The Life Chaser

Chapter 2: Out There

The Life Chaser
Chapter 2: Out There
Gally

*Queue Music*

The anger bubbling underneath my skin was coming to its boiling point. Beaten by a girl. Humiliated in front of all the people who respected me by a girl. What kind of man—what kind of role model—was I supposed to be if I had a wiry snot-nosed shank pushing me around? Not a very good one, let me tell you that.

Instead of returning to my hut like Alby had instructed me, I decided to run off my anger. I had discarded my shirt in the hut before doing so, not wanting to dirty it with sweat. My feet carried me along the perimeter of the Glade, next to the protective walls surrounding us. And for the first time in a long time, the screeches of the grievers beyond the confines of the Glade didn’t scare me—not one bit.

My mind was elsewhere.

Who did she think she was, coming into this new life and causing trouble? With me out of all people. Me! If it weren’t for Alby, I would have taken her down then and there, girl or not.

I shook my head and willed my legs to sprint. Who cared about a stupid girl anyway?

I ran for what felt like ages. By the time I forced myself to stop, my heart was racing, my lungs crying out for oxygen; I was bent over, my hands resting my hands on my haunches as I coughed, sucking in as much as I as possibly could.

The anger that was once there had boiled down to confusion, instead. My mind wandered back to earlier that day as I rested against the cool concrete wall. My eyes fluttered shut as I recalled the memory of the girl I had found in the box this morning. As soon as I laid eyes on her, something felt familiar… comforting. It was like we had known each other in another life. Maybe the life before this one. Before the memory loss.

None of it made sense, though. Before we were sent to the Glade our memories were erased. We were allowed to remember names, places, things, how they worked, faceless people but no recollection of what life we used to have, the life before the Maze. So why did this shank suddenly change all of that? Why was she, out of all things—out of all people—was she so important? Why her?

I shook my head. It’s nothing, Gally, I told myself. She’s just a girl—just a shank. Nothing more. And for now, I could allow myself to believe that.

After returning to my hut, I splashed water on my face and quickly cleaned myself of the sweat drenching my body. I put on some fresh clothing, a pair identical to the one I had on before, and stared at my bed. I would be lying to myself if I said I was tired. Despite having sprinted a marathon around the Glade my mind was alert. If I went to bed now, I would be staring at the thatched roofing for hours before my body would find rest.

For no particular reason, I found myself taking a walk. When the camp was quiet and everyone was asleep, I allowed myself small pleasures that I wouldn’t normally allow in front of the others. Things like stargazing. There was a lot people didn’t know about me and watching stars was one of them. They were kinda pretty, if you really thought about it. Millions upon millions of small shinning white orbs casting a peaceful light upon us all. It made me feel so small.

I stopped a moment, looking up at the sky, and took a deep breathing, closing my eyes as I did so. A warm breeze blew past me, rustling the short cropped hair on my head. It felt nice, like a gentle embrace. When I looked ahead of me, I saw a dark figure under a tree 100 feet away from the sleeping canopy. A torch casted long shadows as the person moved about, climbing the trees to tie their hammock in place.  The shadows made them look like some sort of long limbed giant using graceful movements to throw themselves into the tree to complete their task.