Because #ThugLyfe Part Three: The Cave

Ta daaaa!

Here goes part three :)

..........

It must've been 'round midday when I woke up next.

Funnily enough, nobody else seemed to be awake. It took a full 360 to notice my friends' bodies strewn across the length of the treehouse. It was quite the sight XD

Maeve and Claire were a mess of tangled limbs thrown across the love-seat. T lay on the ground at their feet, an arm flung across his face to shut out the light. Emma was sprawled face down atop the makeshift coffee table, mangled hair covering her entire face. Zoe had fallen asleep at Emma's side in a sitting position, head between her knees. Sawyer was curled up under a flimsy blanket about five feet away from me. Gibb and Tom both had taken off their coats to serve as pillows. Although, the best sight of all had to be Fonts and Caellum, knowingly or perhaps unknowingly spooning one another on top of the beat up sofa that lay tucked into the corner of the room.

Just as I was about to burst into hysterics, I noticed Max was, in fact, awake. 

She gave me a pointed look that said, "Don't make a sound,"

I could see the sparkling amusement in her eyes from across the room as she tiptoed over to them. 

She retrieved something that looked like a camera out of her pocket and then was that I realized she'd been taking various shots of the two. 

Cuddling gangsters at their finest.

In case any of you were wondering, Caellum was the little spoon. 

As soon as Max gave me the okay, I let out an uncontrollable stream of giggles, waking just about everyone up (except Emma, who was probably extremely hung over).

"Maya, shut up, God," Tiernan grumbled, rubbing tiresomely at his eyes.

I threw him an apologetic smile before pointing at the source of my laughter, but he didn't even have to look.

"What the--?"

"MATTHEW FONTS, DETATCH YOUR CROTCH FROM MY ASS THIS INSTANT!"

"Oh, so that's what happened," Maeve said, shrugging it off as any other day-to-day event.

The rest of us burst into fits of laughter at the sight of C's and Fonts's horrified faces.

"Yeah, Fonts, get it!" Tom teased, failing to keep a straight face.

"Don't screw with me, Ginger," Fonts mock-threatened, pulling a gun out of his coat pocket.

"Oh, but I was looking forward to it," Tom winked, pushing the boss's buttons more than he probably should.

Luckily, Fonts didn't really care enough to react, satisfied with simply pushing Caellum off the couch.

"Guys, be quiet, my headache's being a bitch," Emma squirmed to a sitting position on the floor, grabbing hold of her temples painfully.

"Probably should've thought of that when you were downing four beers, Em," Gibb stated, unconsciously running a hand through his matted curls.

"Fuck off, Michael,"

"Suit yourself," Gibb laughed, throwing his hands up in surrender before making his way over to sit next to Sawyer.

"Alright, alright, settle down people. What's the plan for today?" Claire took charge, getting up before walking over to lean against the window shutters.

"I say we show little Hobbit here what she signed up for," Caellum smirked, a certain glint in his eye that I didn't quite like.

My brows furrowed as I waited for someone to explain further.

"Whoa, slow down, punk; it's only her first day," Maeve spoke on my behalf, shooting him a warning glare.

"Yeah, C, don't push it," Claire huffed, tucking away her red bandana into her belt.

"No, I think he's right. She's gotta learn sooner or later," and before I knew what was happening, the blue-haired girl had thrown a dagger my way. 

Had it not been for sheer adrenaline, I don't think I would've dodged it.

"Jesus, Max! He meant tell her what we do, not throw a fucking knife at her face!" Gibb said, pulling me into a side hug.

My eyes travelled to the glint of metal by my side. 

I still hadn't said a word. My heart was pumping too loud.

"Well, she dodged it, didn't she?" Max gestured towards my otherwise unharmed figure.

"You're okay, right Maya?" she asked.

I found that all I could do in response was nod.

"See? She's fine. You're gonna have to do an awful lot of dodging from now on," she said nonchalantly, tossing the blue braid over her shoulder.

I gulped.

"Anywayyy, we have a big mission coming up. Tomorrow night, actually. And we're hoping to get you up to par by then so we don't have to lock you up in here, okay, kiddo?" Fonts explained, adjusting the cuffs of his leather jacket while looking my way.

"W-What exactly do you me-ean?" I stumbled across my words, feeling like my throat had closed up.

"It means we gotta train you to kill, kid," Tom informed me, walking over to lean against the doorframe.

Well darn.

"To--To what?! You want me to kill people?!" I just about shrieked, ready to jump up and confront him myself, but Gibb's arm tightened around my shoulders, preventing me from going anywhere.

"You're gonna have to if you wanna survive around these people, honey," Sawyer chimed in, twirling her favored dagger casually between her fingers.

I gave them all bewildered looks.

"No. No fucking way. I am not going to be responsible for the death of another human being," I concluded, shoving Gibb's arm off of me before standing up.

I hadn't really realized until then that I had no way of escape. I was pretty much cornered by everyone else in the room some way or another.

"Fine,"

Everyone looked to Claire in shock.

"We're not gonna train you to kill anyone, sweetie, but you gotta learn to defend yourself. We deal with dangerous people and most of them are experts in murder. Once they know you're part of us, trust me, love, they will find any way they can to access your weakness. Don't let them get to that, okay Maya?" Claire's eyes never left mine, almost as if looking away would break the promise.

I tossed the words around my brain for a while, knowing I couldn't really leave them now.

"Okay," I finally agreed, watching everyone exhale simultaneously.

"I'll learn to defend, not kill, but then what use will I be to you guys? I wouldn't be anything but another burden to carry around," I sighed.

They were all silent for a while.

"Weapons."

We all looked to Zoe with perplexed expressions. This was the first word she'd said all morning (or afternoon, I should probably say).

"She could be in charge of our weapons. You know... Sharpening knives, loading the guns... You guys take enough time as it is getting ready before missions," she sent the others a knowing smirk.

"Hey, the only reason you're any faster is 'cause all you have to manage are little poison grenades," T stuck his tongue out at her, resulting in a who-can-stick-their-tongue-out-farther competition with Zoe.

"Knock it off, you two," Maeve rolled her eyes at their childish behavior.

"I think that could work," I watched the gears switch around in Fonts's head.

"She wouldn't necessarily have to come with us on every mission, but she could make sure the ones she doesn't participate in run smoothly by being in charge of the weapons," he concluded.

I have no clue why they all think leaving knives and guns with me is a good idea.

That is never a good idea.

"Um... cool?" I attempted to break the awkward silence that followed.

"Awesome. Now, Gibb, C, Maeve--go grab us the noms. Zoe--make sure Emma doesn't puke all over my stuff. Max--teach Maya how to sharpen a knife. Tom--show her how to load a gun. The rest of you idiots come with me so we can discuss the blueprints for tomorrow night," Fonts took off his jacket, revealing a white T-shirt and a spiraling scar that travelled up his arm and disappeared into his chest.

Max and Tom stared down at me with amused looks.

This should be fun.

..........

"OW!"

"Dammit, Maya, I told you to be more careful!" Max sighed in exasperation, tending to probably about the ninth cut I'd managed to give myself in the span of an hour.

Loading guns wasn't this hard.

Tom had taken all of twenty minutes teaching me how to handle the guns and how to make sure they wouldn't go off with a bang when we weren't expecting them to.

Granted, I did shoot three holes into the roof by accident, but he promised not to tell Fonts, so it was fine.

"Having trouble there, hun?" Maeve walked poked her head through the doorway, biting back a smile at my expense.

"I'm fine, Maeve. I can do this," I shooed her off for the sake of my pride.

Max rolled her eyes at me.

"Okayyy, if you say so," she sing-songed, stepping into the other room to meet the others.

With a little determination, I mastered the art of sharpening knives an hour and five cuts later.

"Whoa, who dumped you in the shredder?" C remarked as I walked begrudgingly into the common room.

"Don't start," I warned him, not bothering to throw him a death glare.

The gang was strewn around the room, similar to this morning, but this time holding various slices of pizza.

Seeing as I hadn't eaten in close to 24 hours, I snagged C's pizza as payback for his little comment earlier, taking a bite before smiling triumphantly up at him.

"Damn," was all he said as stared at his empty hand.

"You guys get everything ready for tomorrow?" Max asked, taking a box for herself and setting it atop her lap.

"Yeah, pretty much," T replied, almost inhaling another four pieces in the next two seconds.

"Where's Emma?" I wondered, stretching my legs out underneath me.

"Practicing," was the only response I got.

Sawyer raised her eyebrows towards a door in the corner of the room, one I hadn't noticed 'till now.

I waited until the rest were caught up in banter to make my way across the room. 

The wooden slabs were dirty and worn; it was almost as if it wasn't a door at all. It took less than ten seconds standing in front of it for me to notice the putrid stench that was coming from the other side. My eyes searched for a handle, or a switch, or something that would allow me to get to the other side.

"Ah, ah, ah,"

I jumped, turning around to find Tiernan looking down at me with a condescending smirk.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," he warned, gesturing towards the door.

"Why not?" I crossed my arms over my chest with a huff.

"Emma has a real talent for going... well... nuts," he explained.

Something about the way he said it caused a shiver to run down my spine.

I forget that these guys are next to psychopathic.

"Oh,"

Deciding it was best not to take my chances, I let him lead me back to the rest of the group, where Gibb was in the middle of telling a story about something stupid he and Tom did as kids.

I sat down next to Maeve, who wrapped a gentle arm around my shoulders, careful not to bump any of the cuts around my arms.

"Rough training, huh?" she murmured, red flecks of hair falling into her eyes.

"Tell me about it," I sighed, resting my head on her shoulder. 

"The worst is almost over; after I teach you defense tomorrow, you'll be perfectly fine," she assured me, dropping a kiss to the top of my head.

Then was that I noticed the various tattoos that circled themselves around her arms. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were all made out of battle scars.

Maeve, you are one kickass fighter.

When I asked her about the tattoos, she told me she asked Max to build them from the designs of her scars. 

Apparently Max was designated tattoo artist, too.

I shut my eyes, trying my best not to think about the scary training I'd receive the next morning, or the dangerous mission my best friends would undertake that night.

..........

That took me a surprisingly long amount of time to come up with. Sorry about that.

I hope the next one doesn't take as long to write...

I also hope that you enjoyed :)

Hasta la próxima!

Much love xoxo

Maya