Evelyn sat at the table with her hands wrapped around a warm mug of coffee. It had been a month since her and Newt kissed in the moonlit forest. The next morning he was polite and respectful, all around he had been a perfect gentleman.
But Evelyn knew something was off. She could see it in the way his body slumped when he thought no one was looking; or how his bright smile would slip when he looked away. He would never fully meet her eyes either. He had started to come around the MedHut again, but didn't stay long. They were both quiet, but it was now a slightly awkward, tense quiet. Neither of them brought up that one night.
So here she sat, surrounded by guys all chatting and laughing, but she never felt more lonely. A hand waved in front of her face. Snapping her out of her melancholy thoughts.
"Do you need a sprinkle of happy Pixy dust? 'Cause you look so forlorn little Pixy." Minho frowned at her.
She caught Newt turn his head slightly and look, he sat at the end of the table eating his own breakfast in silence.
"Yeah, Min. Just..." She trailed off for a moment and then sighed, "tired." She placed her elbows on the table and placed her head in her hands, "the Builders all have the flu. And I just had to watch our sixth Glader succumb to that stupid Grief Serum!"
She finally let go of her head rather roughly and slammed her hands down on the table. Catching the eyes of Nick, Alby, Gally and Sonny. Angry, frustrated exhausted tears formed behind her king lashes.
"These stupid creators keep sending different coloured serums up, conveniently enough syringes for the amount of stung kids for the month. They plan it Min! I know they do! And they don't even know what they're doing! It's like trial and error. Except I have to watch the kid die in horrible ways. And they do nothing! And...I'm exhausted! Every Keeper has more than one guy for help! I'm keeping this shuck place on its feet on my own! So yeah Minho, if you have some happy fairy dust please share."
Once she let her words tumble out if her mouth, she felt guilty for explosion him, he didn't do anything. She swatted at her tears, she was frustrated with herself, when she was angry she cried, when she was tired she cried, when she was sad she cried, sometimes even when she was happy she cried.
Minho held up his hands in self defence.
"A feisty little Pixy this morning."
She ran a hand through her golden hair, it was very long now, being here almost 11 months now. Evelyn took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry Min. That was uncalled for. I didn't mean to get mad. I'm just-"
"Tired. I get it. Sorry you gotta do all that klunk on your own."
"Thank you Min." She got up with a groan, "I should go." She laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, looking him in the eye, "Be Safe." She dropped her voice so only he could hear, "I need my best friend to come back."
"Always little Pixy." He smirked at her and patted her hand.
With her mug clutched in her hands she left the table.
"Have a good run Newt." She smiled politely.
"Thanks Lee." He nodded, the smile he gave didn't reach his eyes.
She turned with a heavy heart and went to the MedHut to start her day. She was kneeling in her garden pulling weeds, lost in her thoughts again. Today was greenie day. More supplies and another kid. Another poor, lost and scared boy. Meaning another month stuck in these stone walls.
She pulled on a stubborn weed, it wouldn't budge. With a growl she pulled again, still wouldn't budge. With a frustrated cry she gave up and flopped back into the glass. The sun was warm on her face. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing and heavy heart. A shadow passed over her and stopped. She peeked an eye open. Standing over her was the huge giant of a boy, the Bagger Keeper, Sonny.
"Hey Sonny. What can I do for you?" She asked propping herself up into her elbows.
He didn't say anything at first just looked at her and frowned.
"Why're you laying down?"
"I gave myself a time out. That one weed is a stubborn little shank and I needed a timeout."
He grunted. Without another word he got down on his knees at the end of her little gaurden and began to pull weeds. Evelyn sat up and watched him for a second.
"Sonny. What are you doing?"
"Helping." His voice was deep and gravelly but quiet.
"That's very sweet. You don't have to, I was just venting to Minho."
"You look tired. I can see the sleepless bags. Gladers are hard to take care of."
Evelyn was actually speechless, she didn't think people noticed how exhausted she looked. Nick was always bugging her to get more sleep, but when your the only MedJack and the stomach flu goes around...
She had decided to keep the name MedJack, in honor of Jack. Some Gladers still called her a Healer, but she decided MedJack, it fit with the rest of the Glade's weird words.
"You also don't smile as much." Sonny said with a grunt. He yanked the big long deep rooted weed free, the one that was giving her grief.
"Well, that's true." She agreed sadly. And then muttered, "Do any of us smile much?"
He just grunted in agreement. Evelyn spent the morning in the Garden with Sonny. He was present company. He didn't talk much. But they got onto a game while they worked.
"Cat or Dog?" Evelyn asked.
"Cat."
"Really? I pictured you as a dog kinda guy."
"Too loud. Cats purr and snuggle."
Evelyn smiled, she could actually see it, him snuggled up with a fluffy little kitten. And she chuckled to herself.
"Sun or moon?" He asked.
"Hmm tough on Sonny. The sun watches me...but the moon knows all my secrets." She tapped her chin, "Moon."
He nodded.
"Tea or coffee?"
"Coffee." He looked at her like she was crazy, "coffee is life. That's not even a question!"
She laughed when he gave her a small shove in the shoulder.
"I agree! I agree with you Sonny!" She laughed.
"Warm or cold?"
"Warm. Mermaids or unicorns?" She giggled and raised an eyebrow.
Without hesitating, and without batting an eye, "Unicorns."
"Chocolate or vanilla?" He asked.
"Chocolate." Evelyn answered, still chuckling, with a shake of her head she went back to work.
"Blond or black hair?" He asked.
"Isn't it my turn?"
He pointed a threatening finger at her, "Answer."
"Fine! Sheesh. Blond."
He looked satisfied. She rolled her eyes and continued digging.
"Quiet personality or loud personality?"
"What's with these questions?"
"Figuring something out."
"And that is?"
"Nonya." He grunted.
"Nonya? What's that?" Evelyn frowned.
"Nonya business."
Evelyn gasped and chucked some mud at the boy. A small grin flashed on his face lighting up his eyes.
"Did Sonny the serious just make a joke?"
He shrugged and continued worked, but he had the smile and it remained there until the Greenie alarm went off. Both their smiles slid off. They both got up and dusted off their hands.
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(**I'm sorry! I can't get this out of my head! With the hole Rapunzel vibes mixed into this story...Sonny makes me think of Vlad from Tangled. But tough mean ruffian...but lives his Rapunzel**)
*Now back to your scheduled trauma and angst.
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"Thank you for your help. It was nice to have company."
He shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. "I can help more."
"If you don't mind. I like your company."
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The green was hulled up onto the glass. Hands lifted him up and dusted him off, a little rougher than was necessary, a few chuckled, a few pointed and whispered to their friends.
"What job is he gonna get?"
"I dunno man! He ain't cryin' so..."
"Doesn't mean anything! Could still be a klunk!"
Nick stepped forward, a welcoming gentle smile on his face.
"Back to work ya bunch of lazy shanks!" Alby roared, "Keepers! Come get yer Boxes!"
Nick steared the kid away gently talking to him, and pointing at different things. The boys were right, he was crying, his eyes were huge like shining saucers, his mouth wide open, but he was crying. That doesn't mean he wouldn't later at some point.
Evelyn went to pick up her box of supplies but Sonny took it first.
"I'll carry it."
"A true gentleman."
"Lead the way." Sonny grunted, a slight blush on his cheeks.
She was digging through the box, placing the things away in their proper places. She growled when she came across another syringe. This one was filled with light blue. On the side of the package stamped in black blockly letters:
Final Human Trial
Evelyn was about to just throw it at the wall, and watch it snash. Human Trials. She was right. These stupid creators were using them as testers trying to figure out the dosage... or whatever it was they were doing. She was so angry and frustrated, her hand clamped around it when there was a knock on the door.
"Hey Evy!" Nick's bright voice cut through her anger.
"Hey Nick."
She took a deep breath plastered a smile and turned around.
"And hello Greenie."
"It's actually Jeff...I just remembered a few minutes ago." The boy said sheepishly.
Evelyn's smile actually turned into a real one.
"Welcome to the Glade Jeff! Nick treating you okay?"
The dark skinned boy nodded. He rubbed his shirt shaved hair nervously.
"Why can't I remember anything?" He asked, his big frightened eyes bouncing between them.
"We all woke up without a name or memories, Kid. No idea why. We just do our best." Nick shrugged.
"Oh...okay." he shifted from foot to foot, fidgiting with his shirt. "So...what do you do?" He asked, "your the only girl I've seen..."
"Ya. Another thing we don't know. She's an OG Glader. Been with us from the start. But never another girl." Nick said beaming at her.
"I'm a MedJack." She tried to push the pain away when she said the name, she saw sorrow in Nick's eyes too.
"A what now?" Jeff asked, his face scrunched in confusion.
"MedJack, Healer...help the sick and injured."
His face lit up. "Really?"
She hummed and nodded. He finally took in the rest of the MedHut. Gally and the builders had explained it, it now had two separate rooms with doors at the back, and in the wide open area it had 3 beds pushed against the wall. They added an extra shelf and Gally had made her a bigger work table with open floating shelves for her herbs and things.
Jeff slowly walked into the room, head on the swivel. Nick stepped closer to Eveltand he folded his arms leaning on the table.
"You might just have the help you needed." He said in an undertone.
"Weird how we say things like that and boom they appear out of the maguc box." She muttered back.
He hummed still watching the Greenie explore the MedHut.
"Oh Nick, here, this was in the supplies again." She handed him the prepacked syringe.
"Well that's shucken encouraging....final?"
She shrugged, "maybe the creators perfected their poisoning? It maybe it'll be the last one..."
"Wishful thinking Evy... wishful thinking." He sighed and handed it back to her.
"Well...one can hope."
Nick hung his head. And ran a hand through his messy black hair. "Not to be a pessimist...but...hope has killed more of my friends than...than... Whatever. Hope has killed a lot of my friends."
"Yeah, that's very pessimistic. You've been hanging out with Alby too much."
He gave her a crooked grin.
Evelyn turned towards him, folding her own arms and asked, "How are you feeling? That flu hit you pretty hard."
He shrugged. "Very tired. Get tired very fast. Might not make the whole fire tonight." Taking his glasses off he ran a hand down his face.
She frowned.
But when he removed his hand he had his bright welcoming smile back on. He pushed off the table, pushed his glasses back up and called the Greenie to the next stop.
"Bye Evy."
"Bye guys."
They left, and she finished putting the supplies away. She picked up the empty box and went to go find Gally. They usually needed more crates. She couldn't find him at the builders table, and none of the guys knew where he was. She frowned, Gally usually stayed pretty close to his job sites. But shrugging it off she placed the crates on the table and scribbled a quick note.
The Glade was split with an ear pearcing scream. It was riddled in pain and anguish. Shivers like ice water went down her veins. She knew those screams. Another boy had been stung.
She dropped the pencil and sprinted I to the middle of the Glade. Just as Nick came sprinting from the BkoodHouse, Greenie right behind him.
They locked eyes, knowing exactly what that meant. They just needed to find the poor kid. She spun around trying to find the kid. She followed the sounds of the pain filled screams. At the South wall, crawling and clawing his way back into the Glade was Gally.
He screamed again and his body spazzumed. She could see he was rolling around and arching his back.
"Greg, Zeph, Lucky! Come on!" Evelyn screamed.
The boys charged after her towards their keeper. They made it before Nick and the Green. Evelyn didn't hesitate when she stepped into the stone coridores, she ran towards her friend, her brother, and grabbed him under the arms and pulled as his body spazzumed again. The other builders froze at the entrance. With another grunt she pulled him again. Getting another few feet closer. One more. One more tank, with a wild yell she pulled the screaming twitching twisting boy over the threshold. His builders finally grabbed him and helped pull him into the Glade.
"Nick! The serum!"
He looked dead on his feet, ready to collapse himself. He swayed a little.
"Where is it and what does it look like?" The Greenie, Jeff asked.
"Silver cylinder syringe, blue stuff inside 4th shelf at the back, in a bin that says Grief Serum."
He nodded and spun around and took off. The kid was fast. But Evelyn turned her attention back to Gally. He was withering the ground, screaming in paint. He was already turning a sick greenish colour. And his veins were starting to swell. His breathing was fast shallow and labored.
It felt like forever, but Jeff was only gone for a few minutes, he came skidding back in his knees, the wrapper already ripped off. He jabbed it into Gally's chest and pushed the release. Instantly his screaming stopped and his breathing became easier.
They all froze, watching and waiting. He still withered in pain, and the ocational scream, but he was breathing okay.
"Well...that worked." Jeff said.
"For now. We'll see. Final Human Trial my ass!" Nick muttered.
"Come on guys let's get him to the hut. Room 2. And Nick. You come too. Also, Jeff." She turned to the Greenie. He looked slightly apprehensive.
She held out a hand, "Welcome to the MedJacks, son."