the walls; the maze runner

01; week one

week one;

There wasn't really a beginning. It was more like when you go to sleep in one area and wake up in another completely different area. There wasn't much in the beginning, only us 4 boys. We couldn't remember anything at all, besides our names. And even then, they felt like they didn't belong to us. There was nothing around besides these walls. Tall, concrete walls. When I woke up from our supposed sleep, there were 3 boys staring at me. I could tell from their facial expressions that they were scared and confused. I was confused too. Who put us here? Why did they put us here? Why only us 4?

The pale one spoke first. A mere whisper. But it was enough to spark realization. "Why can't I remember anything?" Fear struck into our minds, why couldn't we remember anything. Why couldn't I remember anything? Not a single thing popped up. No memories from childhood. I couldn't even remember how I got here. Another whisper.

"I think, I think we're stuck here." A boy with long braided hair spoke shaky words. Is there a way out? Were we put here to die? This can't be right. Right? "Do you guys know how we got here?" I didn't even realize that I was speaking. All 3 boys turned their heads towards me.

"I'm not sure." My shoulders shrug. In one motion, we all got out of the decently sized Box. There were supplies all labeled with 4 different letters. W.C.K.D. Was that the company who sent us here? There was movement around me, but I didn't process it. Everything was suddenly hitting me at once. Who would put children here? I'm guessing that none of us were older than 18 but not younger than 12. God, I didn't even know my own age.

"My name, I remember my name. I think my name is Leon." The buzz cut one spoke up. There were a couple beats of silence, but we all smiled. There was hope of remembering. Charlie. Charlie. Charlie. Who's Charlie? Am I Charlie? Why does that name sound familiar? Remember, Charlie. Remember.

It came to me like a flash bomb. "Charlie. My name is Charlie." The smile on my face grew with hope. Hope that we can remember things. I stuck my hand out towards Leon, for a proper introduction. "It's nice to meet you Leon, I'm Charlie." His handshake was firm, and I noticed that my hand engulfed his.

Once everything was situated, it looked like it was around noon. We had soon figured out the brown-haired boy's name. He called himself Francisco, so we soon settled on calling him Frankie. A short and easy nickname to remember. Long-haired boy still hasn't figured out his name, which was fine. We don't even know how we forgot our names in the first place. We had also figured out that we had different skills.

Frankie knew how to build things. He created our shelter for the night, along with some small cots we could lay on. We learned that Leon could cook. And cook really well. I had learned that I'm the least queasy, so I dealt with slaughtering the animals for food. And well, I guess we found out that the nameless boy was a good medic when I almost sliced my finger off and he was well in his zone when he stitched me up. Each of us provided something that the other couldn't. So, I knew we could survive for some time.

As time went on, we knew what we could and couldn't do. Only one of us was capable and had the guts to go beyond the walls. Frankie was a runner. He ran a small section of what we call the Maze. There wasn't much we could do for now; we had little supplies and didn't really have a leader. There was a small garden that Leon started for vegetables and fruits. But it was so small that if you walked three steps you would've already crossed the whole garden.

I kind of stayed as what we call a Slicer. I did my job best and I made sure that we knew how to preserve our meat. Although it was a little bit useless since we had no actual way to preserve the meat in the cold. I made sure that we had enough meat to last us a couple of nights as well as make sure none of it went to waste. We discovered that the nameless boy was actually named Dali.

Dali, he was a Med-jack. It's what we call a medic. Leon made up most of the job titles. So, it was no surprise when he started calling himself the Cook. Frankie was also considered a Bricknick, since out of all of us he knew the most about construction and building. He created one of the first little huts after we got rained on one night.

As the days and nights passed, we got closer and closer. There wasn't much to do in what we called the Glade. Yeah, we could explore the Maze but no one besides Frankie knew what was beyond that wall. He decided the best way to actually show us was through drawings. He had a crazy photographic memory when it came to the Maze. He was crazy talented and knew how to detect changes in patterns. He was a puzzle solver, and I knew that he would be an excellent Runner.

On the last night of the first week, we encountered a problem. Which resulted in a fight between Dali and Frankie. So, I knew that it was time to create some rules for ourselves. Before they could start a whole brawl, I had pulled them apart. Leon was busy making a late dinner over the small fire.

"Hey, listen up. We cannot have fights if we want to survive. So, it's time to create some rules for ourselves alright?" They had both stopped trying to throw punches when I spoke up. I made sure they weren't going to throw themselves at each other before I let go. "Good. If we want trust, we can't hurt each other alright? Never hurt each other. Not unless it was an accident. Everyone does their part. Got it? We can't have one of us slack off, it'll interrupt the flow of things. We all have to put in the effort to survive." All three of them nodded. Albeit with some hesitation but they understood that we need peace in order to survive and get along.

"And finally. Never go beyond those walls. The only one qualified here to do so is Frankie. He has the memory of an elephant, so we need to trust that he comes back to us whenever he goes past those walls." There was some sort of agreement with the last rule. Knowing that if one of us disappeared it wouldn't be good. "Now, if you two can stop acting like- like-"

"Like slintheads." A chuckle left Frankies mouth. "Exactly like slintheads- whatever the hell that's supposed to mean- and please eat this good, cooked meal that Leon has prepared for us." A wave of confusion hit me, what is a slinthead and why did Leon say it without hesitation.

As I sat on the small log, I looked around the Glade. Home, for now at least.