The week passed fairly quickly. The Builders, with help from Gally, made good progress on the shower stalls. Working took his mind off the problem of their imprisonment, but in all truth he didn't seem as bothered by the prospect as some of the others. The Greenie seemed adept in the area and despite an unruly temper, had good leadership skills. He and Doug got along particularly well and the two of them often began side conversations about ideas for future projects and plans for updating the Homestead huts.
After minor deliberation, Elizabeth joined the Track-hoes. She just walked up to Zart and started working alongside him one afternoon. She already had gloves on and was carrying a hoe and one of the few watering cans when she got down and dug up the rest of the hole he'd been working on.
"What do you think you're doing?" Zart asked, raising and eyebrow. He watched as she finished with the hole and stood up to look him in the eye. She raised an eyebrow back at him and smiled.
"Getting my hands dirty," she said.
And that was that. Elizabeth was a Track-hoe.
The boys were all unused to the female presence in the Glade, and though it was awkward at first, most of them were able to carry on as usual, and saw no point in treating her any differently than Gally, the other Greenbean. However some, such as Ric, started watching their manners and appearances around the girl. Elizabeth seemed to get along with everybody, and liked to strike up conversations between herself and the others. She pretended not to notice when things got uncomfortable, and was good at laughing through it, which gave the boys a friendly impression of her. She and Gally were taught the ways of the Maze and the inner-workings of those that had lived there longer than they had.
---
During dinner one night, Dalton and P.F. were telling a story of their encounter with a Griever that day.
"It had to be the biggest Griever we've ever had to deal with!" Dalton said, spreading his arms wide in an attempt to provide visuals. Minho rolled his eyes towards Elizabeth, who was carrying a plate of food. She sat between him and Newt.
"What's wrong?" She asked him.
"They're elaborating everything as usual," he answered under his breath. Elizabeth shrugged and stabbed some food with her fork.
"It's a good thing I was there when the thing came up behind Alby," P.F. said. Alby threw a piece of his dinner at him.
"Shut up, that's jacked!" he half-shouted, half-growled.
Elizabeth put the food in her mouth and all at once her nose wrinkled and she made a gagging sound in her throat.
"What's with that face?" Ben, who was sitting across the table from her, asked.
She dropped the fork and brought a hand up to her mouth, coughing with closed lips. Without thinking, Newt smacked his hand across her back.
"GHRLCK," said Elizabeth.
"Man, that's messed up! You could kill her doing that!" said Zart.
Elizabeth continued making gagging noises as she forced herself to swallow the contents. Newt thwacked her on the back again, much to the others' distress, and Elizabeth began coughing violently. A ruckus started at the table.
"DO NOT THROW UP ON ME!" Minho cried, pushing his chair back into Hank and abruptly standing up.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Nick shouted from his place at the head of the table. Several of the boys, including Alby and Will, stood up from their chairs and ran over to where the commotion was taking place.
"BREATHE! JUST BREATHE, ELIZABETH!" Newt said, thwacking her back again. Elizabeth brought up her hand to stop him from doing it a fourth time.
"I--I'm okay," she choked out. Her face was pink from the effort, but she grabbed the nearest cup of water and gulped it down.
"Bloody hell!" Newt said. "Are you trying to give Minho a panic attack?" He looked pointedly at his friend, who was as far away from Elizabeth as he could be while still keeping within distance of the table. Minho's face was red too, but for a different reason. He glared at Newt when he heard his name.
"Sorry, I just..." Elizabeth's mouth made a funny shape. "What is that?"
"This?" Newt looked down at his own plate and contemplated. "This is...uh, well...you know, food?"
"It's just something I whipped up. Tonight was my turn to cook," Dave said. Though concerned for Elizabeth's safety and health, there was a small smirk of pride somewhere in that horrified look of his.
Elizabeth was incredulous.
"This is not food. Last night it was food and it was gross but at least I could ingest it. This, on the other hand..." she frowned and looked over at Dave. "I think this is poison."
Dave put a hand over his heart, as if physically wounded. "It is hardly poison, madame!" he cried. "Would I ever attempt something like that?"
"You're not smart enough for that, Dave," Zart said. Dave turned on him.
"Wrong!" he said. "I am probably the smartest one in this Glade, and if I wanted to kill you off, it wouldn't be by poison."
"Do elaborate," Minho said.
"Okay that's enough from you!" Nick slapped his hand down on the table and ate his own forkful of food. Elizabeth waited for him to gag or make some sort of indication of disgust, but she was met with an accusing pair of eyes.
"This ain't bad," Nick declared. Ric was the first one to follow Nick's example. He chewed on a piece of whatever-it-was and swallowed. After several seconds, he frowned.
"It's not that great," he said. Dalton and P.F. looked at each other and pointed.
"YOU'RE ON!" they shouted. They began forking food into their mouths and the boys around them started egging them on.
"FIRST ONE TO CHOKE LOSES!" Zart decided.
"THAT'S IT, I'M GOING TO TEACH YOU KLUNKS HOW IT'S DONE!" Hank started shoveling food into his mouth.
"WILL YOU FOOLS CUT THAT OUT! I'M TRYING TO EAT!" Gally spoke, or rather yelled, for the first time that night.
Elizabeth watched the chaos for a few moments before turning to Newt.
"Are you going to join in?" she asked. He shook his head.
"No. Are you?"
"Are you kidding? I already lost!" Elizabeth pushed her plate away and sighed. "Can nobody cook around here, then?" she asked. Newt gave her a funny look.
"We cook," he said. "Not well, I'll give you that, but we cook."
Elizabeth shook her head.
"They'd better send up a chef next month," she said. Newt laughed, a pleasant sound. Elizabeth laughed back.
"That's actually a really good idea," Newt said, still chuckling.
"I know. That's why I suggested it."
From somewhere at the table there was the sound of a chair being smashed and the table wobbled as Gally angrily shoved himself into Hank. It seemed he'd reached the end of his limit, and Hank was as good a target as any. Zart dissappeared and reappeared with a slip of paper. He wrote a couple names on it, then started passing it around.
"Thanks for hitting me in the back," Elizabeth thanked Newt. He shrugged and continued watching the fight. Elizabeth nudged him playfully in the shoulder.
"I guess I'd better sit next to you tomorrow in case it happens again," she joked. He smiled.
"With our cooking skills, maybe you'd better."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "You don't like it, either?"
Newt turned his head to look at her and grimaced. "It's disgusting. In fact, it may be poison."
Elizabeth burst into another fit of laughter. Zart handed Newt the piece of paper. He looked it over, one of his eyebrows raised, then put a check next to one of the names.
"You gonna vote, Newbie?" Zart asked Elizabeth. She wiped the mirth from her eyes and took the piece of paper.
"What am I voting for?" she asked. Zart pointed at Gally and Hank, who were still wrestling in the dirt. Gally was lying on the ground; his sleeves were rolled up and there was dirt on his cheeks and a rip in his shirt. Elizabeth read the slip of paper.
hank ///////////
gally //
"So?" Zart asked. "Who's it gonna be? Hank? Or the Greenbean?"
Hank was on top of Gally, pinning his arms around his back and using his knees to restrain him. The other boy struggled under his weight and tried to kick out at him. Elizabeth watched this. She mulled it over. Hank threw another punch at Gally and he moved his head just in time. She drew a mark and handed it back to Zart.
hank ///////////
gally ///
---
That night, Elizabeth took a brief walk before retiring to her hut. She hadn't bathed in the days she'd been in the Glade, and was feeling terribly grungy. Her short hair was knotted and greasy, and her clothes smelled like old sweat and were stained with dirt. It was already quite dark, and the air was cool against her skin. She was almost to the edge of the Deadheads when she decided to turn back. I wonder what time it is, she thought.
"..."
A faint whisper caused her to stop in her tracks. She paused at the edge of the forest and listened, but didn't hear anything other than the wind. She shivered and remained still.
"..."
There it was again? Elizabeth hugged herself and turned around. It was probably just a couple of the guys goofing around. She didn't understand the fascination with hanging around creepy forests. Especially those with graveyards in the center of them. Especially at night when any normal person would be sleeping.
"Elizabeth?" Elizabeth jumped at the sudden voice. She swirled around and came face-to-face with Ric. She'd never really had the time to notice it before, but he was at least two inches shorter than her.
"Sorry, did I scare you?" he asked, jamming his hands in his pockets. Elizabeth looked over his shoulder, but he was the only one around.
"Did...were you just in the forest?" she asked, instead of giving him an answer to his own questions.
"Oh...nah," Ric replied, his face turning a bright scarlet. "Who would go there after dark? It's spooky."
For some reason Elizabeth didn't believe him.
"Well, I'm going to go to my hut now. I mean, Gally's hut. I mean, it's not really a hut, yet, but he says it'll be finished soon." He was talking too fast. His words jumbling together, his hands fidgeting, his feet tapping on the ground. Looking at him, Elizabeth tried to guess his age. He couldn't have been older than thirteen.
"Have a good night." Elizabeth smiled at him and turned and walked back to her own hut.
That was really weird, she thought, why was Ric hanging out in the forest at night? And why did he lie about it?