect little babies, all in their big perfect house with their perfect little lives and it all sounds perfectly perfect.

A sharp sting on my finger transports me back to reality. The cut stings as I shift it closer to investigate and soon blood starts to surface. I had completely missed the dead vine I tried to remove and sliced my finger pad. The cut is deep, the warm blood trickling down my hand and dripping onto the dirt at my feet.
"Woah, are you okay?" The boy, maybe 13, who had been working a few feet away makes his way over to me. Probably grateful for the distraction from the boring work. "Just head to the clinic. I'll put your tools away." I thank him for his kindness as I cradle my sore finger and start the short journey.

The clinic is just a small building along the main road in Amity. Most people only go here to be checked over by a nurse. If the injury is serious they have to be taken to Erudite to be seen by a doctor. When I arrive there is a man already being seen to by the nurse at reception. His tall frame clothed in black blocks my view of the girl sitting behind the desk as he leans over. "You make your own homemade remedies? That is amazing. Maybe I'll have to come over and let you fix me up sometime." He turns to look at me as the nurse giggles at his flirting. His confident smile is quite attractive but that thought immediately leaves my head when his eyes look me up and down and he winks "Hi, Peter Hayes. Daisy here was just fixing up my arm I'm sure she'll do a great job on you too." He turns to wink to her now.