monachopsis - maze runner

chapter 1

Chapter 1
The New Greenie's a Menace

Three years later...

There were few things Florence was sure of in her life. One: she was stuck in a giant stone box. Two: she was stuck there with a large group of teenage boys. And three: those teenage boys were the most accident-prone people she'd ever met. To be fair, they were the only people she'd ever met, or at least the only ones she could remember meeting.

Florence wiped the sweat from her brow, huffing in frustration as she returned to her work. It wasn't the job that was bothering her, as it was just a simple sliced hand that would heal in about a week. It was Gally standing over her, yelling and gesturing wildly at her patient.

Florence spared a quick glance at Peter, the Builder she was patching up. His terrified eyes were glued to Gally, his leg bounced rapidly up and down, and his head bobbed in the occasional frantic nod. Gally, being the Keeper of the Builders, was incredibly protective of the boys in his charge. So when one of them got injured on the job, he made a point to lecture them about it, although lecture may not be the right word. What Gally did was scar them.

Florence leaned closer to Peter, disguising the action as inspecting her bandaging job, and whispered, "Don't let him scare you." Gally's tirade continued as she pulled back, leaving only Florence to notice Peter's knee cease its anxious bouncing.

"And another thing-" Florence loudly snapped her medkit shut, cutting Gally off mid-sentence.

"You'll be able to go back to work tomorrow, just visit the Med-Jacks in the morning for the next couple days." She shot Gally a stern look as she stood. His brows were furrowed, his hands squeezing his folded arms - he clearly wanted to object. "I'll need to apply some more ointment and change the bandages, but other than that you'll be okay." Gally couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Okay?!" Peter, who'd made the mistake of standing up when Florence did, plopped back down on the log for the second half of his reprimand. He'd only been in the Glade for two months, and had yet to figure out that if you just walked away, Gally would eventually drop whatever had set him off. "That was really dangerous!" It wasn't. "He's lucky the damage wasn't wor-" This time it wasn't Florence who silenced him, but the piercing Box alarm. The two Keepers directed their attention to the sound, allowing Peter to scramble away and join the crowd stampeding towards the Box.

"You don't always have to scare the klunk out of them, you know that right?" Florence asked Gally as he ran with her to the Med Hut.

"They don't listen any other way!" Gally retorted, throwing up his hands when Florence waved him off. She ducked into the hut, making for the back where they stored portable kits, only to have the box snatched from her hands.

"I got it, Captain, you go." Clint, one of the Med-Jacks she was in charge of, shepherded her back towards the doorway. Florence yelled her thanks over her shoulder, falling back into step with Gally, who'd been bouncing eagerly on his heels as he waited for her to emerge. She didn't blame him for being excited; Greenie day was widely anticipated in the Glade, especially today when the delivery was later than usual. It meant the veterans of the Glade had a new kid to boss around, and provided the minuscule possibility that maybe this one would be able to remember more than just his name.

The crowd surrounding the Box parted for Florence as she approached with Gally on her tail. Two boys on either side pulled the wire doors open, unveiling their newest arrival. Quite honestly, he looked like shit.

Florence peered down at the boy, drenched in sweat, curled up in the corner with his hand shielding his eyes. Most of the boys came up with that same look, one of sheer confusion and terror. Very few came out of the Box swinging, Gally being one of them. Florence tapped his arm, nodding her head towards their Greenie.