The Maze Girl

Chapter 9

"Hey Greenie. Wake up." Dave grabbed the edge of the sleeping bag and tugged it away from Alex. Her legs felt cold in the fresh morning air as she yawned and pushed the hair out of her eyes.

"You have to be nicer in the morning." She sent a glare in Dave's direction.

"Where is the fun in that?" he grabbed her pillow from the ground and threw it at the girl. "Breakfast is in ten then you get to have fun being a Slicer!"

Alex let out a loud groan and thunked herself back down onto the pillow.

Breakfast was a plate of heavenly bacon and equally perfect pancakes. She had just downed her glass of orange juice when Dave walked up from behind her. Alex had sat with Newt this morning instead of the Slicers since she would be with them all day.

"Ready Greenbean?"

She sighed and sent a glance toward Newt that silently said, 'Help me.'

"Don't look at me!" He smiled and grabbed both of the plates. "You're on your own."

Dave grabbed her elbow and pulled, forcing her to get up and follow him to the Blood-House.

The shriek of the chicken echoed as Winston chopped off its head. He sent a crazy smile towards Alex then pushed the body closer to her. "Pluck."

She gulped down the sickening feeling in her stomach as she started ripping out feathers.

"This is so sad." She had finished stripping the chicken and put it in front of the Slicer.

"Too bad Greenbean." Winston pulled a huge knife from his pocket and started cutting the chicken. An hour later three chickens had been plucked and sliced.

"Take these to Fry." Winston slapped the birds into a container stained with blood and handed it to the girl.

She wrinkled her nose but took the bin, grateful to get away from the Blood-House.

At the end of the day she sat in her sleeping bag next to Dave.

"So, are you a Slicer?" She could hear the grin across his face.

"Um, no. Way too much blood." She still felt covered in the stuff even though she had taken at least three showers.

Dave laughed. "Whatcha doing tomorrow?"

"Bagger."

This made Dave laugh even harder until he was snorting and he got a slap to the head from the boy next to him.

"I know, I know." She sighed and turned over. "But I think I want to be a Runner."

Alex didn't know for sure if she felt that way until she said it aloud. Of course she wanted to be a Runner! The Glade was great, sure, but the Maze was so much better.

"Trust me, you don't want to be a runner Greenie. It's dangerous."

Even though Dave couldn't see her, she shrugged and fell asleep.

She awoke to the dim glow of the sun rising from behind the wall of the Glade. The boys around Alex were all deep in sleep, most snoring loudly, especially Dave. She closed her eyes for a brief minute, waiting for sleep, but seemed unable to with the sun being up.

Alex sat up in her sleeping bag, let out a yawn and stretched before getting dressed quickly. She wandered to the Glade doors, still closed and guessed the time was around six. Where are the Runners? She wondered. They would need to pack for the day and eat so they would either be in the Map Room, or at the benches, which were empty.

She walked to the Box and looked down at the closed doors, trying to come up with how it all worked. After a few minutes of this the sound of stone against stone sounded. It was quieter than the doors to the Maze and Alex's head swiveled around, looking for the source of the disturbance.

The Map Room door was being pushed open and a few boys jogged out then shut it. All of them sprinted to the Homestead, probably for food. Sure enough, minutes later the Runners sat down at the rickety tables and began to eat.

Alex lost interest and looked back to the Box, still searching for answers, but by the time the doors opened all she had come up with was a pulley system.

By this time most of the boys were starting to get out of bed and a few were making their way to breakfast. Alex followed suit and ate a quick breakfast with Newt before making her way over to Billy, Keeper of the Baggers.

The girl sat at the dinner table, arms folded across her body. A plate of untouched baked potato and salad sat before her.

Dave sat down next to her, shortly followed by the Slicers. "What's wrong with you?" Dave inhaled a bite of greens.

Alex shook her head once, to clear any remaining thoughts and muttered, "Baggers."

The Slicers all started to chuckle and tell stories of when they were trying out for jobs. Finally after Frankie told the group about the time when he accidentally stabbed himself with a syringe, Alex laughed and started to eat her food.