Chapter 11: Mysterious Blue Serum

"Greenie's with you today, Roz," Newt said, leading Jack over to her at breakfast. Roz nodded, and Newt gave her a small smile before jogging out of the kitchen towards the Maze. Roz sighed. She hadn't voiced her displeasure with him going into the Maze since their conversation in the Deadheads a few days ago, but since he'd admitted his hatred, she could see it taking its toll on him. He'd always spent longer in the Map Room after returning than the other Runners, save maybe Minho. He'd always left earlier and always returned later. And, despite always looking exhausted, he didn't fall asleep easily at night. Sometimes, Roz stayed up with him. Sometimes they talked, whispering to each other so they didn't wake anyone up, but most of the time they just laid there, watching each other in the dark, breathing together, until one of them couldn't fight off sleep any longer.

"So, uh, what exactly do the… Baggers do?" Jack asked, snapping Roz out of her thoughts. He'd come out of his shell over the past few days, talking more and looking less scared.

"Well, a lot of the time we actually just help out with odd jobs," she replied, "but we also patrol around the Glade, making sure everything goes smoothly. If fights happen, we split them up, put the fighters in the Slammer. We also help the Builders with heavy lifting. And we, uh," she watched Jack's face carefully, "when someone dies, we bag them up, which is why we're called the Baggers, dig their grave and bury them."

The colour drained from Jack's face. "When someone… dies?" he squeaked. Roz sighed.

"Yeah. Three boys have died since we got here. One was attacked by a Griever, another was trapped in the Maze overnight, and another…" she swallowed, looking away, "an escape attempt that didn't work." Jack frowned, and Roz looked at him, smiling tightly at him, "Right. Let's get going then."

She introduced Jack to the rest of her Baggers, before taking him out to the Deadheads. She showed him the graves of Leo, Graham and Edward. They didn't stay long, Roz wasn't too eager to spend too long in the graveyard, so she took him back to the grave and showed him where they kept the shovels and body bags. Then they set out on a patrol.

"I… Roz?" Jack asked, as they passed the Builders. Roz pulled herself away from sticking her tongue out at Gally to look at him, humming. "You're the… are you the only girl here? Newt mentioned something briefly yesterday but…"

Roz nodded. "Yeah, I am. And before you ask, no, we have no idea why."

"Is that not… I mean. Do you not feel strange?"

"Nah," Roz shrugged, "at first I was… afraid. But everyone was afraid at first."

If Jack was going to reply, he didn't get a chance, as a commotion broke out on the other side of the Glade. "Oh for-" Roz rolled her eyes, "Gally if that's you swear to-"

"Cut me some slack, ya shank!" Gally yelled from somewhere, "It ain't always me!"

Roz huffed, and glanced at Jack, "Hope you got some muscle on ya," she said, before walking over to where the yelling was coming from. Roz faltered when she saw that it wasn't actually a fight. It was, in fact, Newt and Minho dragging Alex and Hugo out of the Maze. The latter two were resisting violently, screaming and scratching at arms and yelling in pain. Newt and Minho were wincing and grunting with excretion, but refused to let go. And then, in an instant, Hugo collapsed. Minho stumbled, and tried to pull him up. Roz shot towards them, and saw Max follow her out of the crowd. She gestured for Max to help Minho lift Hugo up, while she attempted to grab Alex's arms and pull them behind his back. There were scratches along Newt's arm, a few beads of blood dripping onto the ground.

"What happened?!" she asked. Newt just grunted.

And then Alex collapsed. He slumped back into Roz's arms, and Newt let him, wincing and rubbing his wounded arms. Roz slung Alex's limp arm over her shoulder, hoisting him up.

"What. Happened?" she ground out through gritted teeth.

"They were attacked by Grievers," Minho panted out, "we both heard the shouting. Reached them and managed to pull them away."

"We're taking them to the Med-jacks," Roz said, and Max nodded. He pulled Hugo away. Newt slung Alex's other arm over his shoulder and helped Roz drag him across the Glade. They passed Jack, who was looking at them fearfully. Timidly, he almost followed, before grimacing, and scurrying away to the kitchen.

They'd just laid Hugo and Alex down on the beds in the Med-jack hut when Alby burst through the door, demanding to know what happened. Minho recounted the same tale he told Roz while Jeff looked over Hugo and Alex, opening their eyes and checking their pupils, counting their pulses and assessing their breathing.

Newt sat on another bed, and Roz pulled a box from one of the cupboards. She pulled out a small bottle and a rag, and, ignoring Newt's confused look, dampened the rag and took Newt's arm softly. He hissed in pain as she cleaned the blood up, and she shot him a withering look. After inspecting the now clean scratches, she let his arm go, leaving it to Jeff to decide if he needed a bandage or not, although she guessed he wouldn't.

"Look at these," Jeff was saying as they rejoined the group, pointing around Hugo's body, "they're pinpricks. Like they'd been… stung. Their pupils are blown, their pulses are erratic and their breathing is barely there. They're having… some kind of reaction."

When he finished speaking, Hugo started twitching. Violently. His spine arched off the bed and broken yelps of pain rose from his throat. His eyelids fluttered, showing his eyes had rolled into the back of his head. He almost fell off the bed, but Roz skidded around the bed and slammed him back down into the bed. Jeff ran to his side, checking his pulse again. "It's getting faster!" he said.

And then Alex starting fitting as well. Newt yelped and went to hold him down. "It's got to be the Griever! They've shot something into them!" Newt said.

"Is there anything we can do?" Alby asked, his voice strained. Jeff looked up, his eyes hopeless, and he shrugged.

"I'm not… I'm a doctor dude, I'm just the best at wrapping bandages around here!" his voice broke, "I don't… we don't even know what the Grievers did!"

"Wait…" Roz said, stepping back from Hugo. "The Creators made these Grievers they know what they can do…"

"Any idea you've got would be greatly appreciated!" Jeff yelled.

"The injections!" Roz snapped, "That got sent up! What if they're for this?!"

Jeff looked up, realisation dawning on his face. "And what if they're not?" Alby asked.

"Do we really have a choice?" Roz asked. Alby paused for a moment, and then sighed, waving his hand.

"Where are they?" Minho asked.

"Top shelf second to the left," Jeff replied. Minho retrieved the box and took out one of the syringes, looking at the bright blue liquid inside. He passed it to Jeff, who hesitated for a moment, before sliding the needle into Hugo's bicep, and injected the blue serum into his veins. There was a moment when Hugo continued fitting violently, and then he relaxed, falling limp.

"Quickly, inject Alex," Alby said. Jeff did so, and, after another minute, he fell limp too. Everyone for tense for a moment, before finally relaxing themselves.

"It worked?" Roz asked, breathless.

"I think so…" Jeff said, nodding, "I hope so…"

"I want someone in here at all times, keeping an eye on them." Alby ordered.

When Roz, Newt and Minho left the Med-jack hut a few minutes later, Jack was waiting outside. He frowned at Roz, and she and Newt stopped. Minho continued on, muttering something about pestering Frypan for an early dinner.

"I don't think I want to be a Bagger," Jack muttered. Roz stared at him for a moment, before snorting, and then giggling, and then bursting out into full blown laughter. Jack stepped back, slightly unsure, and Newt just watched her with an amused look on his face.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Greenie," Roz ruffled his hair, "I didn't think you would."

Roz continued laughing, and Jack edged away, until he ended up jogging in the other direction.

"I think the stress is getting to you," Newt said, slinging an arm over Roz's shoulder as they continued walking.

"The stress of what?" Roz asked, a chuckled still in her voice. Newt shrugged.

"Life?" he suggested. Roz sighed, glancing at him.

"Ha, probably yeah," she waved him off, "Gally mentioned having another bonfire the other day. Might try and make it a regular thing, that'll help loosen us up."

"He gonna make more of that brew?" Newt asked.

"Shucking hope so!" Roz chirped, and Newt snorted. They continued wandering around the Glade, Newt's arm over Roz's shoulders, letting the stress come out in hysterics.


After dinner, just after the Walls closed, they heard screaming from the Med-jack hut. Roz and Newt glanced at each other, before running in the direction. They burst through the door to see Jeff and Minho holding Alex and Hugo down on the beds.

"It didn't work?!" Roz yelled. Jeff looked up, his eyes wide.

"No, it did. I'm sure it did," he answered, "I think this is part of it."

"What do you mean?" Roz took over from Jeff in holding down Hugo to give him a chance to breath.

"Their pupils are normal," Jeff explained, "their pulses, their breathing… irregular but no normal from what you'd have when in pain. More normal than it was hours ago."

"So this is just, what, after effects?" Newt asked. Jeff shrugged.

"I think so. I said before, I'm not a doctor. But I don't want to inject them again and risk overdose."

Roz and Minho looked at each other. "Then we wait it out and hope they recover," Minho said, grimly.


Welp. Here we go. The first Changings in the Glade. Thanks to Haway and fiercetiger333 for reviewing, especially since fiercetiger333 who coined the beautiful shipame rewt ;D It'd be great if you guys could review :D x