"Artemis! I told you stay away from the fire!" Artemis stuck her tongue out at Thomas, cradling her burnt pointer finger. It wasn't terrible, but it stung like the dickens. She glared at him as he walked her back over to the spot they had been sitting the last hour at the bonfire.
"And I told you I just wanted my marshmallow nice and squishy!" Artemis huffed back, hissing and yanking her arm back from Thomas when he tried to touch the burn. She shamelessly stuck her finger in her mouth, trying to get the sting to die down. Thomas rolled his eyes, mentally facepalming as the two sat back down with Chuck.
"Are you guys enjoying the bonfire?" Chuck asked with a smile, the past few hours was spent with Chuck answering or dodging questions that Thomas and Artemis would ask him. Artemis nodded, her finger still sitting in her mouth like a child. Thomas rolled her eyes and smacked her shoulder.
"Artemis get your finger out of your freaking mouth, that's disgusting! You were just playing in the dirt with Chuck a few hours ago!" Thomas said sternly, causing Artemis to pull her hand away from her face and flip him the bird. He scoffed, mocking her movements like a child. Chuck was having a blast, laughing so hard he almost fell off their log. "Real mature, Artemis. Real mature."
"Blah blah blah." Artemis mocked, earning a soft shove from the boy. She shoved him back, a bit harder than she meant to, and sent both Thomas and Chuck off the log. She scrambled towards them, a sheepish smile gracing her face. "I swear that was not supposed to happen."
"Whatever. You totally meant to do that." Thomas said as the boys stood to their feet. Artemis went to say something else when the scruffy blonde haired boy caught her attention. He was walking towards them. Artemis furrowed her eyebrows once more as she looked him over. The way he walked was weird..she finally felt it click as she looked down at his leg. He had a limp, it wasn't terribly noticeable if you didn't pay attention.
"Chuck! Go bother someone else, I need to talk to the greenies." Newt barked at Chuck, but he had a smile on his face. Only now did Artemis take note of the British accent he had. Chuck whined and started arguing with Newt about how he didn't want to. In the end the second-in-command won the argument and sent the curly haired boy off to talk to someone named Ben. "You two follow me."
Thomas and Artemis shared a look before pushing themselves off the log and following Newt. As they walked Newt grabbed two jars filled with liquid and handed one to each of them. "Here. Drink."
"What is it?" Artemis asked incredulously, furrowing her brows at the mystery drink that had been handed to her.
"Gally's special recipe of moonshine. It's amazing, might sting on the first drink though." As Newt kept walked Artemis took a sip of hers, barely making a face. It burnt slightly yet the burn was welcomed. It actually tasted really good, considering the guy who made it was a total douche. "So those there, those are the Slicers. They kill and clean everything we eat." Newt started pointing at groups of boys, identifying them by the jobs Chuck had mentioned earlier.
"Who are they?" Artemis interrupted, pointing at the group closest to the fire. There was one boy with a blue button up in front of the others, sitting there and just staring into the fire. There wasn't many of them, five maybe six. Newt rubbed the back of his neck.
"Those there are the runners."
"Runners?" Thomas asked before Artemis had the chance to. Chuck had spent at least a hour talking about the jobs and not once had he mentioned runners.
YOU ARE READING
Hearts and Minds
Fanfiction❝Artemis tried to scream again but her voice failed her. Her knees were too bloodied to fall on, so instead she slumped against a nearby wall and slipped to the floor. To her right was the bat, splintered from the final blow; her arms ached horribly...
