Hello lovley humans of the Internet! Here is Chapter 3! Sorry it's been a while, I'm a busy woman. Chapter 4 is actually already in the works so expect it some time next week. Also I'll generally have POV change in each chapter to offer different views of Ada's story. Please Review and let me know what you think! I still cant decide who to pair her with! SOS
"What do you mean you didn't kill her!"
Jenson paced back and forth in front of the live feed of the Glade. Ada was sitting across from Minho eating dinner and smiling widely, something she had never done while working for WICKED.
"if we killed her we'd lose all of the information about the Right Arm that she has. He father was too risky to keep alive, he had too much of our information to share. She however doesn't know much, mainly she knows where the right arm is, and when she remembers and Thomas gets them out of the maze that girl will lead us right to them."
"How do you know she'll remember."
"We've given her clues, and perhaps she'll get stung. She had a damn good memory though, scored the highest on all of our memory tests, that's really the only skill she can offer the boys in the maze. That and her knowledge of how plants affect the brain." Prism was a small woman with her black hair pulled back into a tight bun. She was usually the one in charge of punishing Ada when she misbehaved, and she knew her well, not in a friendly way but in the worst way.
"What if the boys don't like or trust her, If I remember correctly she is stubborn, manipulative, and loyal to no one but her father, Thomas, and that damned book she was always writing in."
"Jenson, you're forgetting about her very own job." Prism motioned down to Ada's keyboard that controlled the emotions and pheromones in the maze. "We can use her own game against her."
I sat watching the Gladers toss old wood and mulch onto what was becoming a roaring bonfire. A group of boys was gathered in a circle playing cajons and shakers which they fashioned from materials around the glade. Some were shirtless wrestling by the light of the bonfire and the rest sat around chatting.
"How ya doin' greenie?" Gally sat down next to me handing me a cup filled with his murky 'secret drink.'
"Another one? Minho already forced me to drink one of these disgusting things."
"Disgusting? Wow, I'm offended, you know I made that right?"
"That doesn't mean it's not gross."
"Well you're handling it well, usually the greenie is drunk after one."
"Well I'm a big girl, I can take a few drinks." Admittedly I was a little bit buzzed. My tongue was numb and my cheeks were hot, but I was stubborn and was not going to let Gally know that.
Gally laughed moving closer to me. "How are you feeling, really feeling?" I was shocked, from what Minho had told me Gally wasn't the nicest person in the glade. In Minho's own words 'Gally was stubborn and mean as hell.' Although I couldn't take Minho's words for truth since he described himself as "suave, sexy, and strong."
"Ada, you still alive?" Gally waved his hand in my face, attempting to regain my attention.
"Sorry, I'm alright I guess. I'm confused, and scared, and I really wish I had my memory. My abdomen is in a lot of pain, but I'm alive."
Gally let out a small sigh, tilting his head to look up at the stars. "You'll get used to the memory loss, and this place will become home, a home you want to escape, but home. Until you get stung by a griever, then you remember everything and you hate it here."
"What exactly are Grievers?"
"They're horrible, awful creatures sent by WICKED."
"What do they look like? Can I see one."
Gally calculated for a moment before smiling. "Alright, I'll show you one, but first you have to chug that drink."
I looked down at the full cup in his hand. "Only if you chug yours."
Gally smirked, hitting his cup to mine. "Bottoms up."
I hurriedly chugged the foul liquor, it burned its way down my throat and filled my stomach with warmth. Once finished I held the cup upside down and winked at Gally. "See I told you, I'm a big girl." He nodded in approval before grabbing my hand and towing me away from the bonfire.
In my head it felt like a scene from a movie, the one where the two young people are at a party and the boy pulls the girl away so they can go bang by the lake only to be murdered by some vengeful zombie family hiding in a cabin basement. Of course I didn't remember any movies so the thought burned like a distant light house in the back of my mind.
"You're not going to kill me right?"
"No Greenie, I won't kill you…at least…not tonight." Gally laughed at his own attempt at a joke before slowing down to a stop. We were at the wall that lined the glade, the fire and party a few hundred yards away from us. The last cup of Gally's drink was hitting me and I swayed side to side, smiling like an idiot.
A small window laid in the dark grey wall and Gally pointed to it. "Have a look Ada. They're waiting for us just beyond the maze door."
"You're not going to look with me?"
"Shuck no, I've been stung once I don't need to see another Greiver ever again."
"Chicken."
"I'm not a chicken, Ada."
"Sure you are. Face your fear Gally. You're afraid of Greivers. Don't you think I'm afraid of these 'WICKED' people?" I pointed at my bandaged abdomen. "I'm horrified of them and I want nothing more than to find out exactly who they are and why they branded me as their property."
"You don't want to meet WICKED, Ada. Trust me."
"No, you don't want to meet WICKED."
Gally took several giant steps forward pinning me to the wall, "Oh I want to meet WICKED, so I can kill them all. How dare you think you know me Ada, you don't know anything. You're so brave huh Greenie? Telling me to run out into the grievers, when you've never seen one. Look why don't you, and then call me a chicken."
He forcefully turned me around so I was looking out the window. He used his arms to trap me between him and the wall so I was staring at the darkness in front of me.
After a few moments of nothing, I broke our silence. "Where are they?"
"Just wait." His voice was only a whisper at my ear. Then I saw it. It crawled from a dark corner of the maze its head flicking around in different directions. It was a creature of nightmares, with a harry glistening gooey body, spider like legs, the tail of a scorpion, and the head of a three jawed alien. It was patrolling, looking around the maze for someone to capture and kill. Suddenly it saw us and ran full speed towards the window. I slammed into Gally attempting to push him out of my way but he was much stronger and much bigger than I, so he hardly moved. The griever smashed its singer into the glass, which I half expected to shatter, yet it merely made a faint thumping noise, as the stinger bounced off the window. And the griever retreated, unsatisfied.
Gally turned me around and pushed my back against the wall. He reeked of his moonshine, his clothes, skin, and breath were saturated in its strong fermented sent. "That's a griever. Was it everything you dreamed of?"
"Yeah, a real nightmare, thanks for that Gally. Guess who's going to wake everyone up with her screams tonight."
He raised his eyebrow at me and I watched his eyes change. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and he was a different person. Gally leaned forward to whisper in my ear, "Well greenie, if you want to be guaranteed a night of screaming in pleasure, then you just let me know." He gently bit down on my ear lobe as I tried shoving him off me, immediately aware of his hands that were on my hips playing with the top of my borrowed shorts.
Suddenly the bushes lining the forest rested erupted with laughter. Gally jumped away from me tripping over his own feet and falling to the floor.
"Oh my God!" Minho and Newt emerged from the bushes red faced and swaying with liquor.
"Gally that was awful, and no way to get a girl to fall for you." Minho snorted.
I looked down at Gally, his eyes were back to normal now and instead of lust they were full of confusion. I offered my hand to help him up but he slapped it away.
"That was...that was klunk Gally…. really, I've never flirted with a girl and I could do better than that." Newt could hardly speak through his laughter
"A guaranteed night of screaming in pleasure?" Minho was bent over with his hands on his knees trying to regain his breath.
"Shut up you slintheads! I'm sorry Ada I really didn't mean that."
That's alright, no one was hurt, it's just the drinks talking. I forgive you." I forced a smile, "But I am going to go to bed now. Do any of you know where I'm sleeping?"
I followed Newt who was not only the soberest, but the only one who volunteered information as to my sleeping arrangement. Gally stocked of into the night and Minho walked next to me.
"What job are you going to try first?"
"I'm not sure, I like gardening and plants, so I may do that. I really don't want to kill any animals or cook in the hot kitchen, I think I've chosen gardening."
"Good, I don't think you could make it as a runner. You're a girl and girls run far too slowly."
"Excuse you! Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I run slowly."
"You couldn't out run me."
"Not at the moment no because number one, I'm not entirely sober thanks to you and Gally and number two, have you seen my abdomen, it's not exactly in running shape."
"All I'm hearing are excuses."
I shoved Minho with my shoulder and scoffed, "Whatever." We walked in silence for the rest of the way.
We arrived at the homestead. Inside the first door was a long hallway with four doors.
"This is where all us Keepers sleep. The rooms are small and meager, but its nicer than outside. You'll be in here with Alby and I." Newt pushed open the last door in the hallway and revealed a small room with three cots, yours is the middle one."
Minho pushed past me and collapsed on my bed. "Can we play a game?"
I laid down on the bed next to mine seeing as Minho had stolen my own, "Honestly Minho, I'd really like to just sleep. This has been a bit of a wild day for me, woke up in a box, found out I was at what's essentially an internment camp for boys…." As I recounted my day my eyes grew heavy, partially from the alcohol but mostly from the whirlwind of my day, and at some point during my speech I fell asleep.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think by reviewing. Let me know if you want AdaXMinho or AdaXGally (or GallyXAdaXMinho maybe shes into polyandry).
