Broken City

Alpha Male

Scotts was standing in a group with the rest of his posse, a few seconds after his darkening statement, he made his easy towards me and offered his hand for me to shake.
I take in his features: sandy blonde hair cut short and his blue eyes were kind, I immediately take his hand, grinning back.
His friends follow suit by taking it in turns to take my hand and introduce themselves.
Name, after name, after name.

Lucy is the last person to shake my hand, then she takes her place next to me. I notice someone who doesn't come to shake my hand, standing at the back of the room, staring right into my eyes. This makes me very uncomfortable, but I force myself to stay still in order to hold my newfound confidence.

"Scotts," I say, "who's that?" He follows my line of sight to the average built brown haired boy who is still staring at me.

"Erm, that's Asher. He's a loser, just ignore him. He never does his duties in the rota, never goes on missions... He doesn't do anything.

A high pitched tone comes out of the speakers. "What was that?" I ask.

"That means we get to work. Have you got a rota?" I shake no, "then you need to go and see Vivinae. She'll sort it out. Lucy?" I feel her tugging on my arm and she motions for me to follow.

"So, what sort of work do you do on the rota?"

"Cleanin' , cookin', I'm not allowed to do all the scary stuff, going out for supplies and stuff."

"Ok. What do newbies like me normally do?" She shrugs her shoulders. I guess I'll find out.

Vivinae is sitting behind an old wooden desk. Chopsticks has his arm over her shoulder reading something on the sheet that rests on the desk. "Scott's said you would have a timetable for me?"

"Oh yeah. Bradley?" she turns to the lanky man.

He grunts and turns around to sort through the black filing cabinet. "Here you go."

I take it from his fragile hands as gently as possible. "Thanks." The paper consists of my name, place of work and accommodation room.

Ben [Cook]
Kitchen
Room E Bunk C (EC)

EC is your identification code. You will be handed a dog tag which should be taken immediately to a Potter who will engrave your identification code into the tag after seeing this official statement.

"Cook? Why am I a Cook? I think Lucy is a Cook!"

Vivinae sighs, " This is the procedure we go through. You start at the bottom, the kitchen, and then if you are old enough and you have proved yourself, you can appeal to move up a tank. Your job is your surname, since no one can remember their last name."

"So what's next? Cleaning duty?" I asked really hoping the statement is false.

"Yeah. But you'll get there."

"Get where?"

"I assumed they would have told you already." Vivinae is clearly confused. "Most people want to be a Collector. They go out to get supplies- but it's a dangerous job, you know with all the traps out there."

"I know, I just want to do - to be, something important. I need to, I wasn't important in my previous life, but now I have a chance to be someone people will remember."

"Everyone wants to be remembered, but at some point there are too many people to be remembered. Sometimes you have to be the clockwork, not the face."