Alright I'm back! Enjoy this slightly shorter chapter!
The fear in the eyes of the boys was evident as we recounted all we had seen in the maze.
The large black kid brought the four of us portions of heated stew which we devoured in between sentences. George and Curly did most of the talking. Minho and I were still pretty shook. The name didn't fit him in my opinion. He was definitely a Floofy.
"Something killed him." George finished recounting. "Something in the maze."
Silence fell over the group.
"What do we do Alby?" The Indian kid looked to Smart Guy in fear. Alby? Was that his name? Weird.
"There's not much we can do." Alby frowned. "Stay out of the maze and hope it doesn't come for us?"
"I'll tell you what we do!" George cut in. "We hunt down whatever it is and kill it before it kills us first!"
A few people cheered to back him up. Floofy, loudest among the voices. Curly and I did not cheer. I remember the blood spread across the stone, the spilled guts. There was no part of me that wanted to seek out the thing that caused it. No way no how.
"Let's not rush into action." Alby warned George.
"If that maze is our way out, then this monster is just another obstacle that we need to remove." George had made up him mind.
Alby stared at him, as if trying to dissect George from afar and figure out his game.
"Its getting dark." Alby said at last. "Frypan, see what we can do about dinner, we've all had a long day." The large black kid nodded and started back through the woods. Everyone turned to follow.
To my surprise, a hand appeared before me. I looked up to see Eyebrows standing in front of, offering a hand up. "Can you stand?" He asked.
I scowled and stood, not accepting his help. "Wow look at that my legs work. It's a miracle." Eyebrows was taken aback at my dry hostility. But he didn't respond, instead he turned on his heel and stalked away after the others.
"You're brilliant at making friends, aren't you?" Curly was suddenly next to me, smirking quietly.
I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I appreciate your sarcasm right now."
"Don't dish it out if you can't take it." Floofy... Minho said from my other side.
"You're one to talk." I snorted.
Curly ran up to eyebrows, matching the taller boy's pace and striking up conversation easily. I was jealous of how relaxed he was around everyone.
"Its alright." Minho patted my back consolingly. "I'll still tolerate you."
I gave him a dry look. "Thanks Floofy. That really means a lot."
Minho and I shared a look. "Aaaanndd you're dead to me." He walked off without another word. I smirked at his retreating back then followed, the promise of food and a warm fire awaiting.
Frypan was not his real name, as I soon learned. But a nickname the others had made for the black kid after he complained about the taste of the food and immediately relinquished command over food and cooking.
A few people had remembered their names while we were off exploring the maze. There was Alby, who had a good head on his shoulders, though spoke sparingly.
Zart, the round faced kid with pale hair and pink skin. He had remembered his name after Frypan accidentally turned around while carrying a large tree limb. It had clipped Zart in the head. When he woke up a few minutes later, he had remembered his name.
Fred had a brown manbun and a missing front tooth, which was a recent edition to his defining features, he made bad puns a lot.
And Stu was a bald Asian kid who had accidentally tripped into the box as they were bringing the very last of the supplies out of the box. After they had pulled him out, the Box shut itself and based on the loud whirring had disappeared back down the shaft again.
I wasn't sure how to feel about the disappearing of the box. There was a sense of finality about it for some reason.
We all sat around a large fire as night fully descended. In the dim light we could see Alby and George standing by the shack of hammocks that had been set up.
The two of them conversed in hushed urgency over a small flame, arguing about something.
"Why were we put here?" A kid asked from the other side of the fire. The orange tongues blocked my view. "Did we do something wrong? Are we being punished for something?"
The group answered with silence. I wanted to know too, but had no answers. Was this some sort of punishment? Were we actually horrible people and just couldn't remember it? Who was I before this?
"What if this is..." Minho spoke up. "Some kind of jail? A prison?"
"For a bunch of kids?" Eyebrows scoffed.
"Well what else would it be shank?" Minho snapped back "a camping trip?"
"What's a shank?"
"You. You are being a shank right now." I smirked at Minho blatant repetition of George's exact words. I wondered if he did that on purpose.
"Minho!" George called from across the field. Everyone looked over at where him and Alby were standing. Minho quickly scrambled to his feet and jogged over. Curly and I stood up and followed more slowly. We weren't about to be left out of whatever this was.
Alby was mid sentence when Curly and I were close enough to hear.
"-maze could actually be our way out?" He was asking.
"I... Don't know." Minho admitted. "There's something off about this place. But I can't place my finger on it." George finally noticed us.
"What are you shanks doing here? Go back to the others!"
"No." I bit back, a little angrier than I intended. "I wanna know what you shanks are whispering about over here." I used the word mockingly.
Curly took a step forward in between the two of us and looking us each in the eye in turn. "Let's all just calm down. We were in the maze too. Shouldn't we be included?" George eyed me with a look of extreme suspicion. I glared back, not knowing what I did to deserve such hostility.
Alby nodded. "Fair enough. We are discussing whether or not we should continue trying to find our way out of the maze."
"What?" I was shocked. "Are you kidding? Of course we need to find a way out! We can't stay here!"
"She's right." Curly backed me up. "We don't have enough supplies here to last very long. We'll be starving to death before the end of the month if we don't find a way out of here."
A cold chill settled down the back of my neck. Spending a whole month here? I was itching to get out and it had only been two days.
As I looked at the faces around me, I could see they felt the same.
"We have to keep exploring the maze." I asserted again.
Alby nodded. "Alright. But if more kids start dying-"
"I won't let that happen." George interrupted. "No more kids are gonna die on my watch."
I mumbled under my breath. "It might be out of your hands."
George stared at me through narrowed slits. "Minho, British kid, you two will accompany me into the maze tomorrow morning. If my theory is correct, a new door will open on that far wall." Minho and Curly shared a look.
I was flabbergasted. "What about me?"
"You're staying here, where people can keep an eye on you." He looked me in the eye, threateningly. "Its too dangerous for you to go into the maze."
I jutted out my chin. "I can take care of myself."
"I'm sure." There was a growl in the back of his throat as he turned away to talk to the others. Alby watched my reaction closely.
"Wait a second," Curly spoke up. "If she doesn't get to go, I'm not going." Everyone looked at him in surprise, including myself. "She's faster and stronger than I am. If she's not allowed to go into the maze, I shouldn't either."
George and Alby shared a look. Minho scrambled for an answer. "Well... There's only one of her so..."
"What?" I scoffed.
Curly furrowed his brows. "There's only one of me..."
"You know what I mean." Minho sighed.
"No, I don't." Curly laughed. "Why is she any different from me?
"She's a girl." Minho said, sounding unsure.
"This is no longer a topic of discussion." George interrupted. "Its getting late. We all should get some sleep." He looked straight at me. "If you have an issue with my decision, you can take it up with me tomorrow after I return from the maze." With that he turned and strode back towards the fire. Minho followed.
"Don't worry." Alby told me in a reserved manner. "You won't be bored. There's plenty of work to do around here."
Then he followed the other two to go send everyone off to bed.
Curly and I watched the three of them distance as they joined the others.
"Why is it..." I muttered to myself. "That the one time those two don't disagree on something..."
"Its completely unfair." Curly fumed, his almond shaped eyes barely pinpricks in the darkness. "I'm not going tomorrow."
"No, you should go." He looked at me in surprise. "I appreciate you standing up for me. But at this point I'd rather you keep an eye on George and Minho. They've gotta be up to something. And I want to know what."
Blatant sexism? Or something else? Only time will tell hehehe. Stick around for the next chapter!
