This Conspiracy

Chapter 4

Author stuff: I have zero recollection of writing this chapter. I'm not sure if I wrote it at work or at home or at the library, but apparently it was done and here it is for you.

Trigger warning: There is some drinking of alcohol in this chapter.

Have fun.

Chapter 4

In Which There Is A Wrestling Match

It wasn't as bad as he thought – he was glad he didn't have to help cleanup after lunch – but collecting dry underbrush and tinder wasn't much better. He was certain he'd gotten two dozen or so splinters. He didn't want to complain, though. Something told him that he would receive a massive amount of teasing for it.

That, and Flossy didn't seem to mind in the least. The work, that is. A few of the Gladers followed after her, carrying anything she unwillingly handed them. They reminded him of puppies or ducks or something. It was sickening to the point he thought he might actually vomit. They were doing all the heavy-lifting for her.

"Do they really have to do that?" a boy – Archie didn't know his name – said. He nodded in the direction of Flossy and her ragtag group.

"It's like they've never seen a girl before," he said.

"Not that any of us can remember."

"How long have you been here?"

"I was the second one to come up, so about... sixteen months now? Yeah, that sounds right."

Archie whistled.

"You've been here a long time, then."

"Not as long as some of the others."

"The original thirty, right? I think I remember Nick or Newt mentioning them."

"More like nineteen now, but yeah."

"What... what happened to the other eleven?" Archie said.

"The Maze happened," the boy said, nodding to the high walls.

Not for the first time, Archie looked them over. They were tall and imposing, sure – and he did feel a smidge claustrophobic stuck in the Glade – but they also had this sort of... safe feel to them that he couldn't quite describe.

"What's out there?" Archie said.

"What?"

"What's out there that's got everybody all... freaked out?"

The boy gave him a confused look, mulling over his words, before answering.

"Nothing for you to worry about, Greenie. If the Keepers decide that you need to know, then they'll tell you. As it stands, you don't need to know. Just stay out of the Maze, and you'll be fine. Good that?"

"Good that." The words felt strange on his tongue.

"Now, let's get those shanks to leave the poor Girlie alone, yeah? They have their own jobs to get to."

. . .

Archie watched as the group of boys who'd been trailing after Flossy – all Builders and Bricknicks, he'd learned – stuffed the underbrush and kindling into the chest strangely made skeleton-eqsue figure. It reminded him of a horrifying scarecrow of sorts. A scarecrow made of wood and topped with an animal skull – goat if he remembered correctly.

"Gally's idea," the boy – Dave, he'd learned after asking – said. "Started making these a tradition four months after I arrived. It's for the bonfire tonight."