Banished (TMR Fanfic)

14

As the door opened, I caught a glimpse of tar-black hair before Jeff shifted and called, "Hey Greenie! What're ya doing here?"

"Neil," I corrected. "My name's Neil." Jeff looked surprised but nodded to show that he understood.

"And Newt told me to come here," I said, trying to relax my face. "Asked him about the Teresa girl and he won't tell me anything 'cept that."

Clint and Jeff were seated on the left of a medical cot, their bodies blocking the upper half of the person in it. They exchanged a quick look before Clint waved me over.

I closed the door behind me and walked closer to the cot, pulling up a stool and sitting next to Clint.

My eyebrows shot up as I took in the girl lying on the bed. She was definitely Teresa, but like Thomas, there were clear differences. Her long hair had been cut to halfway down to her elbows, her face thinner but not in an unhealthy way with sharp features. Teresa looked a bit older and she was pretty, to say the least.

"Why hasn't she woken up yet?" I said suddenly. "Aris woke up two days ago; don't you think she would've woken up around the same time?"

"Aris?" Jeff asked. "Who's he?"

"I'll explain later," said Clint quickly. "Newt told the entire Council before the Gathering."

I felt a twinge of regret at the mention of Newt but pushed it away quickly. He had started it.

My God. I sounded like an immature five-year-old.

"Anyway, um, how's she doing?" I asked, more to fill the silence than anything else. Clint rubbed the back of his neck, looking tired.

"I dunno. . . first few days she was fine - just not responding. Frypan made some soup for her, but she's eating less and less. Sometimes she mumbles random stuff, but it never makes sense." Clint pointed toward a notepad with words scribbled on the pages. "It's infuriating, honestly. Like she just fell asleep and won't get up. She's perfectly healthy, it's just. . ." He sighed in frustration.

"She'll wake up sooner or later," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "It's only a matter of time."

Clint nodded but didn't look too encouraged. Not sure what else to do, I left the Med-Jacks' room and headed toward the Gardens.

Thomas was bent over. his hands rough and dirty with topsoil and a half-full bucket of weeds next to him. He looked up and grinned as I leaned on one of the tall wooden sticks supporting vines of green beans snaking up.

"Hey, Zart?" he called and Zart turned his head to look at him. "Mind if I take a break?"

Zart nodded with reluctant approval and Thomas stood up, dusting off his hands and clothes. His knees were especially dirty and he patted them, dirt falling off his jeans.

"So," he asked as he stepped over the plants and grabbed an apple from a basket, offering me one. "What's up?"

I sighed as I took the apple. "Got a lot on my mind, ya know?" Thomas nodded and bit into his apple, crunching it loudly.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked and I smiled, starting to jog-limp toward the Deadheads. But when I realized that Thomas wasn't following me, I turned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Thomas had turned a shade paler when he saw where I was going. "Well - that's the Deadheads - with - you know - dead people." I rolled my eyes at him.

"What, scared of a few zombies?" I teased. "But seriously, they don't bury the bodies right outside, so there's nothing to be worried 'bout! Unless you have brains, so really, I should be the only one worried."