The Cost of the Cure

Chapter 9

You seem to just have fallen asleep when you're woken up by Newt gently shaking your shoulder. Gray, predawn light shines down on you and you moan. It's too early to be up. All you want to do is sleep more.

"What's-" you begin, your voice thick and slurred with sleep.

Newt places a single finger to his lips and nods his head in the direction of the sleeping Gladers. You force yourself to get up and follow him, your body hurting all over.

"What is it?" you ask him the moment you're out of earshot from the others.

"Grievers. You're not going to understand much of a buggin' thing until you actually see one for yourself. They're usually out this time of morning where we can see them."

Your eyes widen, darting around the Glade.

"No," he says, a slight laugh in his voice. You turn to find a hint of a smile touching his mouth. "Behind the walls when the Doors are closed."

You nod, heat flooding your cheeks as you remember how you had reacted the night before  when the Doors had closed. You'd freaked out until Newt had been able to calm you down and explain that they did that every night.

You walk the rest of the way to the walls in silence, long grass sweeping past your legs. Morning dew soaks you shoes. Not a single bird chirps and you wonder if there even are birds here. Wherever you are, it isn't quite natural.

You crane your neck, trying to glimpse the top of the wall as you stand beside it. It seems too tall to be real. By the way the ivy climbs up and clings to the chipping stone, it has to be ancient. Except it can't be. You had seen in move.

Newts puts his eyes up to some sort of viewing mechanism in the walls. A snapshot of a memory pops in a head of some sort of public binoculars at tourist attractions where you'd have to pay a quarter to use one. The image pops like a bubble as you try to hold on to it, leaving you more empty than ever. At least you still have some memories left. They're just locked away, waiting to be broken out.

After a few seconds, he steps back, his face a shade paler than before. "Yeah, they're out there. You might want to know though, they're a bit-

But you had already stepped up to the port. You need to get out of your mind, if even for a second. You don't want to think about where your memories went. Your eyes focus after a second or two, finally seeing what's on the other side of the grimy glass.