Defender - The Maze Runner (Book 1)

Chapter 8: Bark

They found Alby. And the gathering would be after supper that night, when Minho was back from the maze, and only for the few Gladers Alex listed. They would meet in the med jack hut, wouldn't be too suspicious, they would draw too much attention if they had a gathering in the council hall.

"Finished with the tour?"

They nodded.

"Good that. Your first job trial is Slicer. I think we're going to skip a few jobs though, no point trying you out for something like bagger- security, and working with the dead", he added as Alex shuddered.

"Though, if you could take on Gally, you might not be a bad Bagger...still, nah, those shanks are a little jacked up in the head. Unless you like dealing with corpses?"

Alex shuddered, "Nope. Definitely not."

"We'll probably skip bricknick too, to avoid any unnecessary incidents with Chris... Newt, take her to Winston. Lets go, we're burnin' daylight"

Newt nodded and gestured for Alex to follow.

___________________________

At the Bloodhouse, Alex stood by the fence watching the animals, waiting for the kid named Winston. She was watching the cow graze when she felt something brush her leg. She looked down in surprise. To her surprise and delight, there was a young black lab smelling her boots and pant legs. The dog looked at her with intelligent eyes, tail wagging, tongue out, tilting its head back and forth. Alex let out a happy high squeal "Puppy!!" She knelt in front of the dog, letting it smell and lick her hands and patting the dogs head.

"Aren't you a good doggie! What's your name? Huh? What's your name? Wish you could tell me your name! Can you speak?" To her surprise the dog gave a happy woof, and jumped around wagging her tail.

"Huh" said a quiet voice behind her, "She's never done that before. What did you say to her?" Alex looked over her shoulder, it was the quiet boy from breakfast, the boy she never got a name from.

"Uh, I asked if the dog could speak?''

On the word 'speak' the dog woofed happily again. The boy looked stunned, like he never knew what noise a dog made.

"Bark never barks. We named her Bark, as a joke." The boy looked at the dog, "Bark, speak."

The dog just cocked her head, sitting down. Alex laughed as the boy huffed. Alex stood up, "Bark, speak" on que the dog jumped up, tail wagging and gave a few loud woofs. The boy threw up his hands in a sign of defeat.

"Whatever. Fine. Good. Shuckin' dog, not like I fed you and took care of you..." he muttered.

He looked at Alex, "Name's Winston, I'm keeper of the slicers and Bloodhouse. You'll be helping with the animals, and after lunch you'll be helping me butcher a hog for tomorrow's supper. Good that?"

"Ya, everything except the butcher part." Alex replied, her face pailing.

"Nah, part of the job, sorry Shanket. Come on, I'll show you around." Winston wasn't much of a talker, said what he had to and that was it. He also treated her like the other guys, which was refreshing. He showed her where to find the farm tools and equipment, where the food for each animal was kept. Introduced her to a few of the other slicers, then left her to do her thing. She fed the pigs and collected eggs for breakfast tomorrow. She enjoyed being with the animals, they were calm and didn't oogle at her when she walked past. She talked to them and hummed a toon she couldn't quite remember. Bark never left her side, occasionally she would bring Alex a stick and she would throw it for the dog to go fetch.

Alex straightened up as she heard a bell clanging from across the glade, she saw boys from every direction heading towards the Kitchen. Newt was halfway across the glad, walking towards her.