The next morning, Insie awoke to the noises of Jamie rapidly thrashing about coming from his cot and found that the boy had thrown all of the blankets and pillows onto the floor in his sleep. Insie rose from the floor carefully and crept over to the bed, cautious not to wake the boy until he was ready. He observed the scrunched together eyebrows on the boy’s restless face, the rapid tossing of his head to the left and right, then the nearly flailing arms and legs striking out at an unseen danger until he heard the greenhorn begin to mumble something incoherent. He tried, first, to wake up the boy with his voice.
“Jagger. Jagger. Jagger, wake up. Kid. Kid, get up. Jamie, wake up!” Even going to the extremes of using the nunker’s real name couldn’t rouse the boy; he only began flailing more desperately and mumbling louder with increasing fear. Finally, Insie realized that he would have to physically awaken him from the clutches of his dream, and lightly touched his shoulder while considering the best way to wake him up considering his injuries. Suddenly, as soon as Insie’s hand reached the bony shoulder, Jamie shot up out of bed with a wild look in his eyes, seized the hand that had only touched him for less than a second, and clutched Insie’s arm so aggressively that his short nails raked marks down the length of the appendage all within a second. He looked like a wild animal that had just been cornered by an invincible apex predator hungry for blood. Insie hissed at the scratching and felt himself becoming enraged on pure reflex, and, without being conscious of it, Insie grabbed both of the boy’s wrists, climbed over him on the cot, and pinned them down above his head all in one fluid motion while pressing the weight of his knees on the greenhorn’s thighs with a menacing snarl. That anger was almost as much of a reflex to Insie as the fear that had caused the greenhorn’s actions was to Jamie, and he found himself slightly taken by surprise when he realized he had trapped the boy so unconsciously. Only when he let out a slight whimper did Jamie seem to wake up from the frenzied trance he had been encased in, and when he opened his eyes to look at his subduer, he had a more familiar kind of fear within them, one that suggested he realized exactly how angry Insie was. Insie held him there and stared him down relentlessly for a few more moments, then, satisfied with his intimidation, climbed off of the smaller boy with a huff and examined his arm. The scratches were painful and a few of the marks looked on the edge of bleeding, but they looked rather tame considering how panicked Jamie had been when he had caused them. Insie blew a significant puff of air out of his nose and went to the makeshift sink in his cell to rub some water on his scratches before they could bleed, a trick he had learned in his childhood. The “sink” was truly just an old and worn bucket that each cell featured and was intended for handwashing, bathing, and drinking. The buckets contained a very finite water supply for each week, as they were only refilled on Saturdays, but the nunkers made do with what they had.
“I’m so, so, so, so, so, sorry! I-I-I guess I was as-sleep or s-something; I really d-didn’t mean to scratch you, please d-d-don’t be mad!” The greenhorn finally cried out as he fully came to his senses. As irritated as Insie was, he understood that all greenhorns have nightmares for at the very least their first two weeks in The Coves and he personally knew just how impossible it could be to wake up from them. Every nunker had them. He would remain annoyed, which he signified to the greenhorn stuttering his way through an apology with nothing more than the narrowing of his eyes and irritation portrayed by his frown, but he couldn’t truly be angry over such a universal misery that they shared. Confident that the angry lines trailing down his arm wouldn’t bleed or become infected, Insie turned back to face his floundering attacker with arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
“I’m willin’ to let it go this one time,” he began, “but if you ever try to do anythin’ even remotely similar to that again, especially if you’re awake, I will break your leg in four different places, then make you limp back to your cell by yourself. Got that?” he threatened.
“No, no, no, definitely, of course, it won’t happen ever again,” came the rambling response.
“Good.” he finished, and with that, Insie went about his morning routine. It was Thursday-at least, according to Cove time it was-so Insie was nearly out of water in the bucket and therefore couldn’t afford to wash off the dirt and grime that had accumulated on his body for another day. He grabbed his ancient toothbrush and, retrieving a tiny bottle of toothpaste that he had hidden under the sink, brushed his teeth with the smallest amount of toothpaste possible to still do a decent job of it. He disapprovingly eyed the mirror in front of him for a split second, then looked away again, focusing his sights on the dirty state of his sink’s exterior. Out of the corner of his eye, Insie could see that he was being watched intently by his temporary cellmate, who, upon making eye contact, flushed a deep crimson and averted his eyes. Insie rolled his eyes impatiently, not understanding what could be so interesting about someone brushing their teeth, nor why Jamie thought he could get away with staring after he had left such noticeable lines raking down his left forearm. Insie spat out the remnants of the toothpaste in his mouth, rinsed it, and cleaned the toothpaste off of his toothbrush absentmindedly, before deciding that if he had to be awake and trapped in his cell with a greenhorn at this hour, he might as well try to make light conversation with him.
“How are you feelin’?” he questioned.
“What?” Jamie looked up, seemingly confused.
“You know,” Insie continued, “your injuries?”
“Oh!” Jamie assured, “I’m fine! The only thing that still hurts is my side, but I kind of expected that.”
Insie ‘hmm’ed after finishing with his toothbrush and realized that Jamie had been miraculously covering his torso the entire time he slept, while he flailed and scratched Insie, and even, though subconsciously, Insie suspected, as they spoke about his injuries. He turned to the young boy and looked him over again, comparing the extensiveness of the injuries he saw the night before with their condition now. His eye only seemed a tad swollen, not even noticeable unless one knew to look for it, his arm’s bandaging had stayed secure through the night and there was no longer any sign of recent bleeding, the scratches on his throat were nearly gone, and he wasn’t holding his side anymore, so Insie determined that the boy was making an impressive recovery all around. After retrieving a fresh bandage from his hidden space in the wall and walking towards the cot with his unique gait, Insie mentally prepared himself for yet another struggle to get a good look at the greenhorn’s side.
“Drop the blanket,” He demanded.
“Not happening.”
“Drop the blanket or I’m gonna take it away from you.”
“Do you just want to see me shirtless or something?” the greenhorn tried to deflect.
“Kid,” Insie growled warningly, “just let me look at your bruise.”
Sighing, Jamie seemed to admit his defeat and released his protective clutch of the blanket shielding his chest from view. To Jamie’s clear delight and Insie’s slight annoyance, the blanket didn’t fall down on its own, rather remained in the exact position Jamie had been holding it in. The somewhat smug look on Jamie’s face was instantly wiped away when Insie threw the blanket to the other side of the cot and the grin was replaced by pale dread. Aware of the nunker’s apparent disdain for his scars, Insie, exhibiting uncharacteristic consideration, looked straight to the bandage at Jamie’s side, emphasizing his lack of attention to the alarming scars tainting the boy’s chest. Carefully unwrapping the bandage, Insie focused his attention on the still large and deeply purple bruise that laid below. The bruise still looked concerningly prominent, but had faded some and no longer seemed to be causing its host nearly as much pain as the day before, so there had definitely been some improvement over the course of the night. Insie informed the boy of this while meticulously rewrapping the bandage securely and changing the one on his arm, luckily with significantly less blood than when he had put the first one there, and internally predicted that it would be mostly healed in about a month. Just as he finished speaking, a piercing bell tone accompanied by a painful and deafening shriek could be heard all through the halls and all the cell gates opened once again as nunkers flooded out and made their way to the cafeteria for breakfast. Insie, realizing that he had remained shirtless ever since patching up Jamie the night before, got dressed and looked upon Jamie’s tattered shirt with a disapproving frown. There were so many rips and tears in the fabric that it could hardly be considered proper clothing at that point, and so much of Jamie’s skin would be exposed that he would practically be begging someone to gut him on sight if he wore it around the general population.
“I’ll trade you one of my shirts for that one,” Insie offered
Permanently confused Jamie lived up to his now expected pattern of behavior and asked why “on earth” would Insie ever want what was left of his once whole shirt.
“I’m almost out of spare rags and cloth, and I doubt you’ll get much use out of it anyway now that it’s nearly been shredded after you had it for one day, so I’ll let you have one of mine if you let me keep what’s left of yours for the scrap fabric.” He reasoned. Jamie thought for a moment, agreed, and happily put a whole shirt on as soon as it was handed to him. It was far too big for the scrawny greenhorn’s size, despite only being a tad too long, so he tucked it into the waistline of his pants and seemingly tried to ignore how baggy it felt as he asked where all of the other nunkers were rushing to.
“It’s breakfast time,” Insie stated, “and since today is the first Thursday of the new month we only get this one meal and we function under a first come first served basis, so we’d better get down there ourselves.” Jamie nodded in response and stood up fully, but then his eyes flicked over to Insie’s with hesitation.
"Don’t worry,” he soothed, “even though we’ll still be eatin’ with all of the other nunkers and the general population, nobody’s gonna come after you. They might pick on you or try to start a fight with you, some of them may even start harassin’ you, but it won’t be anything like it was yesterday. That only happens once.” At this Jamie visibly relaxed and nodded confidently. After Jamie stepped out of the cell and ventured into the hall, Insie quickly grabbed the boy’s tattered shirt and placed it within a box kept under his bed, which was nearly full of scrap fabric and rags.
The two of them began to make their way to the cafeteria, and Insie began the long list of instructions that he gave to every greenhorn who survived to see their second day in The Coves. He told the boy that he was allowed to sit with him just for the first few days since he didn’t know anybody, but by day 4 he had to pick a pack.
“A pack? Like wolves?”
“Yeah, basically. You gotta pick your circle by your fourth day in The Coves or else you’ll be a universal target with nobody watchin’ your back.” Insie drawled
“Huh. This isn’t going to be anything like high school, is it?” came Jamie’s sincere question. Insie laughed loudly, his head thrown back and his eyes screwed shut tight. He even slowed down his steps with his laughter because he was caught so off guard by such a sincere yet amusing question.
“Yeah, kid.”, he replied, still laughing through some of his words, “The Coves are like the high school from hell, where everythin’ and everyone wants you dead and you can never escape alive.”
“Sounds like my old school, but underground,” Jamie said. Despite Insie being aware that Jamie was joking, it still seemed to him as if Jamie had accidentally made a joke that hit himself too close to home by the way his smile turned cynical and his laughter hollow. Deciding not to comment on it, Insie continued spewing his script of advice for survival.
“Now listen, Jagger,” he began, “my pack happens to have some of the most violent people with a superiority complex there are, but they’re still my pack. Don’t you go gettin’ me in any trouble with them. And before you ask, there are two main ways for you to do that: question where they got their name, or start gettin’ a big head and try to get control. Since you mentioned high school earlier, I’ll explain it this way: you bein’ as stubborn with them as you were with me last night is basically the same as you tryin’ to smart off to a senior in front of the entire school as a freshman. You don’t do it. You bow your head and just take some of the punches they throw at you, but don’t let them get out of hand, got it? Since it’ll be your first time around them I won’t let them mess with you too much, but if you make one of them mad by acting like you have any authority or high standing whatsoever, then I won’t be helpin’ you when they put you in your place.” As Insie finished his sentence, the pair stepped into the cafeteria.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The cafeteria was just as chaotic as it was every morning, with hundreds of nunkers flooding in at a time, a few sumnuffs trying to stop a fight that had broken out over the biggest piece of bread, the chefs taking what was left of the sumnuffs’ and bosses’ breakfast back to the kitchen to be disposed of later, and even a few brave nunkers trying to swipe a piece of toast or fruit from the carts as the chefs hurried through, but only one or two of them succeeding. Tensions seemed as high as always in the line for food and Insie could tell there would be a fight soon if the line didn’t move quickly. Jamie trailed close behind him,the greenhorn’s nervous eyes flicking back and forth as if expecting someone to lurch at him every second. Searching the room with his eyes, Insie determined that the best way to help keep the greenhorn with him calm would be to get him through the food line first and then go back to the table where things would be less tense. When people began to notice the new arrival in the room, Insie knew it was time to move. Insie looked to the boy behind him and promptly began walking to the line. He could feel his breathing coming harder as the catcalling began and he only thought of getting to the line and away from the taunts and whistles following his companion and himself through the room. Jamie seemed to grow fearful behind him and stepped on his heel once by accident, promptly stuttering through a hushed apology. Once they had made their way to the line, many of the other nunkers had gotten their food already and were no longer interested in tormenting the most recently arrived greenhorn.
When they were next in line, one of the cooks recognized Insie and gave him his usual portion of gruel, then proceeded to give Jamie half. It wasn’t her fault, Insie supposed, seeing as the amount of food they got was usually determined by how important they are to the bosses’ profits and she knew nothing of Jamie, but all it took was a glare from Insie to convince her to give the scrawny boy not only the right serving, but some extra too in apology for the mistake. They continued through the line, each getting their half-slice of bread and four ice cubes, which earned a curious raise of Jamie’s brow, then exited the line to find their seats. Insie strolled over to the table the closest to the far wall with Jamie close in tow. Approaching his table, Insie could feel Jamie’s hesitation radiating from the dark-haired boy behind him, but pretended not to notice so as not to make it as obvious to those sitting at the table.
“Hey, there’s my favorite bitch!” Rodent shouted with a dramatic gesture in Insie’s direction. He rolled his eyes with mock-annoyance that he wouldn’t admit contained a small measure of fondness towards the girl’s antics as he placed his tray on the table and sat down, with Jamie following suit. Rodent was a decently tall girl of 16 with long strawberry blonde locks that trailed down to her lower back. She had a tan face and dimples that were well matched to her hazelnut eye color. She had high cheekbones and strikingly white teeth that had somehow stayed with her despite her time in The Coves. She was clearly very comfortable no matter where she was, and it showed at all times due to her extravagant persona.
“Careful Rat, Ince might just get sick of you and steal your pillow again.” came the drawl that was characteristic only of Stri, the resident voice of wisdom among their pack-despite his young age. The 15 year old had a beautiful dark complexion and entrancing brown eyes that could make even a nunker feel at peace. His dark brown hair was well kept and always tied back into a neat ponytail at the back of his neck. He was clean-shaven, as usual, and his appearance was always tidy. He had a fond expression and a comforting and effortless smile on his face as he spoke in his unique tenor.
There were three other people sitting at the table that had not spoken yet. One was Bee, a British girl whom none of them had ever heard speak who had secretive eyes and a contrasting expressive smile. They only knew she was British because she was introduced to Insie as such by her tour guide 4 years ago. The guide had been the only one to hear her speak her name or anything else, and would likely forever remain the only one. She had light brown hair that only just passed her chin, as she preferred for it to stay in its bob. To her immediate left sat Rodent, then to Rodent’s left was Bahrya, a blonde 17-year-old. He had insignificant cyan eyes, plain short blonde hair, and crooked teeth that were slightly yellow. Many would think him to be quite ugly if not for his delicate skin tone, wondrous strength matched with his built and toned body, and radiant crooked smile that only he could pull off. Sitting to the right of Stri was Elle, a short and thin girl of nearly 17. Elle always made her hair look as unique as possible, with a spiraling design meticulously etched into the one shaved side of her head, and her naturally near-white hair color cut in a diagonal fashion featuring vividly dyed electric blue tips. Her hair was the first thing everyone noticed upon meeting her, but she was also incredibly beautiful otherwise. She had delicately toned skin, an angular yet soft face, eccentric eyes to match her hair, and a sharp yet feminine jawline to match.
“Everyone, this is Jagger. He’ll be sitting with us for a few days.” Insie introduced. Jamie gave a nervous little wave and his left hand twitched when he noticed Bahrya looking ready to pummel him at just one wrong move. Rodent cocked her head at noticing the twitch and, realizing what Bahrya was doing, launched a tiny paper ball right into his ear, to which her victim jumped and started desperately flailing to get out of his ear canal, causing an uproar of laughter from Rodent, Elle, and even Stri. After Bahrya fished the tiny paper ball out of his ear, things calmed down again, and Insie could sense the upcoming argument that Elle and Rodent were undoubtedly preparing to have.
“You know,” Elle began, “We should probably introduce-”
“No way!” Rodent cut her off, “you got to do it last time!”
“If I recall correctly,” Bahrya interjected, “Stri had to do it last time because you two couldn't stop bickering long enough to even introduce yourselves.” Stri nodded solemnly at this and both girls flushed with spite. After a good three more minutes of the two girls arguing over who got to speak, Insie became impatient and decided to settle the matter himself.
“Elle, you get to do it because you haven’t called me a bitch yet for the day.” he decreed, pretending not to notice the inquisitive look Jamie shot his way at the word “yet”. At his declaration, Elle straightened up with a look of purely smug triumph while Rodent huffed like a child and began to pout while eating her food.
“Okay, then! Well,” Elle started, looking at Jamie, “I’m Elle, obviously. The pouting one,” she gestured to her recent competitor who only pouted more, “is Rodent; she’s the fun and impulsive one of us. The one who had the paper in his ear,” Bahrya glared at both Elle and Rodent simultaneously, at which Rodent perked up with a self-satisfied grin, “is Bahrya. He’s the freakishly strong teddy bear of ours.” Bahrya flushed and uttered a weak protest to that description that widely went unacknowledged. Elle continued, “The other one with short hair is Bee, she doesn’t talk much but she’s a total sweetheart,” Now it was Bee’s turn to blush and wave at Jamie with a slight smile at her friend’s compliment. “And this wonderful gent is Stri.” Elle continued, “He’s the only one of us with any common sense, other than maybe sometimes Ince over there, but I’m sure you’ve already figured out who he is. He keeps us all in line.” Finished with her series of introductions, Elle looked to Rodent for approval, who gave an approving nod in return. Jamie nodded, taking a moment to process all of the new information, and watched as the others ate their food. Once he felt satisfied with his understanding of his new acquaintances, he began reluctantly eating the gruel before him while looking inquisitively once again at the melting ice cubes on his tray.
“So,” Stri spoke up after a beat of silence, popping an ice cube in his mouth, “what’ve you told him of our pack, Insie?”
“Not much,” Insie replied, “I wanted to see if he could figure out which one we are after the introductions were all made, and well done Elle, I think you beat your personal best.” At this, Elle beamed “In fact,” Insie continued, “I didn’t even tell him anythin’ about packs other than that he will have to join one in a few days if he wants to survive, but I didn’t tell him what his options were because I knew this argument would resurface and whoever lost would want to do it.” When Rodent heard this her face lit up within an instant and her smile only grew brighter at Insie’s nod of confirmation as she began her explanation.
“Basically, there are thirty packs, each with their own requirements for entry, but only six different kinds. Most packs are Alliance packs; they’re only in the pack for protection for themselves and their friends. The second most common packs are the Advancement packs. These packs are full of nunkers that want to somehow become sumnuffs and essentially stalk them to try and figure out how to get to their level. Then there are the Freedom packs-there are only a few of these-who spend all of their free time learning everything they can about how The Coves are run and anything that isn’t common knowledge in the hopes that they can escape if they learn enough. Those guys are basically the conspiracy theorists of The Coves. We also have two or three Contraband packs; they can smuggle in almost anything you ask for for the right price. Finally, we have two top packs. There are two types of this kind of pack: there’s the Dominance pack, which are the nunkers that think that by getting everyone below them to rally together in fear they can overthrow the bosses and escape, and then there is the Initiation pack: the ones that have seen the worst The Coves have to offer and think that even fear won’t be enough to get out of here on its own. Those two are constantly having conflicts and things are always tense when they’re near each other. Those are all the packs we have here in our wonderful cavernous hell, so that only leaves two questions. Which type do you want to join, and which one do you think we are?” Jamie thought for a moment, trying to take into consideration the limited knowledge he had about the new place he was in. During this time of pondering, the others finished eating their slop and had all ingested their remaining ice cubes. Apparently coming to a conclusion, Jamie avoided making eye contact with anyone at the table and gave his answer with his characteristic slight stutter.
“I-I think I want to try to get into the Initiation pack,” he said timidly, still staring at the now empty tray before him, not realizing that every pack member at the table was making intentionally neutral eye contact at his response. “But,” he continued, still not daring to raise his eyes, “you guys are the Dominance pack, right?” he finished, finally looking up from his tray to see carefully crafted impassive expressions on every nunker’s face, even Stri and Rodent’s. They all made eye contact once more, still keeping their neutral expressions all the while and maintaining the silence until, finally, Insie spoke up with two simple words.
“We’re Initiation,” he said.
Jamie’s mouth fell slightly agape with a quiet “oh” when another tone sounded, this one signaling that, since today was the first Thursday of the new month, all nunkers were to return to their respective cells and spend the rest of the day cleaning their cages for inspection at “sundown”. Anyone found to be absent, with contraband, a stowaway, or a messy cell would be refused food the entire next day. This day also functioned to separate all of the nunkers to isolation so that they couldn’t try anything suspicious while they were unsupervised. Everyone at the table stood up, said their farewells for the day, and began to go on their way to their respective cells, none of which were in the same hall. As Insie was preparing to show Jamie to his new cell, Stri pulled the greenhorn aside, said something to him in a quiet voice that Insie couldn’t quite make out, kissed the boy’s cheek, and, after hugging Bee and Rodent, left the room with a somehow affectionate wave to Insie. He waved back with a barely concealed smile, then looked over at the now very flustered greenhorn to his left with a smirk. Jamie’s face was redder than Insie had ever seen it, and his stuttering was so prominent that Insie couldn’t be sure if Jamie was trying to say actual words or not. After another moment of Jamie’s “h-h-h-h-h-he, I-I-I-I, u-u-u-mmm-mmm.”-ing, Insie took pity on the poor boy and said,
“Stri is a very physically affectionate guy, and if it makes you uncomfortable just tell him and he will stop, but that’s mostly his way of dealing with Cove life and a kiss on the cheek is how he welcomes newcomers he likes.” At this, Jamie seemed to relax some and nodded that he understood. As Insie began walking Jamie to his cell, he came to a stop with a smirk that Jamie couldn’t see from where he walked behind him and added, “...or maybe he just thinks you’re cute.” all the while sporting a smug grin that could rival Elle’s.
Insie didn’t need to turn around to know that his statement had made the greenhorn turn an even brighter red than before and even internally the boy would be stuttering through his own frenzied thoughts. He smirked at the thought of messing with the nunker so easily and at the knowledge that even if what he had said was true and Stri was attracted to the boy, he wouldn’t express that through physical affection unless they were together, rather, Stri would be shy about being physically affectionate with him at all.
Insie showed Jamie to his cell, which didn’t need to be cleaned since he had never used it, and told him to try and get some rest as they don’t do inspections for greenhorns that had been in The Coves for less than a week and went back to his own cell to begin hiding things and cleaning. Inspection went off without a hitch, as did the final tone and much-anticipated release of the dogs-thankfully-and Insie fell asleep that night thinking about how surprised he was that a young greenhorn he had known for only a day, yet had already learned so much about, had unknowingly admitted to everyone at Insie’s table that he wanted to join their pack.