Before Her

Newt 5

Newt
I run. As fast as I can, the way I always do. I barely feel the ground beneath my toes. Everyday is the same. Every runner takes a different route, until we've all separated and run to the end of the maze trying to find a way out. Everyday, nothing greets us at the end of the maze, except for high, ivy covered walls with WICKED (World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department) branded into them.

As I run my way back to the glade, she floats into my mind. Jane. All the shanks have been talking non stop about her. Complementing on how pretty she was. Nobody seemed to care how frightened she looked, or how different her reaction was.

I turn a corner and see the entrance back into the glade. She's there, with Alby. It was easy to spot her since she was the only one with long hair. As I got closer, she turned and smiled at me. I slowed to a jog as I reach them.
'Hey,' I say as I take a two big gulps of water.
'Hello,' she shyly whispers, she's developed an interest in dirt.
'Sleep well last night?'
'Yes, thank you,' she finally looks up at me and immediately her big brown eyes pour into mine. I smile and nod at Alby who had just come back from talking to some of the track-hoes and start to walk off to the map room.

I yank the iron door open and I walk inside, quickly shutting the door behind me. Another day gone, another day disappointed. As I sketch out the route I'd taken in the maze today, more runners start filing in. When I'm done I wait a moment for Minho, since he was almost done and we walk out together.
'So, what's the girl like?' I knew it, if anyone was interested in the girl, it was Minho.
'She's friendly and shy. Her reactions were so different to all the other shanks, I had to resist reaching out and shaking her until she finally had a 'normal' reaction.'
'She did seem really calm, I mean she didn't scream, right?'
'Yeah.'
'She's hot though,' I reached out and punch him in the shoulder.
'She's hardly been here a day and your planning on that already? You don't even know her. Are you trying to get her to run into the bloody maze, dying of embarrassment?'
Minho laughed and pushed me playfully. I pushed him back.

~~~

The white and blue tiles are cool under my feet, they line the walls and floors. The whole room is lined with stalls on both sides of the walls, showers mostly. The bathroom stalls don't have doors since we didn't have that many supplies. They had shower curtains, made from old clothes sewn together.

I step into one of the stalls, pulling back the curtain and turn the taps on. Cold, relaxing, clear water washes over my sore body. It soothes my muscles and skin that had been baking and sweating in the sun all day. I sigh as I relax my arms, gently stretching them.

All too soon, my time under the shower head is over, I turn the water off and start drying myself off. I hear feet shuffle into a stall near the end of the hall. More shuffles, then muffled voices. I pull my pants on and start to walk out, then something catches my eye. A boy with curly brown hair was standing outside a stall, he was grinning. I pull a plain t-shirt over my head and smirked to my self, someone was probably about to be pranked again. These kind of things happened all the time.

I watched as he reaches out and pulls the curtain back.
A yelp. 'Wha... What, what are you doing?'
SHUCK, I knew that voice. I was the first to talk to that voice. It was normally sweet and soft, but now it was sharp and frightened.
Quick as a flash, my runner instincts take over and I'm already across the room.
I yank the boy by his hair, against the wall, I catch a glimpse of her before turning to him.

Her expression wasn't like the first time I'd seen her, this one was more frightened and her eyes were wider than before. Her honey coloured hair was already wet, sticking to her skin, curling around her neck and collarbone. She clutched her shirt in her small hands which helped cover the most intimate parts of her, but otherwise most of her body was showing.

'WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?' I slam his head against the wall, that was gonna leave a bruise. I recognised this boy. He was probably fifteen years old. He was a track-hoe, he'd came a few months ago. I push him against the wall and ask him again.
'What are you doing?' I hiss.
'I, I'm sorry,' sorry, that's what they always say.
'Sorry to who?'
'Her,'
'She has a name!'
'Sorry, Jane,' I look over to Jane, her eyes are still wide with shock.
I grab him and pull him close to me and whisper so only he could hear me.
'Listen shank, you go anywhere near her again and I swear I will bloody beat the klunk out of you. Got it?' He nods.
I shove him away, onto the floor and he scrambles off, tripping over himself before running out of the door. Probably to see the med-jacks. I suddenly felt a little ashamed that I had been so harsh, but then I turned to Jane who was still standing with wide eyes, and all the guilt rushed away. She's shivering. More than anything I wanted to reach out and wrap my arms around her, to stop her from shaking. Then reality gave me a hard kick and reminded me that she's naked. I grab the jumper that had taken me months to earn, since I hadn't worn it yet, off the floor and hook it onto one of the hooks on the wall of her stall with her other clothes and close the curtain.
'I'll keep watch.'

Word had obviously spread, every single shank that came in to shower or klunk was aware of me and was careful not to come anywhere near me or the stall I was guarding. I close my eyes and lean my head against the wall, listening to the shuffle of cautious footsteps and splash of water around me.