Maze Runner
Chapter 2
My Name? Prologue: What would you do if you woke up somewhere with no memories? If you were forced into a completely foreign environment where everyone depends on each other for the sole reason of surviving? Would you give up, or would you keep fighting? Disclaimer: I don't own Maze Runner or Naruto.
Basically every hand there was reaching in to help him up, but he only glared at the appendages as if accepting help was something nasty. He slowly pulled himself to his feet, wobbling. Several of the boys noticed and shot each other questioning glances. Still dazzled by the sun's light, he once again shielded his eyes, eventually accepting help to be dragged out of the elevator from one of the teens, and once he was on his feet, he grimaced. He tried taking a step forward, only to trip and land on his knees hard. He ignored the pain and looked around, analysing his surroundings. The others stayed silent, allowing him to take in his new home.
He really was curious, but everything hurt and he felt sick with nausea. Some of the boys snickered or stared at him, poking him with their fingers. It seemed like there were forty-something boys altogether, each wearing sweaty and dirty clothes, as if they'd been working hard on outdoor tasks. Not one looked the same, each being a different size, height, shape, and look, -hair and body-. He felt dizzy all of a sudden, and his eyes flicked from the boys to the strange new surroundings.
They were standing in a huge grassy courtyard, much bigger than the size of three football fields, with four enormous walls of flat, gray stone, with ivy vines climbing up to the tops of it on various different places. The walls were over a hundred feet tall, boxing in the area the boys had claimed in a perfectly formed square. On each wall was an open gap that stretched from the ground to the tops of the walls themselves, that, from what he could make out, led to long passages.
"Heh, look at the greenie!" A voice that sounded slightly scratchy exclaimed. "Looks like the trip was a little too much for the wimp." A few boys laughed at that.
"Ah, shut it, Zaku." A lazy, deeper voice shot back.
He focused back on the dozens of strangers surrounding him and felt the urge to get them to back off, but resisted. He knew he was out of it -his body hurt like hell and he was pretty sure he'd been drugged by something. A tall kid with short, messy brown hair scoffed at him, unimpressed. A boy around twelve stared at him with wide, inquisitive eyes, his brown hair spiked up and green goggles on his head. A tough looking spiky haired brunette with tan skin, red upside down triangles on his cheeks, and fangs poking out of his mouth grinned at him, the huge white dog by his side seemingly doing the same. A brunette with his hair in a pineapple looking ponytail frowned - the same one who'd told Zaku to shut it.
"Where… am I?" He asked, wincing at how his voice sounded. It was harsh and scratchy from disuse, as if it had been a while since he'd spoken.
"Nowhere you'd like to be." The pineapple teen responded. "Just try and keep calm, it's less troublesome."
"Which Keeper is he gonna get?" Someone shouted.
"I told ya, idiot." A higher voice responded. "He's a wimp, so he'll be a Slopper, I'd betcha." The kid snickered.
Different emotions battled for dominance in his mind and heart. Confusion. Curiosity. Panic. Fear. But laced through it all was the dark feeling of utter hopelessness, like the world had ended for him, had been wiped from his memory and replaced with something awful. He wanted to -not run and hide- but hurt these people for making him feel cornered.
"I said shut it!" Pineapple boy shouted in annoyance. "Mendokuse, keep talking and I'll cut the next rest time in half!"
Seems he's the leader. He realized. Annoyed by how everyone was openly gaping at him, he focused back on the place he'd heard someone call the Glade.
The floor of the courtyard looked like it was made of huge stone blocks, many of them cracked and filled with long grasses and weeds. An odd, dilapidated wooden building near one of the corners of the square contrasted greatly with the gray stone. A few trees surrounded it, their roots like gnarled hands digging into the rock floor for food. Another corner of the compound held gardens—from where he was standing he recognized corn, tomato plants, and fruit trees.
Across the courtyard from there stood wooden pens holding sheep and pigs and cows. A large grove of trees filled the final corner; the closest ones looked crippled and close to dying. The sky overhead was cloudless and blue, but he could see no sign of the sun despite the brightness of the day. The creeping shadows of the walls didn't reveal the time or direction—it could be early morning or late afternoon. As he breathed in deeply, trying to settle his nerves, a mixture of smells bombarded him. Freshly turned dirt, manure, pine, something rotten and something sweet. Somehow he knew that these were the smells of a farm.
He scanned their faces, taking in each expression, judging them. One boy's eyes, flared with hatred, stopped him cold. He looked so angry, he wouldn't have been surprised if the kid came at him with a knife. He had black messy hair and wore camouflage pants, and when they made eye contact, the boy shook his head and turned away, walking toward a greasy iron pole with a wooden bench next to it. A multicolored flag hung limply at the top of the pole, no wind to reveal its pattern.
Suddenly the leader of the group stepped forward. He was wearing normal clothes: dark green t-shirt, jeans, tennies, and a wristwatch. His hands were in his pocket and he was slouching, eyes hooded. "It's a long story, newbie." Pineapple dude muttered. "Slowly, you'll learn. I'll be takin' you on a tour tomorrow. Until then, don't be too troublesome and try not to ruin anything." He stuck out his hand. "The name's Shikamaru."
He stared at the hand for a minute before allowing Shikamaru to pull him to his feet. He grimaced and almost fell again, but the other boy threw one of his arms over his shoulders with a smirk. "Say, greenie, what happened to ya? No one's ever been hurt when they got up here. And what's your name?"
He would have shrugged Shikamaru away in any other circumstance, but he knew he needed the help as he was led to a medical hut, by the looks of it. Slowly, he lowered himself to sit on the cot and prop his chin on his hand. Shikamaru sat on the cot across from him, all the other boys crowding in to here the conversation. "So," He started, voice still scratchy. "My name… " He closed his eyes, thinking hard. Memories flashed through his head, but they were too fast for him to catch anything, until settling on a name written on a piece of paper. "I think… that it's… Naruto."
Shikamaru nodded, frowning. "Say, Naruto, you ain't actin' scared. If there's one thing I know, is that since everyone else here has woken up without their memories, they panicked, but you ain't doin' that. Are ya even human? Ya keep actin' like this I'll throw ya off the Cliff."
Naruto hummed. "The Cliff, huh? Sounds pretty interesting."
Shikamaru looked at him weirdly, both for the abrupt personality change and the complete… randomness of the spiky haired blonde in front of him. His blue eyes were shadowed, as if they'd seen too much, but held a glint of mischief. He was wearing a gray t-shirt, black cargo jeans, and brown lightweight combat boots. His hands and wrists were wrapped in white medical tape up to the elbow. "Ah, forget it." Shikamaru rubbed his eyes. "There ain't no way to start these conversations on how ya got here, ya know? We wouldn't actually do that throwing you off the Cliff thing, just try to prevent your death. Be careful, and all that."
Shikamaru paused, realizing Naruto was waiting for him to say more before the brunette sighed in frustration. "Man! I ain't good at this -you're the first Greenie we've had since Haku was killed."
Naruto stared blankly at Shikamaru until another boy stepped up, whacking Shikamaru slightly on the head before realizing how 'undignified' it was and regaining his composure. WIth his long brown hair, pupil less silver eyes, and pale skin, he fit the description of girly boy pretty well, especially with the grace he moved with. "Wait for the tour, Shikamaru. It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-san. I am Neji." Neji offered the blonde his hand.
Naruto's face was still blank before he snickered. Hehe, pretty boy seems pretty uptight. He grasped the other's hand and shook before retreating the appendage to his side. "Yeah."
"Troublesome." Shikamaru groaned, pulling Neji down to sit next to him on the cot so they could better talk. Neji wore a white tee, blue jeans, and sneakers. Naruto was surprised as he'd thought he'd be more sophisticated in his clothing, but then again there wasn't much you could do here. "At least I'm more sociable than you, Neji." A few people laughed at that. "This place? We call it the Glade. Here we live, eat, sleep -we call ourself the Gladers. That's all you-"
Naruto had had enough of holding in his anger. "So, can ya tell me why I'm here?" Shikamaru twitched in annoyance, grabbing the blonde by his shirt and pulling him to his feet, their faces close together.
"Get up, greenbean." Naruto righted himself at Shikamaru's orders, but he decided not to fight back, as something told him that it wasn't a good idea. He'd hurt the brunette.
Neji scowled in annoyance, yanking Shikamaru's shirt. "Lay off the newbie Shikamaru. Threatening him isn't going to help anyone."
Shikamaru dropped Naruto back onto the bed and yawned. "Fine. Listen up, Greenie. This is your new life, whatever your old one was is now over. Now don't talk."
"You get what he's saying, right Newbie?" Neji shot Naruto a look, and the blonde crossed his arms and leaned back, nodding, but looking pretty disinterested.
"Good." Shika nodded. "First day is today, Greenie. Night's coming, so the Runners will be back soon. The Box came late today, so we don't have any time for a tour." He glanced at Neji. "Get him a place to sleep. I don't think he'll need to stay in here anyways." Neji nodded as Shika narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "A few weeks and you'll be used to the Glade, used to us. You'll be used to working your share. None of us knew anything on our first day. Your new life begins tomorrow."
Shikamaru turned and pushed his way through the crowd and out of the hut, then headed for the slanted wooden building in the corner. Most of the kids wandered away then, each one giving Naruto a lingering look before they walked off. Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath before standing, noting with satisfaction that his pains were now gone, physically at least. Ever since he'd woken up without his memories he'd felt an empty blackness eating away at him. He looked at the patient Neji. "Eh, can ya show me where I can sleep?"
Neji looked a bit regretful and stoic at the same time. "Sorry, I got some things to do before the sun sets. I'll get Konohamaru, you'll like him. Annoying little brat, but he's loyal. I'll be right back."
Neji had barely finished his sentence when a sudden, piercing scream ripped through the air. High and shrill, the barely human shriek echoed across the stone courtyard; every kid in sight turned to look toward the source. Naruto felt his blood turn to icy slush as he realized that the horrible sound came from the person on the cot across the room.
Even Neji had jumped as if startled, his forehead creasing in concern.
"Forget it," he said. "Can't the Med-jacks handle that boy for ten minutes without needing my help?" He shook his head and lightly kicked Naruto on the foot. "Find Konohamaru, tell him he's in charge of your sleeping arrangements." And then he turned glared at the medics, giving out orders.
Naruto shrugged, gave the weird guy a last glance, and walked out of the hut. Damn. This place is weird already. Oh well, good thing that means I'm right where I belong. A grin spread across his face, stretching the whiskers on his face. Let's make the most of this.
Chapter 2 done! Now it's two o'clock in the morning, so, night? Morning? I don't know any more.