Scorched | Newt

Chapter Two: Tension

"Good evening gentlemen, ladies."

Lizzie's story was stopped abruptly by the arrival of a man I liked to call Ratatouille, due to his resemblance to a rat.

"You all know how this works, if you hear your name called, please rise in an orderly fashion join my colleagues behind me and they will escort you to the Eastern wing, your new lives are about to begin."

Bullshit.

Lizzie turned to me, panicked. I kept my face as straight as I could and took her hand under the table. It was imperative that no one suspected we knew something we shouldn't, and being afraid to go to our "new lives" would definitely give us away.

The room was silent as everyone waited for Ratatouille to say the first name. Lizzies grip on my hand became tighter.

"Connor."

Lizzie exhaled a small amount. Every name spoken that wasn't one of ours made our chances of staying together that much better.

"Evelyn."

Small congratulations could be heard from the friends of each person chosen, trailing off as they made their way to the front of the room.

"Justin."

I glanced back at where the new kids were sitting, curious as to how they were taking this odd, ritualistic process.

"Peter."

They looked rather confused, which was to be expected, but their confusion seemed... different.

"Allison."

My attention was drawn back to Lizzie, who gasped at the sound of a name even slightly like her own.

"Squiggy."

Quiet laughs erupted around the room at the strange name, even from Lizzie, Aris, and myself.

"Alright settle down," said Ratatouille. I rolled my eyes.

"Franklin."

I looked back at the new group again, and was surprised to see one of them looking at me. Not just in our direction- at me specifically. I lifted my free hand and gave a little wave. He gave a small smile in return. I'll take it.

"And Abigail."

I took a deep breath of relief. We were safe for the time being. I tried not to wince at the audible disappointment coming from some of the people who weren't chosen.

I hated that I couldn't tell them that this place wasn't what it seemed, but my first priority was keeping Lizzie safe, and I couldn't do that if Ratatouille found out what I knew.

"Now now- don't get discouraged, if I could take more I would, there's always tomorrow. Your time will come," He said before encouraging us to continue eating and leaving.

"God I hate him," I said, stabbing my fork into my hunk of bread violently.

We sat in silence, trying to finish our food quickly so we could go back to our bunks and talk without the fear of being overheard.

"Hey Theresa," this came from one of the new kids, who was almost running across the mess hall towards a group of people outside, one of which I had to assume was named Theresa.

He continued to call more attention to himself by yelling louder. Aris sat up straighter and pushed back the hood of his sweatshirt to get a better look at the boy as he was stopped by a pair of guards.

"Would you look at that," I said, gathering up my tray and standing up.

"Yeah," Aris muttered. "I think I need to talk to him."

"Why? Come on Lizzie lets head back,"

"Because he looks like he could believe us, y'know?"

I shrugged. "Sure. you do that, I'm taking a shower. I'm still not used to the hot water,"

"Do you guys want to come with? When I talk to him, I mean."

I stopped in my tracks for a moment, causing Lizzie to protest. "You go ahead Lizzie, just don't use all the hot water, 'kay stick?" She nodded before quite literally skipping away towards our bunks.

"So I assume you plan to take him into the vents?" Aris nodded. I shook my head, laughing lightly. "No thanks, stick. Espionage isn't really my forte."

"But you're okay with me telling him about it?"

"Yeah sure, I trust your judgement. It hasn't failed me yet, so..." I trailed off as I came to a stop at the door to mine and Lizzies bunk room. "This is me. See you tomorrow Aris." He nodded and began turning away towards his own door- which was just down the hall- but I grabbed his shoulder quickly. "And hey- good luck, Aris."

He nodded solemnly before walking away.

I sighed and trudged into my own room, my feet feeling abnormally heavy.

I woke to silence, yet again. I had finally figured out how to keep track of the days the night before, and I was quite proud of myself. I shook my head, trying to force the sleep out of me as I trudged towards the crates holding food in the corner of the room.

I had taken up residence in the house in the clearing, deciding that there was no one else here it could possibly belong to. There were quite a few bedrooms on the upper floors, which confused me, because there was obviously no one else here. I had chosen to set up in the room at the very end of the hallway on the top of the three floors.

I had brought up some of the supplies that came up each week, but most of them stayed around the Box, as I had taken to calling it.

I picked out a jar of peanut butter and some bread, setting them on the table next to me. For whatever reason, I was denied access to a butter knife, so I had to resort to using my fingers to spread the peanut butter. At least no one was there to see me lose all my dignity.

When I finished making the sandwich I sunk down to the floor, still not awake enough to put in the effort to do anything else. I sat and ate, alone with my thoughts-so nothing new-when something changed.

The silence.

Specifically, the lack of it.

Some sort of siren was going off, which wouldn't have been a big deal if it was the same one that went off when The Box came up, but it wasn't. It was louder, and longer, and just generally more annoying.

I jumped up off the ground, sandwich still in hand, and ran out of the room and down the stairs, tripping over my feet in my haste. As I was sprinting across the open field, I tripped over a dip in the ground, and fell headfirst into the ground, rolling over myself multiple times before landing splayed out on my back, breathing hard.

I groaned, clutching at my stomach. After a few moments of self pity, I realized that the siren had stopped. Unfortunately, I was in no condition to stand up and go investigate. Instead I stayed where I was and hoped to god I wasn't in imminent danger.

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