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Twice was it a sleepless night. Watching the sun sink beneath the clouds and dawn arise faster each time he blinked. slowly the earth cooled down, and he shivered as a slight breeze penetrated the thin blanket he had wrapped around him.
"Saw you couldn't sleep." Someone said from next to him, making he violently jerk. His head snapped to the side, looking at a tall and thin kid, looking back at him. His heart began to race the longer he looked at him.
who was this guy?
"sorry, didn't mean to startle 'ya. Just couldn't help but notice you weren't asleep."
His face screwed up in a glare. "Why do you care?"
The other kid looked taken aback for a moment, before simply smiling.
"Hey, never said that. And if i did?" He said, cocking his head to the side a little bit. Atlas rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Whatever." he gritted out, before laying down on his hammock and rolling over.
"Ah, i see i've bored you to near tears. perfect." He said, before Atlas heard the scrape of his shoes against the dirt. He was so confused. Who was this kid? and why did he feel such strong emotions towards him? He tried to shake it off, and choosing the ignore the feeling thrumming under his skin.
The night crawled by uneventfully. He watched as the sun arose over the clouds once again, and decided to pull himself out of the semi-warm bed he had. He was exhausted, and a stroke of anxiety flowed through him. he tried to think when the last time he slept was. It must've been back before that box he woke up in, and the thought of not knowing made his head spin. he ran his hands through his hair, before deciding to finally kick his legs out onto the dirt below.
there were few guys out, milling around aimlessly. his eyes trailed over to the small group of people who was backpacks wrapped around their shirts. he turned towards them fully, observing their behavior. Nick was over there, along with the kid he met last night, and another boy with black hair. They were speaking a bit, before Nick nodded and the two ran off towards the maze.
Suddenly, a horrible, fitful sound screeched across the entirety of the plain. he covered his ears, listening to the rumbling of the—maze? Before he knew it, the rumbling stopped, and there stood the entrance of the very same maze Nick showed him yesterday.
He hadn't even taken it into any thought, not realizing the maze closed last night. How did he not notice that horrible sound? His head whipped around the maze, searching for other openings, but it seemed like that was the only one that opened.
a hand clapped him on the back, making him jump. He huffed out. "Why does everyone keep doing that?" He said, turning to look at Nick, in all of his glowing, sharp beauty. Suddenly, Atlas's face turned a firey shade.
Where did that come from?
"Cmon greenie, it's time for your wonderful job application." He said, pulling Atlas up, watching his face turn back to a normal pale shade.
First, they attended the slaughterhouse, as Nick suggested they 'get the worst out of the way first.' Even as Atlas was visibly trembling, and his face was a sickly pale.
Winston, bless his heart, motivated him to at least try it, hoping to 'give him a sense of security.' (his words.) Nick was smiling throughout it, even when the knife first hit the flesh, and Atlas almost threw up, many, many times.
Second, they tried breeders. Basically, just tending the animals leading up to their death.
Atlas liked that one, because when he walked over, there was a goat, cows, pigs, and even a kind dog that Atlas sat petting for way longer than he intended.
"Maybe we found the one?" Nick said, but the other just simply shook his head.
"I don't think i could handle raising them and watching them get slaughtered, yknow?"
After that, they walked over to Gally and his group of absolute meatheads. Even as Atlas wasn't as strong as the other builders, he still did a pretty good job. The Builders were assembling another couple outhouses, and Gally had told Nick that he was doing a 'pretty fine job, despite being a green bean.'
Nick checked off the jobs they did and the ones they had left. Track-Hoes, Gardeners, Map-Makers. But the one job that stood out to him was Frypan. The only job that didn't have any other help. Nick could've described it as graceful, and Frypan had this big, goofy smile on his face the whole time. Atlas had a passion for it, and as dinner time rolled around, and the group came in, hungry, and desperate for food after a hard day of work, Atlas smiled pridefully.
After dinner, when all of them deposited their dishes to the two, Frypan got tons of compliments on the food, however, didn't take any of the praise, and kept crediting Atlas.
"Oh no, it was my lovely protege, Atlas." His face lit up firey when they gave him fist bumps and smiles.
After most had went to bed, Nick and Atlas had sat staring out across the plain, uptop the tower they had gone to the very first day he was there.
"You know, Newt told me how he saw you never sleep during the night." He said, looking over at the brunette. Walking across the plain, they saw the exact man in question. Atlas sent an accusatory glance.
"So? what about it?"
"if you don't sleep, you'll get exhausted and collapse on the job. You don't want that." He said. Atlas rolled his eyes.
"But, you really should. Especially for tomorrow. We'll have a meeting early in the morning, and then to celebrate your new job, we all throw this big party, with a huge bonfire. it should be a hell of a lot of fun." He said, and Atlas nodded.
"Oh, and i have something to show you." Nick mentioned, before descending down the ladder.
Approaching one of the maze walls, there stood an outstretch of named carved into the stone. There were dozens of them. 6 of them had a thin, white line carved through the middle. Atlas's nimble fingers traced them.
"What are the lines for?" Even if he had a sinking feeling. He looked at Nick helplessly, who nodded grimly. He picked up a wood pick and a stone, handing it to Atlas. Gesturing to the wall, Atlas stood near it. Gingerly, pressing the pick to the stone. Stepping back, he dusted of crumbles of wall, and presented a clear image.
