Manburg Underground

A New Dawn

Dream had been with Schlatt for three years now. He'd joined the ranks when he was sixteen, but now he was 19 and was Schlatt's right hand man. This meant it was up to him to have everything under control with new recruits and getting them situated and on the road to pleasing their boss.

George seemed different though. He wasn't like the rest of them. Not only was he short and probably not the best when it came to survival skills, he was also domesticated way more then the other guys there. Dream didn't know how well George was going to fit in with the crew, but he knew that he was going to have a target on his back. George was stubborn, he'd seen that already, and he wasn't going to be easily bossed around. Things were about to be a lot different for George.

Dream led George out of the room and let him take in his new residence. Manburg was actually underground, in an abandoned subway system that hadn't been occupied for years. It was a perfect location close to the main cities but out of reach enough for people to come sniffing around. Dream let George walk behind him since he figured he wasn't going to try and make a break for it. He could tell that George knew there was no turning back.

"Hey!" Dream called and whistled at someone standing against the wall towards the end of the tunnel. "Sapnap, this is our new recruit."

"Sapnap" was a shorter character, but he had a strong build. His long black hair was held out of his eyes with a white bandana and he wore a white shirt with a flame on the front of it. His brown eyes were serious, but friendly. Dream explained the situation and Sapnap looked George up and down and then scoffed.

"He seems kind of...I dunno...small?" He held out his hand and George shook it hesitantly. "Do you have any fighting experience?" Sapnap questioned.

"Um..." George looked between Dream and Sapnap. "I did a year of karate when I was seven."

A laugh erupted from Sapnap and he shook his head. "Schlatt is getting desperate."

Dream shook his head and shot Sapnap a telling look. "George, this is Sapnap. He's probably one of the best fighters here aside from me. He'll be training you from now until you are ready to go out on tours with us."

George stared. "Tours?" He questioned.

Every week, Dream and his special team would go out and get supplies and money for Schlatt. Their job was to make sure that they could have operations stay up and running at all times without anybody suspecting anything. They all had personas when in public but down in the Underground, they were all called by their aliases.

Dream explained, but didn't allow George to ask more questions. They were on a tight schedule and Dream needed to show George the sleeping quarters. He pushed open a door and George peeked in, hesitant. "These are where we all sleep. You'll be in the bunk below me. Sapnap's bunk is across the room. This is where we go for breaks and to sleep or nap."

George looked at Dream and then back at the room. Dream really felt bad for him. This must have been a much harder change for George than for himself. For Dream, he had never really had much of a structured life.

Clearing his throat, Sapnap told them he was going out on a job and the two nodded and he shut the door behind him. Now it was just Dream alone in the room with George. "Look," Dream said, trying his best to sound sincere. "I know that...this is hard. Um, but if you...you know. If you need to talk to anyone or something I'm here."

George didn't respond and Dream felt like he'd failed trying to cheer him up. Dream adjusted his mask so it fit comfortably on his face and so he could see as well as possible. He placed a hand on George's shoulder and he flinched.

"Don't touch me." George said, coldly. "I
can't-" he stopped and looked down at his shirt. Dream followed his gaze and saw a red stain on George's white shirt. "Do you have a bandage?"