The First Gladers

Chapter 4: A Plan

Away. You have to get away. Away from Leon, away from that beast, away from this hell hole. You run faster than you ever have, the wind rushing past your ears with a roar. You jump through bushes, duck under branches, and stumble through the forest that lines this prison. Finally, you come to a stop, faced by a wall. You can't take it anymore, you collapse to the ground with a sob as the weight of the situation crashes down on you. The knot in your stomach untwists itself, causing you to throw up. Your whole body is shaking with fear and exhaustion. Every time you close your eyes you see his face. Screaming, covered in blood. Blood spilled from open wounds, gashes on his head, tears in his abdomen, holes in his flesh. All of it was coated in thick blood. The image is burned into your brain, haunting your every thought, filling every empty crevice in your mind. There's no escape from your own thoughts, nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide. They follow you, chase after you, hunting you down to remind you of the horror you witnessed. Hours of fresh hot tears release all of your pent up fear and anxiety. But the horror remains. A twig snaps behind you, sending a bolt of fear through your heart. You jump to your feet, spinning around to face the intruder. Chris. You let out a trembling sigh as your nerves slowly start to settle. You notice your whole body is still shaking. You start to brush away stray leaves that have found a home on your clothes.

"Y/n... You ok?" He asks.

"Yeah, just fine." You respond, covering your puke with dirt and leaves.

"You sure?" He asks, skepticism in his voice. You spin around to face him.

"No Chris! Of course I'm not 'OK'! Why else do ya think I'm out here!?" You snap, too tired to care about being nice.

"Sorry... Sorry, I was just worried about you." Chris murmurs, turning away from you.

Your face softens, "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I just... Leon, he..." You can't finish your thought.

"I know. I saw it too, ya know." He adds, in almost a whisper.

You soften once more. You were so selfish. How could you not think of the others? What this did to them? You stepped up as the leader. That was your choice, a poor choice, but your choice. And now, you have to lead instead of running away.

"I'm sorry Chris."

"Me too."

The two of you walk back to the courtyard, his arm around your shoulders. It's such a simple way for him to tell you, that he's there for you. That he understands. You allow yourself a smile as you step through the last of the trees. Maybe, just maybe, things will work out.

Alby runs up to you as soon as he sees you emerge from the depths of the trees.

"Y/n, are you ok? We were so worried about you!" Alby questions.

"Yeah, I'm alright. But we're going to have to do something about this. We need to figure out what on earth is going on here."

"Agreed. What should we do?" He asks.

"I'm not sure yet. But I'll come up with something. I need to clean up, but once I'm done I'll have a plan. Trust me." You assure.

You clean your self up a bit in the bathroom, washing your mouth out with water, then washing your face. You take a look in the mirror, simply studying your face. You look to be about 13 years old. A pang of sadness lodges itself in your chest. You realize these other boys aren't much older. Someone put a whole bunch of kids in this deadly place. Leon, also no older than 13, just died. You have to figure out what this place is. You gather the boys, and lay out your new plan.

"Tomorrow, Will and Alex will search the walls, looking for any clues to why we're here. Chris, Alby, you're with me, we're going to check out that metal box that we woke up in. Using the information we gather from that, we'll meet up again and figure out how to proceed. It's obvious that we're alone here, so it's up to us to figure out why, and most likely a way out. We'll have to work together, but I believe we'll figure this out." You explain. Each of the boys agree to the plan.

"What about Leon?" Will asks, head hung low.

"How about we leave a tribute? Carve his name in the wall or somethin'?" Alby suggests.

"That sounds nice. We'll do that tomorrow as well. But for now, we need to sleep. Everyone go grab a room, we'll meet here in the morning." You announce. Everyone rises to their feet, shuffling to each of their rooms.

Chris walks up to you, offering his hand.

"You're doing great Y/n. It's really brave of you to take charge. If you hadn't we would be in a huge mess." Chris begins.

"I think you're underestimating the mess we're in." You laugh in response.

"It'd be worse without you." He states. You can see in his eyes that he's sincere, there's a look in his eyes, you can't place it but it's like you've seen it before. You smile inwardly as your stomach turns a flip.

"Thanks, Chris. That means a lot." You reply, your cheeks flush. You look away, and turn to find your room.

Chris grabs you by the arm, spinning you around to face him again. Your eyes meet his, and suddenly you're frozen. Time stands still, as you study his ocean blue eyes with your own. His hand is warm and soft, wrapped around your forearm. Your heart pumps blood rapidly through your veins. Somehow all of this is familiar, like you've been here before, almost as if it's a memory. Somehow this feels right, like he was always supposed to grab your arm, to look into your eyes. It's as if you're in a trance, you can't look away, and you don't want to. Without warning, you want to be closer to him, you want to know what it would feel like to hug him, to feel his breath, for him to be close to you. Something about his eyes, the way he looks at you, it's like he's fascinated with you, like he wants to know more. You want to know more about him, you want to know what makes him laugh, what makes him cry, you want to know him and you want him to know you. The whole room seems to have grown hotter. Your gaze shifts to the floor, breaking the moment. Slowly you turn to find your room, your forearm slips from his hand. Your mind has gone numb, your whole body seems detached from the world as your slowly glide through the wooden hallway to your room.