Lost & Found (TMR)

5

As I heard footsteps roam the floor again, I frantically pushed my eyes shut.

"How could she have killed a griever with her bare hands?" asked one uncertain voice.

"You don't reckon they sent her?"

"It's possible. She might be with them. Maybe they sent her here to throw us off or whatever. Newt, go get Winston! Someone has to stay with her until she wakes up so we can see what she's up to right away!"

Judging by the following sounds, the people in the room were leaving.

Me? With WICKED? 

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. From all I could judge, they were the ones trying to mess with me. Holding me hostage on an operating table? Why were they in our glade? Where were the girls? Was there more than one glade? Panic started to rise within my chest.

I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I tried to come up with some kind of plan, but apparently, I was not thinking quick enough, as I heard pair of footsteps enter the room again.

A tall, black-haired boy slowly stepped towards the table I was lying on.

"Oh, you're awake!" he exclaimed.

"Where am I?" I questioned; my voice barely above a raspy whisper; eyes wide in panic as my heartbeat fastened.

The boy held out his hands in defense. "Stay calm, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'll just get Alby so we can ask you some questions." Who even was this Alby guy? 

He was about to turn on his heel, but I interrupted him.

"Wait, can you untie me? This isn't really comfortable." I pointed my chin towards the restraints on my wrists.

"Oh, yeah, sure." He slowly stepped towards me and pulled out a knife of his pocket, which slightly made me jump, but he didn't seem to notice. Since the guy seemed nice enough, I started to fire away with the questions burning in my brain since I woke up.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

He ignored my question as he carefully cut the ropes around my wrists, freeing me from the bed. I slowly started to sit up, my head spinning while doing so. For the first time, I got to have a good look at the state that my body was in. One of my legs was wrapped in a huge compress, the bare skin around it spotted in red and blue bruises, just like my arms. I could feel a bandage wrapped around my torso and stomach, which was covered by a shirt that was definitely not mine. I was dressed in baggy shorts and a black shirt that I was not wearing when I got here

"Can you please tell me where I am? Who are you?" I asked again, now more agitated than before, my eyes darting towards the door of the room behind the tall boy.

"Calm down! Just stay here, I'm gonna get Alby, he's just gonna talk to you." the dark-haired boy replied.

"Who's Alby?"

"He's our leader. He's gonna know what to do with you."

What was that supposed to mean? Would they lock me up somewhere? This triggered my flight or fright response. I shot up, and though feeling wobbly on my legs, I grabbed the boy in front of me by the shoulders and slammed his back into the nearest wall with all the strength my body could muster. Since I had just been blacked out for the past few days, this obviously didn't hurt the guy a whole lot; but  my quick move evidently took him by surprise, he groaned in pain and dropped the knife he just used to cut me free. I used this short moment of shock by hastily picking up the knife and sprinting out the door I had spotted before. Jolts of pain shot through my whole body as my bare feet hit the ground.

As I ran down the short corridor of the shabby looking building, I heard the boy scream behind me.

"She's running! Stop her for shank's sake!"

When I reached the threshold of the building, I stopped for a short moment and let my thoughts run. I wasn't even sure why I ran, I guess fear just took the better of me. Where to now? The maze didn't seem like my best option. My string of thoughts was interrupted by shouts not far from me.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" A muscular, black-haired boy was picking up speed as he ran towards me.

I took one last look around and decided to run towards the forest at the other end of the glade. Maybe I could hide somewhere and lay low until I figure out my next move.

I started running towards the trees, the small pocket knife held tight in my fist, and quickly noticed that gathering speed was much more difficult than I had anticipated. My leg and stomach felt agonizing, and about halfway to the tree line, I was more limping than running.

Over the sounds of my own heavy breathing, I suddenly heard footsteps behind me. Someone was catching up to me. I wanted to push my body to gain speed, but my injuries wouldn't let me.

A few seconds later, another bolt of excruciating pain shot through my body, as someone tackled me from behind and I hit the ground. I gasped for air and tried to free myself from their grip, but  the person locked my arms behind my back and pushed my torso hard against the ground.

"You seriously think you could escape that easily?" the guy who held me trapped asked. I let out a small shriek of pain with my raspy voice as he pushed my ribcage even harder into the earth.

Other people soon started gathering around us and I heard at least a dozen low voices murmuring.

"Gally, let her go!" It was the guy with the British accent from before. His voice sounded so familiar yet completely strange at the same time.

Gally bent down to the back of my neck, so only I and maybe the people closest could hear what he was saying. "You bitch can either tell us why they sent you here, or we're going to throw you right back to that griever where you came from!"

Another voice sounded from the crowd of people. "Gally, you heard Newt! Get off her! You're not doing anything by hurting her even more"

Gally didn't seem to want to hear what the guy was saying. For one short moment, he was distracted by listening to whoever was speaking. As once again adrenaline rushed through my body, I slammed the back of my head towards him and headbutted him right in the nose. He abruptly let go of me and screamed out in pain. He was now on his knees, holding his bleeding nose with both of his hands. I quickly got up and wrapped my underarm around is neck in one swift movement, the knife in my hand resting right at the skin under his left cheekbone.

Everyone was quiet on instant. We all knew that I wouldn't be able to hurt him very much with the small blade, but they obviously weren't trying to take any chances. Gally's hands went up in surrender as he held completely still under my grip. It felt good, finally being the one in control. 

At least fifteen pairs of eyes were staring at me in shock.

"Where the fuck am I and who are you?" I asked steadily, my voice suddenly loud and clear.

One of the teenage boys stepped forward slowly, also raising his hands while doing so. He had dark skin, a buzzcut and looked to be around eighteen.

He spoke with slow, but certain words. "I'm Alby. This is our glade. This has been our home for the past two years. Every month, a boy gets sent up here with no memories left apart from his name. We don't know who sent us up here. We've been trying to figure out a way out ever since. You showed up through the maze a few days ago, with that. wound in your stomach, you remember that, right? Our med jacks here have been tending your wounds ever since." He pointed at two guys in the small crowd, one of them being the tall black haired boy I had already met in the shack before. "Now please, drop the knife and leave Gally alone."

His speaking weirdly calmed me down. The story sounded identical to what was happening in my glade, just with boys. Could it really be that I stumbled into theirs? Alby seemed trustworthy enough and anyway, what other options did I have?

I decided to go along with what Alby said and dropped the knife. Gally sighed in relief as I removed my grip from his neck. Alby and the British guy, Newt, approached me.

I pushed a strand of hair out of my sweaty face. "He's a shithead." I scoffed, pointing my chin towards Gally, who was cursing furiously.