Forgotten Glader

Chapter 1

I wake up in the scorch, hurting badly. My entire body feels like it's on fire and I can barely move. I look down and my body is covered in burns and scratches. I notice I can't feel my right arm. So I look over. A stump. A stump where my right arm used to be. I don't even have the energy to panic, I just lie back and stare up at the sky as the sun slowly bakes me alive...

"They left me." I mutter barely audible. "Left me to roast like a shucking chicken." I say slightly louder my voice filling with frustration. I'm gonna die here, out in the middle of the scorch. Alone.

Just then I feel something catch on the side of my body, A sheet from the room W.I.C.K.E.D. stuck us in before trying to starve us to death. I weakly grab it with my remaining arm and cover myself with it, realizing that most of my clothes have been burned off barely covering anything... Lucky enough it barely managed to cover down there. Not that it matters, no one else is here. "Heh," I let out a melancholy laugh. "No one I know will come looking for me." I continue to laugh tears pricking my eyes. "I'm gonna die here. in this shuck desert. Alone. Abandoned. By the people I spend two shucking years trapped in a maze with!"

I continue to lay there for hours staring at the sky as the sun starts to set. How long have I been laying here? I've been awake for? Probably about 10 hours at this point but who knows how long I've been unconscious for.

The sun finally sets and I feel a small chill across my body. No where near as cold as the night before the storm came. This- this one- actually feels kinda nice, compared to the raging heat of the day. I try and sit up and I wince in pain as I do. My chest is covered in burns and sand and my head feels like it on fire, No. Everything feels like it's on fire. I continue to sit there having no idea what to do besides sit here and wait patiently for my inevitable death to dehydration. I eventually find the will to stand up only to quietly cry out in pain for a second as I stabilize myself.

Now standing I look around still holding onto the sheet and see a hole in the ground. Curiosity gets the best of me and I walk over to the hole and gaze down inside the hole. "Poor shank." I mutter both to him and myself as I peer down looking at Jack's dead body curled up into a ball completely naked as the lightning burned off all of his clothes and one of his legs stops at his knee anything below it long gone but I couldn't see any blood. Only this weirdly colored liquid. I guess it could be his blood but... why does it look like that?

I turn around and look at where I was lying, it's covers in blood too but... My blood is actually red. What the hell happened to him? I know he was struck by lightning. That's a given but... Why is his blood black? I don't know, it's probably something to do with being struck by lightning. I was struck too but it only hit my arm so maybe because it hit all of him it did something to his blood? I can't bare to look at him anymore so I turn around and look towards the city the rest of the gladers ran to. Maybe their still there. I hesitantly look down at Jack one more time and silently apologize for nothing and everything at the same time even though there's nothing I could have done and as I turn to leave I mutter "Goodbye Jack. Rest easy, your fight is over."

I slowly stumble my way towards the town limping. When everyone was running from the storm to the city and I got struck Thomas tripped over my leg and kicked it hard. It's the last thing I remember, Thomas kicking my leg and then screaming in pain as he kicked a burn that I don't remember how I got, and then everything went dark.

As I walk my mind keeps going back to the Glade. The runners risking their lives everyday, the chefs making food that was barely edible. Ben. The banishment. I always tried to never let the unfortunate gladers who died or the ones who were banished get to me. The dead were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The banished deserved it right? Now I know how the banished feel. Deserted. Betrayed.

I wrap the sheet around my body not really using it for anything but I want to hold onto it in case it comes in handy. The only thing I have. It brings me comfort for some reason, maybe it's- I don't know why, it's just comforting. As I finish my thought I look up and see the city is barely closer than it was when I started walking and trying and speed up a little bit but before long I've slowed back down as my leg was hurting. I don't know how far I am from the city, Minho would know "shucking runner." I say to myself trying to joke but it comes out cold and passionless.

I look down as I walk for a minute and then a thought hits me. What happens to the gladers we left behind in the glade? The grievers couldn't have killed them. We powered them off, are they still there? Man. What I'd give to be back in the Glade right now. Safe. well as safe as you could be, No. it's not that. I don't want to be safe, I just don't want to be alone anymore. I need to get to that city fast, I'm gonna go crazy out here. I'm already talking to myself, hell I'm probably shucked in the head already.

I keep walking my gaze never straying from the city. Its becoming morning and I've just actually made noticable progress towards the city. I'm probably halfway there from where I started after waking up. Minho said it looked to be thirty miles from the tunnel we came out of. We ran over halfway there. The storm came we ran another mile. I woke up with about eight miles left to go. I walked all night. I was slow. But I still made progress. I walked probably about five maybe six miles so I have about two or three to go. I chuckle to myself, "Can't be that shucked if I'm doing math." My voice is still empty no hint of any other emotions besides feelings of betrayal, loneliness and boredom.

As the sun continues to rise I drape the sheet over my head and continue walking. Hunger and thirst are starting to set in so I start walking slightly faster but that only makes it worse. I'm still limping and in pain but I need to get there before my body gives out. The sheet barely helps as I can still feel a slight burning sensation on my back but it's better than letting this piece of klunk sun burn the rest of me, not that there's much left to burn. I probably look like a giant walking sunburn. I'm glad I haven't seen myself since the Glade. I probably look like an absolute mess. I mean my hairs been burnt off, I'm missing an arm, almost all of me is red and blistering, it not just looks either I feel like klunk too. Speaking of my arm. It isn't bleeding, it hasn't bled the entire time I've been awake. Hell the lightning probably cauterized the wound right as it blew my arm off. I guess there's no reason to worry about it. It's not bleeding and it hasn't caused a major problem yet and theirs nothing I could do either way so I guess I can just forget about it for the time being.

I'm only about an hour from the city and the loneliness is really setting in now. hard. I just want someone to talk to. Even one of those crazy buggers from the dorm would be fine. Just some human interaction is all I want right now. I sigh and lower my head slightly as I walk. I never thought I would miss those shanks so much, especially after they abandoned me. But maybe their still in the city and are seeking refuge in one of the buildings. I hope. Probably not.

Another half an hour has passed now and the hunger is setting in hard but nowhere near as hard as the dehydration is hitting me, I feel sick

Mere seconds later, I feel a wave of nausea and exhaustion hit me, how can I be tired? I just woke up. But I feel like I'm about to pass out. Just then my legs give out from under me sending me sprawling to the floor, I curl up into a ball and drape the sheet over my entire body to hide myself from the sun, and right as I feel my last bit of energy slipping I tuck the sheet under me to keep it in place before my last bit of energy goes and I pass out.

I wake up I believe a day or so later, the sheet stayed in place and I slowly uncover my head and immediately feel the burning sensation of the raging sun. I recover my head and lay there for an hour or two in my own thoughts. My throat hurts. Bad. I'm in desperate need of food, desperate need of water. I look out from the sheet again and my eyes lock on the city. I need to make it there. They'll have food there.

I finally stand, I struggle a bit as my balance isnt the greatest right now due to how weak my body is but I'm making it to that city. I have too.

I've been slowly shuffling along for about half an hour now, my feet dragging with each step, I've nearly fallen over countless time but I am slowly nearing the city. Only about half an hour left, nearly there.

Another ten minutes go by. Stomach hurts, thirsty, hot.

Another 20 minutes go by and I finally reach a building I step inside and the shade feels nice, but it's only a moment of relief until the thirst and hunger hit again.

My legs give out from under me again and I fall on my hands and knees breathing heavily and fast, this is the end. Everything goes dark.