The new generation

Part four

LYNN

The boy held out his hand and I grabbed it and pulled myself up. The world began to turn and before I could fall the boy put my arm over his shoulder. "We all feel dizzy when we first get here," he said. "Probably side effects from the drugs they use to sedate you." He blew a strand of brown hair out of his face and smiled. I opened my mouth but no words came out. Where am I, what is going on...
I wanted to cry, let all my emotions out. But I couldn't. I didn't know why but my intuition was telling me I could trust this boy, that he wasn't one of them.
A girl probably a bit older than me came running, long brown hair all over the place. She stopped right in front of me and looked at me. I opened my mouth again, but the words were lost in choked sobs. The girl hugged me and whispered something into my ear. "Don't worry, you're almost safe here."
Almost... I gently pushed her away and looked around. I was standing on a big helipad in the middle of a forest. The trees around the helipad had been chopped down, tree stumps were visible everywhere.
"Where the hell am I?" I croaked. I had a feeling this was not good. Something bad had happened or was going to happen.
"You better sit down," the girl said. "What we're going to tell you is not easy to process." I heard a twig snap behind me and I whirled around to see a girl with strawberry blonde hair ducking behind a bush. "That's Daisy," the girl said, "she thinks we can't see her.
"STOP SPYING ON  US YOU LITTLE SNEAK!" She yelled and Daisy shot up like a rocket and disappeared in the forest. The girl smiled at me. "I'm Gloria, that's Huck, what's your name?" she asked. "Lynn," I mumbled. Huck, nodded his head ever so slightly. "Sit down," he said and I did.
"Who are you, where am I, what happened?" I blurted out. Gloria laughed. "Let's see if I can answer all of your questions in one sentence. We call ourselves The Damned, we don't exactly know where we are and we don't know what happened to you."

Hot tears were rolling down my cheeks. I shouldn't be here, this is a mistake, bring me back to my family... "Oh don't cry," Gloria said, "crying doesn't get you anywhere." She looked at Huck, he shrugged and said, "maybe we should go back to the others."
"The others?" I said. Gloria nodded. "Yup, they'll be waiting for us." She stood up, then looked at me and sat back down. "We can spare a few minutes, you look awfully shaken."
In the few minutes that passed, they tried to calm me down. I stared at a tree stump, trying to put together the puzzle pieces. But I couldn't. Confusion, worry, anger and exhaustion made it impossible to concentrate on anything other than the mundane tree stump closest to me.
"She looks like she's about to pass out," Huck commented. "We should bring her to the others, they're probably bursting with curiosity." They stood up and I followed them to where "the others" were indeed waiting for us, waiting to look at me.

It was a sight I would never forget. In front of me there was a clearing, with trees as green as any I'd ever seen. At the back was a shelf full of books, five chairs in front of it. Leather armchairs. Nobody possessed armchairs anymore, only the richest of the rich. In the middle stood a massive wooden table, with chairs nearly arranged around it. On the edge of the clearing, 16 metal boxes were arranged in a semi-circle. They looked like coffins. Next to the bookshelf stood a small kitchen under a wooden roof.
Two children were going through the pantry. Gloria noticed my gaze and nudged me. "Listen carefully," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. I nodded hesitantly, still staring at the kitchen with its three white walls and white wooden roof, ivy hanging from the sides.

"These boxes over there are our beds. They give us shelter at night. Every night at nine o'clock the boxes open. Five minutes later they close and they don't open up again until seven o'clock in the morning. You can open them from within, but they're closed from the outside. If you're not there on time you're a goner. Never open the box at night even if you have to pee. Follow the rules and you'll be fine.
Rule number one. Do not inflict pain to any other Damned.
Rule number two. Do your part. If it's your turn to do something, do it.
Rule number three. Always be on guard."
She must have noticed my shocked look, because she patted me on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, you'll get used to it!" Then she held her mouth to my ear and whispered: "Hygiene items for us ladies are under the sink. Shall I introduce you to the others?" I nodded. This isn't real, I must be dreaming...

"The one-legged boy is Filipo. He has a heart made out of gold. The red-haired girl is Cindy, she's okay, I guess. Those in the kitchen are Carl and Daisy. Carl is kind of our leader and Daisy, she went through a lot so try not to push her buttons. Then, there is Jules, he's nice, and Gina, she's not, and of course Huck. He's great."
"Why does Filipo only have one leg?" I asked. She shrugged. "He just woke up here like that, can't remember anything. By the way, Huck lost a finger, Cindy only has one ear and Daisy lacks an eye, you see she's wearing a patch." I shivered. "Why?" Gloria shrugged. "I don't know."

"How did you get here?" I asked timidly. Her face suddenly looked very sad. "I woke up and someone was standing over me." She let out a whimper. "They killed my family," she said suddenly. "I was washing clothes down by the river when I heard screams. They wanted to take my brother. I tried to save him." Her voice choked with tears. "They killed my parents and then they killed Scotty. He was only four! And then they took me." She sniffed and tried to wipe her tears with her sleeve.
Huck walked over to me. "Don't ask her how she got here anymore, okay?" he said. "She always starts to cry." He bent down and stroked her back. "It's okay Gloria," he said quietly. "It's okay." Gloria turned to him. "It's not okay!" She sobbed. "They killed Scotty! And how would you know, you were an only child, your parents gave you away!" Huck turned red. "They did not!"
A tear rolled down his cheek and he angrily wiped it away.
Someone tugged at my shirt. It was the girl from the kitchen. "You should get out of their way," she said. "You don't want to be part of their squabble. Come help us in the kitchen."

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I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen with Daisy and Carl. Carl was soft-spoken and shy, Daisy was bubbly and bursting with energy. They stayed right by my side until it started to darken. "See you in the morning!" Daisy yelled when the boxes were closing. I managed to smile, even though I could've started crying right then and there.

I lay on my side, touching the cool metal sides of the box. It was tight, a claustrophobic person's nightmare. There was a thin blanket underneath me and a thin blanket over me. It was rather cool. I stayed awake and started at the lid, thinking about everything that had happened. It was too much and I broke out into tears. Everything I once knew and loved was gone. Within a few minutes, everything gone. I buried my head in the soft pink pillow and cried. Finally I fell asleep, despite all the agonizing thoughts.

When my box opened in the morning I was exhausted, despite the sleep. I wandered around the camp in a daze. Huck and Gloria were sitting far away from each other. Both were reading. Filipo was sitting at the table, drawing. I felt a twinge in my heart. He was still so young...