They Don't Own Me

Chapter 4

Ivy groggily opened her eyes. Memories of the night before flashed through her mind, making her shiver. She glanced down at her watch to see that it was almost seven. The girl looked around her and sighed quietly. Alby and George were still there.

"Alby," she whispered harshly, trying to get him to move. "Alby, wake up." He slowly opened his eyes and looked over at Ivy. She could easily see that he still needed sleep. "We have to move. The doors will be opening soon."

Alby nodded and crawled out of their hiding place. Ivy followed after him and the two dragged George out into the hall.

"You must have hit him pretty hard for him to still be asleep," Alby commented as they lifted George to his feet.

"Let's just get him out of here. We'll be safe once we're in the Glade again."

The two walked as fast as they could towards the Maze doors, both with their arms around their unconscious friend. All of a sudden, the sound of moving stone made its way to their ears. To their relief, it sounded close. They walked faster, keeping their eyes open for the way out.

"There it is," Alby suddenly said.

Ivy looked up to see the wide entrance to the Maze. She smiled and silently urged Alby to move faster. The boy complied, the two breaking into a small awkward jog. As soon as they stepped foot into the Glade, Ivy released a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Put him down here," Alby gently told her.

Ivy stopped moving and helped her friend to lay George on the ground. She grimaced slightly when she saw the dried blood on the side of his head. After George was lying on the ground, Ivy shrugged of her pack and laid on the ground. She heard a soft laugh come from Alby, causing her to look over at the dark skinned boy.

"Can you wait here with him?" he asked.

"Where are you going?"

"To get bandages for his head and some breakfast for us."

"Yeah, I'll be good."

Alby nodded to her. With one last look at George, he hurried away to grab the things he needed. Ivy sighed as she laid back down. Suddenly, after several minutes of calm silence, a groan was heard. Ivy sat up and stared as George started to wake up. She smiled slightly and moved closer to him, helping him sit up.

"You alright, George?" she asked as the boy rubbed his head. "You gave Alby and I a real scare last night." George turned his head to look at her. Ivy froze in place. His eyes were dark and they had the same wild look to them as they did the night before. "George?"

The boy suddenly launched himself at Ivy, a strangled kind of growl coming from his throat. Ivy screamed in fear, trying to keep the crazed boy away from her. George grabbed onto her arms, holding them tight enough to cause bruises.

"Alby!" Ivy shouted. "Alby, help!"

Her cry was suddenly cut off when George practically slammed his arm into her throat. Ivy gagged at the sudden loss of air, her eyes going wide. She tried to push George off of her, but the boy had her pinned.

Suddenly, George was tackled off of her. Ivy inhaled sharply, turning over so she could cough and gasp in air. She glanced up to see Alby wrestling with George.

"George, calm down, man!" Alby shouted. "What the heck is wrong with you?"

George struggled with Alby for a moment before throwing him off. Ivy quickly scrambled to her feet to help her friend. The girl rammed her shoulder into George's back, knocking him to the ground. Before he could get back up, Alby landed on top of him, trying to pin him down.

"Ivy, grab my pack," he said. "There should be some rope in there."

Ivy quickly did as he asked, searching through his backpack and finding the rope. She passed it off to Alby then helped to pin George down. As Alby tied his arms behind his back, the boy struggled harder. Ivy grabbed the second piece of rope and tied his legs to keep him from flailing. Once George was secure, Alby and Ivy slowly backed away from him.

"You good?" Alby questioned, breathing heavily.

"Now I am, yeah." She glanced down at her arms where hand shaped bruises were beginning to appear. "My arms would probably say otherwise, but they'll be fine." Her voice suddenly became softer. "What the heck happened to him? Do you think it has something to do with that creature? I mean, right after it stung him, he started acting weird."

"It might be." They watched George in silence for a minute. He struggled against the ropes holding him, growling slightly as he did. "We need to do something about this. He's too out of control to let go."

"So what do you want to do?"

Alby sighed.

"I'll worry about it, Ivy. Don't worry."

~

Ivy sat in front of a fire, staring into the flames and burning wood. Almost halfway across the Glade was Alby and George. George hadn't changed much since he woke up. Ivy had helped Alby tie him to a dead tree stump, but Alby then asked her to leave them. Agreeing, Ivy had built her own fire on the other side of the Glade, giving the two boys as much space as she could. Even though she was curious as to what was going on, Ivy was going to respect Alby's wish and let him have his time with George.

The girl shivered when she heard a wild cry. She closed her eyes, knowing it had come from George. He had been making those noises for most of the day. The only other sound she heard was the sound of the fire cracking before her, the sound of those creatures screeching in the closed Maze, and the sound of shifting stone. Ivy wondered what those sounds could mean, wondering if something else was moving in the Maze.

A hand suddenly landed on Ivy's shoulder, causing her to jump in fear and turn towards its source.

"Relax," Alby said gently. "It's just me."

Ivy sighed. The boy sat down beside her. Ivy stiffened slightly when she realized that George's cries had stopped.

"What happened?" she asked quietly.

"I did what had to be done," Alby muttered. "He wasn't going to calm down and he could have possibly killed one of us. I wasn't willing to take that chance."

Ivy glanced over her shoulder briefly to see George's still figure with a spear going through him. The girl turned back towards the fire. The two sat in silence for a long time, both silently mourning the loss of their friend. After a while, Ivy gently took Alby's hand in hers. The dark skinned boy jumped in surprise but relaxed when he saw Ivy's hand around his own.

"You did the right thing," Ivy whispered. "It may not seem like it, but you did." The two looked at one another. "We can handle this, Alby. Now that we know that those things are out there at night, we know we can't let anyone into the Maze. It's too dangerous and we don't want to lose anyone else who might come along."

Alby just faintly nodded, his eyes still shining with the pain he was feeling. Ivy moved closer toward Alby and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. The boy didn't do anything for several moments, but eventually, he leant into Ivy, his tears finally flowing down his face.