Leroy stood there in shock, watching the sick boy's movements. A familiar growling noise made him look up at the Griever. Deciding to take the chance, he began racing straight towards Church. Utter fear had covered the sick boy's face.
"C'mon, run!" Leroy shouted at him as he bolted past.
Church took off after him. They raced along side by side as the Griever gave chase.
"I'm sorry I tried to kill you!" The stung boy shouted over to him.
"I'll worry about that later!" He shouted back. "How did you survive so far? It's been almost two nights!"
"I know!" Church yelled. "Just luck, I suppose!"
Suddenly another Griever rounded the corner they were heading for, cutting off their escape.
"Oh, shit." Leroy panted, scrambling to be in the middle of them.
"We are so dead." Church's voice trembled.
He looked at the sick boy more closely. He was covered with scratches and bruises. His skin was pale from fear. His shirt was missing and the bottom of his pant legs were torn up. He was barefoot as well, leaving his feet cut up a bit.
"What happened to you?" He burst out.
"It's not easy living in here!" Church retorted.
The two Grievers were closing in on them.
"Hey, stupid!" A voice hollered from the end of the way they'd came, making the two boys glance at each other.
"Brady?!" He screamed back.
"That guy is here with you?" The stung kid muttered.
"Yeah." He whispered back.
"C'mon, stupid Griever!" Brady called.
It whipped around to face him, growling. Leroy studied the back of the Griever, realizing he could see through its skin. He spotted some kind of a lever inside of it. He reached forward and pulled stuck his hand into the slimy skin. Disgusted, he felt the metal lever on his fingertips. He grasped it and pulled hard. The Griever let out a horrific screech and collapsed to the ground.
Before he could turn to see what was going on behind him, something stabbed through his back. He let out a scream of pain as he looked down at his stomach, seeing metal poking through it. The other Griever, he'd forgotten about it for too long. The metal pulled back out of him and he felt himself crumble to the ground.
Brady let out a cry and raced towards him. His own blood pooled over the stone and soaked his shirt. He clasped both hands to his stomach. His vision danced before him. Was it his imagination or did he see something red flashing inside the dead Griever?
"L-look." He pointed, gasping out to Brady as he reached him.
He got to his hands and knees, crawling over to it. He reached his hand inside the Griever and pulled out a pink slimy intestine or something. Wires stuck out from it. He pulled on the wires. What came out of it, however, was a metal cylinder with the number six on it. He tossed the disgusting insides of the Griever onto the ground, some kind of slimy substance on his fingers.
"That's disgusting." Brady told him.
"I-I know." He croaked in pain. "Help Church."
He continued to stare at the strange object even as he heard the Griever screeching as the attacked it. After a few moments there was a plopping sound as it collapsed. Both Brady and Church came into sight, the Runner holding a lever like the one he'd pulled out of the other Griever.
"Y-you killed it?" He stammered.
"Yeah." The Asian boy nodded. He patted Church on the back. "Only because this shank helped me."
A new scratch went across the Keeper's face. Then Leroy put a hand to his still bleeding stomach. Then he glanced at the other boys. "Can you help me up?"
"Yeah, sure." Church replied, reaching a hand out to him.
He grasped it, letting the boy pull him to his feet. "Thanks. Look what I found." Leroy held up the cylinder and then gestured towards one of the dead Grievers. "It was in that thing."
"Really?" Church asked. "Wow. Any idea what it is?"
"No idea." He responded. "We should get back to Max."
"Yeah, he's right." Brady agreed. "Let's take this thing back to the Glade with us tomorrow."
"Now you think we're gonna make it?" Leroy rolled his eyes.
"Yeah!" The Runner replied. "We can kill these things." He pointed to the dead Grievers. "They're more vulnerable than we thought."
"True." Church agreed as the three boys set off in Max's direction.
*X*
The first gray light of dawn was beginning to show. The three boys had lowered Max down and sat around without anymore incidents through the last few hours. The bleeding of Leroy's wound had finally stopped. They'd tried to set one boy to watch while the rest slept, but none of them actually could sleep, remembering the horrors of the night.
"Come on, we'd better start heading back." Brady murmured, getting to his feet.
The others followed suit.
Church and the Runner each threw one of Max;s arms around their necks and began to drag him. Leroy followed as they began to wound their way back towards the Glade.
*X*
The sun was well up in the sky when they finally spotted the Glade entrance down a long corridor. Brady and Church dragged Max, while Leroy limped behind holding his stomach, which had begun to bleed again.
"I can't believe it." Church muttered. "I'm back here after two hell of a nights out here."
"Can't wait to see their reactions to seeing us." The Keeper responded. "We're the first three boys to ever survive a night out here."
"Yeah, and I survived two of them." The Keeper of the Baggers responded.
"Why did you try to kill me, the other day?" Leroy finally asked him.
The Changing, it gives the stung person some of their memories back." Church began slowly. "Many of mine were about you." Before he could continue, his free hand shot up and grabbed his throat. Gasping for air, he dropped Max and pulled on his other hand.
Brady dropped Max as well. Both of the other boys raced over, pulling Church's arm away from his throat and pinning it to the stone ground. They were all breathing heavily in surprise. After a few moments, they'd all calmed down and Church's arm was released.
"T-they won't let me tell you." The boy gasped out as he caught his breath. "I don't know why, but they don't want you guys to know."
"It's alright." Brady reassured him. "We only have about two hundred feet to go. Let's get back into the Glade so the med-jacks can deal with Leroy and Max."
"And so Jeremy can punish me." Church rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "Again."
"Relax." Leroy told him. "You helped us, so maybe he'll give you another chance in here with us."
"I really hope so."
They grabbed Max and walked the last couple hundred feet into the Glade. The other boys looked up from their work, hearing them struggling inside and let out cheers.
"They made it!" Lewy screamed in joy.
"Wait a minute." Jeremy's voice became serious as he got closer. "What's Church doing here? And alive?"
