CHAPTER THREE

Grey reached the box hole and doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain. The alarm wailed. After ten minutes, Grey managed to get back onto his feet, watching the Box Hole with a newfound fascination.

Twenty minutes later, the Box arrived and opened at their feet. Minho lowered the rope and yelled at him. "Help me out here, shank!" Grey tugged at the rope, Minho on the other side as five more people clambered up. Minho jumped down into the box, hauling up a cardboard box and quickly jumping back onto solid ground.. He threw the box onto the ground before looking at the newcomers. "Two, four Greenies." He looked at Grey. "You're not the Greenbean anymore. Congratulations."

Grey looked the people over. The first person that caught his eye was a girl with warm brown hair and blue or grey eyes. He couldn't tell.

Next was a boy with hazel eyes and black hair. Another boy with light brown hair and blue eyes. The last person with black hair and black eyes. Minho clapped his hands in front of Grey's face. "Hey shank. Stop staring and help me with the tour."

Grey shook out of the stupor and held a hand out to shake. "The name's Grey. Yours?"

The boy with hazel eyes spoke up. "Bomb."

The girl followed his lead, her voice trembling as she spoke. "Madison."

The boy with black eyes shook Grey's hand with a firm grip. "Wyatt."

Minho looked at the boy with the blue eyes. "What about you, Greenie."

"My name isn't Greenie. It's Ryan." He retorted as Wyatt stopped shaking Grey's hand and stepped back.

Minho nodded his head towards Grey. "I'll take half of 'em to the south corners. Feel free to take the other two to the northern tips."

This guy trusts me a lot, Grey thought as he pointed at Ryan and Madison. "You two." he jerked a thumb towards the Homestead. "This way. With me." he didn't mean to sound so hostile, but that's how he must have taken it, because they both followed him without a second thought. "The Homestead's where we sleep. The gardens-" Grey pointed to the northeast corner, "are where we get most of our food. Questions?"

Ryan cleared his throat before speaking. "Who cooks it all?"

Without missing a beat, Grey told him. "The cooks."

They arrived at the Homestead, a mixture of logs, vines, planks and windows thrown together seemingly at random. It was about three stories tall, the door a piece of sun dried wood. They opened it and walked in, the walls covered with dark wallpaper, most of it peeling and cracking. The only decoration was a rickety wooden table with a dead flower in a vase alongside a black and white photo of a woman. There were sleeping bags and blankets on the floors, and they left after going through the whole place.

Madison nodded her head before asking. "Where are we going next?"

"The gardens."

There wasn't much to see in the gardens. Fruit trees, tomato vines, growing carrots, potatoes, peas, lettuce, it was all the same to Grey. Before long, Grey met up with Minho again, switched Greenies, and showed them around. Grey wiped the sweat off his brow as he walked to Minho again.

Minho was focused on the giant openings, Grey was looking at the sky turning to night. "Think these shanks know enough yet?"

Grey blinked before saying "I'd guess so. What the hell's a shank?"

Minho clapped Grey on the shoulder, which stung "All in good time, good that?"

"Yeah, sure. Good that or whatever."

Minho flashed a grin at Grey, and Grey wasn't even surprised that his teeth were shiny white. Minho watched Madison for a second before turning back to Thomas. "I'm not Newt or Alby, I've no clue what to do with these guys. Do I just leave you here when I go running for the day? Do I stop running out in the maze every morning until you guys get the hang of things?"

"Wait, the maze?"

Minho nodded his head before speaking again "The big openings? They're doors. Doors that close every night. They lead to the bloody maze, which I've spent three loving years trying to solve. I was one of the original Gladers. I was the Keeper of the Runners, the runners are the ones that go out and try to solve the damned maze. It's not easy work. Stress of trying to solve the maze, forgetting, making a wrong turn, not being able to run from the shuck Grievers. It wasn't a job for idiots. I'm sure not one. And I was the only Glader left after 'Tommy boy' here did his work and killed almost all of us off. Except for me. So it's been a pretty lonely couple of months ever since I was thrown back in 'ere by the ol' creators. Running back to an empty Glade. Having to tend to everything yourself. Until you showed up. Along with those other five. If anything, I'd say they're starting up another experiment."

"But what was the point of this whole group, Gladers you called them? Why would you runners go out into the maze if it could get you killed?"

Minho spat on the ground before looking at Grey. "Solve the bloody maze, Grey. Solve the bloody maze and find our way home."