26Six months later…
Esinon still didn't really seem to grasp the concept of how dangerous the maze actually was. How dangerous even the glade was. And that's what worried Newt. Her overwhelming curiosity and determination was sure to get her killed. Newt couldn't figure out a way to get it through her mind that this was a dangerous place. And he wasn't even sure they were gonna get out. They'd been looking for so long, and nothing. Newt tried to hold out hope, but it was hard. It was really hard.
Newt really wished something hadn't had to happen for Esinon to grasp the danger of the maze. She'd been so optimistic about everything, her hope was overwhelming. Guess nothing stayed all well and good in the glade for long.
Newt almost had a heart attack when he heard her shriek echo throughout the glade.
"CLINT! JEFF! SOMEONE HELP!" He dropped his shovel instantly, looking around for the source of the yell. Boys had already all started to do the same. He spotted Esinon struggling her way out of the maze, holding… Gally? On top of her back. Newt sprinted over to her as fast as he could given his messed up leg as she collapsed. Alby beat him there but Newt was not seconds behind. Esinon was sprawled out on the ground next to an unconscious Gally. Her chest heaved feebly as she tried to catch her breath,
"Esinon, what happened?" Alby asked slowly, she finally crawled to her knees,
"I…" her chest heaved again, "found him in my section," she panted, "I-I don't know what's wrong," Newt and Alby glanced at one another.
"You don't think…" Alby murmured, Newt immediately tugged up Gally's shirt to find a small hole on the side of his abdomen, black veins had already started spreading their way toward his heart. Esinon stumbled backward,
"What is that," she whispered, Newt and Alby didn't answer, pulling an unconscious Gally upward, dragging him unceremoniously toward the med-jack tent. "What is going on!" she shouted, running after them, "What's wrong with him!" Newt let go of Gally as Clint and Jeff appeared, and Clint ducked under Gally's other side. Newt grabbed a hold of Esinon, stopping her from darting after Gally.
"Go to my hut, now. Don't come out, wait for me there, understand?" Esinon struggled against him,
"But I need to be there!" she argued, Newt shook her shoulders,
"Esinon," he said sternly, "You need to listen to me. Go to my hut. And stay there. Don't come out for anything, and wait until I get there. Do you understand me?" Esinon recognized that tone and quit struggling, Newt never used it with anyone unless something was wrong. Really wrong. So she turned tail and ran, Newt watched making sure she ducked into his hut before entering the med-jack tent.
"Why the shuck was he even in the maze?" Jeff exclaimed, stabbing griever serum into Gally's thigh.
"We don't know," Alby said, "We can see if Esinon knows anything,"
"I doubt she does," Newt said, "She's confused and disoriented, we should ask the builders if they saw Gally leave or reported him missing this morning. And we'll see if we can get answers out of him after he…" the painful experience Gally was about to go through was left hanging in the air.
"Newt, go check on Esinon," Alby said after a minute of silence. "Make sure she doesn't run back out into the maze."
"What should I tell her?" Newt asked,
"The truth," Alby replied, "That's what she really wants, and she needs to understand what's about to happen." Alby let out a shaky breath, "Gally…. Gally isn't gonna be the same after this," Zart sprinted into the tent,
"Where is he? What happened?" he demanded, Alby placed a hand on Zart's shoulder,
"Zart, just take a deep breath, alright?" Alby said, Zart backed off, stumbling back into a chair, staring at Gally with numb horror as he spotted the empty serum vial in Jeff's hand.
"No, no, no," he whispered, they all knew what this meant. Gally was gone. He wasn't ever going to be the same again. Newt didn't really want to be here when Ace came back and found out what had happened. So he left, leaving the original gladers to cope with what had just happened. Newt took a deep breath, exiting the med-jack tent and heading toward his and Alby's hut. Esinon was sitting outside of it, her knees drawn up to her chest. She spotted him coming near and jumped to her feet, darting over to him.
"Newt, what's going on?" she asked, Newt sighed, grabbing her shoulder,
"Just… I'll explain, come on." he guided her back to his hut, sitting her down on his cot. He took a deep breath, sitting down next to her. "Look, Gally… has been stung."
"By what?" she said, her voice still edging into aggressive territory.
"A griever," he replied, "It's gonna make him sick- really sick. He's gonna be in a lot of pain for a while and-"
"I'm not a little kid!" Esinon snapped, jumping up from the cot and beginning to angrily pace the hut. "Just tell me what's happening to Gally!"
"He's been stung by a griever and he's gonna be in a shuck-ton of pain and when he wakes up he isn't gonna be the same person," Newt finally spat out, the anger and tension in his own body rising. Esinon stared at him, she blinked a couple times as if that would help the information sink in.
"W-what… I-I don't understand." she said in soft disbelief, "What… what do you mean he's not gonna be the same person?"
"You know Henry?" Newt asked, Esinon nodded, no one really spent time around the boy because he was insufferable and rude, and cranky. "He's been through what Gally is going through right now. We call it the changing. Apparently you get some memories back, but we don't know for sure. None of the people who have been through it ever talk about it again. But they become like Henry. Whatever they see… it changes them." Esinon took a step back, almost tripping over Alby's cot. "Esinon, I know this is hard to understand," he said, as she backed herself into a corner, "But Gally is gonna live, ok? You saved his life."
"But he's not gonna be Gally anymore," she said, Newt opened his mouth to answer, to provide comfort, but nothing came to him. Esinon's chin quivered and for one of the first times in a long time, Newt saw that scared little kid in front of the maze on her first day.
"I-I need to go for a walk," she started to exit the hut,
"Esinon, please don't go back into the maze, the doors are closing soon and I don't want you getting stuck out there."
'I don't want to lose you too,'
"I wasn't planning on it," she murmured, Newt watched Esinon run off into the forest behind the deadheads. He let out a sigh, sitting back down on his cot. He buried his head in his hands.
"What are we gonna do?" he murmured to no one in particular, maybe anyone up there who was listening. Newt doubted it. If anyone was listening, they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
Minho had never been close to Gally. Not like Esinon was. The most interaction he'd had with Gally in the year he'd been here was mostly pranks and wrestling, and off-handed jokes. Esinon liked Gally's honestly. At least that's what Minho thought it was. She had a lot of questions and Gally was more likely to give her answers while others wouldn't. Either way, no one had seen Esinon since she disappeared into the forest before lunch. Minho didn't blame Esinon for running. He wanted to disappear when Ace had figured out what had happened. He shuddered, and tried to focus on searching the trees for Esinon. He wasn't exactly sure what he was gonna say to her once he found her, but he'd once heard Newt say that being there was the most important thing.
After peeking up into the trees for half an hour, he finally spotted Esinon sitting a ways up in one of the biggest trees in the forest. He put his lantern in between his teeth, hoisting himself into the tree. He finally made it up to her branch, sitting down in front of her.
"If you're here to get me to come down for dinner, I'm not hungry," she said, slicing off another sliver of wood off a branch with her knife. Minho hung his lantern on a nearby branch.
"Well you're one lucky shank, because I brought dinner for you." he said, pulling his pack off. Esinon didn't respond to the food set in front of her . They sat in silence for a few minutes except for the sound of Esinon's whittling.
"Do you know anyone- like know them, know them- who's been through the changing?" Esinon asked after a moment, not looking up at him.
"Yeah, Cam." Esinon stared at him for a moment, remembering the blank stare that Cam wore so often, "He ended up training me. Ace was training someone else at the time. Cam used to be a really social guy but after his changing he just kinda… shut down. Gave up trying to maintain our friendship I guess," Esinon's hands still on her work for only a moment before resuming.
"Dunno how anyone has stood living here for so long," she muttered angrily, her whittling becoming more aggressive. "When we get out of here those shuck-faces are gonna get a piece of my mind," the stick she was holding was starting to form a sharp point. Minho stared at his food for a moment,
"Do you think… we're gonna get out of here?" he asked, Esinon still for a moment before nodding,
"It's a maze, so it's a puzzle, all puzzles have a solution. We'll… get out of here eventually." she sliced at another sliver of wood. "All puzzles have solutions," she murmured,
Three days later, Gally had finally woken up from his changing. He didn't respond to anyone, he just stared blankly at the wall. Clint and Jeff were starting to get worried that he wouldn't seem to respond to anything but food so they'd been keeping him in the med-jack tent for observation.
Esinon was somehow still hopeful, she thought that maybe Gally wouldn't change that much. They'd still be friends, he couldn't have changed that much. That's what she kept telling herself anyways. It was all she could do to keep herself sane for the last three days.
"Now just… I want you to prepare yourself," Newt said, thinking the girl was far too bouncy for everything he'd explained to her about the changing in the last couple of days. "Gally hasn't been very responsive to anything, so we don't know how he'll react to you if he reacts at all,"
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Esinon replied, with a shrug, she took a deep breath. Everything was going to be just fine. She and Newt entered the med-jack tent, slipping past Clint and Jeff who were busy wrapping a burn wound on Frypan's forearm. Esinon had a lot of respect for the med-jacks, they certainly were kept busy in the glade. They finally reached the back-end of the tent where Gally was sitting on a cot, facing the wall. Esinon took another deep breath, getting a small nod from Newt before approaching Gally. "Gally?" the ginger haired boy didn't answer her, let alone look at her. She shifted to get in front of him, "Gally, can you hear me?" The boy's eyes shifted to hers, blankly staring at her. "Gally- it's Esinon… do you- do you remember anything?" Gally blinked, tilting his head.
"You," he whispered, Esinon blinked a few times,
"Yeah Gally, it's me Esinon," she said, his face turned murderous in a matter a of seconds,
"You," he snarled, before Esinon could react, Gally had lunged for her, latching a hand around her throat and pinning her against the wall. Esinon made a choked noise,
"Gally," she managed to strangle out. Shouting filled the room and Esinon didn't even register Newt, Clint or Jeff trying to pull Gally off of her. Instinct took over. She'd been in this situation before. She knew how to defend herself against bigger targets. She grabbed the nearest thing to her which happened to be an empty syringe. She stabbed it into Gally's leg without a second thought, the elder boy let out a roar of pain, releasing her. Esinon gasped, sucking in a huge breath, coughing herself raw. By now, the commotion in the med-jack tent had drawn a lot of attention. Alby, and Zart burst into the tent seeing Clint, Jeff, and Newt struggling to hold a screaming Gally down. Alby and Zart pounced on both of Gally's legs, restraining him to the ground. Esinon scrambled backward, her chest heaving as Gally seethed.
"YOU'RE A TRAITOR!" he screeched, "TRAITOR, TRAITOR, TRAITOR! YOU'LL KILL ALL OF US! ALL OF US!" Esinon's ears were ringing, the world was spinning, she couldn't think, it felt like she couldn't breathe. The glade felt so distant all of a sudden, she hadn't even registered that she'd started running. She fell into autopilot, sprinting, faster, and faster, her mind didn't register that the doors would be closing soon, that she would be trapped, that she'd die. Dying sounded ok right then. She wanted out of the glade. She wanted out of this prison so badly that at that moment she was willing to die. She ran faster, her chest tightened, it was getting so hard to breathe. She was so close. It was like her first day in the glade, running for that door. It was her only way out.
'My only way out,'
'All puzzles have solutions,'
'Maybe this one doesn't. Maybe someone just put you in here to punish you.'
She ran faster. She didn't know that was possible. Tears sprang to her eyes as Gally's words echoed through her mind.
TRAITOR!
Maybe Gally was right. Maybe this was just a prison. Maybe there was no way out.
She neared the north doors, ignoring the setting sun that was casting a golden glow over the glade. It really was a beautiful place. A beautiful prison.
YOU'LL KILL ALL OF US!
She was almost there- before she could make it through the doors a pair of arms shot out, grabbing her just before she could reach her goal. Esinon didn't struggle. She didn't feel like fighting. Not anymore. It never got her anywhere. Ace knelt down in front of her,
"Kid, where are you going?" Esinon didn't answer, staring at the grass over Ace's shoulder. "The doors are about to close, you would have gotten trapped," Ace saw no change in Esinon's facial features.
"We're trapped in here anyways," she murmured, Ace tilted his head,
"Esinon, what's wrong,"
"He attacked me," she stated blankly. One of the things Esinon had always liked about Gally was he didn't treat her like a little kid, but he still knew when to be gentle. Sure, Gally was brash and arrogant at times, and could be a bit of a control freak, but he was still kind. Not just with her, but with everyone in the glade.
"Who attacked you?" Ace said firmly, he was gonna make someone pay.
"Gally," she replied, staring off into the distance as the doors that had begun to close, groaning and whining. It sounded like they were crying. Esinon felt like crying but she just felt too empty. "I went to go see him and he attacked me," Ace gaped at her,
"Why?" he asked in disbelief, Esinon didn't even move. Ace continued to try and question her, but she never answered. Eventually the keeper gave up, placing a hand on the young girl's shoulder and led her back to the homestead.
Esinon never cried over the loss of Gally's friendship. It just hardened her heart, and only set her determination further to find them a way out of here. When she escaped, she was going to make the creators pay.
A few months later…
"Are you paying any attention to me?" Minho asked, glancing from the sky to Esinon. She flipped a page of her book,
"Mmm, not really no," she replied with a small smirk, Minho grumbled to himself, rolling his eyes.
"You're a punk,"
"Takes one to know one," she murmured leisurely,
"Do you wanna do anything today?" Minho asked, "Or are you just gonna read your book and ignore me?" Esinon hummed,
"It's very tempting," after Ace's incident with his ankle in the maze, he finally started making the hard push against the other keepers for more runners. There was still a lot of maze to explore, and if people wanted out of here so badly they needed more runners. He'd nominated a few builders and slicers who weren't overly needed in their jobs and most of them became runners. Even she'd had to take over training someone, which was harder than she'd expected. Having more runners allowed for more resting time, Esinon couldn't decide whether that was a blessing or a curse. On one hand she enjoyed the peace of her days off, but on the other hand she had too much time to think on her days off. Plus there were a lot more people to steal from in the glade. Inevitably someone got mad at her for something she couldn't control. Not that the boys even had much for her to steal. Minho and some of the other boys had begun to put small stones in their pockets for her to steal to try and prevent her from panic. "But if you're really hell-bent on doing something, what do you want to do?" she asked, finally looking up from her book. Minho shrugged,
"I dunno, you wanna play a game or something?"
"Sure, if you can get the checkerboard away from Paul and Mark," Minho sat up,
"I'll be back," he said, running off into the glade. Esinon chuckled to herself, turning back to her book. She'd begun asking for more books after the last Greenie, Mark, had arrived. Books were a nice escape. Her love for the glade ebbed and flowed. Some days she'd be able to see the beauty of their home but on other days she'd see the prison. Those towering walls. Trapped with no escape. Esinon shifted, trying to ignore the claustrophobia that was washing over her body. She didn't know why she got that feeling from time to time, there was plenty of space in the glade, and there was no reason to really feel that way. Either way at that moment, she was starting to hate the glade again. She shook her head, returning her mind to her book.
'All puzzles have solutions,' she reminded herself, they'd find something eventually. They were going to get out of here.
Ace had seen a lot of things. Being one of the first boys to arrive in the glade everything he knew, he knew from experience. It was impressive how fast he, Alby, Gally, and Zart assembled to start building the glade with the supplies they were given. They'd grown food through trial and error, learned to cook, learned how to care for animals, how to build structures, by the time the next Greenie arrived a month later, they had a somewhat stable society going. Ace was the first one to get curious enough to run into the maze. It had been a calculated decision. Their first night the boys had all focused on making a fire and finding some shelter and some food so they could all make it through the night. None of them had dared to even go near the maze doors when they couldn't even remember their own names. Gally was the first to remember his name, ironically Ace was the last. The boys soon figured out that the doors to the maze closed at night and opened in the mornings. And they could hear the groaning and creaking of the maze moving at night, and the screeches of the grievers, but in the morning when the doors opened the noises would go away.
Ace soon realized that yes, whatever was beyond those doors was dangerous, but judging by the noises, it wasn't overly dangerous during the day. So he talked it over with the other boys and they agreed to let Ace go through the doors. And what Ace found beyond was a maze. He didn't run far, he was scared to get trapped in there, but day by day he'd run further, figuring out that the loud creaking, groaning, and clicking at night was the maze moving. After a month of running, Ace figured out the maze moved in a cycle, and it had repeated the first day he'd run the maze the same day Cam arrived.
Ace had seen a griever, he'd seen someone killed by a griever. His name was Elliot. There wasn't a day that went by that Ace didn't think about him. His greatest failure. Ace knew better than anyone how dangerous the maze was. By now he thought he'd be safe in the maze, knew it well enough to not die, but he was wrong. He was very wrong.
Ace was running faster than he'd ever run before, screeching rang through the corridors of the maze as he skidded around a corner, never losing speed. Metal scraped against the maze walls as the griever screamed. Ace had never been this close to one before as it clambering after him. The whole creature reeked of death as it sprayed yellow slime from its mouth, filled with rows and rows of fangs. Ace didn't look back, he just kept running. It was fifteen minutes until the doors closed, he just needed to get out of here! The griever would never follow him into the glade. Ace ducked down another passage, panicking when he spotted Esinon. She slowed at the sight of him,
"Ace-"
"DON'T STOP, KEEP RUNNING!" he yelled, she didn't need to be told twice, the two runners sprinted as fast as they could as the Griever shrieked again. At that moment, Ace didn't care about his own life. He was going to make sure Esinon made it back to the glade safely even if it killed him. They darted around another corner spotting Minho ahead of them, he'd already heard the griever's cry and didn't stick around to figure out where it was. Judging by where they were in the maze, they still had a way to go before they reached the doors. But none of them intended on stopping, not until they were safe. Ace caught up with Minho and Esinon, ushering them around another corner. The griever clambered straight past them, Ace let out a silent breath. He turned to Esinon and Minho, both of them looked terrified.
They looked like scared little kids.
He knew what he had to do. "Look at me," he whispered, "Everything is gonna be ok, alright?" Ace could hear the metallic clawing of the griever as it rapidly made it's way back toward them, "We're really close to the doors, but we only have a few minutes to get to them. We have to run, and run fast ok? Don't look back," Both of them nodded, "Go, I'm right behind you," Esinon and Minho took off at top speed, Ace stilled for a moment, staring up at the sky as he listened to the griever getting closer.
'Please, please let those kids live. Let them be safe. If anyone is listening, please protect them.'
And with that, Ace went charging toward the griever. Esinon and Minho did just as Ace said, they didn't look back, they just kept running. They spotted the north doors, slowly sliding closed, about to trap them inside the maze. The two of them ran faster, diving through the door, collapsing in a heap on top of each other. Just as the doors closed Esinon and Minho got a glimpse of Ace being stabbed through the stomach by the leg of the griever.
Their mentor was dead.
Her head was spinning, she couldn't control her breathing.
The world got so distant.
She could hear Minho screaming, Newt and Alby yelling, so much chaos and commotion. All Esinon could see was Ace getting stabbed over and over and over again. Esinon's vision blurred, it felt like she was gonna pass out. Her vision started to shift back into focus, the ringing in her ear dulling as Newt knelt in front of her trying to shake her back into reality. Esinon stared at him, her eyes wide and full of terror. She didn't even register Newt pulling her into a hug, all she could hear was Minho sobbing.
Clint and Jeff called it shock. Esinon didn't know what that meant. She didn't try to pay attention when they explained it. It felt like she couldn't move. She couldn't even process anything, she just felt… empty. A gaping hole where her emotions should have been. They kept her in the med-jack tent that night. She couldn't sleep, so she just stared at the ceiling listening to the screaming of the grievers. The grievers that had slaughtered Ace. She took a deep breath, rolling over and pressing the pillow over her ears trying to block out all the noise. Someone tapped her on the shoulder,
"Jeff I wanna be left al-" she murmured, stopping when she saw Minho standing there shuffling his feet. She sat up on her elbows, "Minho?" he stared at the ground,
"I can't sleep," he muttered, Esinon scooted over a bit and Minho crawled into the cot next to her. They shifted for a few seconds before finally settling with Esinon's head resting on Minho's chest. They didn't talk, neither of them said a word. Instead, Esinon tried to focus on the sound of Minho's heartbeat. She took a deep breath, snuggling closer. Minho squeezed her shoulder, eventually she drifted off. She dreamed of nothing.
No one woke the runner's the next morning. They stayed in that cot for most of the day, they still didn't talk about any of it. The both of them stayed in the haze between sleep and awake, waking up and falling asleep over and over. Esinon finally fully woke up, staring up at the ceiling watching the sun shift through the cracks in the ceiling. Minho shifted in his sleep, and Esinon did her best to stay still. She was surprised either of them slept through the night. If Minho had had a nightmare she would have known about it. She listened to the trees rustling outside, she didn't ever want to move from this space. She closed her eyes, trying to fall back asleep. Minho's breathing hitched as he finally jolted awake. He glanced down at her,
"I don't really feel like moving," he murmured, closing his eyes again, Esinon gave a small chuckle,
"Me neither, and I doubt anyone is gonna make us,"
"Then I'm gonna go back to sleep," he replied, Esinon shifted away from Minho.
"I think I'm gonna go look for some food," she replied, "I'll be back in a little bit," Minho nodded, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze before she disappeared from the med-jack tent. She slunk out into the glade where breakfast had already finished, and the day had begun. She went to the kitchen, getting some food from Frypan. He didn't try to make conversation with her like he normally would, he just gave her a small smile. She sat down at the tables, eating quietly. Newt came along not long after that, she suspected he'd be around to check on her as soon as she made an appearance from the med-jack tent.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, Esinon shrugged,
"Fine, I guess," she said, stirring at her food. "Minho's still sleeping," Newt nodded slowly,
"Alby and I… we're having you and Minho take the week off." Esinon almost choked,
"A week!" she exclaimed, "The runners need us."
"You're not going out into that maze distracted, and that's the end of the conversation." Esinon glared at him, ignoring the second in command and focusing on her meal. Newt let out a small sigh, rubbing his hands down his face. "Look, I know you don't like this, but Esinon- you… you just saw something really traumatic. You need time to process that."
"There's nothing to process." she muttered, "He's gone."
"Esinon-" she shoved her plate away,
"Not hungry," she said coldly, stalking away from the table and off into the glade. She stormed through the trees, into the forest behind the deadheads, not far from the south door and the map room. Ace was gone. Ace was gone. Esinon took a shaky deep breath, her jaw setting.
She was going into that maze. She had to find a way out of here. She couldn't stand the sight of any of it. So she went and filled a pack before sneaking through the north door. She hadn't gone looking for Ace's body… well, maybe she had. Maybe she wanted to find the keeper because it meant something to her. Because she felt like she'd failed. They all should have made it out. Maybe if she would have looked back, she would have been able to stop him from running toward the griever, maybe she would have been able to save him. But now he was gone. And there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing.
His body was mangled, and bloody. It didn't even look like him. Esinon choked down a sob, she couldn't just leave him there. Not Ace. He'd died so that she could live, the least she could do was bury him in his home. The glade. So pulled Ace's still body onto her back and started toward the glade, she almost collapsed a few times with the added weight. Ace was- had been a lot bigger than her. He used to rest his elbow on top of her head when she was standing nearby. She used to hate it, but she grew to tolerate it. Ace had been such a great mentor to her… a great friend. She finally made it back to the glade, blood soaked through the back of her shirt, covered in dirt, sweat, and griever slime.
She felt hollow. It was just like an endless expanse of nothingness. She was at the bottom of a pit, and she was still falling. She let Ace's body slip off her back as she collapsed next to him, she stared up at the blue sky. Stupid glade. It was always so perfect. She wished more than anything that the sky would turn black, pouring rain down upon them. Everyone acted like everything was so perfect here. But she'd just carried the body of one of her best friends home, all of this… was far from perfect. Newt, Alby, and Minho all skidded to a halt in front of their bodies. Newt shoved Minho behind him,
"Esinon?" she sat up slowly, feeling a lump rising in her throat. She swallowed hard, taking a shaky breath.
"I tried," she whispered, as Newt knelt down in front of her. "I- I'm sorry. I tried," tears started spilling down her face "I tried, I tried, I tried," Newt buried her in a hug and she finally broke. The emptiness was filled with pain, rage, and grief. Sobs racked her body, leaving her shaking, as she repeated the same thing over and over again,
I tried, I tried, I tried.