The Glader's Log

Day Three

        Over the course of two days, I personally believe we have made quite a bit of progress since arriving here. Everyone is keeping busy, and that was my main concern. People who have too much time to think get too many ideas, which can lead to things falling apart. The people we chose as Keepers are doing a good job at keeping their group running, which again leads me to believe that we're doing something right.

-Newt

        Thanks for that happy and pointless side note Newt. Now onto what really happened today.

        I told the Runners to be the first ones up besides the cooks and some of the Keepers. Alby told me that it's most important we get our energy up before we go out in that deathtrap. When we did wake up, the Walls were still closed but the glow of purple from the sunrise stretched across the sky, giving the Glade a mystical vibe. Miles and Levi finished first, and went back to the Map Room to work on the maps. One of the builders, Sky, told us that the Walls open up a half an hour after wake up, which we established to be at 7 am. 

        After we packed up and got water, we stood right outside the Wall we were going to enter.  Sky was right about the Walls though. Right on the dot, at 7:30, those shuck Walls moved, exposing the four entrances and exits to and from the Glade. We (the Runners) headed out, agreeing we would meet back at 4 today, since the Walls don't close until 6:30. After an hour or two, I normally take a break, eating or hydrating and stuff. But the things I did notice this time round a part of the Maze included:

1) When I entered one part of the Maze, I noticed that the Maze seems to be divided up somehow. As though there are different sections to the Maze..

2) There's no way to try and climb the vines on these Walls. First, one would die of exhaustion trying to get up to the top and second, who knows how tall these Walls are..

3) Grievers don't only come out at night.

        Around one today, I was rounding a corner when I heard clicking and mechanical screeching coming down the hall. I thought it might be one of those Beetle things Alby was yapping about gone rogue, but then, when I looked right around the corner, I knew instantly that I may as be a dead man standing. The creatures that were only suppose to be out at night had finally made its appearance. A Griever. And it looked angry.

        I didn't waste any shucking time making a mad dash for it. I knew where I had to go, but I always took my time getting back just incase I took a wrong turn. Unless I wanted to become Griever chow, there was no "taking your time" this round of exiting the Maze. But I ran. And ran. I didn't stop. Even after the sounds faded away and I knew the thing gave up, I didn't stop. Not until I was in the safety of the Glade. But I will never forget that sound of it being so close and so alive.

        I found and told Nick what happened, and he said that we can't go back out there unless we had a way to kinda defend ourselves. "We may not be able to kill the things, but at least you Runners would have a last resort of defense," he said. Once all the other Runners had made it back two hours later, we gathered in the Map Room and wasted no time, starting on the maps at once. Once everyone had finished, we had a meeting and I explained what happened. I told them we're not allowed back in there until we have some sort of defense in our back pocket. I am pleased to report that there were many suggestions from everyone. We had suggestions like taking knives from the Kitchen, carrying around rope to lasso in the Grievers, even big pieces of cloth to throw over the Griever to try and confuse it. I told them those were great ideas, if we had the resources. The cooks only have a few knives and need them all. The amount of rope we have is limited. And people are already sleeping without blankets because we don't have enough.

        By the time the Walls closed today, all the Gladers knew the dangers of being a Runner and how our chances of escaping just went down ten notches.

-Minho