Escaping the Maze

Chapter 9

After Rachel is freed from the slammer, it's the night I have to choose my job. I don't really know what I'll pick, I had medjack in mind, but that would mean spending a lot of time with Melanie and Baylor, and something tells me they don't get along too well. The other job I had in mind was working in the fields. I wasn't too bad at that, I could plant-surprisingly-and I could do some stuff with plants and wood. It was a pretty good option, but medjack just kept coming back to me.
I choose medjack, and a bunch of people congratulate me, Melanie smirking.
"Going to hand out with your girlfriend?" She asks, laughing.
"No, that's not why I picked it anyways. She's becoming a runner, remember? Or are you too stupid?" I ask, raising my eyebrows, laughing at her confused expression, and I walk off to find Rachel.
"Yes! We're working together!" Baylor says, coming up behind me and clapping me on the back.
"I know." I say, grinning. Baylor's one of my only friends here. Other than Rachel, Willow, and maybe Harriet. Olivia seems to like me too, at least I hope. She promised me she'd run with Rachel and test her, she better follow up on that.
"Good job!" Willow says, hugging me. It's quite funny, because she's a lot shorter than me.
"Thanks." I say, and shake her off, still looking for Rachel. I spot her sitting on the closed box.
"Hey." She says when I sit beside her.
"What're you doing over here? I thought you'd be there, the first to congratulate me of my job." I say, taking her hand.
"Yeah, it's just-I don't know. I really wanted to be a runner when I first came. I don't know why, something about it fascinated me. I'm excited, but scared that something will happen." She says, staring off at the closed doors to the maze.
"I know. I'm kind of like that, I'm happy for you, but I'm kind of scared that something will happen. But you're strong, you can get through it." I say encouragingly.
"I hope so." She says, sounding unbelieving.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Who cares what Beth or anyone says, do what you want to do, be who you want to be. Don't let anyone change you." I say, and it sounds encouraging and inspiring. Funny that it came from my mouth.
"That was inspiring and encouraging. Though, if I had to take a guess at who said that, my first wouldn't be you. More like my last." She says, laughing lightly, but I can tell its a little forced.
"Thanks." I say sarcastically, yawning.
"Better get to bed. A big day of medjacks and runners tomorrow." She says.
We say goodnight, and head our separate ways.
I lay in my new hammock, one that came up in the last supply load. A week ago, we get more supplies tomorrow. I think about basically everything, except my past. Which of course I can't remember most things.
I fall asleep eventually, from tiredness.
•••
I wake in the morning to shouts, shouts of anger and a frustrated group of
girls.
"What's wrong?" I ask Baylor, spotting her first.
"Look up." Is all she says, and continues talking to the person beside her, who I don't know the name of.
I look up, the sky is a full grey, nothing up there, no sun, no sky really. It looks like a mix of dark and light greys, like a child's painting of a panda. Big blobs of grey. I don't pay attention to the little memory of a child's messy painted panda that I'd seen somewhere in my past. Maybe I painted it myself.
"Why's the sky gone? That's not even considered a sky, it's grey swirls of colour." I ask Baylor, who's friend leaves, done talking to Baylor for the moment.
"We don't know. We woke up, and there was no sky. Also, the supplies haven't come up. They're not coming, Aris. Think of what that means for us." She says, grimacing.
I know what it means, we eat limited food, we have limited supplies, and limited things to heal and tend to people with. But most of all it means; we have to get out of here.
"We have to get out of here, find a way out of the maze." I say, looking at Baylor.
"Yes, but now we have to look harder than ever, and I think you and Rachel will play a special part in that." She says, and grimaces. "I don't know how we'll do it, but we'll figure it out. Now it's fight or die." She says, sounding more ready than ever.
"I agree, we have to do everything it takes, at any cost." I say, getting myself pumped up for nothing but a boring day of being a medjack. Rachel goes running in the maze with Olivia, while I bandage cuts, tears and breaks.
At lunch, I'm sitting alone, and Harriet comes and sits beside me.
"What do you think of the supplies not coming and the sky and sun disappearing?" Harriet asks me, and I'm suddenly not too interested in my ham sandwich any longer.
"I don't know. It just means we have limited supplies. It also means that we have to get out of this stupid maze. We're all tired of being in it." I say, thinking of being trapped in stone walls 24/7, and then I wonder how long the first person has been here. If they're even still alive, I think.
"Aris." Harriet says, putting her elbows on the table, leaning forward and looking into my eyes. "I've been here for three years, found nothing. No exits, no escape, no way of getting out of here. How are we just going to come up with something?" Harriet asks me, and I stutter on my words, not knowing how to answer that depressing thought.
"I don't know. Though I do know some things." I say, thinking if my memories.
"Anything that will help?" She ask, tired, weary and doubtful.
"Maybe. I don't really know if its helpful, but I'll tell you what I know." I say, telling her everything. How I've been having a few memories. Some small like my cat, or the panda painting of a child. Others big, like me and Rachel, working for WICKED, learning about the flare and sun flares.
Harriet is a good listener, she doesn't interrupt me once, not even when I tell her about Olivia. When I'm done her face is thoughtful, not what I would think, I would think she'd be shocked or relieved, or something. Really, I thought it would at least be a stronger emotion than thoughtfulness. I watch as her expression changes from thoughtful to confused, to shocked, to a mix of other emotions.
"How is this possible?" She practically whispers, looking up at me in wonder. "You remember things. You have gone through the changing." She squints at me, but the sun isn't in her eyes.
"No, I don't know why." I say, but then some major screaming and yelling stars. Worse than this morning. Much, much worse.
Harriet and I forget our food, and run out, Harriet asking everyone what's wrong. No one really answers, they all just point to the east doors. I see there's a group around the doors, looking just inside.
We run over, to see what all the chaos is about.
Once we reach the opening, we stop, and push through the crowd, working our way to the front.
On the ground, is Olivia, Rachel, and Sonya. But Sonya is passed out, and her shirt is lifted up a little, revealing Ed stomach. There, across her mocha skin, is a webbing of purple veins and ugly bruises. Sonya's been stung by a griever.
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A/N
Sorry for the short chapter and cliffhanger, but I hope you like this chapter! Please, vote⭐ and comment!💬 Thanks❤