"I'm pretty sure I'm going to collapse soon." Nina carried on. Minho let out an exasperated sigh and turned to face her, but before he could speak, another voice came from behind.
"Mate, you were a model before this. You would eat less than this each day. Grow up."
Minho turned round. Behind him there was a tall, slim, blonde girl looking scornful, one hand on her hip. She was wearing thick, tight-ish, dark green trousers with flexible, brown boots laced up to just below her knees. A leaf green jacket (not leather but a similar substance) had a zip down from her right collarbone to under her left arm. It looked tough but bendy. The girl herself had honey blonde hair streaked with brighter blonde highlights. A green dappled cloak finished off the look. Serious grey eyes and a straight nose led down to full lips and a pointed chin. She had a few pine needles in her hair indicating she had come from the woods.
But the thing Minho noticed most about her was the recurve bow she had slung over her back, along with the twin hilts that stuck out over her shoulders.
"Who the shuck are you?"
Nina had leapt up with a shriek and was now clutching to Minho. The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Can we talk?" She asked. Minho nodded with his eyes narrowed. "Sure. But I want answers. Also, no weapons" The girl smiled and nodded slightly, slipping the bow and the quiver off her shoulders, then drawing her swords from opposite sides and setting them down on the ground. They waited for a moment, then Nina blurted out, "Well go on then!" The girl shook her head smiling patronisingly. "Alone. I'll talk to Minho alone." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Or I can just disappear back into the forest." she said shrugging, turning to walk away.
"Wait." Minho said, "Over there. We can talk in peace." He turned and strode off, knowing that she would follow. She quickly caught up with him, her long legs eating up the ground.
"I'm guessing that you're the shank that's been supplying us with fresh meat."
"Yeah."
"Thanks." he nodded curtly. "Now; who are you? What are you doing living here? Are there any more of you shanks out there?"
"Wow, slow down. It's a long complicated story so I'll leave some stuff out. There's only me living here. After the sun flares and the Flare... I guess you know about that?" Minho nodded seriously. "Well after that a group got together to try and find a cure. It was called.."
"WICKED" Minho interrupted.
"Yes." she said quietly. " They were prepared to go to some pretty extreme measure to find a cure."
Minho put one hand on her arm. She looked down in surprise then carried on. "They took me and my older brother when we were little. I was only three or four. We were immune so they decided to test on us. I wasn't old enough for the main test, so they handed me over to another group of their scientists. While the main test was in progress ( it was going to take a long time) they decided to experiment on me." She lifted her jacket and showed him two symmetrical scars running up either side of her abdomen. "They only changed some things about me - I think they were trying to create a new super human race - but some of my friends... they twisted their brains, destroyed them. I was going to have brain surgery, but Chancellor Paige found me. She sent me through to here secretly. The scientists just thought I had escaped."
Minho decided to trust her. Those scars were real, and the look on her face when she had told him about WICKED. "I was in the main test." he started, and she lifted her head up smiling slightly.
"You might know my brother then."
Minho cocked an eyebrow. "His name is Alastair." Minho sighed with relief. No one he knew had that name. "Sorry I don't know him" he started, but she stopped him."I think you might," she said hopefully, "Like I said his real name is Alastair. But WICKED called him Newt."
