Banished (TMR Fanfic)

7

I felt a little strange the next day. I hadn't been able to run the Maze, so I had been assigned to the kitchens with Jenny to help out.

I had been a Mapper for a very good reason.

After shattering an egg shell for the fourth time, Jenny had beat me out of her kitchen with a warning to never enter it again. Of course, I couldn't help the Builders because of my useless leg and the Caretakers had enough people on the job already. I refused to go anywhere near the Blood House and the bathrooms were as clean as they could be, so Sonya had assigned me to showing Aris around.

"Those are the bathrooms - I used to be the only guy here, so I used to be the only one who used the one for boys. We usually eat outside on those benches next to the kitchen, but sometimes I like eating in the trees. If you ever get hurt, you gotta go to the Healing Shack. Molly and Clary, our Medics, will patch you up all right so long as you listen to 'em. Molly's a bit nasty, so you best get hurt when it's Clary's shift." Aris stared at where I was pointing, but I didn't think he was really listening.

"Hey - Aris! ARIS! Are you even listening?" I snapped my fingers in front of his face and he blinked like he had just noticed my presence.

"Uh, yeah," he muttered. "Yeah, just wondering."

"Bout what?" I asked, started to jog toward the trees. I had finally ditched the horrible crutch and could slowly jog with barely any trouble. Aris followed me, looking around him and leaning against one of the thick trunks.

"What's that?" He pointed toward one of the tree branches, and I followed his gaze.

He was pointing at a small cylindrical robot about three inches in diameter with a dozen leg-like appendages sticking out from the sides. It peeked out from the trees with bright red light emitting from its eyes and Aris flinched.

"Shucking beetle blades," I muttered. "We think they're like cameras or something to spy on us for the Creators." Aris stared at the robot for a moment longer, then lowered his gaze to the ground.

"Hey - what's wrong?" It was a stupid question, but I asked it anyway. Aris shrugged, not meeting my eyes, and tugged on the hem of his sleeve.

I really didn't expect him to answer, so I just went back to the tour.

"See that?" I was facing a tower in the left corner of the Glade where most of the Builders were. "That's the Watchtower. We usually use it to map out the Glade or when we need to make an announcement or whatever. That's Emma." I nodded toward a brown haired girl ripping up weeds in the grass. "She's kind of a mixed-job sort of person. Emma can do all the jobs except Skinner and Runner, so she just goes around helping whenever we need help. She has the loudest voice out of all of us, so she's our Screamer."

"Screamer?" Aris asked.

"Yeah, Screamer," I confirmed. "Emma's got a pretty unique voice, so we can pick it out in a crowd. Plus. . ." My voice trailed off.

"Neil?" Aris asked, looking alarmed. I gulped, trying to bring air into my lungs, but they refused to cooperate and I choked, falling to my knees and clawing at my throat. My vision started to get fuzzy, darkening at the edges, and I slumped to the ground, barely registering Aris yelling for help.

Suddenly, I could breathe again. I gasped and coughed and sputtered while Aris shook me and helped me to my feet.

"What was that?" Aris asked, worry evident in his voice. I shook my head and cleared my throat.

"It's. . . fine. I'm fine. Really, Aris. Um, can you go find someone else to help you around? I have to go." Aris agreed reluctantly and I leaned against a tree, wondering what had just happened.

Then my feet started walking. Not me. My feet. They were moving, and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

Panicking, I tried to force them to be still, and when that didn't work, I wrapped my arms around the closest tree. But my arms flew away from the thick trunk and swung by my sides.

It was like something was controlling me. It wasn't me, but also was. My body was moving against my own will and no matter how much I struggled, it wouldn't let me do what I wanted.

Finally, I gave up and waited to see where it would take me. My body walked for about five minutes, swerving around trees and stepping over rocks easily, any trace of my limp gone.

I stopped at a clearing and ducked behind a tree. I heard footsteps and Rachel appeared, grumbling about Molly and kicking aside dead leaves. Then she stopped.

"Hello?" she called, staring into the shadows. "Who's there?"

Not bothering to hide myself anymore, my body jumped out and slammed into Rachel's back. Rachel grunted and fell over, quickly twisting around to meet my eyes.

"Neil?" Her eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

"Something's - controlling -" I spat, forcing my vocal cords to work. Then they seized up and I couldn't speak anymore. My arms reached out and tightened around Rachel's throat as she gasped and tried to force me off her. Legs tightening around her body, my elbow dug into her stomach and pinned her down. Her face turned an ugly shade of purple and her eyes rolled back into her head.

What are you doing? I wanted to scream at myself. Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT NOW! I forced every ounce of willpower I could into those words, and suddenly, I was in control of myself again.

My hands sprung from her throat and Rachel gasped in air. I scrambled back and pressed myself against the trees, afraid something else would happen.

"I - I - What - Rachel! Are you alright?" I sputtered, not knowing what to say.

Rachel just stared at me. "Why did you do that?"

"I don't know!" I yelled, tears starting to pour down my face. I cried for what could have been minutes or hours, I didn't know. At some point, Sonya showed up and Rachel explained everything.

Needless to say, I was thrown into the Lockup instantly.

I didn't stop crying until the sun was barely a sliver in the distance. Marie peeked through the tiny barred window and I tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," I said. "It felt like something was controlling me and then it wasn't! It sounds crazy, but. . ."

Marie sighed. "Yeah, that's what Rachel was saying. I dunno. . . I think most of the Collective wants to Banish you."

My stomach clenched. Banished? Out in the Maze with the Grievers?

I laughed bitterly. "Well, we'd just have to wait, wouldn't we?"

Marie shrugged. "I guess. By the way, I got some food for you." She glanced around herself and quickly passed me a small cloth pouch. I loosened the strings and held it upside down, watching as a chunk of cheese and a few slices of bread tumbled out into my hand.

"It's not much, but that was all I could steal," Marie mumbled. I thanked her and ate quickly. I hadn't realized how hungry I had been before the food.

"Marie?" Sonya's voice rang out through the Glade and Marie shot me an apologetic look.

"Gotta go, Sonya needs me." She jerked her thumb toward where Sonya must be and I nodded, sliding down the concrete wall of the Lockup and sighing. Marie left and I was alone again.

What had I gotten myself into?

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WORD COUNT: 1362

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From Wikipedia:

"Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition."

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Well, the last three chapters were NOT good. Idk, maybe it'll get better from here. . .