When We're Older- The Maze Runner (Newt)

the tour

   "Hey, girl shank, it's time to go on the tour." Alby walked up beside Newt, who was now slowly chewing bacon.

   I looked up at the leader, then back down at my food. "But...I'm not done with my bacon yet..."

   Chuck sniggered from beside me as Alby rolled his eyes, obviously not caring about my lack of food. He gave me a cold stare and cocked his head towards the Glade, making me give up on trying to make him let me finish my breakfast first.

   I groaned. "Fine. Chuck, you can finish my bacon, but have a sandwich waiting for me at lunch." He nodded, and I turned to Newt. "And you...don't forget to wipe your hands on the napkin and not your pants."

   Newt gave me a small smile and watched as I followed Alby. He led me into the full madness of the Glade, the boys were starting to finish their breakfast and get to their jobs. A handful of boys moved to the north side, all holding gardening tools and buckets of what looked like dirt. Some guys headed off to an unfinished building, carrying stacks of wood, hammers, and nails. Others just walked to their place with nothing in hand, for the tools were already probably there. But no matter where I looked, there was someone doing something. Nobody was slacking.

   "As you've already heard." Alby started to walk backward, facing me. "This is the Glade. We do everything here. Eat, sleep, anything you can imagine."

   He pointed over to the boys who were standing by what looked like the garden. "We grow our own food." He pointed over to the unfinished building. "And we build our own shelter. Everything we need, the Box provides."

   "Like the Box I—"

   "Save the questions for after the tour." He interrupted me, making me clamp my mouth shut immediately. When he turned around again, I made a weird face at his back, secretly mocking him.

   "Over there is the Blood House." He pointed to a small shack near the East doors. The animals outside of it were sharing the noises they could make with all of us, goats, chickens, and pigs. Disgusting, pigs laying in the mud.

   I cocked my eyebrow at the sight of a small boy chasing a chicken around the pen, calling it names and occasionally tripping over the other birds that were stuffed in there as well. The poor kid eventually caught the animal and he tucked it tightly into the crook of his arm, smirking like he had just won a prize. As he walked back into the shack, I couldn't help but wonder if the animal was going to come out alive. I had a feeling that it wasn't. They don't call it a blood house for no reason.

   "It's where the Slicers work." He mumbled, scrunching his face up as if he were disgusted that the name was even falling off of his tongue. "Nasty job, but one of the most needed. Without them, we wouldn't have any food."

   Well, that answers one of my many questions.

   He then motioned towards the gardens I was eyeing earlier, seeming more content with the subject of that job than the Slicers. "Over there are the gardens where we grow most of our vegetables. Track-Hoes work over there."

   I followed his point to the patch of vines and tall grass, maybe it was corn. There was a boy in a dark blue hoodie who was already wiping sweat off of his forehead as he plowed a tool into the dirt, pulling it back, and repeating the action. I felt bad that he had to be hunched over on his knees all day. If I had to do that, I would probably just take out my backbone. I wasn't in the mood to be suffering from back pain. Or any pain of all for that matter.

   Despite the millions of questions swarming in my mind, I kept quiet, not wanting to get yelled at again by Alby. He explained the rest of the Glade and where everything was, being brief but detailed enough so that at least half of my questions were answered by his long rant. I learned that the box comes up once a week with new supplies, and I already knew that it came up with a new Greenie—or whatever they call it—every month. He told me the importance of each job and told me that if they didn't have a specific system that they went by every day, this whole place would be a mess.