The Misfire:Book 1 (Newt || A TMR Fanfiction)

5. I Am Clumsy

Erin's hand never left my shoulder as we entered the Council hall. They were about to hold this keeper meeting to help me decide my glade job.

Winston tagged along as well but I did not look at him, still disappointed that he didn't fully understand when I asked him about the strange dreams a couple of days ago. So I didn't tell him about the writings on my arm as well.

All the keepers were there including Minho, who for once, did not look sweaty at all. They were busy discussing about a lot of things and I never bothered to even listen. Until Alby finally asked me if I already chosen a job yet since they wanted to give me the freedom to decide.

I looked up. Everyone had their eyes on me. I grew restless and it took me a moment to finally answer.

"Uuuuhm....y'know a runner seems nice..."

The council hall grew even more silent than before. I glanced at Erin, her jaw dropped. Gally had his arms crossed and his eyebrows were raised. Minho was full-on glaring at me. I bit my lip as I tried to restrain myself from smirking. The looks on their faces were too priceless.

"I'm kidding. I don't even like to run."

I let out a sigh of relief once the mood in the room started to alleviate or my joke would have resulted to a very bland statement. Alby started to chuckle and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Soon enough, everyone was shaking their heads while giggling. Everyone, except Newt.

~

The rest of the slicers were busy stacking up hay into the goat pens, hours after the meeting ended. The chickens were as noisy as ever. The Blood house was indeed filthy and smelly. I somehow wished I didn't back down from my decision of being a runner. I hated blood and being a slicer did not look any fun at all but the only one I trusted besides Erin, was Winston. Alby also didn't want me at the medhouse to avoid receiving special treatment from Erin but little did he know I would be still be getting it anyway. And there was no way I was gonna be a builder. Bastards won't stop bothering me.

I started my work by helping harvest the eggs while trying not to get attacked by the crazy hens. Few hours later, Winston returned from the back, holding a couple of tangled ropes.

"Hey greenie, mind helping me with these shuck goats?"

Winston and I tied a rope around each of the neck of the two goats and led them out of the blood house towards the grassier area near the gardens. I was pulling a brown goat that was fatter than Winston's white goat.

The Gardens looked beautiful. And that's what the brown goat might have thought too because as soon as we neared the gardens, the fat brown goat suddenly sprinted towards a thick shrub with berries, dragging me with him as I refused to let go of the rope. Fat bastard was stronger than I was since I could not make him stop running no matter how hard I tugged.

Apparently, my reflexes were not as fast as I wanted them to be. Then the goat started munching on the leaves.

"Greenie, what the shuck?!" Zart screamed while pushing his hoe near the goat's mouth, trying his best to scare it away.

However, it did not affect how hard I pulled, the goat would not budge and carried on with devouring the leaves. Zart tried to slap it with his hands out of shock but the goat remained unfazed. I gasped as the shrub was loosing more leaves every second.

Luckily, Winston came just in time and pulled the goat away before it could uproot the poor plant. My eyes were still wide open and my lips parted. It was my first day with my job and my irresponsibility has already caused me some damage.

Alby is going to kill me.

I glanced worriedly at a stiff Zart who appeared as shocked as I was. "Sorry Zart, sorry. Please don't.... please don't tell Alby."

"What the hell happened here?"

I recognized that odd voice in an instant. I slowly turned around to Newt who was now standing infront of me, arms crossed and eyebrows meeting.

I gulped silently and noticed Zart leave the gardens, leaving me with Newt alone. But this time, the blond boy's face showed pure irritation.

"Greenie, what did you do?"

"I ugh, I was just working."

Newt glanced at the shrub. "And you're already doing a terrible job."

"Sorry. I didn't m--it was the goat."

He raised an eyebrow, checking the surroundings. "So it's the goat's fault, eh?"

Was this fool trying to mock me? For real?

"So am I gonna be in the slammer, then?"

He scoffed, shaking his head. "Y'know, this morning I was glad you weren't serious about being a runner."

"Yah I know," I giggled, rubbing my arm, "Minho looked like, like he was ready to punch me in the f-face."

"That's cuz being out there ain't a joke. It's dangerous."

I nodded. "Everybody tells me that."

"It's true. They're not making that up. It's really safer here. And you know which area in the glade is even more safer? The shucking gardens. If I were you, I'd change my job."

"I'm good, no thanks."

"Seriously, it's better at the gardens. Not as nasty as the Bloodhouse."

Before I could respond, I heard Winston cough from behind, his hands on his waist, most likely noticing the tension between me and the second-in-command. Newt and I kept stealing glances at each other, waiting for anyone to say anything.

"Do keep an eye out on her, mate." Newt patted Winston's shoulder before walking away.

Winston wistled for me to follow him back to the Blood house, before Alby would see us just standing around, trying to cover up the messed up shrub.

Lack of focus was obviously the cause of my fuck-ups here in the glade. How could I even concentrate on a single tasks when lots and lots of thoughts have been troubling me for days? I needed to tell somebody but I didn't know who and how. Erin was busy tending to the wounded gladers so I could not just strike a conversation with her while she bandaged some dumb and clumsy boys. I trusted Winston but he did not have the answers I wanted.

"Enjoying your first day as a slicer?" Winston asked as we neared the Blood house.

I sighed and shook my head. I want to die, honestly.

"Zart's really protective with his plants," He chuckled, "The incident a while ago? That's the closest he'd ever came to a shucking heart attack. Make sure it won't happen again."

~

The following days carried on remarkably slow. Erin became too busy treating injuries since Alby decided that the builders needed to upgrade both the Homestead and Frypan's kitchen. During the day, I spent most of the time with Winston. I was glad since he kept me away from the gladers who became too unrestrained. And he always guarded Erin and I when we were using the showers. But being a slicer meant having to deal with a lot of blood and I was never that kind of person. The first time I saw Winston slaughter a hog, I threw up. So he just let me clean up the place or feed the animals.

Winston didn't mind me not helping with the chores, as long as Alby would not get word from this behavior, or else both of us would be in trouble.

I still had unsettling dreams every night but I just kept it to myself, for now. I never mentioned about the writing in my arm or even the plant. I just wanted to forget since there were more important things to worry about. There were many instances where I would catch Newt staring at me but I would look him straight in the eye and he would automatically break the gaze.

But there was something about him, something captivating, something familiar and recollecting that I couldn't even understand. And it wasn't his accent this time.