She had been led to some gathering area where many of the clones were pouring in. They all came in little groups of what she could only assume were according to their work stations as the more muscular and soot faced ones gathered together as they lumbered through the site, another group held similar characteristics in terms of body size and what not, but they were clothed in very lavish attire that seemed extremely gaudy when placed in such a dilapidated environment. Some lurked in the edges, communicating with their peers in hushed tones as if they had something to hide from the rest of themselves
Each group were busy amusing themselves with their own discussions. That was, until the sound of a bell echoed through the place. instantly all their attention was suddenly drawn towards the center of the area and they proceeded to shuffle closer until they formed a circle.
As Thirteen entered, she suddenly felt someone slip their arm and coiled around her own. She stopped herself from directly pulling out her blade and gutting the person. As she turned however, the feeling came back. Gren was pulling her around while navigating the crowd to look for some place they could sit. Despite being opposed to getting dragged around, Thirteen found that she couldn't resist the tremendous strength that hid within her comparably smaller stature.
Thirteen couldn't help wince from the pain and after awhile Gren turned around to check on her, meeting her glare with the biggest smile she could give. She could almost swear that this lady was doing it on purpose, and if she ever found out that that was the case, she'd attempt an assassination on this person every night. Probably wouldn't kill her, but she'd at least lose some sleep over it.
"Hey guys!" One of the.. Thirteen wasn't really sure what to call them yet, 'clones' she thought for now. "So, this weeks agenda is the re calibration of the dome, apparently, 'they' are hoping to catch more beasts in the smaller ranges, if the wood spikes can kill them, we'd be spending less energy to run the grinder."
"What's the incentive!" Someone in the crowd shouted, eliciting a uproarious response from the rest.
"Well, if we can use less energy, it also means that we require less biochemical fuels, making our stores last longer." The clone at the center spoke. "If that's not enough, need I remind you that we can also have less 'deconstructions' if we do this right."
In a few moments, the potential riot was quelled down to some disgruntled murmurs. "Now, I know that the situation's a little dire now, but if we can last through it I'm sure that there will be a place for us as well."
"Yeah right!" Gren stood up, startling Thirteen, "They don't even treat us like living individuals right now, just puppets to finish whatever job they've assigned for us, and you're telling me, that once they have no need for us, they wouldn't deconstruct us anyway?"
The rest didn't chime in as much, but from the anger in their eyes, the slight bulge of their arms and the little shift in their posture, anyone could tell that the statement wasn't one they ignored.
"Now now, I don't think you're being fair, it's these times that are making the worst of us, after all if they could turn out that way, why can't you?" With those words the whole room shut up like a clam. "Haaa... I'm sorry to say this guys, I don't want to be the one standing here and telling you how this all has to go down, but someone's gotta do it..."
With that the meeting was disbanded and the people dispersed towards their individual quarters, or wherever it was they came from. Thirteen followed Gren until they arrived at the same bedroom they used to access the hall previously. At first Thirteen was wanted to ask a lot of questions on the way, but seeing Gren's expression she decided to wait until they had some privacy at the very least.
Once they reached what seemed to be Gren's private room, she plopped her rear on a bed, "Sorry about all that, I know I promised to give you answers as soon as possible but we all have strict schedules and we hadn't really anticipated your crashing through our walls today."
"Sure, make it quick, once I disagree I remember I was allowed to cut you as many times as I want?" Thirteen replied promptly.
With a sigh Gren spoke, "Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but we need your help."
She looked to Thirteen's face for a reaction but saw nothing of the sort.
"Well...?" She wondered what the little girl was thinking.
"Just because you say you need my help doesn't mean I'm supposed to suddenly agree, In the first place you haven't even told me what you need me to do exactly." Thirteen lectured.
"Right, sorry sorry, uh where do I start... ummm..." Gren tried to figure out, "Sorry, as you can see, we don't have a lot of outside people so I'm not used to talking with people who don't look like me."
"Un, why don't we start with why you pretended we were dead in the crash site." Thirteen decided to lead.
"Oh, right yes! So we did deduce that the rider of the vehicle wasn't dead, but we couldn't say that in front of the 'others'." Gren explained.
"Those guys who left earlier than you?"
"Yes."
"Your enemies?"
Gren thought over it for a moment, "I don't think I'd call them enemies, they're... I don't know how to explain this but in this place, essentially everyone is the same person. I personally like the thought that I have my own name so I use Gren, but truth is, we're all called Grens, and I'm uh.. Gren207." She said as lightheartedly as she could but there was a definite tinge of dissatisfaction when she spoke that name.