Only Herself to Blame...

"Who's that?" I asked Alby when Gally had turned and headed towards a big wooden building.

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. All the boys began cheering and wolf whistling and laughing.

I turned to Alby, who was staring at me. "That's Gally. He is a builder. Been in the Galde for 2 years now. Why dya want to know?" He said.

"I dunno. Just curious. Dya get different jobs here? Do to get to choose?" I asked, trying to change the suoject as soon as possible.

Alby shook his head. "We choose what job you'll get after you've had had a trail on each. They begin in a couple of days."

"Which job will I get?" I asked.

"Runner." I heard Jai say.

The silence spread like wildfire. Everyone stared at him and he turned red.

Alby walked up to him and grabbed his shoulders. "What did you say, Greenie?" He growled.

"I dunno. A runner?" Jai said frantically.

"How dya know what a runner is?" Alby whispered, but it was that quiet that it sounded as though he had shouted it.

"I have no idea. Please. I don't even know why I said it."

Alby shook him. "Well you'd better start knowing. Throw him in the slammer while I deal with the girl."

The slammer? Deal with me? My head started spinning. I couldn't take it anymore. I turned and ran the direction Gally had gone.

I heard the boys shouting at me, but I just ran faster. I could hear at least one person following me, but he was quite far behind.

I didnt know where I was going, but I turned around a corner and tripped over something. My head hit the ground, but I got up immediately after.

I spun around. I had tripped over Gally's legs.

"Sorry." I muttered.

Gally had turned red again. "Erm..." He pointed to my face.

Confused, I put my hand just below my nose and felt something warm. I drew my hand away, to see it covered in blood. Damn. What a way to embarrass myself.

I wiped my nose on my sleeve and apologised to Gally again.

"No. Honestly, it's me that should be apologising to you! Why were you running anyway?" He asked, as he stood up.

"Hey! Get your Shuck butt here, now!" I heard someone shout. I turned around to see three boys running towards me, one slightly infront.

"Sorry, gotta go!" I said to Gally, and I ran again, pushing myself to run faster.

"Wait!" Gally shouted, but I was already off.

I risked a glance behind me and saw an Asian boy with a quiff behind me. The other two had gone.

I looked forward again, running faster still.

"WILL YOU COME HERE? WE AREN'T GONNA HURT YOU!" The boy yelled.

"Yeah, right. Whats the slammer?" I shouted back, still running.

"Slow down and I will tell you!" He was catching up to me now. Naturally, I panicked and ran full pace, weaving in and out of buildings until I saw a forset. Perfect.

I ran into the trees, ignoring the scratching I felt from their branches.

I must have ran through the woods for about ten minutes, before I came to a huge stone wall. It looked like it carried on for a while, so I sat down with my back to it, and caught my breath.

***

Nobody came looking for me where I was for a good four hours, so I decided I would be safe enough here to get some sleep, then when the night came, I would find my way out of this place. I had run passed a huge opening in the wall on my way here, so I would just slip pit of there when darkness fell.

I curled up in a small ball and closed my eyes. I was just on the edge of sleep when I heard a branch crack.

My eyes snapped open and I shot to my feet. After a few seconds of silence, I started to sit back down again. It was probably just a bird or squirrel or something.

Just as I was crouched down, ready to flop back into my ball, another twig cracked. This time, I stayed deathly still. There wasn't another twig snap for a couple of minutes, until I could see the shadow of a boy in the trees. He stood on another twig and nearly fell over. "Shuck it", he muttered.

I stood up and began running again, along the wall.

"No! Wait! Please!" They boy shouted, and I stopped.

It was Gally.

"Why the shuck dya keep running away? We're not gonna hurt ya!" He said.

I sat back down without answering and he sat next to me.

"How are ya feeling?" He asked.

I smiled half heartedly. Gally definitely seemed to be the nicest boy here, maybe apart from Jai.

"I dunno. Scared. Angry. Confused. Tired." I laughed. "A lot of things."

He smiled at me. "It's normal to feel scared and confused. And I guess I can understand why you are tired, what with all the running and that, but why dya feel angry?"

"At the Alby boy for saying I needed 'dealing with'. At the boys who were chasing me. At whoever put me in here and wiped my memory."

Gally nodded. "I see. But what Alby was meaning was that he was going to ask you about what what you remember, and organise a tour for you."

I sighed. "Well he could have just said that."

Gally laughed. "Alby's wording sometimes have double meanings, or are taken to mean the wrong thing."

I nodded. "But I can't tell him everything I remember, cus I don't remember anything."

"What's your name?"

"Oh. Ok, apart from that then. But it's Zoe." I said.

"Zoe. I like it." Gally smiled.

I felt myslef go red. I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just smiled back.

"There you are, you little little shank!"
I shot to my feet. The asian guy was back. I took off running again, but Gally grabbed my arm.

"Wait. He won't do anything to you. I promise. And if he does, I'll make sure he won't be able to run again."

The guy laughed. "Go klunk yourself Gally. I'm not gonna hurt her." He turned to me. "I'm Minho. Come back to Homestead with me. We need to hold a gathering."

He turned back to Gally. "Be there in five minutes."

Minho turned to go and called over his shoulder "You don't have to cling onto her, Gally. Pretty sure she can support herself."

We both turned bright red, and Gally dropped his hand from my arm, muttering about not wanting to be late for the gathering.