As I exited Homestead with Newt, I noticed Gally standing a little ways away with the other Builders. Seeing me, he waved, beckoning me to join them. I said a quick goodbye to Newt, squeezing his hand, and ran over. Without explaining what he wanted Gally turned back to the small group. "Now that we're all here, I'll explain the rest of the situation. From tomorrow onwards, Claire and I will no longer be Builders. Due to the shortage of Runners, we've been told to train to run in the Maze." He pointed to Muriel, the girl who first worked with me and whom I had often worked with to that day. "She'll be the new Keeper while I'm gone."
"But she's a girl!" Someone said suddenly. I turned to see a tall boy, Max, glaring at Muriel in disapproval.
"Is that a problem?" She snapped, returning his glare with malice.
"Well it IS common knowledge that girls are physically weaker than guys," he answered arrogantly.
As if in response to that comment, Muriel stormed straight up to him and, before Max could move away, she planted a firm kick right in his groin. Max howled and collapsed to the ground, clutching the area the girl had kicked. She glared around at the rest of the group. "Does anyone else have a problem with my physical strength?" No one answered. "Good that."
Gally stared expressionlessly at Max's crumpled body on the floor. "Thanks for that lovely start, Muriel. Good work."
"Thanks, Captain Gally," she replied, still glaring at Max.
Pleased at finally being called 'Captain' by someone other than himself, Gally beamed. "So I guess everyone's okay with the way things are settled?"
A short boy coughed nervously, gaining the ex-Keeper's attention. "Uh…why is it that you and Claire are the ones chosen to become Runners?"
Gally shrugged, "It's just the way things are. Minho must think we have what it takes to survive in the Maze; otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to let us go."
I gave him a look. "I thought we weren't officially Runners yet, that we were just being tested to see if we could handle it. We aren't going into the Maze until we're actually Runners."
Gally tapped the side of his nose, "That's what they say. Now go to bed you shank, I already know you're not a morning person. You're gonna be kicked out of the trials instantly if you arrive at the Map Room looking like a drowned walrus."
"For the record, I actually love mornings; I just don't like waking up. Also, don't compare me to a walrus;" I flicked my hair dramatically, "I'm fabulous."
Gally snorted, "Sure you are, shuck-face. Now get out of my sight."
Without saying goodbye, I left the group of Builders to discuss whatever else they wanted to discuss. I noticed Lorna and Felix scolding Erik; possibly for the commotion he caused at dinner, but didn't stop to say hi. Instead, I walked straight to my sleeping spot and curled up in my sleeping bag on the floor. Thankfully, there were already a few other girls lying around nearby so I wasn't completely alone. Maria appeared to be one of them.
"Oi, Claire," I heard someone whisper behind me. I turned to see Bonnie crouching a metre behind me.
I frowned, "What?"
"Do you want me to wake you up tomorrow? You always have trouble getting up in the morning so I was just wondering…"
"Yeah, Bonnie, that would be great. Thank you," I turned my frown into a small smile. "Use your super power of waking up outrageously early to save me."
Bonnie nodded and walked off. I returned my head to my pillow, but couldn't make myself fall asleep. My mind was whirring with thoughts of the Maze, hopes of finally becoming a Runner, fear of the Grievers, and so many other things, more than I could count. My biggest worry was the maps. I had no doubt I could draw them with ease, my artistic skill seemed almost better than most, but my memory was absolutely terrible. I could remember things I was interested in or things I repeatedly saw and heard, but I didn't have the kind of memory that could look at something once and be able to describe it perfectly after I looked away. If the Maze always stayed the same I'd have a better chance, but since it changed every single night there was a pretty big problem for me to face.
I rolled around in my sleeping bag, trying to find a comfortable position that would pull me into the realm of sleep, but found nothing. After about ten minutes I settled for lying on my back and staring at the sky. Looking at the stars and listening to the soft murmurs of various conversations drifting across the Glade, I wondered once for the millionth time since arriving at the Glade where we were. There were no constellations that I recognized and the daily weather was nothing that should exist in the normal world. Even though it was night time and I was outside, I felt warm. Was that natural?
Amungst the swarming thoughts and questions and mixed feelings about the Maze, tiredness soon took over and I finally drifted into an uncomfortable but bearable state of sleep.
Then, all too quickly, I felt a hand shake me awake.
"Claire!" Bonnie's voice whispered to me harshly, but clearly weary of the other resting Gladers. "Wake up; you need to get your butt to the Map Room right now! I can already see two other people there and if you don't go now you'll be late!"
Hearing those words, I groggily stumbled to my feet. I was only half awake and my eyes were still closed, they felt incredibly heavy. "Huh?"
"Sorry about this." Her words barely registered in my mind before I felt a hard slap on my cheek. I gasped and my eyes snapped open angrily.
"You idiot, what was that for?" I rubbed my sore cheek and glared at her, confused.
"There, you're awake now. Get moving." She pointed in the direction of the Map Room and I noticed two figures standing outside, another one approaching.
"Shuck it!" I pulled on my shoes that were lying next to my crumpled up sleeping bag and made a mad dash for the building. "Take care of my bed for me!" I called to Bonnie, not looking back.
In no time, I arrived at the Map Room. Without checking to see who was there, I stumbled to a halt and doubled over, gasping for breath. "Am I late?" I wheezed.
The answer I received was a scratchy laugh. "Told ya, shank. You look like a drowned walrus."
Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more. I didn't want to think about the state I must look with bed hair and tired eyes. After running I felt more conscious, but also more tired. "Shut your buggin' mouth, Gally," I muttered. I would probably have to take back my previous statement; I was NOT a morning person.
"Is that how you always talk to you Keeper?" I heard someone say to my right. It was Maria and she was giving me a look of disgust, like I had just crawled out of a sewer.
"For your information, he's my ex-Keeper," I growled. Fun fact about Claire: her temper is considerably short in the minutes just after waking up. This was not a helpful fact in situations like the one I was in. "Also, it's none of your business how I talk to the people I talk to."
"Which mustn't be many," Maria yawned as if already bored, "I wonder why."
I probably would've attacked her if Gally hadn't blocked my view of her by standing in front of me suddenly. I shot him a glare, "Excuse me; I believe I was talking to someone."
"Yeah, well you're talking to me now," he replied firmly. "You should get yourself together before Minho gets here." He reached out and sorted out my messed up hair, his eyebrows furrowed with concentration. "You should've gone to bed earlier."
"Quit mothering me," I snapped, batting his hand away. "I can do this much myself. And by the way, I was only awake for as long as I was because I couldn't get to sleep; too much going on up here," I tapped my head.
"I think we all had that," a new voice said quietly. It was James who had spoken. He looked a little less nervous compared to before, but was still looking around as if he expected something to attack him at any moment. His demeanor only made me wonder why he'd been chosen to be a Runner. Did he have some sort of secret strength? If so, what could it be? I highly doubted there was anything he had to contribute, he just seemed too jittery and on edge. If he was like this in the Glade, what would he be like in the Maze? "Though probably not as much as you. You really do look terrible."
I snorted as I went about making myself look presentable, "So you slept fine and dandy last night, did you?"
"Well…"
"Alright, is everyone here?" A voice boomed suddenly, making us all jump. Minho jogged in, a large grin on his face. "You all look stunning by the way! Not you, Claire, you look like klunk, but everyone else looks pretty much ready to go." He glanced around and narrowed his eyes. "Where's Hawk?"
Just as he asked that question, Hawk came running in. The fact that his bed hair was still intact was enough to tell me he'd only just woken up. I hoped I didn't look as unorganized as he did. "I'm sorry I'm late!" He yelled as he skidded to a stop in front of us and gasped for breath. "I did tell Clint to wake me up this morning, but I think he overslept as well."
Minho rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I don't care." He turned so that he faced the metal door of the Map Room. I felt all tiredness drain from me in an instant and excitement took its place. I was itching to get a look at the place the Runners always went after returning from the Maze. "Newt and Lydia will join us later. For now, come with me." He unlocked the door, cranked the wheel-handle, spinning it until a sort of click sounded from inside, then pulled. The heavy metal slab swung open with a lurching squeal, revealing a dark room that had a musty, wet smell laced with copper. Minho stepped in and flicked a switch, turning on several rows of fluorescent lights that flickered momentarily until they came on fully.
The new light revealed various details as I followed Minho into the room with the others. It had a surprisingly simple interior. The walls were bare and made of concrete, just like the floor. A wooden table stood in the centre of the room with eight chairs tucked around it. Neatly stacked piles of paper and pencils lay about the table's surface, one for each chair. The only other items in the room were eight large wooden trunks, two to a wall.
"Welcome to the Map Room," Minho chirped, taking a seat in one of the chairs. "Take a seat."
We each took a seat around the table and I found myself sitting between Minho and Hawk. As we were sitting down, Minho took a piece of paper and a pencil and began drawing. When he was finished he pushed it to the centre of the table. Leaning forwards to get a better view, I saw that Minho had drawn a large box filled with three rows of three squares, all the same size, like a nougats and crosses board. The middle square had the word 'Glade' written in it and the outside squares were numbered from one to eight, starting from the upper left corner and going clockwise. There were little notches drawn here and there.
"What's this supposed to be?" James asked, confused.
"This is the world as we know it. The numbered sections are the Maze and I hope you can pretty much guess the rest otherwise you get your butt outta here and join the Sloppers." He leaned forward and pointed at the notches. "These are the doors. You shanks only know about the doors from the Glade, but there are four more out in the Maze that lead to Sections One, Three, Five and Seven. They always stay in the same place; the only thing that changes in the Maze is the route to get to them. The route is what changes every night."
We stared at the sketch in awe. I was surprised that the Maze was that complex. "So the Maze is eight times bigger than the Glade?" Maria asked, looking at each Section.
"Exactly. We had eight Runners in the past, one to search each Section, but they all died at one time or another. When we got cut down to six, we got desperate for new Runners. Alby told us to make due until they found some people who could handle it. I wasn't happy, believe me, but at least we could get by with six. Unfortunately, now there are only three able-bodied Runners. Sonya is still going through the Changing as we speak. With any luck we can get at least four of you shanks to become Runners and we'll be back to full strength. I'm happy with having a group full of newbies as long as you learn fast, draw the maps, survive the buggin' Maze and keep your cake-holes shut."
He waited for a response. When he got one, he continued. "The main corridors that are right outside the Glade doors don't change, it's the ones a little deeper out that do that. It takes a full day to map a Section. Once you have it memorized, you have to come back here and draw it all up. That's why we hate having less than eight Runners. There's always the chance that an exit could open up somewhere and I don't know about you guys but I'd hate to miss it, I really would." He planted his palms on the table and stood up, "You can guess why I'm eager to get you out there and start training."
James shifted nervously, "Didn't Alby say we weren't going to leave the Glade until you decided we were up to it?"
"As far as I'm concerned, I believe you're all ready for at least this much. You're only going through the try-outs of becoming a Runner, this day will be your first trial; if you can't keep up then you can't become a Runner. You won't be alone, of course. Gally, Hawk, you're going through Section Four today with Newt as your guide. James and Maria, you'll be taking Section Two with Lydia. Claire, you're coming with me to Section Seven."
I blinked, surprised that I was the only one being taken to a Section further out than the rest, but didn't say anything and simply nodded in acknowledgement. "The Sections," Minho continued, "are all completely self-contained squares. So we shouldn't bump into each other unless you go running through the doors in the Maze. Now, are there any questions before Newt and Lydia take you boys and girls to get prepped and ready to go?"
"What would an exit look like?" Hawk asked, "I mean, what exactly are we looking for here; a new passage way, a sign, what?"
Minho shrugged. "Anything that's different. So far everything's been the same, but that's why we search the Maze every day. Each time those Maze doors open, each time the Maze changes form, there's a chance that something new will appear; something that could help us escape. Even a clue is fine, to be honest. I'm not really expecting a glowing platform with glitter and confetti and a giant exit sign." It didn't sound like he said it to be funny, but I found myself holding back a laugh anyway.
As Minho finished his sentence, I heard the sound of the Map Room door opening and looked up to see Newt and a muscular blonde girl with a hard expression come in. "So who am I stuck with?" Newt asked, glancing my way with hopeful eyes.
Minho waved his hand in front of the blonde's face. "Did you really think I'd be klunk-brained enough to put you in a group with your girlfriend? No way, you get Gally and Hawk." Newt immediately frowned with disappointment, but beckoned the two boys over anyway.
"Come on, let's get you to the storage shed and have you fixed up with some gear before we grab a bite of Frypan's breakfast."
Their group actually had to wait for Minho and I to finish our time in the shed. He insisted we went first because we needed to be ready at the doors as soon as they opened. We had a lot of running to do and we couldn't afford to waste time.
The shed was stationed in a crooked cranny near a back corner of the Homestead. Minho pulled out a key and opened up the shabby door as I twitched behind him in anticipation. I thought of all sorts of exciting things that could be inside but didn't really get a good look because it was still relatively dark and Minho hadn't seen the need to bring a torch, saying they could see well enough to do what they needed to do.
Reaching down, Minho took out a box full of running shoes. "This here's the number one supply for the Runners. You don't want to know what would happen to our feet if we had to run around every day with bad shoes." He shuddered and began rummaging through the box, "What size are you?"
I lifted my foot and pulled off one of my shoes. "Seven," I murmured after peering inside to see the label.
Minho pulled out a pair of white and grey running shoes. They looked new and untouched and I would've thought they were fancy if not for the simple design. I shook off my other shoe as I took the new ones from Minho, eager to put them on. My other shoes had started to wear a bit after all the work with the Builders and I was glad to finally have something more comfortable. I walked out of the shed to sit down and put them on. I didn't pay attention to Minho as he grabbed a few other things before coming out to join me.
I sprang to my feet once the shoes were on and looked down at them. "They feel comfortable enough, much better than the ones I was wearing before."
"Well, only Runners and Keepers get to wear 'em. I guess you could call them a delicacy." He reached out and handed me a plastic wristwatch. "We also get these. Put it on and don't take it off if you want to live. Your life might depend on it one day."
I nodded and strapped it to my wrist. It was a digital watch, black, and showed me that the time was currently ten to six in the morning. I was surprised because it felt much earlier. It was only an hour or so before most of the Gladers woke up on a normal day.
Minho continued. "You also get a backpack, water bottles, a lunch pack, some shorts and T-shirts, and so on. Um…that…" he nodded to a box on one of the shelves in the shed, "that you should get yourself."
Confused, I reached up and pulled the box down. After opening it I realized it was full of sports bras and had to hold back a laugh. I was glad they had them though; otherwise running around in the Maze would be a nightmare. I sorted through them until I fund a couple of pairs that were my size and placed the box back in its place on the shelf. I returned to a patiently waiting Minho and began putting everything inside the backpack Minho had given me. "Is there anything else?"
"Yup, weapons."
"Weapons? What will we need those for?" I asked, feeling an icy chill at the thought of what I might have to do with them.
"Weapons," Minho nodded. "Follow me." He stepped back inside the shed and walked to the back of the room where he pulled a few boxes away from the wall. This revealed a small trapdoor which Minho lifted. Inside was a set of wooden stairs that led into darkness. "We keep them in the basement so crazy shanks can't get to them and start going on a murderous rampage." He made his way down the stairs and I followed uncertainly, not particularly fond of the total darkness ahead of me. Before I reached the bottom, I heard an audible click and a single light bulb flickered on, revealing Minho holding a sting he must've pulled to turn on the light.
The room was bigger than I thought it would be. The place was full of all sorts of junk: wooden poles, large pieces of mesh, rolls of barbed wire, metal spikes building equipment, various tools, saws, knives, machetes, swords, etc. Shelves lined each wall and several blocky wooden tables stood about the room, similarly covered in junk. I stood and stared at everything silently, my eyes probably wider than Hawk's. It worried me that they had so many weapons everywhere and I hated the thought of why we needed them or what they'd ever be used for. Thankfully it seemed like they'd never actually been used in the past; there was a thick layer of dust covering everything in the room.
"You'll only need a couple of knives," Minho said, shaking me out of the daze I was in. He was standing by an open trunk, much like the ones that had been in the Map Room. I walked over to see it was completely full of various knives varying in shape and size. "Pick any one you like, but make sure it's sharp and good for use. After you take your pick we'll head over to Frypan's place to get some breakfast and pack our lunch."
I nodded and reached into the trunk, pulling out knives, one was a long blade and the other a short dagger. I held them in my hands, testing their grip, and added them to my collection of belongings once satisfied.
Twenty minutes later, after eating Frypan's breakfast and preparing ourselves for the run, we stood outside the Glade doors and waited for the moment they'd open. According to Minho, they always opened around half past six every morning and closed at half past seven every evening, giving us thirteen hours in the Maze unless we wanted to have a sleepover with the Grievers. "You ready for this?"
I nodded, "Definitely." I wasn't about to admit I was a little nervous to finally be leaving the Maze, but I was also undeniably excited. I knew there were unimaginable horrors in the Maze and that the whole place was laced with danger, but I'd always wanted to escape the Glade. Since the very beginning I wanted out and now I was finally getting it. Maybe it wasn't freedom, but I was going further, I was doing what I could to find a way out. That was all I really wanted.
Minho seemed pleased with my response. "Good that."
As he spoke those two words, a loud boom sounded from all directions. Then came the crunching grinding sound of stone against stone. The doors were opening for the day.
