NUMB

Day One - Elyse

There is blood on the concrete where a Level Two is fighting a Level One. The Two, a girl with long dark hair and a splattering of freckles on her skin, shoves at the One, a pudgy boy with coppery hair that is stuck to his forehead. He falls. She throws a punch at his face. The skin on his cheekbone breaks open.

There is so much blood.

Finally, the Wardens arrive. I wonder idly why it has taken them so long to break the fight up. They do not happen often. Fights. At least, not between us Numb. It is usually the Wardens who argue and throw punches. Sometimes a One will get in a fight with one of the Wardens, but not often. Two's are rare. Three's fighting is unheard of.

This is the first time two Numb have gone after each other.

A Warden grabs the girl by her shoulders and yanks her away from where she's been pummeling the boy with her fists. His face is red with blood and flushed skin underneath that. Tears track through the blood. It takes a Warden helping him for him to sit up.

The girl struggles against the Warden restraining her. I get a good look at her when she swings her head in my direction. I have seen her around The Compound before. We make eye contact. She only has one eye—the left one a patch of scar tissue where the eyeball should be. She has blood on her teeth when she smiles.

The courtyard is now awash with the navy blue and black of the Warden's uniforms. A contrast to the sea of off-white Numb standing around watching the scene with empty expressions.

"Names!" The Warden holding the girl yells.

She spits some blood onto the concrete before answering, "Krysta, Level Two."

The boy, who has been crying heavily since Krysta was pulled from him, looks up at the Wardens standing around him and croaks out in a scratchy voice, "Quinn, Level One."

"Alright, to the infirmary with the both of you." The Warden holding Krysta tugs on her to get her moving and they start off towards the building's main doors.

It takes two Warden's to get Quinn up off the ground. One of them strays a look in my direction and gives me a stilted smile. I stare back only for a moment. Edie, my roommate and probably the closest thing I have to a friend, is chewing on her fingernail next to me and the motion draws my attention instead. She has a habit of doing this. Sometimes, I catch her going for fingers that are no longer there on her hands.

My gaze drifts to the spots of blood on the concrete.

"It's almost time for class," Edie says.

I make a noise of agreement and start to stand. Edie does the same, dusting her bottom off as she straightens her uniform out. Other Numb have started moving towards the building too. I wait for the doors to clear a little before slipping in after Edie. She is stopped a few feet in. I pause, look at the boy standing in front of her.

Isaiah. Another Three. I had not seen him out in the courtyard. I wander away from them, towards the restrooms at the end of the hall near the Infirmary doors. One swings open as I pass by, nearly knocking straight into me. A nurse apologizes without looking at me and hurries off to the restrooms.

I glance into the Infirmary, a hallway of doors with nurses and Wardens bustling about. There is a ruckus at one end. A girl shouts and I have the thought that it's probably Krysta. Quinn is only now being ushered into a patient room, one of his eyes squinted shut with what will most likely be a black eye later.

There is a Warden coming towards the doors. I step aside once he reaches them, to avoid being hit by the door as it swings out into the main hallway. He stops short, his shoes squeaking against the linoleum floor.