Author stuff: What's this? Do my eyes deceive me? An Adne POV chapter again?
Oo-de-lally! Let's dive in, shall we?
Also, a month has passed since the last chapter. Because everything needs to move forward.
Trigger warning, a brief mention of blood. Death.
Chapter 37
In Which There Is A Lengthy Girl Talk Session And Adne Runs The Maze
Adne was unusually flexible. She learned that within the first week of being in the Glade – first two days, actually. She'd been stretching in her and Flossy's room, her roommate watching on in horror as she contorted in odd ways that felt comfortable as her muscles were stretched.
It was starting to feel cramped in their little room with three of them. Especially after being kept in the Med-hut the past few days.
Verena slept on the floor, not wishing to sleep in a hammock – or hanging coffins, as she called them with her hand signs — sign language as Flossy and Clint called it. Adne was much better at it than Flossy was. She and Flossy made up a little space of spare blankets, pillows, and sleeping bags in one of the empty corners.
She could feel Verena's eyes on her, burning holes in the back of her head, while she stretched. It was… unsettling, to say the least. As it had been for the two months the girl had been with them.
"Could you not?" she said. Verena whistled as she rolled from her back to her stomach. Adne straightened up, rolling her eyes. "Fine. I'm done stretching anyway."
Flossy strode back in, hair wrapped in a towel and dressed in her pajamas. She looked over to her two roommates.
"Hey," she said, "anything wrong?"
"Oh, thank you, great Keeper of the Girlies," Adne said. Okay, teasing Flossy about so readily agreeing to her new role was amusing, and she could do it all day, but she had other matters that needed to be handled. "Verena's watching me again. Can you get her to stop?"
"Vee, stop staring at Adne."
Verena heaved a great sigh, moving to stand next to Adne. She reached up and brushed Adne's hair – tried to, actually. Adne slapped her hands away.
"Don't touch me," she said.
Verena pouted, looking at Flossy. She made several signs, but Flossy didn't understand them. Adne turned away, not wanting to know what she had to say.
"She's pathetic," Adne said. "How does Zart stand her being in the Gardens all day long?"
"She doesn't say anything to him so he doesn't really care," Flossy said, shrugging. "How was the Maze today?"
"So exciting. I ran so far away from the Glade. The walls were really high. Lots of vines. Had lunch. More high walls and vines. And running. Lots and lots and lots and lots of running."
Flossy hummed, patting Verena's head and combing her hands through her hair, braiding it.
"Alright, it's bedtime, Vee." Flossy untangled her fingers from the orange-y coppery strands. Verena curled up readily, watching the other girls as they finished up their nightly routine. "How do you do it? Running around like that every day. Don't know how you can handle it."
"Don't know how I do either," Adne said, lying down in her own hammock. "I just do it. It's like… It's kind of like breathing. I just can't not do it. You know?"
"Kind of."
"Kind of?"
"Yeah, kind of."
Adne snorted and rocked herself while she fiddled with the chain around her neck – the one she hadn't allowed anyone to see. She looked over to Flossy, who was drying her hair with the towel.
"How were things here in the Glade?"
"Quiet, as usual. A new Greenie's coming up tomorrow."
Verena popped up at that, looking back and forth between them. Her head tilted to the side. She looked like some sort of dog doing that.
"A newbie," Flossy said. "Someone new in the Glade. A new friend."
Verena nodded, pulling the blankets around her.
"Friends like Gally," Adne said, wiggling her eyebrows. Verena let out puffs of air similar to laughter. Flossy started to blush. "How are things going with Mr. Tall and Eyebrows?"
"We're just friends, Adne."
"So, nothing yet, huh?"
"Sorry. Nothing new or exciting on my front. We're just… just friends. That's all I can really handle, you know?"
Adne lied back in her hammock, letting out a huff of air through her nose.
"Yeah," she said. "I get it."
Verena gave out a trilling whistle.
"Anyway, speaking of Mr. Tall and Eyebrows, how about asking him to build us a little hut of our own?" Adne said.
"I can't just ask him. I mean, I could, but it's not up to just him. That's something the Keepers all have to agree on, too."
"Newt would agree, and Nick might. I'm pretty sure some of the others might go for it as well. Especially if girls keep on appearing."
"You don't think it's weird?" Flossy said, sitting on her hammock. Her white feet – dotted with freckles – peeped out of the long pajama bottoms she wore, dangling down and distinctly feminine. It wasn't that Aden was jealous of her for that, quite the opposite really. She appreciated it.
"What's weird?" she said, lying back in her own hammock.
"Okay, so I was the first girl to come up."
"Right."
"But I was in a group of three."
"The G Tri-Force. Yeah, everyone knows you. You're famous in the Glade for it. Congrats!"
"Funny."
"I try."
"Anyway," Flossy said, shaking her head, "three people coming up at once never happened before."
"Not true. According to Newt, thirty of them came up all at once."
"They didn't come up together. They woke up here together. There's a difference. And it hasn't happened since."
"So?"
"So it's notable. And then a few months later, you came up. Covered in blood."
"Yeah, we never found out why."
"Aren't you the least bit curious?"
"Flossy, whatever happened to me before that can't have been good. Not all of us get our memories back in our dreams, you know."
"Again, your entrance is just as notable as mine. And then we have Verena." She gestured to the girl tucked away in her blankets. A crooning came out, followed by her head. Her hair was a mess. "She was found in the middle of the Maze. By Archie."
"One of the G Tri-Force."
"Really wish you guys wouldn't call us that."
"Blame Jeff."
"I do."
Adne snorted.
"Aren't you supposed to say that to Gally? Like, in a ceremony or something?"
Flossy blushed again. She was so easy. Really though, she was happy for her friend. She deserved to be treated special by someone.
"Can't you take this seriously?" Flossy said with a huff. "There's something big going on. Something having to do with the Creators and W.I.C.K.E.D. and this shucking Glade and all of us. There's something out there, something bigger than us. Haven't you ever wondered why we're stuck in here and not out there? Why were our memories… why were they swiped from our brains?"
"All the time. All the shucking time. I think about it when I run the Maze. I wonder why I'm doing it, why it has to be done in the first place."
"Then –"
Verena waved wildly again. She signed a few things at them, though neither of them understood what she was trying to say.
"What?" Adne said, sitting up and looking at her. Verena tried again, though to a similar effect. "You just want something."
She mouthed a word, though Adne was terrible at reading lips.
"Did you catch what she said?" Adne turned back to Flossy.
"Something about the Maze making words," Flossy said. "You've looked at the maps. Have you noticed anything?"
"No. If this is more of her shucking nonsense –"
"Vee, do you know the words?"
Verena let out a tremoring sigh.
"She barely speaks English," Adne said, lying back down. "She probably didn't even know what she was saying."
"I don't know… Sign language is her main way to speak to us. I wish we understood it better."
"Trust me on this, Flossy. She's jacked in the head. It's better to believe the facts then go chasing ghosts."
Adne had this habit in the Maze. You see, within her first week of being a Runner, she noticed these plaques on the walls. World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department. And every time she saw one, she slapped it.
She liked to pretend that it was a high-five. In the face of the Creators. With a chainsaw that was on fire. Being swung by a gorilla.
It was highly satisfying.
She usually ran with Nick, but it was Greenie Day and Nick had his duties as leader. So, she was stuck with Barry.
It wasn't that Barry was necessarily a bad person – he was a relatively decent guy. Her problem was that he had no humor and didn't understand sarcasm. He was a real Debbie Downer. Whatever the shuck that meant.
"So," she said, "think we'll run into any Grievers?"
"No?" he said. "Why? Do you think we will?"
"No. Just… trying to make conversation."
"We have work to do."
"Yeah. Too bad I have to put my civilities aside to do my job. Oh well."
Barry was about to say something when he was cut off by Minho, gathering them for a quick meeting.
"Right," their Keeper said, "Greenie Day today. Which means a party later. Don't drink too much like last time, you shanks. I need you to have your wits about you to run the Maze tomorrow. Good that?"
A round of 'good that's chorused out of them. Archie nudged Adne in the side, while she tucked her necklace in her pack.
"He means you," he said quietly.
She quirked a smile and shoved him, playfully. She caught the look on Barry's face – that disapproving scowl. She wanted to throw her shoes at his head.
The Runners broke up and headed for their regular Doors and waited for them to open. They didn't have to stay very still for long.
The day with Barry was relatively quiet. She used to try and crack jokes with him, but he didn't bounce them back at her like Nick or Newt or Archie or Minho. It was annoying.
This, of course, meant that she spent the majority of the day doing little things to get on his nerves. For example, when they broke for lunch, she showed off her partially eaten food to him. He simply rolled his eyes and looked away.
He was starting to bore her. She needed some new ideas…
"Right," Barry said, dusting off his shorts, "ready to go?"
"No, but you're going to make me," she said with a sigh. She quickly stretched – weirding him out in many ways, which was good to know. "Okay, let's boogie oogie."
"What?"
"Let's jet."
"Huh?"
"...Let's go."
"Good that."
Just as they were about to start heading back to the Glade, Adne caught the smell of motor oil, burnt flesh, and something else in the wind. She looked around, trying to place to source. From what she could tell, it was being carried on the wind.
And then there was the dreaded sinking feeling in her stomach of being watched. She was used to being watched by the Beetle Blades – which looked more like centipedes than beetles but whatever, the Gladers were bad at naming things – but this was different.
"Do you smell that?" she said, hoping that it wasn't an illusion.
Barry sniffed, his eyes growing wide. He paled and swallowed.
"Glade," he said, his voice harsh, "now."
They took off faster than they normally would. Whatever it was freaked him out, and it was going to be worth the running and the muscle aches.
She caught Barry muttering things under his breath, though the words weren't discernible.
"What are we running from?" she said, just trailing after him.
She started to turn to look behind them when her ears picked up a click-click-whir. It was metallic, like the jangling of chains or the tap-tap-taps of bone on glass. Whatever it was got closer, and she could hear engines.
"Just keep running," Barry said. He grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. "Get ahead of me and stay ahead of me. Shuck."
She pulled herself in front of him, a heavy weight dropping in her stomach. Her footsteps felt like they were catching on anything and everything, glued to the ground somehow.
Barry's hand pushed her forwards, propelling her to keep her ahead of him. His cries of encouragement kept her going.
Don't look back, she told herself. Don't look back. People who look back get themselves killed.
They turned a corner sharply, causing her to slam into the opposite wall. It was painful, and she saw stars for a few minutes after. Barry kept her going.
Whatever was chasing them – Griever, her mind told her, because it was the only thing that made sense – slammed into the wall like she did. It hit heavily, a clanking and rattling with a marrow splintering shriek.
They continued to run.
Adne lost track of how long and how far they'd gone, but she recognized the patterns in front of her. They were near the Glade. By the way the shadows were reaching along the walls – trying to claw at them and stop them from moving back home – they still had some time before the Doors closed.
Despite the burning in her legs and the ache in her lungs, she picked up her pace. They were almost there.
"Keep going," Barry said, his voice hoarse. "Almost there."
She felt, rather than saw him turn a corner, different from the direction of the Glade. She stopped and looked around for him. She was about to call out for him when she heard the thing – the Griever – thundering towards her. She ducked down, hiding behind the corner and the vines.
She willed herself invisible, imperceptible to the creature. It wasn't the first time she'd wanted that, but she willed every fiber in her being to make it possible.
It must have worked, because it went down the way Barry had gone.
She looked back and forth between the way to the Glade and the way they went. She had enough time to run back and get help.
Willing her legs to carry her as far as she needed, she ran. She collapsed on the grass, calling out for help. The Baggers were at her side, water at the ready. She and Barry were the last Runners to arrive. Other people gathered around, each wanting to know what was going on.
"Barry," she said, trying to pick herself up, "Griever. If we hurry –"
"Not enough time," Minho said. "You're cutting it as close as it was."
"No, he's not too far. We can still –"
The Doors started to rumbled, the hidden gears starting to grind against one another. She looked behind her, eyes wide as the gap in the concrete moved.
Somehow, she picked herself up off the ground. Before she could go anywhere, strong arms wrapped around her middle and hauled her backwards.
"No," she said, realizing what they were doing. They were taking her away from the immediate area. So she couldn't go back into the Maze. So she couldn't go back and help Barry. "No! Let me, let me go! You can't – We have to help him. He'll die."
She clawed at the person holding her. She managed to get free and started back to the Doors. She wouldn't make it – she knew that in the back of her mind – but she had to try. For Barry, annoying and boring as he was.
By the time she reached where the gap had been, her arm was too thick to even fit through. Her hands traced along the rough surface, as if trying to find a way to pull them back apart. Her nails scratched against the stone, trying to dig through it.
Flossy came out of nowhere and stopped her before… before anything else could be done. Her thin arms pulled her close as she tucked her head against her back.
"I'm sorry," Flossy said, her voice muffled by Adne's abdomen. "I'm so sorry."
"What just happened?"
Adne turned to see a stocky boy she'd never met before looking between her and the Maze.
"Come on, Greenie," Newt said, settling a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Let's give them some space, yeah? We… we need to get ready for tonight."
"Tonight?"
"You'll see."
Newt led the boy – the Greenie – away. Away for them. Away from the Doors. Away from the last time she saw Barry.
Author stuff cont'd.: I miss Barry already. And he was only in this chapter.