It was the fourth day in the Glade. 7:34 AM. Four athletic, backpack-toting Runners stood outside of the doors to the Outside, each one feeling butterflies in their stomach. Vex stood outside the North Door, running a nervous hand through his light-brown hair. Lee stood outside the West Door, trying to look strong for the other Runners and the Gladers. Michael stood outside the South Door, the lanky boy thinking digging through his brain for happy memories to ease his nervousness. Evan stood outside the East Door, trying to stay focused and telling himself that he would find the way out for the other Gladers who he had already taken a deep fondness to.

"SEVEN THIRTY-FIVE, BOYS!" Thien shouted from the Homestead. "Try not to die!"

The four Runners took off, quickly disappearing as they all rounded the corners of their specific doors. Vex rounded his corner, and then ran down another hallway, rounded another corner, and was met by two pathways after a short hallway: Left or right. The watch, his good luck charm, being in his left pocket, caused him to run to the left. He met a series of these pathways, each time going left. After about an hour of exploring the Outside, the Runner realized two things: The first was that there was no apparent or easy way of leaving the Glade. The second was that the Outside was a Maze. As he ran, this became more and more apparent. Sometimes he was greeted with three pathways or just long, twisting hallways. He felt a bit more uneasy, as he had a hunch that he was desperately lost. As he neared the third hour in the newly-named Maze, he couldn't help but wonder how the other Gladers were doing. Evan, Michael, and Lee came to mind, but also of the other Gladers. Feeling famished and exhausted, Vex dropped to to the ground, taking in huge gulps of air. He sat against a wall after a few minutes of panting, and dug through his pack for his lunch; He retrieved a turkey-and-cheese sandwich that Josh, one of the Cooks who had been nicknamed 'Dumbo' for his big ears, made for him. The bread was toasted and the cheese and turkey looked fresh; He wondered where he got the turkey from. Food had already been in the fridge according to Thien, so it made sense that there was some food ahead of time in there. As he wolfed down the sandwich, he started to hear noises. Shoving the rest of the sandwich into his mouth, Vex frantically dug around in his pack for a knife. Within seconds, he realized with dread that he didn't have one on him. He leapt to his feet, throwing on his backpack and checking both ends of the hallway.

Whirr, click click.

It was at the end of the hallway that Vex hadn't yet explored. He took a cautious step back.

Whirrrrr, click click.

The unease turned to fear.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr, click click.

He took a few steps back, ready to run.

The whirring was interrupted with a moan, like a soldier who had been just been bayoneted.

The thing rounded the corner, and Vex could only see the green whalish skin and the blade-like appendages before he took off running, horrified. The thing gave pursuit, the whirring and clicking come more and more often. He sprinted down the hallways, white-hot fear shooting through his veins. He felt a sharp jab in his leg, and faltered for a second, but then continued. After what seemed like thousands of years, the moaning and the clicking slowly started to fade. The slug-whale thing had stopped giving chase. As Vex slowed down, he just came to realize something spray-painted on the wall that he must have missed earlier:

ALL AT NIGHT

SOME AT DAY

Ignoring the wall's strange message, he fell to the ground, letting his backpack slide off of his shoulders. He dug through the pack for some bandages. Retrieving them, he rolled up his pant leg, and messily bandaged the wound. It was a slice, from some machete or blade; Vex shuttered as he realized that the thing could still be out there, maybe even coming after him. He stood up, realizing that the wound would need to be cleaned; Probably not stitched as the slice wasn't that deep, but definitely cleaned.

Declaring his day over, Vex threw on his pack and started to half-run, half-hobble back the way he came. The wound probably wouldn't leave him with a permanent limp, like the one Paul had.

But it sure hurt.

oOo

There was a light knock at the door.

"Come in!" Justin called.

The door opened, revealing Lee.

"How is he?" The leader of the Glade asked.

"We put some food in his stomach, and patched up that wound. Whatever it was, it got him pretty good. He'll need a day or two of bed rest until he's fit to go running."

Vex was sound asleep, having drifted off on a full stomach of chicken and mashed potatoes.

"Learn anything about the Outside?" Aaron asked, checking Vex's pulse, concerned about the Runner.

"Well, the Outside is this huge Maze. Not sure what Vex told you, but there's twists and turns and a lot of those 'WICKED' signs plastered everywhere. Michael and Evan report the same. What did he tell you?" Lee replied, nodding towards the sleeping Runner.

"He said that he had just been running and this green slug with a bunch of blades and syringes stickin' out of it. He managed to outrun it but it sliced his leg. He also said there was a sign that read "All at night, some at day," but he wasn't sure what it meant."

Lee shivered. "Shuckin' weird. Maybe the sign was referring to whatever attacked him, or maybe the Maze has a schedule. Who knows?"

"I think we know why those doors close," Aaron muttered, glancing briefly at Vex's bandaged leg.

Lee heard a confused mumble from Vex, and the Runner's eyes flickered open.

"Hey, shank," Lee greeted affectionately.

"L...Lee," Vex mumbled. "The Outside's, like, a shuck Maze, man."

"Yeah, I know. What happened to you?"

Vex shook out of sleepiness. "Not sure, it was just really big. Probably weighed a ton. Looked like a slug. Moved pretty fast. It's skin was, like, whalish and klunk. It had all these weird... shuckin' machetes and blades and even like a syringe. It moaned, like someone was trapped in there." Vex's eyes were as large as golf balls now. Whatever it was, it had terrified him.

Lee reached over and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "They can't hurt us in the Glade, but none of us saw these Grievers. Maybe they come out at night, or they're just really, really rare. We'll look into it, and from now on all Runners will be outfitted with weapons. A machete and two knives. Granted we have the supplies for that; I doubt we do. Pretty shuck sure that we get supplies every week, so maybe there's some blades there." He quickly followed that up with, "Take care, Vex," and left the Homestead.

Lee's watch read 6:05. He had come through the West Door at 6 sharp, estimating that the Maze Doors closed at 7:35 PM; He wanted to get back an hour and a half early, just for good measure. Michael and Evan had already arrived, and were chatting with each other. They reported that the Outside was a Maze, and that Vex had arrived home early due to some leg injury. Both seemed nonchalant, and assured him that the two had already checked on him twice and that he was fine. Lee still had the urge to check on him. His goals completed for the day, Lee decided to take a walk around the Glade. He checked out what the Builders had been doing. Matthew had been true to his word, and the rundown shed that once held the Track-Hoes' tools had been expanded to fit gloves, seeds, and heavy bags of fertilizer. Kit had made another outhouse, but he had also started construction on a small building. Obviously serving as some sort of shower, it had yet to even be finished, but clear signs of progress had been made. The Track-Hoes, still working hard in the fields, had expanded the gardens a little. Hunter gave him a little wave, as did a couple other Track-Hoes.

"Hey! Lee!" One of the Track-Hoes, Marko, called out. "When's dinner?"

"Dinner?" Lee asked. "Thought you already had it."

"Nah, Thien hasn't fed us jack yet," another Track-Hoe laughed. "I think I'm gonna go eat Hunter if I don't get some food."

"If you try to eat me I swear I'll kill you with a shovel," Hunter replied.

There was a chorus of laughter as the banter continued. After sticking around for a few minutes, he decided to head back to the Homestead. A couple of exhausted Gladers waved to him, asking him how the run was. Due to Michael and Evan, most everyone already had learned by now that the Glade was surrounded by a Maze.

Lee opened the creaky door of the Homestead, and joined Thien in the kitchen.

"Hey Lee," Thien greeted. "Dinner's in a few. Dumbo here suggested we have spaghetti, so if it sucks he's to blame."

"Hey!" Dumbo yelled, hitting Thien with a rag. "You're the slinthead who can't even properly make a sandwich!"

"I can too!" Thien retorted. "Anyways, dinner's ready. Call in the army."

Dumbo took a bell and started ringing it, yelling something about feeding pigs. Within a minute, the entire Glade was in the Homestead, lining up for spaghetti. Lee took two plates and gave one to Vex, who was reading a book on medicine.

"Good reading material?" Lee asked, setting down the plate.

"Oh? This? Well, I mean, if I ever get a heart attack in the Maze, I'm good." He paused. "This is so shucking boring, Lee. My butt hurts from just sitting here."

"Don't worry, shank," Lee reassured. "Well have you running in a day or two."

"Yippee," Vex complained, his voice deadpan.

Lee ate his spaghetti and handed the plate back to Dumbo, who happily took it. As Lee went to his continued resting spot on the leather sofa, he encountered Matthew running away from Rowan, who had a huge sauce stain on his jacket. Lee chuckled to himself, knowing Rowan wouldn't actually harm the careless Builder, and sat on the sofa. A breeze from a nearby window relaxed him, and Lee kicked off his boots. His feet aching from exhaustion more than before, he drifted off into sleep easily.

oOo

"Hold the buggin' board down," Rowan ordered Joey, another Bricknick.

"I'm trying to," Joey replied. "I wish that shuck idiot Ross hadn't taken a sledgehammer to the shuck tool shed."

"Such a bloody shame, after one day! One bloody day and the idiot breaks it! Who gives that klunkhead a sledgehammer, anyways! Kit and Matthew are much stronger, not that buggin' shank!"

Joey nodded in agreement as Rowan hammered the nails into the board.

"There, patched up right and nice," he beamed.

"Good as new! Except, not really, because now there's a bunch of boards in it."

"Rowan! Got your jacket!" Paul shouted, limping across the Glade, his army jacket in hand. Rowan took off sprinting, and took the jacket from his hands as soon as he reached him. He slid it over his beige T-shirt, relieved to feel the warmth of the jacket once more.

"Nice buggin' work there, Paul!" Rowan almost yelled, ecstatically giving the freckled Glader a high-five. Paul grinned from ear to ear, wandering off to finish his Slopper duties.

Joey and a few other Bricknicks came to meet the Irish Keeper.

"What now?" asked Miles, one of the other Bricknicks. "We've patched up Ross's little mistake and so far the Builders haven't broken anything but their own bones so far."

"Good work, lads!" Boomed Rowan, turning to face the other Gladers. "You're relieved of Bricknick duty for the rest of the day I'd advise helping the Track-Hoes and aiding the Builders; They could use a great deal of help. I have some important business to attend to, I'll join you in a moment."

Joey, who had already grown close to the Keeper, snorted, knowing that Rowan intended to just go eat a bunch of Thien's food, but they complied, and the Bricknicks dispersed. Rowan turned and headed to the Homestead. He entered the door, careful not to crash into Matthew, who was sprinting through the Homestead, rope wrapped around his waist. He stopped by the kitchen where one of the shorter Cooks (What was his name? Bruno?) immediately tossed him a granola bar; The Cooks had already grown accustomed to Rowan's desire of food at random parts of the day. He then visited the infirmary, where Vex, the Track-Hoe-turned-Runner was still healing from that nasty gash and where Cooper lay, propped up in bed.

"How much longer will this buckethead be cooped in buggin' bed for?" Rowan asked Justin.

"Not much longer, you'll have him back by tomorrow at a guess," Justin replied, who currently was reading the label of a bottle of pills.

"I'm a Builder, though," Cooper argued.

"Bricknicks and Builders are virtually the same thing," Rowan retorted. "Just one fixes up after the other klunks up."

Cooper laughed dryly. "That's not true, but whatever floats your boat, man."

Rowan was about to leave when he heard a shriek and a loud *bang* rock the Homestead. Rowan, fearing the worst, darted through the Homestead, Aaron and Justin at his heels. They came to the Builders, where one was bleeding heavily, a mixture of glass and wood in his face and chest.

"What the shuck happened here?" Justin asked, leaning down to pick out the shards and splinters.

"Ross shucked up again," Kit replied. "Tried to hammer a nail on a window. Hammered the actual window."

"We can fix him up right here," Justin said.

"Clear some buggin' breathing room, you shanks!" Rowan shouted.

The Gladers complied, backing up to let the Med-jacks operate on the wounded Builder.

oOo

Vex found himself up early again, and his hands found themselves the pocketwatch. He now owed this pocketwatch his life; Why he had it, he had no idea, but without the watch, he surely would have gotten lost and died out there in the Maze with those slug-whales: Lee had taken to calling them Grievers. A new Runner, Franklin, had taken to running Vex's door. Franklin was a patient boy with a crew cut and Lee had told him that he and Franklin would be running the same section of the Maze. The door creaked open, and the four Runners stood in the doorway.

"Rise 'n shine, shank," Lee said.

The other Runners piled in, giving Vex high-fives and 'Hi's and asking him how he felt. Feeling better than a few days ago, Vex got out of bed, still dressed in his Runner gear. He slipped on his running shoes, which lay at the foot of his bed, and followed the group of Runners outside. After eating a hasty breakfast prepared by Dumbo and Bruno (Thien was still fast asleep; He was a heavy sleeper) and packing turkey sandwiches with a few apples, the Runners were already off, exploring the Maze.

The five boys were nervous as they ran deeper and deeper into the Maze. Vex and Franklin soon separated, and the other three didn't even have another Runner in their section in the first place. And as Vex ran deeper into the Maze, he came to a shocking conclusion.

It hadn't happened the day before, but it happened now.

The Maze had changed.

Unfortunately, there was absolutely no way to communicate with the other Runners and the Gladers working back home. No radios, no, like, satellites or telepathy or anything like that; Vex wondered if the other Runners had come across changes in the Maze too. They had to have. As he ran, continuing his previous strategy of turning left at any change he could get, he started to feel a bit unnerved. He was all alone, at least a good few miles out from the Glade. He was armed only with a kitchen knife, which would be near useless if we wanted to defend himself from those...Grievers. As noon approached, Vex slowed down, the unease refusing to fade. He stopped, and fell to his knees, panting heavily, trying to get the air back in his lungs. After a moment, he set the backpack down and started to rifle through its content for food. He found a bottle of ice-cold water, refrigerated by Thien the night before, a green apple, and a tinfoil-wrapped ham sandwich. Feeling starved, he devoured the green apple within a few minutes and then set on to the sandwich, taking huge bites. The unease faded quickly, and within five minutes of starting his lunch he was up and running. While running, he also decided to map the Maze with some charcoal (They had no pens or pencils), but it was still heavily incomplete as he didn't have access to the other sections (The other Runners reported two sections per Maze; Vex's section was the only one that had two Runners in it.

Vex turned around at 2, and took four and a half hours running back. He was surprised at his own stamina; He didn't think he had it in him to just run around like a slinthead all day. He came through the doors just as dinner was being called out. Exhausted, he collapsed on the grass, trying to get air back in his body. Dumbo ran up to him, and the sixteen-year-old gave the Runner a jar of water and dinner: Chicken. Vex propped himself up on one elbow, and started to shove the pieces of chicken into his mouth; It was unbelievably good compared to the battered sandwich he ate earlier in the Maze. After eating his dinner and chugging the jar of water, he handed it back to Dumbo, who was sitting patiently, and darted to the concrete room, which Lee had taken to calling the Map Room, and dropped the paper map he had. He ignored the other Gladers, feeling beyond exhausted (He had just been loafing around the past few days), and collapsed onto a hammock. Adam walked past, and got into the hammock next to him with a grunt.

"Nice one on the dinner, Adam," Vex said.

"Oh, thanks," Adam replied, his voice revealing his exhaustion. "That shuckin' chicken put up a fight. Scratched the hell out of Spencer."

Adam was, of course, referring to another Slicer. Vex didn't know him personally. He felt guilty for some reason; He made it a personal goal to talk to and get to know every Glader. Everyone.

He fell asleep trying to name every Glader he knew.


Hello! Thanks for reading! I've already written this one ahead of time so if you reviewed Chapter One, I wouldn't have had time to incorporate it into this chapter, but thanks anyways! So I didn't use a WICKED observation thing or anything from WICKED concerning Group C, but I will next chapter (Probably)! Tell me what you think, and remember that leaving a review means the world!

-LI