Disclaimer: I do not own TMR.
Year one
- Is that a girl?- Some extremely intelligent Glader asked as all of them stared at her.
- Of course she's a girl ya shunk! Does she look like a dude to you?- Nick snapped at him. So that's why they sent us those strange clothes, it must be for her. He remembered the box he set aside in those first days, they will have to find it for her.
Rest of the Glade population started commenting the situation, which was getting on Newt's nerves. These days it happened more often.
- Quit it, slintheads! Alby, George, get her out of there.-
They did, and the Greenie girl found her voice.
- Who are you guys?- She didn't seemed too much frightened by the sight of the small group, more curious and tired, with badges under her eyes and reddish hair in tangles.
Nick stepped in front of her, ready to give her the grand speech. This time he went for the softer approach, noticing the girl's state.
- Hello, Greenie. I'm Nick, and don't worry, you'll probably soon remember you name too, it usually takes some time...-
Now the did seem frightened, for she could only remember her name, and nothing else.
- It's Catherine. Only Catherine. Why can't I remember anything else? What happened?- It was starting to be too much for her.
Nick went on, as Alby touched her elbow to steady her. - Okay, Catherine. See all of us remember only our names. And yes, it's normal to not remember anything else. It's a bit overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it, we all do.-
-Why are you here? Why am i here?- All the why's in her head, and no answers to any of them. Catherine was just trying to sort it all out, not that it was working. Quite the opposite, she was tangling herself in her own thoughts. Nick and Alby weren't blind, they knew the first day was rough, and she obviously went through a lot already.
So Nick said: Look, I know you're confused, we all were on our first day, but it'll get better, I promise.- His voice was calm, as if he wanted to project the feeling to her.
- What are those walls? Are we surrounded by them? What's behind them?- Catherine noticed the massive walls of the maze. It only made her more confused.
-Those are the walls of the Maze. The Glade is inside it. And yes, we are searching for escape. Now, you must be tired, you look as hell shewed on you and spitted you out, so why don't we get some food into you and then you could sleep a little, deal?- Nick was seemingly tired of her questions before she even had time to vocal them. But he just wanted to finish with the 'Greenie greetings' so they don't have to carry her when she passes out.
- Wow, Nick, ya'weren't that sweet when I came.- The Gladers obviously noticed the change in Nick's approach to the Greenie.
- Yeah boss, if I were that hot, would you be all sunshine to me?-
- Zip it slintheads! And just to be sure, no one touches her. Otherwise, that person will spent a whole week in the Slammer without food. Are we clear?- Gladers knew better that to argue when Nick was like that The order was serious, so they better stick to it.
- She ain't that hot anyway.- Some of them just had to comment everything.
So they took her, fed her and she slept like the dead for 10 hours straight.
Since Catherine went to sleep just after dinner, hours before everyone, she woke up in ungodly early Homested was silent.
But it did her good. She needed time to think and sort everything.
The situation she found herself was weird, that's for sure, but she could handle it. There has to be a way out, right? Why would they, whoever sent them here, made a giant maze without end? That just doesn't make sense. How couldn't those guys, Gladers, as they called themselves, find a way out in a year? How long are they going to be trapped here?
What if they're here for a reason? Or they all killed someone and this is they punishment? That's stupid, who heard about a prison like that. Or they could be lab rats for some weird experiment. But who would need a bunch of teenagers in one place?And is the Maze even possible to solve? Can she solve it? Ugh, her mind was a total mess.
She must have been laying awake for awhile, because from her window she noticed some of the boys walking near those strange Doors. One of them was stretching and the other, a blond dude, was just standing near him and looking sad. Weird, but even from the distance Catherine was watching them his posture and expression screamed that something's wrong with him.
Maybe he just woke up in the wrong foot. Or he ate something funny. Heaven know's they aren't great cooks.
She forgot about it soon, since Alby came in and told her he needed to show her something. Give her the grand Tour of the Glade, as he said.
Catherine didn't really wanted to, she didn't know any of these guys at all. But it's not like she wanted to stay in her room all day. Her mind would then set to work, and that would surely make her go crazy. And she was curious about the place she found herself in.
As it turns out, they didn't built that much yet. First guy, Nick, who seemed to be their leader, came here less than a year ago. And they did lose some guys along the way.
So Homestead was the one half done, needing some more work on, with The Slammer right behind it. Then there were the Gardens, whose name was self explanatory, and they just started to work on a new barn from which they will, as Alby said, finally get some meat.
After he showed her all of it, Alby said to her: - Today you'll help Builders make the fence for the animals.-
- We have animals?- Catherine didn't see any on The Tour.
- Did you see any? No, not yet at least. We're gonna find them and left some of them for breeding and stuff.- Alby looked at her like she should have known that.
- And what with the rest?- Catherine asked.
He just gave her a look. - What do you think we're gonna do? It won't be called Bloodhouse for no reason. I can't wait to eat meat again. Well, okay we do eat it, but hunting is a hard job and one or two guys can't hunt enough for all of us. So that's why we're buildin' it, get it?-
The thought of killing animals did repulse her a bit, Catherine thought, But then again, I already crave for some good meat. I'm not a rabbit, I can't live on salad and carrots for the rest of my life.
- I get it. When do I start?-
Alby seemed pleased with her reponse. - Right now, Greenie.-
- It's Catherine.- She didn't like the name they seemed comfortable calling her.
- Cath, until another Greenine comes, you're the Greenie.- He even smiled a bit. Just a bit.
- And that will happen when?-
- Next month.-
Grrrrrr... She thought. - Can't wait till it ends.-
They returned to the Bloodhouse foundation. Alby said: - Agree, first month is the worst. Bye Greenie.- With that he left her in the hands of two freakishly tall boys who roughly explained to her what did she needed to do and how not to hurt herself by doing it.
Cath found out she wasn't really awful at it. Sure, it wasn't easy, but you just had to be careful to not hit yourself with a hammer accidentally, and you'll be fine.
With short pauses every hour, and longer one for lunch, they finished a good portion of the fence. As two boys, Dan and Hank, said, she did a good job.
And that's how her next few weeks went by.
The guys got used to her, most of them were able to talk to her without blushing or embarrassing themselves.
She did miss a girl companion. Someone whom she could complain about a killing period, or anything, really. Living with teenage boys has it's perks, but didn't those Creators know that being the only female amongst undeveloped males is risky? And tiresome?
Thankfully, none of the bossy tried anything. Some tried casual flirting, but nothing else. Nick's order was clear.
Although Newt, one of the Runners, was still acting strange. Not in a bad stalker-ish way. More like depressed. Cath really wanted to know what's wrong with him. But every time she tried talking to him he either ignored her, or was borderline rude to her. She asked other guys about this but half of the didn't even notice he was acting differently, while others thought he was always like that. Only Alby and nick acknowledged that something was wrong with him, but nick decided to not act on it, and when she asked Alby about it he just said: - It'll pass. Forget about it, 'kay?-
So she did, almost. Cath kept and eye on him, just in case he did something stupid.
As she tried every job on the Glade, they discovered that it's better to not let her cook and/or plant anything. For the sake of their survival. She was pretty good at building or fixing things, but the sight of blood wasn't really her thing. She didn't faint, much to Med-Jacks relief. And because of that, Blood house, which was still in the making process, definitely won't be her place of employment.
What she really wanted is to be a Runner. But everyone said that she first needed to prove herself in order to be even considered. So she did. Cath followed the rules and worked hard, just to be able to get a chance to discover maze's secrets. The giant riddle was killing her. And soon George saw that this new Greenie was quite a good Runner material.
So when it was time for a Keeper to pick her, he proposed her for a Runner.
And Cath was thrilled to say the least. She'll finally get inside the infamous Maze.
Newt wasn't happy about training another Runner, to him, it was just another person who could die pointless death. So he let George explain everything to her.
And boy did he s care her. Cath knew the Maze was dangerous, but that much? As she saw the Grievers through that small, dirty window, she felt shivers up her spine. The rest of the training went fine, she understood the concept of mapping, but Greivers? She'll just have to avoid them.
Minus that, she found that being a Runner really suited her. The thrill, the memory game, she enjoyed it. As much as you could, having in mind that she was trapped in her with a dozen other boys for god knows how long.
Cath also found out that most of the boys, including her, had trouble sleeping. The Maze moved at night, and no matter how long you were in the Glade, you never quite get used to it.
Finally, a month has passed. She won't be a Greenie anymore! Yay!
The procedure went by. And the kid looked scared to death. I guess we all do on our first few days.
It took him a full week to remember his name. The kid was so happy he got something out of his head the he screamed the name out loud.
- IT'S SIGGY! Finally! I remembered!-
It was shucking time. Cath thought to herself. The kid started to irritate me.
WCKD report
My dear colleagues, a month has passed. And I have to say I'm very intrigued by the results we've received. Adding a female subject wasn't my decision, but I am very pleased with the outcome. The other subjects have accepted her, and they think of her as their own.
Interestingly, she hasn't yet developed a precise liking to any of the male subjects. I wonder will she with time? We shall see. There are much more boys to come and I'm curious as to how are they going to build relationships.
Another thing i want to discus with you is their slang. I find it cute, personally. But maybe the more linguistic ones will have to say something more about it?
Also, I want to hear your thoughts on subject Newt. I was, and still am, strongly against us causing his depression. I know that he already was on the path to developing it, but was that really necessary? I hope the results we get from other subjects reacting to his depression satisfy you. But for now, most of them chose to ignore the problem.
On the other hand...
If you liked, let me know. Plus, guys, I need I beta reader. Anyone interested?