Maze Runner: Irregular

Chapter 9

I had another dream that night. Not like the one before, no. It started out peaceful.

Newt comes over to sit by me. He puts his long arms around my shoulders and we look at pictures of birds from little booklets. He offers me little cheese crackers with ham on them, and boys occasionally come over and high five Newt, congratulating him on catching me.

Then the door bursts open and Gally comes out, holding a spoon. As he gets closer it turns into a Japanese fighting sword, and he swings at Newt.

Newts dead, and I run over to Gally, who was crying. He looks up at me, and through his tears, I see no pupil. Only white.

I started, and there was only dark around me. The mattress was sunken with both of our weights, and I tried to get up slowly as to not wake Newt.

My hair was annoying me, and I tucked it back as much as I could. I decided I would cut it later so it wouldn't get in the way.

I stepped down the stairs as quietly as I could, and walked out into the night. It smelled amazing, and I loved how the wind pulled through my clothes and hair. I breathed in deep, and looked at the stars, that weren't out.

I then turned my eyes down to the little Shacks around me. Everyone was asleep, probably still tired from the party.

I slowly made my way to the deadheads, and climbed a tree. It was easy because of the tough combat boots I was given.

The leaves were wet against my face, but were welcome. The sun was just slipping over the maze walls. The gladers would be waking up soon, and I didn't want the peaceful moment to end.

Boom! An idea! Gally's unavailable, so there are less builders. I silently hop out of my tree, and skip over to the pile of wood at the corner of the glade.

There are branches of different sizes, and I grab the largest one. It was pretty sturdy, but I could manage.

I grabbed a ball of rope, and got my belt out of the homestead. Then I took the largest of the large and put it in a square below my tree. I then added other pieces of wood until it was about halfway up my leg. Then I hacked away a small rectangle that people could walk through. Adding more wood, adding little sticks.

By the time I finished the walls of my little structure, gladers had begun to wake up. They took notice, and one of them was a builder like me. He helped after I told him what I was making.

Together we finished before the sun was fully in the sky. It was a shower, and all we had to do was put a stick in the ground, tie a bucket to it with string, and dangle a pull rope down. It was going to have to be a two person job, one takes the shower while someone else fetches the water, but it was better than nothing. I made a little shelf and stuck a couple bars of soap on it.

I thanked the kid who helped, and found out his name was Ben.

"Anytime. We needed one of these but never had enough drive to so it. Leave it to a girl."

He walked away while I ran to get Alby.

I found him by a group of track-hoes who were slacking off.

"Alby! Guess what? I built a shower!"

I sounded like a toddler showing their mom a finger painting.

"Ok. What was the purpose of telling me?"

I shrunk back a bit, but stayed strong.

"Just thought you might need one."

The group of gardeners ooohhhhed, and I placed my hands on my hips.

"I was really going to suggest that you have a designated shower time each week for different job groups. I'm tired of a bunch of smelly boys."

Alby finally said something.

"I don't give a shuck. Do whatever you want with your little chart. I'll hold a gathering today at 5."

"Thank you so much!" I squealed.

I walked back to the homestead, wanting to see if Newt was still asleep. He was.

I knelt by his head, and softly blew his hair. He flinched away, but didn't wake up.

I took it one step further, and blew into his ear.

"Bloody hell, Grace! Why?"

I laughed and sat back on my toes.

"Wake up. I have to change and I can't have you in the same room."

He scowled and grumbled something like fine.

"Good to know."

"What..."

I smiled and shut the door. Should drive him crazy.

I changed back into the thing I was wearing the first day, and started out of the room.

I walked past Gally's room and heard a noise, springs from a bed. I quietly turned into his room, and the covers on the window gave it an eerie look.

Gally was awake. He was sitting up in his bed, looking at the door with grey bloodshot eyes.

"What happened, Grace?"

I put down my belt on the floor and rushed over to him. He was covered in sweat, but I don't care. I was just glad that he was alright.

There was a tug of a memory at the back of my head, but I couldn't grab it.

"How are you feeling?"

He shook his head, and spoke in a gravely voice.

"Fine. What happened?"

He had put his wall back up, and I didn't have the patience to pull it down.

"Come on, Gally. I'm going to go get you some water, then we can talk."

He nodded and laid back down on the bed.

"Grace?"

I turned back at the sound of his voice.

"Hmm?"

"Hurry. I have something that might help us."