Strange Atmosphere | Aris Jones [1]

9 || Rachel

A few weeks had gone by and Claire was still locked up with the Medics, screaming and seizing constantly. Everyone cringed at her cries whenever they strolled by the Homebase. No one had to ask what was wrong with her, because everyone already knew without anyone having to tell them. Needless to say, Claire wasn't getting any better, and many of us were beginning to wonder if she would ever recover from the sting she got from the Griever. Gwyneth and the other Medics were doing the best that they could do, but at this point, all they could do was just wait it out.

Everything had been normal in the Glen, which was how I liked it. But then, one afternoon, all of a sudden, an alarm went off. I jumped with wide eyes and looked around the Glen. "What's that noise?" I asked Lillie. She pointed at the Box as everyone ran to it. So, we headed for the Box as well, wanting to see what the commotion was all about.

"Cora, what's going on?" I asked her.

She gave me a smirk. "You're no longer the Newbie, Piper. We got another stick coming up."

Wow, it had already been a month? Time really had flown by.

We all circled around the Box, waiting for it to open up. The anticipation and excitement was filling the atmosphere. Even Lillie and I were curious to see who the Newbie was going to be this time. Once the Box opened up, we all looked inside at the new girl that looked up at all of us, squinting from the sun shining in her face. She had red hair and it was curly and short. Her face and shirt was drenched with sweat. Everyone muttered and giggled to each other, staring down at the new girl, who looked terrified and confused to be here.

"Get her out, Beth!" Cora shouted.

So Beth and some other girl opened the doors and like with me, Beth jumped inside to retrieve the Newbie. She gave her a smirk. "Day One, Newbie. Rise and shine!" She grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the Box.

"What the--" she began to say before she fell to the ground. She stared up at us, looking completely frightened as she began to pant.

"Give her some space, guys!" Esther shouted, trying to get everyone away from the new girl.

"We want to see the Newbie, Esther!" some girl from the back protested.

The red-haired girl scrambled to get up from the ground, running out of the circle we had her trapped in. Then, she continued to sprint.

"Looks like we got another Runner!" Cora yelled, making the others cheer in agreement.

She kept running and running across the Glen until she tripped and tumbled back down to the ground. While the others found it amusing and laughed at it, Lillie and I couldn't help but wince at her fall.

"Did I look that scared when I first came here?" I asked Lillie, trying to remember the day I first arrived here, which felt like forever ago. She looked at me and raised her eyebrows. "Don't answer that question. I think I know what the answer is." She responded with a grin.

The girl slowly got back up, which made the Glenners applaud and cheer heron as she stood up. Looking petrified, she scanned her surroundings. Harriet spotted her and carefully made her way towards the girl. She approached her with a small, comforting smile, reaching her hand out to the redhead. Reluctantly, she took it and led her to the treehouse.

"Okay, you sticks, back to work!" Sonya shouted, trying to disperse the crowd by the Box.

Everyone groaned and went back to their jobs. Lillie and I went back to watching over the Glen, but we were mostly focused on the new girl the entire time. She still seemed to be a bit uneasy about being here, but we were all like that when we first arrived, so that was totally normal. I just hoped that she got used to living here soon since the search for a way out would take a bit longer than anyone expected.