Reprecussions

Chapter 2

"Did you get her? Did you get her?" I hear Hadley ask Lilac as she sits down next to Hadley.

"I did. She won't be bothering you anymore." She winks at her.

"Alright Cutie, go off and grab some food." I tell Hadley. She nods, hopping off the bench and running off. "So," I glance at Lilac picking and pushing at my food. "What'd you do?"

She swallows the bite of green beans she had put into her mouth. "I told her if she didn't leave the girls alone, I'd personally see that she won't come back to the compound and have to look after herself." I chuckle

"And her reaction?" I ask.

"Priceless." I nod, keeping the smile on my lips. I stand up and throw my leg over the bench, intending to head back to my office. But Lilac grabs my shoulder and pushes me back down. "Nope. You're staying here."

"But why?" I whine at her. I push around my food some more. Our scientists and engineers have come up with a mutation of meat, some spices, bread, and some vegetables for us to eat so far. They're working on more food for us to eat.

Our engineers have also made trackers, weapons, mutations, and all our training equipment. They're a valuable asset to us. They repair any weapons that we break and keep multiple books on different subjects so incoming engineers know how to fix and create things.

They're multiple groups that belong to the compound. We have our engineers, our constructors, our cooks, our medics, our watchers, our runners, and our fighters.

Our constructors are in charge of expanding rooms, building anything we need, and they have any tool you might need. They have made all the rooms that the compound has already, and if we happen to need more rooms, or space, we would call in them for that.

Our cooks can cook just about any food the engineers can make. They also keep books of recipes and how to prepare food so none of us get sick. They don't let any of the incoming cooks prepare food for the girls until they've been watching and studying a couple months and have mastered how to cook each food precisely.

Our medics are our saviors here. You wouldn't believe how many girls get hurt here.They keep books based on surgical procedures, there was a case that had to gothat far once. They also keep books on stitching, and bandaging. Basically,anything you think you'd need to fix something on your body, they have it written down.

Our watchers are the people that keep watch for us. They each have a shift to cover. There's two stationed outside, but in cover, their shifts start as soon as the sun starts to set. They watch for mutations that roam the streets, and if they roam too close to the compound, they take care of them. They report back to me after their shifts with a report of what happened during their shift. They also have to be good at fighting incase they run into any trouble. Their books in close strategies one can use in a certain situation.

Our runners are our people that go out into the cities I assign them and scavenger it for food that has gone rotten yet and supplies that haven't perished. They head out at dawn and come back at dusk if the town is close. If not, I give them walkie talkies and they give me an update of their location and how long they'll be. If I don't have time or I'm not there, Lilac takes over for me and writes it down as a report.

And finally, our fighters. They're like our watchers but a little more lethal. They're our warriors. I oversee all their training. They specialized in nothing other than combat. They are our best fighters and are in charge of keeping our compound and girls safe if there were to be an attack.

"Who's on watch right now?" I ask Li, getting tired of just sitting here.

"Danielle and Kat." She answers simply. I nod and glance around. I'm about to ask her if I can go back to my office when I'm cut off but someone running towards me.

"Brexley. Brexley." Kat is running at me. I stand up and raise my eyebrows at her. She's a ten-year-old with fair skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. "Hurry, quick." I step out of the bench and walk in her direction. Everyone is staring at us, trying to figure out what's going on. If I were to guess, they found a mutation they couldn't handle.

"Alright, alright, calm down. Deep breaths. In, out, good." I tell her as she does as she says. "Walk with me." We make our way towards the training room. "Now, explain what happened." I say as we make it under the arc to the training room. I turn towards the weapons wall and start picking out things.

I grab a dagger and put it in my right boot. My boots have sheaths built into them. "Me and Danielle were on watch when we both saw a person sneaking through the shadows."

"We don't have any runners out tonight." I say as I grab a thigh sheath and strap it to my other thigh. All our runners had come back mid-day. I slip a knife into the thigh sheath. "I'll tell you what," I turn to her. "Go tell the girls that have shifts for the rest of the night and tell them I'm taking their shifts. You're off the hook too, as is Danielle." She nods. "Go tell Danielle and get yourselves something to eat and relax." She takes off and I follow behind her but slower.

I find Lilac and she takes it as her cue to come find out what happened. She falls into step on my right as we walk towards the tunnel that leads up to the watcher's spot. "They think they saw a non-runner in the shadows. I told herthat all the shifts are cancelled tonight and I'm taking them." I explain as we hop up the couple steps that circle the boarder of The Center.

We stop at the mouth of the tunnel. "Need me to watch with you?" she suggests.

"No. I should be fine." I wave her off. She nods her head and takes out a piece of dried meat and hands it to me. "Thanks." I take it.

"Brex. Just, be safe." She says slowly.

"I always am." I answer and start to walk backwards. "I'll see you later." I say and turn.

"See you." She answers. I climb the steps that travel up through the tunnel. It's our only exit and entrance. That the girls know of. I have an escape tunnel behind my black armoire that I also took from the department store. Not even Lilac knows about it.

I reach the top of the stairs and I spin the overhead lid. It's kind of like a submarine hatch. I push it up slowly, making sure not to alert any possible problems. Once I find no threats, I push the lid up all the way and climb out.I slowly put the lid back down and spin the top. I lean against the wall towhat used to be the big store that used to be here, and I wait.

(Author's Note: There's Natalie Merandise, I will only be doing a handful of other girls from the compound that you will see more than once.)