The First Gladers

Chapter 7: What Could Go Wrong?

 "Everybody shut it!" Chris shouts behind you. You must be in his arms. "Let her breath you Shanks!" He finishes.

You turn your head to face him, the strange word having snapped you out of your daze.

"Shanks?" You question, still out of breath.

Chris chuckles. "Yeah, Alex made up another crazy swear word replacement." He explains causing Alex to smile proudly.

"Ah. I see." You laugh. Cautiously, your start to stand and brush yourself off.

"What did you see out there?" Alby asks, pretty much summing up everyone's questions.

"It's a Maze." You state. "We've all been placed in a massive Maze and I'm guessing we're supposed to find a way out. Without getting killed by those 'Grievers' preferably."

The boys are stunned to silence.

"You guys find any food?" You question.

"Is that the only thing on your mind!?" Chris exclaims with a laugh.

"Uh... Yeah." You respond. "What else should be on my mind?"

"Oh I don't know, you just dropped a huge knowledge bomb on us, then you ask for food in the same breath." Will chuckles.

"I'm hungry." You say simply.

"Fair enough." Alex responds handing you an apple. You don't ask where he was keeping it.

You devour the apple in a matter of seconds.

"What did you guys find?" You ask. "I've been gone all day, you had to have found something."

"Well, that metal box we woke up in was full of crates. The crates had a whole bunch of crazy stuff, food, clothes, animals, tools, weapons, bandages, medicines, and some shampoo." Alby explains.

"We carved Leon's name in the wall and buried his shirt in the woods, which we marked with a stick with his name carved on it. Then Alex had the idea to carve each of our names on the wall so if anyone came looking for us and for some reason couldn't find us, there would be proof that we're here. So then we crossed Leon's name out to symbolize the fact that he's uh... gone..." Will adds.

You nod slowly, taking in all the information.

"Well... Just from what I saw today, it'll take a while for us to figure out a way out, a couple months maybe. So, that being said, I think we need to set up shop here. Stock the kitchen with the food from the box, build a place for the animals to stay so they don't wander into the Maze, distribute clothes to rooms. We need to move in, be efficient. We're alone, but that doesn't mean we should go crazy, we need to be responsible. If everyone does their part, then we'll survive and get out of here. We'll keep order." You say.

"And that's why she's in charge." Alby says with a laugh.

Everybody starts to head in for the night, but you stop by the box of food. You take a granola bar and an orange and head over to your room.

You smile. Things will work out. Just so long as no one goes in the Maze when the doors close, what could go wrong?

 The grinding and screeching of the doors wake you from you heavenly night of sleep. You jump out of bed and run over to the box to get some breakfast. You shove a slice of bread into your mouth as you notice the box is gone. Trap doors have closed over where the metal cage used to be. It's a good thing the boys pulled everything out of the box the day before. Will is the first to join you.

"Where'd it go!?" He exclaims.

"I don't have a clue." You respond with a shrug.

"This isn't enough food. We'll finish this off within a month." Will states, shaking his head in worry and fear.

"Well I guess we ought to work fast then." You admit.

The other three boys join you in staring at the spot the box used to reside.

"Let's open those trap doors." Alex suggests.

Everyone shrugs. You bend down and pull at the handle, lifting one half up. Chris grabs the other handle and lifts, revealing what seems to be a never ending drop of darkness. You close the trap door and Chris does the same.

"Let's keep that shut, knowing me, I'll fall down there on accident." You decide.

The four boys all agree and you all get to work. Will starts stocking the kitchen, Alby distributes clothes and weapons, Alex and Chris get to work on a stable for the animals. Meanwhile, with some seeds you found, you start to plant fruits and vegetables in the small grass clearing.

Planting seeds is much harder than you thought it would be. Row after row you have to tear up the grass, revealing rich soil. You end up with ten rows. The first for carrots, second for corn, third potatoes, fourth for tomatoes, fifth for strawberries, sixth for lettuce, seventh for peppers, eighth for mint, ninth for rosemary, and tenth for parsley. You haven't even planted the seeds yet.

Halfway through the day you are drenched in sweat, covered in blisters, and crazy hungry. You walk over to Will who's working in the kitchen.

"Hey Will, what's that?" You ask pointing to the mess of cheese and bread on the counter.

"Well, it's supposed to be grilled cheeses for everyone..." Will responds sheepishly.

You chuckle. "Let me help you." You rinse your hands under cool water and wrap your blistered hands in bandages and get to work. One you're done you and Will have made five partially burnt grilled cheeses. You call Alby, Alex, and Chris in for lunch. The five of you sit on the counters, catching each other up on your progress. You soon figure out that the building will be the hardest project.

You finish up your sandwich and head back out to the clearing to continue gardening. The work feels so much harder after you've rested. The blisters on your hands and ankles burn with every movement and your muscles ache with each stroke of the gardening hoe. You move much slower, constantly getting distracted. You watch for a solid ten minutes while Alex chases a chicken away from the Maze doors. You turn back to your work and sigh. As you continue to break through the turf you see a sweaty Chris walking over to you.

"Hey Chris." You start. "Shouldn't you be working?"