Hawk: Year 1

Chapter 3

    They didn't talk much as she scarfed down the food Frypan put in front of her, it wasn't the best food, but she was so hungry she didn't even care, to her it was a five star meal. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until Frypan placed the plate in front of her.
    “Do you want more?” Fry looked concerned.
    She took a deep breath before answering, “Do you have any water, or something to drink?”
    “Oh yeah totally! I should've brought some when I got you a plate, I’ll be right back!” He ran into the kitchen.
    She took a couple more deep breaths and looked around the Glade. Just a bunch of kids working on different tasks, some working in the garden, a few hacking away at a tree stump, and just a couple standing around chatting. She wondered what she would find herself up to in the coming days, it seemed everyone already knew what to do and she still felt lost. She wondered how they all got their tasks and how they figured out where to be, she wondered if she would find a place amongst them.
    “Here you go, sorry about that.” he slid a glass of water across the table to her.
    “No worries, thank you.” she replied distantly, still looking at the others.
    “Wonder how long it’ll take the rest of them to realize you're out of the box, I mean you seemed pretty stubborn yesterday.” He tried to strike up a conversation.
    “Yeah, well I'm not really set on staying here so don't get used to me being around.”
    “Love the confidence I do, but I don't think you really have a choice in the matter. I mean it's not like the rest of us were exactly excited to be here with no memories, having to do menial chores while we figure our way out of here.” He looked at her concerned.
    “We’re stuck here?”
    “I don't think any of us would have stayed if we weren't.”
    He made sense, why would all of these boys have stayed if there wasn't a reason too and what better reason is there than them not having figured out how to leave. There had to be a way out, right? She had to figure out how to get out of here. She was not keen on staying in this place with a bunch of boys she didn't know. Sure some of them had to be nice but this couldn't be all there was to life. They had to have come from somewhere. Someone had to have sent them here for a reason.
    She stood up from the table where Fry was sitting and walked off without saying anything. Fry tried to say something but she didn't hear him. She saw all the Gladers working as she walked by them, they didn't give her any attention. She was looking for something, but she had no clue what. She scanned the walls of the Glade until her eyes landed on a large opening in the wall, just a space where there wasn't any wall. She started towards it. It couldn't be that easy, just walking out of here, they had to have thought of that already. It didn't matter she was gonna see what was beyond the walls, she had too. She couldn't sit and do nothing. If anyone had tried to talk to her, she hadn't noticed, it's like all she could do is go towards the opening.  She needed answers and she was going to find them. Someone stepped in front of her.
    “Well someone is out of the box.” It was Gally.
    “Move.”
    “I can't let you go out there.”
    “I don't need you to let me do anything.” It was like she looked through him towards the door.
    “You don't understand, you can't go out there.”
    “Then make me understand.”
    “It’s dangerous out there, if you had come out yesterday and gotten the lay of the land with Alby, maybe he woulda told you.”
    “Maybe he would have told me? Not good enough Gally, what's out there?” She looked him straight in the eye.
    “We don't know.”
    “Then why can't I go?”
    “Look you could get trapped out there, and those who get trapped, don't come back.” He wouldn't back down.
    A crowd had started to grow between Gally and the opening in the wall. She backed off, she knew she wasn't getting out now. Suddenly a boy came running through and ran right past her towards the main building in the Glade. She looked right back at Gally, he looked like he was ready to fight.
    “Who the hell was that?”
    “He’s a runner, his job is to go out there and look for a way out.”
    “A way out of what, what's out there Gally?” She pressed
    He sighed, “A way out of the maze.”
    She turned and walked towards where the boy had gone without another word. She wanted more answers than Gally was willing to give and she knew that. She knew she was gonna have to find Alby and see if he was any more generous with answers, she had a feeling he wasn’t, but she had to try.
“Hey, wait up!” Fry called desperately.
You stop and turn to face him, “Fry, I-”
“Don't, you want answers, well we might not have them, we haven't been here for very long either, we don't know everything.”
“Fry this isn't personal-”
“How could it be personal? You don't know any of us-”
“Exactly Fry!”
“Hell you won't even tell us your name, so how could anything you do here be personal?”
“Fry.”
“I’m sorry, it's just you won't even give us a chance to be good to you, you've already closed yourself off like everyone is out to get you.”
“Well I’m sorry my first instinct isn't to just let everyone in, I don't know who any of you are, where you came from, where I came from, I’m not just gonna let everyone know everything about me.”
“Do you even know anything about you?”
She turned back to the building, she wasn't in the mood for this conversation. She wanted answers not to be berated by the one person who had actually been nice. I guess this really is a Glade full of Gallys, she thought to herself. She approached the door when it flung open and smacked her right in the face. She held her head in her hands.
“Oh my god, are you ok?” the boy she had seen enter the building asked.
“Yeah I’m fine,” she said through her hands.
“Shuck,” he muttered to himself, “I had no idea you were right there, here let me see.”
“Dude, I said I’m fine.” her hands didn't move.
“I’ll go get Clint.”
“What's he gonna do about it, kiss it make it better?” she asked sarcastically.
“He’s the medjack shuckface, there is no need to be rude.” he caught an attitude.
“Look, I don't need any medjack, I said I’m fine.” She matched his energy.
“Dude who even are you? I’ve never seen you around before.” he looked confused, “wait the box must’ve come up yesterday.”
“Ah yes and what will the Glade do without your keen senses?” She finally dropped her hands.
“Woah, that looks pretty ugly, hope it's not just your face.” He turned to walk away.
“Where are you going?”
“To get Clint!” he yelled as he ran off.
She rolled her eyes as she felt blood drip down her face. She wiped it off with her sleeve and went inside. Everyone in the room looked over at her, she recognized Alby,and the two boys she talked to in the box, everyone else was new.
“Woah what happened,” the smaller boy from yesterday asked.
“Nothing,” she felt embarrassed and didn't know why.
“Can we help you with something?” Alby asked like she’d interrupted something.
She froze, she didn't know what questions to ask now that she had everyone’s attention. She was so dead set for answers she didn't even know what answers she wanted. She turned around and walked back out of the building shaking her head. Running into that same boy, again.
“You have got to start watching where you're going,” he teased.
“So this is who you hit with the door?” She assumed this was Clint.
“Does he hit a lot of people with doors? And I thought I was special.” she said sarcastically.
“No I think this is our first door related injury, maybe you are special,” Clint smiled at her. “Doesn't look too serious though, just a bloody nose, might bruise later.” He turned and walked away.
“Well, you just know how to make a girl feel welcome don't you?” She turned towards the boy.
“Hey don't go blaming me for your problems, the Glade doesn't discriminate, woulda done the same thing were you a dude.”
“Wow, now I feel really great.”
“Eh, you’ll get used to it, name’s Minho by the way.”
She took a deep breath before responding, “I’m Hawk, at least that's what I think I figured out in the box.”
“And the mystery greenie does have a name. Good for you, I think they were taking bets on if you were actually gonna tell anyone.”
She raised her eyebrow, “so what are you gonna go tell them all now?”
“Nah, less fun that way.” he smiled.
She went to laugh when the same noise as the night before boomed throughout the Glade. It shocked her so much she jumped.
“What the hell?” She yelled over the noise.
Minho motioned for her to follow him, so she did. They ran towards where the opening to the maze was and it was closing. Those massive walls were closing, shutting them in for the night. That must've been what the noise was this morning before all the Gladers got up, them opening again. With one final boom throughout the Glade the doors to the maze were closed.
“I’m gonna ask again, what the hell?”
Minho laughed, “they close every night and good thing too, there is something out there at night, no one has ever seen one, at least not and lived to tell about.”
“Then how do you know it's there?”
“Well there used to be four runners, one of us would go out each door,” he motioned towards the four walls, “one day one of us didn't make it back before the doors closed, we found his body a couple days later, something had to have killed him.”
“Woah, dark.”
“You’re telling me.”
All of a sudden Frypan’s voice rang throughout the Glade, “DINNER TIME GLADERS!” It was followed by a bunch of whooping and hollering as the Gladers made their way towards the kitchen.
She and Minho exchanged a glance before starting towards the kitchen with everyone else.