The Doors

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Grace and Thomas leaned against the tree as they waited for Chuck, scanning the compound of the Glade, this new place of nightmares where they seemed destined to live. The shadows from the walls had lengthened considerably, already creeping up the sides of the ivy-covered stone faces on the other side. 

At least this helped them know directions—the wooden building crouched in the northwest corner, wedged in a darkening patch of shadow, the grove of trees in the southwest. The farm area, where a few workers were still picking their way through the fields, spread across the entire northeast quarter of the Glade. The animals were in the southeast corner, mooing and crowing and baying. 

In the exact middle of the courtyard, the still-gaping hole of the Box lay open, as if inviting them to jump back in and go home. Near that, maybe twenty feet to the south, stood a squat building made of rough concrete blocks, a menacing iron door its only entrance—there were no windows. A large round handle resembling a steel steering wheel marked the only way to open the door, just like something within a submarine. Despite what he'd just seen, Thomas didn't know which he felt more strongly—curiosity to know what was inside, or dread at finding out. But by the look on Grace's face he knew she wanted to find out. 

"And I did." Grace said with an amused smile as Thomas snickered slightly beside her. 

Grace and Thomas had just moved his attention to the four vast openings in the middle of the main walls of the Glade when Chuck arrived, three sandwiches cradled in his arms, along with apples and three metal cups of water. The sense of relief that flooded through Thomas surprised him— he and Grace weren't completely alone in this place. 

"Frypan wasn't too happy about me invading his kitchen before suppertime," Chuck said, sitting down next to the tree, motioning to Thomas and Grace to do the same. They did, grabbing a sandwich, Grace tore into it but Thomas hesitated, the writhing, monstrous image of what he'd seen in the shack popping back into his mind. Soon, though, his hunger won out and he took a huge bite. The wonderful tastes of ham and cheese and mayonnaise filled his mouth. 

"Ah, man," Thomas mumbled through a mouthful. "I was starving." 

"Told ya." Chuck chomped into his own sandwich. 

Grace turned and looked at them both weirdly. Although she didn't say anything her sandwich tasted funny, it went down like sandpaper, and it confused her greatly. How can something taste so horrible for one person and amazing for another? She wondered if it had anything to do with how she was able to dent a steal wall, and smell so many things so clearly, and why the smell of blood made her stomach grumble. 

"You don't like my cooking?" Frypan asked, frowning. 

"It's not that. It's just that when vampires don't drink blood food tastes like... well, hard klunk. But as long as we do have a healthy blood in take, we can eat normally, and food tastes as it should. But when we came into the Maze, I hadn't had blood in a few days, so food didn't taste right. But once  had gotten blood in me, your food was amazing." Grace explained to the boy who nodded in slight understanding. 

"No where near as good as yours though." Thomas reached over and muttered to her and she laughed slightly. 

After another couple of bites, Thomas finally asked the question that had been bothering both him and Grace. "What's actually wrong with that Ben guy? He doesn't even look human anymore." 

Chuck glanced over at the house. "Don't really know," he muttered absently. "I didn't see him." 

Grace and Thomas both could tell the boy was being less than honest but decided not to press him. "Well, you don't want to see him, trust me." They continued to eat, munching on the apples as they studied the huge breaks in the walls. Though it was hard to make out from where they sat, there was something odd about the stone edges of the exits to the outside corridors. Thomas felt an uncomfortable sense of vertigo looking at the towering walls, as if he hovered above them instead of sitting at their base. 

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