Edge of Insanity

Chapter Seventeen

I swung my legs over the side of the bed.  I couldn't hear anything, it was like the sound had been removed from the world. 

I crashed to the floor but nothing hurt.  There was no pain, no feeling, no sense of touch.  I was vaguely aware of other figures in the room, moving quickly around me.  The world was spinning and I felt like I was losing my grip on reality.

Through blurry eyes, I stumbled to the door and pushed it open.  Light blinded me as if some had planted the sun right in front of my face.  I spilled out into the Glade making it a few steps before collapsing to the ground on my hands and knees.  I sucked in huge breaths of air, fingers knotting themselves in the long grass. 

Then the contents of my stomach emptied themselves onto the ground before me.  And all at once the world came rushing back.  Pain shot through me like a bullet, tearing its way up through my leg.  The feeling of the rough grass beneath me clicked in my mind.  Sound splintered the world, roaring and rushing like a title wave it slammed into me.  All the Gladers yelling over each other, my name being called over and over again, questions upon questions raining down.

"Shucking slim it!"  I finally managed to scream above the rest of the noise.  "Shut up, every single one of you!" 

Everything and everyone fell silent.  I groaned, tilting forward so my face was pressed to the ground, hands around my head. 

Grass crunched beside me.  Rough hands gently prying my own away from my ears.  "Lay down," he said quietly.  I obeyed, slowly and painfully shifting until I was flat on my back.  Minho gazed down at me, face so raw with emotion I almost cried.  But then the look washed away in a split second and it was neutral as he looked up at Clint and Winston. 

They came forward, Clint shaking his head as he looked at my leg and then checking my broken ribs.  Finally he spoke.  "How do you feel?"

"Like shit."  My throat was raw, my voice a hoarse whisper.

"Well that's to be expected."  Winston told me.  "You just went through the Changing."

"The Changing..."  I let my head fall back. 

"Do you remember?"  Minho said softly.

"Oh, I remember.  I remember everything."

A Gathering was called with me as the guest of honor.  Mercifully, I hadn't done anything to my rapidly healing leg or ribs.  The Med-Jacks told me I'd been unconscious for 3 days.  Minho had been the one to find me in the Infirmary, the Changing already starting.  There was nothing they could do but give me the Grief Serum and wait for it to end.  Nobody knew who had stabbed me in the first place or how that person knew what the tube really was.

A new greenie had come up in the box while I'd been out.  I nearly choked when I learned it was a girl.  I hadn't been able to meet her yet or learn her name before I was taken to the Homestead for the Gathering.  Apparently my leg had healed enough for me to limp pathetically on it. 

I was exhausted and felt like I'd run a marathon.  My head still hurt and every once in a while my leg gave a sharp twinge of pain.  I slumped in the chair and gazed at all 8 Keepers who looked ready to question me as if I were in the Spanish Inquisition. 

Alby cleared his throat.  "Like I said before- we don't know who managed to stab you with that thing or what shuck-face figured out it was a damn needle to be used for the Changing."  He shook his head.

Newt looked at me, any anger from 3 days when he'd discovered Minho and I's relationship was gone.  There was only the concern of a friend in his eyes.  "Do you remember anything?"

I took a deep breath, glancing at Minho.  He was the only Keeper not seated, leaning against a pillar with his arms folded stoically over his chest. 

"I remember a lot," I began.  "I saw my parents-"

"Anything that's going to help us get out of this shucking Maze?"  Gally interrupted in a rough tone.

"Gally, slim it."  Alby snapped.

The Keeper of the Builders bristled.  "I just don't wanna sit her listening to her shucking whining about everything she remembered if none of it's gonna be useful.  When I went through the Changing-"

"Gally, shut up or I'm gonna kick you out."  Alby glared at the boy who just rolled his eyes in return.  Everyone's attention focused back on me.

"The world outside isn't normal," I started again.  "Something happened- I'm not sure what- but a lot of people got sick.  Really sick and over half the population died."  I shook my head.  "It was pretty hazy but... I think WCKED is looking for a cure."  I told them how I'd seen people with half-ravaged faces and cities flattened to dust.  How my parents had given me to WCKED.   Then I recounted my conversation with the crow-looking woman and what she's said about the Maze Trails and how I was ready.

"Six words..." Newt trailed off.  "What bloody code?  How does that help us?" 

I offered up a shrug, exhaustion seeping into my bones.  I really just wanted to sleep. 

"So," Gally drawled.  "WCKED is taking us as kids, holding us in some facility until we are deemed ready and then sending us up to the Maze?"  He scowled.  "Seems like a bunch of klunk to me." 

Anger coursed through me but Gally wasn't finished. 

"How do we know she's not lying about this?"

"Gally, come on."  Newt rolled his eyes.  "What would she had to gain from lying to us about this?"

The Keeper of the Builders shrugged.  "She lied about everything else.  You should know that, Newt."

Newt paled and Zart, the stocky Keeper of the Track-hoes- stepped up.  "What's he talkin' about, Newt."

I glanced at Minho, who's jaw was set, fingers digging into his arms as if he were trying very hard to stay rooted in position.

"Oh, Newt or Alby didn't tell you?"  Gally swung around to face the other Keepers.  "I overheard a nice litter conversation between our Leader and the fancy Keeper of the Runners here."  He jerked a thumb Minho before looking at me with beady eyes.  "Apparently these two have been shacking up for over two years now."