Nell's pov:

The training was boring. Nell didn't even get to shoot a gun. And she really wants to shoot a gun.
All she learned was the "proper" way to hold weapons. And to make things worse, the kids who were learning with Nell didn't speak a word to her.

So, Nell is glad when Cooper comes back into the training room to yell, "Dinner time!"
All of the kid soldiers immediately stop what they are doing and rush to line up in two single-file lines.
It reminds Nell of school. It seems forever ago that she was sitting in a classroom.

Nell joins the very back of one of the lines, confused as to why they have to line up, but following the crowd anyway.
The lines begin to move, everyone's legs marching in a synchronized motion.
Except for Nell, of course. Nell is trying her hardest to match the footsteps of the people in front of her, but she just ends up looking ridiculous.

At least no one will see me back here.

They turn to the left and enter a huge room. The room has five long tables with benches on both sides.
A cafeteria.

As they enter the room, all of the kids disperse to find their friends. Nell looks around to find Cooper, but he's nowhere to be found.
Why does he always leave?

Nell just stands in the middle of the cafeteria, confused and alone.
She looks around once more, scanning the room full of unfamiliar faces until she lays eyes on a certain teenager with short black hair.
Zara.

Nell sighs in relief and works up the courage to walk over to her.
She must remember me from earlier, right?

Zara is the knife-throwing girl who treats Nell like a baby, but she is the only person Nell knows in the room, so she walks over to her anyway.

Nell stops about fifteen feet away from Zara.
She's in the middle of a conversation.

Nell's dad used to always punish her whenever she interrupted him, so she quickly learned to keep her mouth shut when he was speaking. She only spoke when her father wanted her to.
This still confuses Nell. Why would she get punished for speaking but also get punished if she doesn't answer him?
Nell's dad was a mystery.

What if Zara punishes me for interrupting her conversation?

Zara is much bigger than Nell and can easily punish her like her dad did.
And so, Nell turns around and starts walking away from Zara.
Nell doesn't want to be punished.

"Grace!" A voice yells from behind her, making Nell stop in her tracks and turn back around.

Nell allows a small smile to spread across her face when she sees that Zara called out her name.
Well, her fake name.

Zara waves the lost little girl over and pats an empty seat to the right of her.
Hesitantly, Nell walks over to sit next to her.

"Hey girl, how was your first day?" Zara asks, looking down at Nell.

"Alright," Nell says. It could have been worse.

"Who's this?" Says a boy from across the table, scooping his second helping of pasta onto his plate.

"This is Grace," Zara says. "It's her first day."

"Well, Grace, welcome to hell. Don't let the huge dinners and nice bedrooms fool ya." The same boy says, stuffing his face with the pasta he just poured on his plate.

Hell.

Nell knew that was something bad. Her mom always told her that Daddy was gonna go to hell. She told her that it was a very bad place for very bad people.

Nell didn't want to be in hell, she did nothing bad. Maybe killing that brain muncher was bad, she shouldn't have done that.
If I'm in hell, I hope I don't see Daddy.

"Let me guess," the boy spoke again, "You pressed a big red button that killed an innocent kid?"

Nell's eyes widen in shock.
How does he know about that?

The boy chuckles at her surprised expression. "Yeah, we all had to go through that. Every soldier you see in this room pressed that button too. Because you know what would have happened if we didn't press the button?" The boy says, staring into Nell's eyes, making her uncomfortable.

"What woulda' happened?" Nell asks afraid, but also curious.

"If we pressed the button, they would have shot us." The boy says grimly. "Dead. Just like the kid you burned alive. Killing that kid was a test, and you passed."

Nell thinks back to the girl in the blue rainbow shirt with a doll by her side. Nell thinks back to her blood-curdling screams. Was she right to press the button? One life traded for another?
The girl was bit. She was gonna die anyway.

"She was bit," Nell says.

"That's what they say." The boy says, taking another big bite of pasta.

"That's enough," Zara says, shutting the boy up. "Here. Have some food, you're probably hungry after all that training."

Zara pours some pasta from the big bowl in the center of the table onto Nell's plate.

"Thank you," Nell mutters.

Nell is still super confused about the entire situation. This compound can't be that bad. Anyway, it can't be any worse than being alone in the woods.
Maybe she should just leave and go back to the farmhouse. Everyone there seemed pretty nice.
Speaking of the farmhouse, where did Carl go? What did they do to him?

Nell is thinking of ways to leave the compound and then she remembers, she can't. If she tries to leave, she will get killed.

Did Carl get killed? Or is he still here somewhere?

She has to leave the compound though because she dropped Snuggles in the woods. Snuggles is the only thing she has left of Ollie and she promised him that she would take care of the dirty, old bunny.

Nell was in the middle of eating her pasta when a deep voice started yelling throughout the speakers.
"We have a code red at the left wing! I repeat, code red at the left wing! Ten men down, gather the troops!" and then the announcement ended.

Nell looks up at Zara, confused. Zara immediately stands up, along with everyone else in the room.

"C'mon," Zara says and grabs Nell's hand.

Zara starts sprinting, Nell close behind, and they run out of the cafeteria in the huge mob of kids.
All of the kids stop at a wall outside the cafeteria.
A wall full of weapons.

Each kid quickly takes a weapon and runs down the corridor. Zara grabs a gun and Nell grabs the only thing she somewhat knows how to use.
A knife.

Zara takes Nell's hand again and they run to where Nell assumes is 'the left wing.'

By the time they get outside, the kids are all circling near something. Nell squeezes through the crowd to see a horrific sight.
The bodies of many men, dead bodies, scattered everywhere.
The smell of blood and death takes over the air.

"Whoever has done this will pay!! We will find them and we will kill them!!" yells a man's voice that Nell doesn't recognize.