Taylor blinked at her stupidly for several seconds as he swayed against me.
“You're pretty," he slurred the words and smiled goofily.
Laurie tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear self consciously. "You might not think that in a moment." She took hold of his arm, pushed his sleeve up, and plunged the needle in. Taylor's eyes flew wide open and he instantly stopped leaning on me for support. He lunged forwards and kissed Laurie right on the lips.
I felt my mouth fall open as Laurie recovered from her shock and punched him in the gut hard enough to make him fall back into his seat.
“I'm sorry! I don't know what I was thinking," he spluttered, clutching his stomach as he tried to catch his breath. His hands were shaking and he looked about ready to bolt as his eyes darted around nervously.
“You're probably feeling like running might be a good idea. But it’s not." Laurie fixed him with a hard stare, one hand on her taser and a look in her eyes that said she’d more than happily use it. Taylor's eyes darted about like crazy but he dragged down a deep, steadying breath.
“I'm okay. It's under control." He grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about laying one on you…it feels like I could run forever though."
“Yeah it's kind of a rush. Makes some people do stupid things." Laurie narrowed her eyes at him but a faint blush coloured her cheeks. There was a knot in my stomach as I watched the two of them regarding each other.
The silence became uncomfortable and Taylor dropped his gaze to his boots. The doors suddenly opened with a hiss, saving us from the awkwardness.
"C'mon." Laurie led us out through the doors of the train and onto the platform.
The other Wardens escorted the rest of the convicts out around us and we huddled together on the concrete platform. It was cold outside, the wind blew around us mercilessly and I was glad for the thick material of my uniform though it didn't protect my face. Life within The Wall hadn’t prepared me for the reality of weather.
The training unit loomed in front of us. It was a square block of a building with bars covering the few windows. It was very small compared to my experience of buildings, only three floors high. The Wardens who had been waiting on the platform for our arrival made an outer ring around us and ushered us through the doors into the block.
Our names were called out and we were sorted into three groups. Messengers, time servers and lifers.
Grey was joined by a wicked looking woman with one side of her head shaved clean and the other covered with long, thick, blood-red hair. She had a huge, half healed scar running from the corner of her eye and up through the bald part of her scalp. Her name was Dolly Vanderhousen.
Most of the other convicts joined the time servers group and a short, red haired man named Evander Payfield joined me and Taylor as messengers, which made three of us. I wondered briefly what he’d done to get sent here but it seemed rude to ask.
We were led down a short corridor to the dorms. Taylor and I hung back, letting the real criminals take the lead and hoping they wouldn’t pay us too much attention. I didn't like the way they looked at us. Like we were easy targets.
Each group was housed separately and we stopped off outside the lifer and time server dorms while the groups were shown in. Finally, we reached the dorm assigned to messengers.
"Nice huh?" Laurie smiled as we walked into the chamber.
The dorm was a narrow room containing just six beds. The whole area was unadorned and practical. Each sleeping area contained a small table with space for clothes but nothing else. A ring along the floor encircled each one.
There were two doors at the far end of the room which led to male and female washrooms.
"Get comfortable and have some sleep. The training starts tomorrow," Laurie said as we surveyed the room. She looked like she wanted to say something else but thought better of it before turning and walking out of the dorm with a wave.
“Twelve days of training and then we get sent out into the trials," Taylor said as he read a schedule which was hung from a board on the far wall.
Evander sighed and sat on the bed nearest to the exit with his head in his hands. I picked one at the opposite end of the dorm and lay down.
A voice sounded in my ear as my head hit the pillow and I damn near leapt out of my skin in fright.
“Would you like some privacy?" It was the same smooth voice that was familiar from the city, though I couldn't see any speakers.
My heart finally recovered from the shock as I lowered myself back down onto the bed with a sigh of relief.
"Okay," I replied, unsure of what I was really being offered.
A thin wall made of reinforced, white plastic rose up from the floor around my bed and extended all the way to the ceiling, boxing me in. I was alone with enough room to stand if I wanted to and a dim light on the table made it possible to see.
"This is a safe zone, it cannot be opened from the outside except by a Warden. Please rest peacefully with full knowledge of your complete safety whilst inside," the voice explained.
I looked around in wonder, a sense of relief spilling through me at the idea of that. I’d been expecting to sleep uneasily in a building filled with criminals and murderers but this meant that I could relax. At least while I slept.