The Maze Girl

What the Shuck?

The next morning, I woke to Gally slapping my face and telling me to get up. I sat up and looked around. Everyone else was still asleep. I looked at Gally questioningly.

He put a finger to his lips and pulled me up. We had been sleeping outside, so it wasn't so difficult to be more quiet than the walls. Which is exactly where we seemed to be going.

As soon as we reached one of the doors, I spoke up. "What are we doing... shank?"

"Showing you what you aren't supposed to see so soon."

"Why?" I asked as Gally reached up to separate the ivy, revealing a dirty window, which was dark.

"Because I get the feeling you'll be trouble otherwise," he responded.

We waited only a minute, before I could see lights from the other side. I moved closer to get a better look.

"As Newty would say," Gally started, "we belong to the maze. Those things are there to keep us here."

I could see the source of the light now. It came from some sort of giant slug, the size of a cow. I shivered. The creature had metal sticking out of it almost everywhere.

"What is it?" I asked.

"They're called Grievers," Gally replied, letting the vines fall into place. "Luckily, they usually only come out at night."

"And you die if they reach you?"

"Not always." He looked at me. "Most just get stung. But that's a conversation for another time. It's wake-up time, so your Tour starts now. First stop is breakfast."

I nodded. He led me back to the homestead, taking an obvious deep breath. "Smell that, greenbean?" he started. "That's the best smell you'll find here." I sniffed the air. "That there, is Frypan's bacon."

"I don't smell anything," I said, honestly. He looked at me, the light of day from behind him making obvious the big nose I had been trying not to notice.

"You serious, shank?" he said, shaking his head. "Days like these, you can usually smell it all the way across the Glade."

"I can't," I said.

Breakfast seemed bland. I easily said so. Gally insisted on looking at my tongue to see if I had tastebuds. Kinda weird to have a guy staring at my tongue for ten minutes, but oh well.

After ten tastebud checks and three strips of bland bacon(Gally ate my last piece since I didn't) we were finally headed to a good part of the tour.

"There are lots of jobs here, Greenie," Gally said. "And there's someone who already wants you."

"Oh really?" I remarked, noting that we were headed to the Bloodhouse.

"Yup. Winston wanted you the second he saw you holding the blade. Made some comment about you knowing which end is sharp."

I looked at the vest. "Muscle memory, I guess." I looked back up.

We were at the Bloodhouse until lunch time. I'm pretty sure the chicken I beheaded was going into our lunch.

Gally and I took our break by the forest.

"So how do you become a runner?" I asked. Gally looked at me like I was crazy.

"You aren't seriously considering it, are you?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Just curious," I lied. Winston had already said he'd take me if I wasn't better at something else, so by now my chances were probably slim anyway.

"Well," Gally said, settling a bit. "You have to be good at running. Other than lunch, that's all they do out there. You also have to be smart. Know how far you've gone, where you turned, all that klunk."