Three full days of not eating. Three and not a scrap of food between up. Hunger clawed at me, vicious and gnawing trying to dig its way out of my stomach. Every second of every minute of every day. And water did nothing to help. If anything it was making it worse.
The others felt it too, we all did, even if most of us kept our complaints to ourselves. I sat next to Tommy, the both of us watching the others. Just watching. It's not like there was anything else to buggin do. And when you're as hungry as were, hunger ruled your every thought. The others walked around, heads hanging, shoulders slumping, jaws hanging slack. They licked their lips a lot. Well… I did too. And they grabbed at their stomachs, pushed on em as if that would help. Most just sat on their beds, limp, pale, with sunken eyes.
It was like a festering disease. Each face harsh reminder that death lay just around the corner.
"MaC, Thomas." Minho. His voice was weak, but… stronger than the last time I'd heard him.
I groaned slightly, cracking open my eyes.
"Thomas. Dude, wake up."
He was holding and apple. A real bone a fide apple. I practically jumped up. "Where did you-" I began excitedly.
Minho cut me off with a smirk as he looked at my face, "Just eat it," he said handing me one and biting into one of his own. I moaned, biting into my own as I flung myself at Minho, despite the weakness that had wracked my body from the lack of sustenance. I wrapped my free arm around his neck, happily. "Thank you!"
He laughed, gently pushing me off so he could hand another one of the fruit to Thomas.
Thomas stared at the food, mouth open before he took it, chomping a big ole bite ad moaning in pleasure, not even swallowing before chomping into it again. He finished it way before me –despite my head start.
"Slim yourself nice and calm," Minho said. "Eat like that and you're just gonna throw it right back up. Here's another one –try slowing down this time"
He took it without a thank you, biting into it. "This is so good," he mumbled, "This is so shuckin' good."
I snorted at the wording. "You still sound like an idiot when you used Glader words," Minho said before taking another bite of his own apple.
"Where'd the apple come from?" I asked, taking another bite.
Minho finished chewing before answering. "Found them in the common room. Along with… something else. Shanks who found it all claim they'd just looked a few minutes earlier and nothing had been there, but whatever, I don't care."
"What else did they find?" Thomas asked.
"You…uh, wouldn't happen to have any more on ya, would ya?" I asked a bit hesitantly, examining th stumpy core of my apple.
"Go look for yourself," he said to Thomas, after taking a bite of his apple, "And no, there's more out there though…"
Thomas rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the bed, steading himself as I had done a few moments earlier and walking with me towards the door where we entered the common room area. It was hard to believe that just three days before the room had been filled with dead bodies when now… it was crowded with Gladers who were picking things off a big- huge pile of food which seemed to have just been dumped there without any sort of order. Fruits, vegetables… random small packages.
But that's not what caught my attention though because as bizarre as the pile of food items were and as hungry as I was… there was something much more… strange.
On the far side of the room. A large wooden desk had been placed opposite of the other dorm room. And behind it was a man. A thin man in an entirely white suit. And he was sitting in a chair, feet propped up on the desk, crossed at the ankles… reading.
I stood staring at that man for I-don't-know-how-long. He looked as if he'd been sitting there in that very spot his whole life. He had thin black hair combed across a pale blade head and a large crooked nose and shift brown eyes that held no warmth as they flitted back and forth while he read. In all he bore a strange resemblance to a rodent.
And the white… white suit, shirt, jacket, tie, pants, socks, even his shoes! Why?
"Who is that guy?" Thomas asked, turning to a small group of Gladers munching on various fruits and some weird nut and seed mixture from a bag. They seemed unaware of the man at that the desk. Either that or they just didn't care.
"Jimmy!" I called to one of them, gesturing towards the man, "Who is he?"
He quickly finished chewing and swallowed, "He won't tell us anything. Told us we had to wait until he was ready." The boy shrugged as if it was nothing special as he took another bit of a peeled orange.
Shaking my head I returned my attention to the stranger. Licking his finger he then turned the page and continued scanning the words on the page. My stomach rumbled angrily, drawing my attention back to the pile of food. I left Thomas's side in pursuit of a satisfying meal.
Apple? Brusied…
Oh… and orange. Yummy.
Bananas? Yes, thank you.
"Careful," a Glader called and I looked up just in time to see Tommy slam into some invisible wall, the air sort of rippling where he collided with it. He stumbled backward, awkwardly regaining his balance as he reached up to rub his nose. It was strange… this barrier, you couldn't see it, no matter how hard you looked there was… nothing, just air. Thomas reached up, holding his hands up. When they made contact with the barrier it again, rippled, just the tiniest bit, barely visible to be honest. And all the while the man had not looked up, hadn't given the slightest hint that he'd seen, even heard what happened.
Tommy continued his examination, moving to the left, then the right, feeling along the unseen barrier which I soon found expanded the entire room. With a frustrated expression on his face, Thomas pounded on it, closing his hands into fists. Nothing happened. A few Gladers scattered around the room commented dryly about how they had already tried that. I stood, a peeled orange in one hand and a banana in the other as I walked to stand by Tommy.
Upon reaching him, I took a bite of the banana, reaching out and lightly kicking the barrier with my sneaker.
Letting out an exaggerated sigh, the rodent-like man before us pulled his crossed feet from the desk and laid them on the floor. He then placed a finger in the book to mark his page, he looked up. Straight at Thomas, almost as if I wasn't standing there at all. "How many times do I have to repeat this?" the man said annoyed. His voice was nasally, matching his appearance perfectly. "We still have forty-seven minutes before I've been authorized to implement Phase Two of the Trials. Please show your patience and leave me alone. You've been given this time to eat and replenish yourselves. I strongly suggest you take advantage of it, young man. Now if you don't mind…" and without waiting for any sort of response, leaned back in his chair and resumed his original position with his feet on the desk and his eyes on the book.
Thomas and I exchanged a speechless look, unable to describe how utterly bizarre this was. He shook his head slightly, turning and leaning against the invisible wall. He suddenly jabbed a finger on his shoulder looking at someone who stood behind me.
I turned just in time to see a smirk arise of Minho's face. He was leaning in the door way of the dorm room, arms folded. "You meet our new friend? Real piece of work, this guy. I gotta get me one of those shuck suits. Fancy stuff."
I barked a laugh, "The day you wear a suit, Minho, is the day I sprout wings and turn into a fairy princess."
"Am I awake?" Thomas asked before Minho could respond to my jab.
"You're awake. Now eat –you look horrible. Almost as bad as Rat Man there reading his book."
And so Tommy and I dragged ourselves back over to the food. And tommy ate about twice as fast as I was. And apple and orange, a bag of nuts, each time I looked over it was something new. I mean, yeah, I ate my fair share as well, but man, that guy could eat!
"You need to slim it," Minho said from behind us. "We've got shanks puking all over the place cause they ate too much. That's probably enough, dude."
I was sitting there awkwardly as Tommy stood up and left, leaving Minho standing next to me in silence. "Blueberry?" I asked, holding up the grey bag filled with the berries. Looking down Minho gave me an amused look before shrugging and sitting down beside me and popping a few berries in his mouth. Chewing he looked back to me with furrowed eyebrows.
"These are good."
I smiled, offering him some more. Relishing the feeling of a full stomach and feeling, for the moment content. Minho was next to me, smirking and commenting. Newt was off somewhere talking to Frypan, looking for once, well-rested and satisfied. And we were safe… or as safe as we ever were.