C5 of The Future Is Dark,
Author's Note:) I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating this story! I put everything on my school iPad and they took it away for the summer, and the day I'm typing this note is when finally became unrestricted. (And now it's a month later and I realized that I forgot to even post this chapter.)
"We need wax paper people!" Toby shouted to the boys in the kitchen, enjoying being able order people around for once. The boys looked at him with confused expressions but still did as he said. Their leader, or keeper as they called him, was nick-named Frypan as he refused to be called by his real name. Frypan calmly put down his wooden bowl and walked across the kitchen to a small cabinet. He pulled out a roll of wax paper and handed it to Toby.
"Is that enough?" He demanded gruffly. Toby nodded quickly and power-walked out if the kitchen and back to the Map Room where his friends were waiting. Happy was measuring planks of wood as the rest of the team conversed. Toby held up the wax paper,
"Got it! So, what's the plan?" Walter snatched the roll from Toby and went back into the hut. Toby raised his eyebrows but instead commented on the machine Happy was building, "Is there any chance that this will send us back to the past?"
"Nope." Happy answered. Paige looked over Happy's blueprint and handed it to Toby. It was a catapult, but with adjustments that made it able to shoot nearly straight upwards. Happy had made something quick and simple, yet complicated at the same time.
"Because of the estimated length of the Glade, and height of the walls, if we launch it longways, it should reach the top of the walls about halfway down." Sylvester elaborated as he gestured to the Glade, "And we'll make it out of branches, leaves, and twine so that it doesn't crush anything, although I believe it will hit somewhere about three-quarters down, depending on the actual height of the ceiling. If there is none, it will simply land in the maze."
"Sounds pretty good to me." Said Toby. Happy snorted, knowing that he didn't have any experience to be able to judge it himself. Toby handed the blueprint back to Paige and headed into the hut. Cabe and Walter were tracing the mazes onto the wax paper, and already had three done, Walter being the quicker and more precise drawer. Walter glanced up as Toby entered,
"Can you get the others in here? I want to get this done as quickly as possible." Toby nodded and spun back around to face the door.
"Sure thing boss." He replied and popped his head out of the hut, "Hey guys! Walter needs help." Happy continued measuring as Paige and Sylvester hurried over. Walter showed them what to do and soon they had all the maps for the first day done. He laid them on the table stacked perfectly then held them up to the light. An F was clearly in the center of the papers.
"We'll finish tracing today or tomorrow morning and the catapult will be ready to launch tomorrow as well. Good job..." Walter trailed off. He knew it was impossible to finish everything before the sun (or at least the imitation of it) went down, but at least they had most of it figured out. The letters probably spelled something, or were just a sequence or code they could punch in somewhere. But where could the exit possibly be?
The only place that didn't fit in the puzzle was the cliff, but the answer could be on, or in, the maze walls as well. But what was the purpose of the experiment in the first place? There were so many questions they could ask, but so few that the Gladers had answers to. One of the most important things however was what laid out there beyond the maze? What had become of their world? Why would the government allow WCKD to do something like this?
Was this the end of the world? The apocalypse that ends their universe? Maybe, just maybe it is. Why else would something like this take place? The strange thing was, that the more questions Walter asked himself, the more he started to figure things out. A maze like this must have cost millions, or even billions, of dollars. Life isn't the Hunger Games, there must be a purpose. The hard truth was, that the future is dark.
Author's Note:) I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm writing a short-story based on 'The Last Trials' by Scarlet the Starlet that's going to be called 'History Of A Glader'. It'll be out at some point...