The Freaks

chapter fourteen

Two weeks pass quickly.

I start to notice changes in the way I look. I fill out the muscles I never thought I had before. The intense training I have been doing really made a change in my appearance. Nathan even told me that if I put on one of the Soldier's uniforms I could pass as being one without fail.

Now I sit with Serena in one of the abandoned trains, her body in the seat opposite me, her knees almost touching mine. She's teaching me how to speak with an American accent, since all of the Soldiers are from America. At least, they were. I never even realized until the Freaks told me. The captain that publicly announced my execution was American, and it went completely over my head.

A British-to-American dictionary rests in Serena's lap, her eyes and her index finger scanning the words written down on the worn, yellowing pages. As she reads the words in the book, I stare around at the train's surroundings. There's a window just above her head, but it has been smashed beyond repair. A dull brown colour is there instead, only a small portion of the tunnel wall the train is currently resting in. The blue pole just to the left of Serena has been snapped clean in half, leaving the top half of the metal still attached to the ceiling.

"Okay," Serena says, pressing her hands in the crease of the book as she looks up at me. "There are some British words you should never say out loud to the Soldiers."

"Which ones are they?"

She smiles a moment. "Bloody hell is one of them."

I lean back in my seat and fold my arms across my chest. "I've never used that phrase before." I shrug my shoulders slowly. "At least not out loud," I add.

She laughs lightly, looking down at the book for a moment before her eyes rest on me again. "Just refrain from using it in front of the Soldiers, okay?"

"Sure."

"Try not to say you lot when addressing a group. It's not a common thing they say." Then her eyebrows shoot up suddenly like she remembered something important. "Also, never call the Soldiers around you mate." She pauses a moment. "You can call them bud, buddy or dude but never mate."

"Got it."

Serena nods and goes back to looking down at the dictionary. "All right then, let's carry on."

* * *

It takes another hour until I reach my limit.

"Okay, okay, okay," I say quickly, sitting up in the seat and pressing my hand down against hers which is still in between the book pages. "If you tell me another American phrase to use with the Soldiers, I think my head might explode."

"Sorry." Serena smiles shyly and closes the book slowly, pressing it firmly into her lap. "Time passes weirdly down here. I didn't realize how long we were doing this."

"Time passes when you're having fun," I remind her dryly, quirking a small grin when I nudge her lightly with my knee. She smiles but I can't see her face properly as she looks down at her lap, her fingers running along the worn hardback cover of the book. I smile at her even though she isn't looking as I say, "But my small brain can only take so much information."

She laughs but places her hand atop my own, bringing her eyes back to mine. "You don't have a small brain, Luca. You went through two whole weeks of really intense training." Her eyebrows furrow. "And now they expect you to learn a new way of speaking, a new mannerism and have a new appearance." Her eyes turn sad, like tears are ready to fall at any moment. "It's too much for one person to handle."