Ralph is walking back to the house looking for something to do with his free time. That sickly boy keeps going into his thoughts. What could be wrong with him? Ralph asks himself. He walks up the steps and sees a chess table with half the pieces missing, with the missing pieces being made of small bits of wood with a king or queen drawn on them sloppily with marker.
"I'll play you," Piggy says, startling Ralph out of his wits because he didn't hear him walk in.
"Alright," Ralph sits down in a chair next to the table.
Ralph gets beat in just a few minutes of playing, so he walks back outside of the house. When he hears a shout from outside the wall.
"Hey! Help!" a voice shouts.
Ralph dashes across the yard and sees the boy he wrestled with the other night, dragging Roger behind him through the maze. Something is trailing along behind the two, it looks red. Is that blood? Ralph sprints as hard as he can to get to him. When Ralph is halfway to the wall it starts closing.
"Help!" the guy shouts again.
Ralph's hair is plastered to his forehead like glue, dripping in sweat all over his person. He springs through the small opening without a thought in his head. He feels the door closing around him, brushing his shoulders, turning long ways so he will fit. He jumps through the wall just in time, his shoe lace gets snagged between the walls. Tripping him when he gets through.
"Nice going. Now there are three of us," the boy says with a hint of attitude.
"Hey, atleast I tried," Ralph replies. Wanting to punch the ungrateful brat. "What happened to him?"
"He got tangled in some vines, tripped, busted his head on the ground."
Ralph looks down at the body of Roger who is bleeding from his scalp.
"What is your name anyway?" Ralph asks.
"Maurice."
Ralph looks up at the grey evening sky, not a cloud in sight.
"How are we going to get out?" Ralph mutters under his breath, scared of what the answer might be.
"I'm not sure mate. We'll have to rough it and hope not to get pricked by any beastie," Maurice replies lifting Roger on his shoulder with a sharp breath. Ralph hears a grinding sound, really loud. Like metal against metal.
"Bloody O'Riley! Scatter!" Maurice shouts, dropping Rogers body on the ground, and taking off at a dead run toward the other end of the maze. Ralph looks around and sees a light all the way up the wall, moving all the vines around. Ralph not knowing what to do, tosses Roger on his shoulder and takes off in the direction of Maurice.
He turns left, then right then right again. Trying to remember so he can get back to the door when the sun comes up. There that sound is again, the metal one that scared Maurice out if his wits. Left, right, left, right, right. Ralph realizing it's more dangerous for the both of them to be running like this dumps Roger in a pile of vines, covering him as well as he can. He takes off his overshirt and puts it over the vines so he can see which pile Roger is in later. The cold air brushing against the tank top he had on under.
Ralph runs when he hears the metal sound again, that grinding terrible sound. Taking a left and a right, heart pounding. His hair is plastered to his forehead like wallpaper. He panics when he feels a hand grasp his mouth from behind.
"Shut up," Maurice whispers loudly. He points to two glowing lights twenty or thirty feet above their heads. Maurice runs to the opposite end of the corridor and starts climbing up the vines like it's the easiest thing he's done all day. "I Gotta get out of here."
"Maurice, stop!" Ralph starts after him, climbing up the vines also. "You're gonna get hurt." Ralph can't get through to the kid. But somehow, they make it to the top of the wall. Arms and legs shaking. Maurice gets to the top first, and hits his head on the sky, like an invisible lid above the maze. He crouches and starts running along the top of the wall.
"Maurice, we gotta stop. What about Roger?" Ralph says trying to get the boy to stop. The wall starts swinging around in a circular motion, almost knocking the two off. Maurice starts running again anyway.
"There it is!" Maurice shouts out of his breath, soaked to the core with sweat. He points looking down. "The Homestead." Ralph for a split second knows what is going through Maurice's mind. Feeling a ping of happiness. The two climb down the vines into the courtyard. Climbing slowly to make sure they don't fall.