No Use for Moonlight

6➪Jack

It took Jack a lot longer to haul Kathrine over the wall than he would have liked. It wasn't that she was heavy, but more so that it was just plain old hard. Sure, laugh all you want, but dragging another human being (especially one who's taller than you by a bit,) is not easy. Jack felt like he deserved some sort of award.

But he didn't get a medal. Just all his boys gawking at Kathrine, not even bothering to hide their shock. Jack couldn't blame them. It wasn't everyday some girl got dragged over the wall.

"Who's that?" Specs's asked bluntly, cocking their head to one side. Romeo nodded agreement, though he usually agreed with Specs on most things.

Jack opened his mouth to introduce Kathrine, but she beat him to it.

"Kathrine. Kathrine Pulitzer. And I'm up here because someone promised me a story." She shot a sharp glare at Jack, a look Jack never wanted to have directed at him again. He'd only met Kathrine that night, but was certain he never wanted to cross her.

Jack cleared his throat. "About that..." He took a deep breath. "There isn't really a story. Just us. And some buildings."

"And baby spiders!" Elmer added unhelpfully.

Kathrine glowered at them all. "Fine then! How about I just go back down the wall and leave you alone with your pathetic story-less lives?" She snapped.

Jack couldn't help but scoff. "Yeah, sure. You can't get down that wall without snapping your neck. You're going nowhere without us helping you down." He told her.

Kathrine groaned, paced around the wall, kicked the turret, swore under her breath once she stabbed her toe, and took a deep breath.

"Fine. So we admit it, I need your help, and I'm assuming you're all in dire need of assistance." She admitted, crossing her arms. Jack grinned at her, glad she was finally agreeing.

"Great. Now, we better get down the wall. We have all night, and there's nothing except stone up here." He said, gesturing for his boys to make their way down the wall again.

Just before Jack grabbed her to swing her down the wall (not literally. That would be dangerous,) Kathrine grabbed his wrist.

"That edge of the wall, is there anything over there?" She asked, pointing to where the wall ended. It was completely broken down, nothing to stop you from plummeting to your death if you fell. If you happened to fall, or were pushed, you'd never survive.

Jack shrugged. "Nah. Nothing except death. Some kids say a boy fell down, and now he haunts this very wall." Jack whispered. In all honesty, he started that rumour, to stop his boys from wondering over there and falling.

Kathrine nodded. "Okay. So I got it, no falling off the wall." She said; her eyes glinting slightly in the low moonlight.

Jack grabbed her and the two made their way down the wall, just as slow as before, if not slower. All the boys were positively jumping up and down with impatience when they finally made it down the wall.

Jack watched as Kathrine's eyes widened when she took in the dirt and the grime and the crying babies and the baby spiders.

He smiled lopsidedly at her, though it didn't truly meet his eyes. "Welcome to The Outside."

-//—//—//—
And that's it for now. Sorry the chapters are rather short, I'll try to make them longer soon.

And there's some mild foreshadowing in this chapter. Have fun trying to find it :)