The Other Maze (Group B)

3

Eliza wakes up in the morning and slowly sits up, examining the sky. It's still a little dark, but there is some light.

"You're up early fishy." Sonya says with a smile and offers her hand. "Come with me and we'll get started."

Eliza takes her hand and they slowly make their way through the sleeping bodies.

Once they are out of the condo, Eliza carefully watches the sky as she stretches. There is more light but the source doesn't seem clear yet. With a small shrug she follows Sonya as she approaches a line of girls that are currently stretching.

Sonya hands Eliza a pair of tennis shoes and tells her to put them on.

"What are these for?" Eliza asks as she ties the shoelaces.

"Patience fishy, you'll see in a bit." Sonya says and looks up at the sky with her hands placed on her hips.

"I'm ready." Eliza says and Sonya gives her a nod.

"These girls here are our mappers." Sonya says. "They are the only ones that are allowed to go out and their job is really important. Miyoko will show you what they do for a while and then you'll come back to try the other jobs."

"F-fancy that." Eliza says scratching her head. That didn't sound too good. She looks at the other girls and they smile.

"Let's go!" One of the girls say and they start running towards the door.

Eliza quickly starts running up to them and tries to reach Miyoko.

She watches in amazement as they step into the rocky ground and as she looks up she examines the tall walls covered in ivy.

"Pretty cool huh fishy?" Miyoko asks for a smile, Eliza can only respond with a nod.

At a certain point the girls separate leaving only Miyoko and Eliza. "Welcome to the maze."

"A maze?" Eliza says. Well, it does make sense now that I see it from here.

"Usually we run through this corridors and map every single turn and alley we see, that's why we are the mappers, so it's very important to focus and have a good memory."

"So then today?" Eliza asks.

"Today is my day off." Miyoko says. "I will show you around for a bit and then we have to head back to the stade for your next task."

After a while Miyoko starts turning back followed by Eliza. As they run Eliza sees something out of the corner of her eye, making her want to stop to see what it is.

"Don't even think about it Eliza, we need to get going and fast."

"But-" Eliza starts and gets interrupted.

"Stuff it fishy, I'll explain later."

Once they reach the inside of the stade, Eliza puts her hands on her knees and takes in a deep breath. "What was that thing?"

"That was a griever." Miyoko says drinking some water. "They are dangerous so if you see one you should run even faster."

"Why? What do they do?" Eliza asks and Miyoko lets out a sigh.

"You sure ask a lot of questions fishy. The Meds will explain later, for now you need to report to the kitchen.

"Okay." Eliza says sensing Miyokos annoyance.

Eliza goes to the kitchen and meets with Abigail, one of the cooks.

"Listen fishy, be very careful when you work around my kitchen and do everything I tell you okay?" Abigail says and Eliza nods.

"You should only get food when it is served, and if you want a snack you should always ask since the supplies are counted."

Abigail shows Eliza what to do and Eliza follows each instruction carefully.

"Not bad fishy." Abigail says when they are done. "You can go join the other girls for breakfast."

Eliza joins Sonya's table and starts eating. "How's it going so far stick?" Harriet asks taking a spoonful of egg.

"It's good so far." Eliza says with a small smile.

***

After breakfast Eliza follows Sonya towards the garden, where she introduces her to other girls.

"This is kind of my area of expertise, so you're stuck with me." Sonya says smiling at Eliza.

"The growers," Sonya explains, "are the ones in charge of taking care of the crops." She says pointing at the different crops. "And as you can see, everything is labeled."

"Yeah," Hannah says. "Took us a while to figure out the crops, but we finally did it."

"Specially since it doesn't rain here." Another girl says.