The next day she awakened from a touch of a hand on her shoulder, and her eyes darted open. Her body clock was such that she woke up on time for each day without needing anyone to help, so she panicked a little inside. She turned quickly to face whoever it was, before another hand was placed over her mouth.
Qiufeng let a squeak of fear escape her, but then relaxed at the sight of Minho shushing her. "It's just me."
Once he had let go of her mouth, she sat up and breathed deeply, calming herself down. Glancing up to the Korean boy, he beckoned to her as he started walking away. What could he possibly want from her at this ungodly hour? Even the runners were still sleeping!
She gave him a suspicious look that he responded to by rolling his eyes, but followed him anyway, blanket draped around her and all.
After getting out of the Homestead and successfully not waking anyone else, Minho broke into a run across the glade. Qiufeng followed, reluctantly bringing herself to run so early in the morning. He stopped once they had reached the west wall.
"Okay Feng." He said once they had neared the humongous wall, and Qiufeng felt herself raising an eyebrow at the new nickname. It was better than 'greenie' she supposed, but still.
"Feng?" She repeated before he could continue with his reason for bringing her out so early.
"Saying your whole name is mouthful." Minho replied simply, giving her an amused smirk.
"Minho is a mouthful, how about just 'Min'?" Qiufeng replied as she folded her arms.
"No." He made a face and continued before the other could interject anymore. "So you probably know about everything you need to know inside the glade, but seeing you curious about the Maze a few days ago made Alby worried and so he wants to make sure you know what's out there."
Minho stepped up to the wall and pushed away the thick ivy, revealing a dirty window about two feet wide. She raised an eyebrow at the revelation but obliged and stared into it, intrigued by the endless corridors and mysterious air, but after a while it… Got boring. She glanced back to Minho.
"Wow. Very interesting." Qiufeng said monotonously, tugging her blanket closer to her.
"Just wait." He said, seemingly not amused any more than she was.
She stood there looking at the window like an idiot, thinking about all the sleep she was missing. Minutes passed, and there was still nothing that looked of any interest. Until she heard it. There was an eerie metallic sound coming closer and instinctively she backed away from the window, uncertainty etched into her face. Whirling and sounds of gears turning, she felt her stomach twisting as the sounds grew louder. Then finally, she saw it.
Eyes widening, she stood frozen in place as she stared at the half machine, half flesh creature. She could roughly make out saws and blades protruding along its body, but goodness knows what she had missed in the dim lighting. It was painfully slow in passing, as if it knew that it was being watched fearfully behind the glass and seemed to enjoy her mental torment. It seemed like eternity until that creature had passed entirely. She continued staring at the window, opening her mouth to say something. Nothing came out but a strangled gasp.
Her several days here had been light hearted, happy even, but now the girl realized the severity of the situation she was in. Everything outside the walls screamed of danger, now that she had saw that monstrosity.
"Still feel like going out there?" She heard Minho ask, but couldn't find something to reply with.
Qiufeng felt herself tearing up a little and Minho, sensing something was wrong, stepped to her side. He hesitated, but awkwardly put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay." He reassured, squeezing gently. "Nothing gets through those walls."
Qiufeng took a moment to breathe.
"I'm not worried about myself." She finally managed to say shakily, looking up to the taller boy. "But how do you keep running even with those… Things out there?"
"We call them grievers." Minho told her. "They only come out at night, so it's safe to run in the day, but by evening we have to get back here, there's been a few incidents of griever attacks happening just before the walls close."
"They'll try to kill you at first sight, but if you're lucky, you'll escape with just a sting and just go through the changing." He said, looking out into the window.
"Sting?" She couldn't stop herself from quivering. "Changing?"
"If they can't get your life, they'll at least try to land a sting on you." He explained as if it was some sort of science lesson. "If you make it back to the glade, the med-jacks will inject some griever serum into you, and you'll just go through a few days of hellish pain before coming back to us."
"What happens if you don't get treated?" She asked, her voice now quiet.
Minho glanced down at her. "You die."
Qiufeng hugged her blanket closer to her body as she processed the information she was given by Minho, before a flashing red light caught her attention, out of the corner of her eye.
Jumping back in fear, she felt her back hit against Minho's chest, and he caught her firmly by the shoulders. "Relax, it's just a beetle blade."
"B-beetle blade?" She stammered.
"It's how the creators watch us, for whatever jacked up reason they might have." He steered her away from the window and the beetle blade, heading back towards Homestead. "Think you've seen enough for today."
"Mm." She replied as she let him bring her along. After what she had seen today, she just wanted to stay in bed for the rest of the week and pretend nothing happened. Nothing but the touch of Minho's hands on her shoulders at least.
She couldn't keep her mind off the griever for the rest of the day, and was particularly edgy, though everyone was sympathetic, it seemed like they all knew that she had woken up to a nightmare. Still, it bothered her to no end that they were stuck in a trap with monsters all around them, regardless of whether they came out only at night.
Still, she admired all the runners for being able to still go out there, even with the dangers. Though to be honest, she wished that they were eating better having noticed them only pack dinner leftovers for their lunches outside. Qiufeng quickly finished up dinner preparations, and was getting ready to call the glade for dinner when a piercing scream interrupted her thoughts. She whipped her head towards the source like everyone else and saw a boy being dragged by another two boys. His face was unrecognizable from afar.
"Shank's been stung!" One of the boys yelled as the others came over to help them with the struggling boy.
Stung?
Qiufeng felt a sense of dread fill her as much as she was curious to see what was happening.
Setting down the bottle of pepper she was holding, she headed straight down to where the commotion was. She pushed her way through the crowd, and upon seeing that the boy who was writhing on the ground had blond hair, a strange sense of relief washed over her.
The larger boy from the ring yesterday, Gally, was the one that got stung, but nothing prepared her for the way he was acting. Snarling and snapping at anyone that came too near, it was as if he had been reduced to a wild animal. His eyes, which used to be blue, were now angry and bloodshot.
Nick stepped forward from the group of boys and yanked the other's shirt up, the sudden movement catching her eye and her hand flew to her mouth as she caught sight of a horrible puncture in the other's skin. Red raw flesh was exposed to the air, blue and green veins were prominently jutting out painfully from his skin, like worms crawling out of the wound.
There were sounds of disgust from the boys.
"Med-jacks!" Alby yelled over the commotion. "Get him injected quickly!"
Qiufeng stumbled backwards trying to swallow the whole sight and hide her horrified expression but couldn't until suddenly, someone covered her eyes and walked her away from the commotion, another hand firmly gripping her arm just below the shoulder. At first she panicked but the scent of sweat, the warmth of a slightly heaving chest against her back and the sound of short husky breaths near her ear was unmistakeable and she felt herself relax into Minho's arms.
AN: Hey guys! I actually enjoyed writing the part where Feng first sees the griever the most in this whole chapter, what was your favorite part? (:
If you enjoyed this chapter please consider reviewing! (: