Defender - The Maze Runner (Book 1)

Chapter 11: MedJack Hut

Today was her last day as a trainee, and she was really looking forward to this. She was looking forward to MedJack training all week. She tied up her boots, threw her long red hair up into a messy bun and headed down the hall. Clint opened the door when she knocked.

"Morning Alex" Clint chirped, he sat her down at the table Jeff was seated at.

"This job isn't for everyone and we get it. Blood isn't everyone's thing. And we uh, know how your Bloodhouse training went...You have to be smart, level headed and calm. If you panic, the gladers panic. Most of the time we get simple things like cuts from slicers and burns from the cooks. A few splinters and things from builders. The odd twisted ankle from a runner."

She nodded, listening intently. Jeff continued.

"Creators send up what we need, if we're running low we send a note down in the box for the request. It's usually sent up with the next week's supplies, so we have to be ontop of inventory. When we get someone in I'll show you what to do and then let you do some hands-on work. Good that?"

Alex nodded with a smile. It was a slow morning; one young Glader came by for some ice, but was sent to the kitchen to collect it, with a note from Jeff. Frypan is very protective of his kitchen and the things in it. A slicer came by, Clint showed her how to clean, stitch and wrap it, when the next slicer came by he told her to try; he would watch and correct when needed. She washed her hands and then went straight to work, her hands almost working on their own.

"Hey Jeff...come here a second" Clint called, his mouth hanging open. Jeff came over to take a look, his mouth fell open.

"Holly shuck Alex! Where did you learn to do that? It's so neat and straight, it probably won't even leave a scar!" He was holding the gladers hand up and inspecting it from every angle.

"I don't know...it was just like I knew how to do it!" Alex said, shocked at herself, she didn't even hesitate.

Jeff looked at her stunned, "I haven't had anyone this good since Clint, and this easily outdoes him! By a lot!" He turned to Clint "No offense man!"

"Hey uh guys? Can I have my hand back? I gotta get back to work, Gally'll kill me if I take too long." the Glader asked. Jeff dropped his hand and dismissed him.

Alex called after him "Hey, keep it clean and dry and come back in a few days to remove the stitches!"

"No offense taken Jeffy! Shanket is a natural! And I don't think she needs any supervision! And speaking of! It's lunch." A loud bell was ringing from the kitchen. "And since you're the greenie...you get the first shift, we'll eat and you stay. There won't be anyone new. When we're done I'll switch off and you can go. Fry will keep a plate for you."

She nodded and started cleaning up her work area.

She continued to clean during her shift. She first cleaned off the table, all the garbage in the garbage bags, organizing clean unused medical supplies in bins, and buckets. She found a black marker and labeled them. She even made a box and labeled it: Travel Emergency kit. Then she folded all the towels and linens. And lastly she organized all the bottles. She was quite impressed with her work. It looked like a proper medical work room again, or maybe for the first time ever. She wasn't sure if the boys ever kept things cleaned- except Fry and his kitchen!

As she organized she made a list of things they didn't have and thought would be handy, like gloves, and sanitizer, and something to sterilize dirty and used supplies, antibiotics ect. Hot water and soap had worked for now to keep things clean but, better to have everything sterile. She was just putting the last labeled bin away when she saw a pre-loaded syringe, still sealed in their sterile cases. She gingerly picked it up and was studying them when the boys got back.

"Hey guys what's this?" She held up the syringes with blue liquid in them.

Jeff came over and took them, holding them gently. "These are only used in very extreme cases." He said seriously, "and even then...were not entirely sure what it is. We call it Greif serum. If a poor shank gets stabbed by a griever we have to get this into them as soon as possible...or they don't make it. But...the last few times, it hasn't worked." He shuddered.

"What do you mean...it hasn't worked? Also stabbed by a griever? Newt told me no one has ever seen one and lived to talk about a griever?!" Alex was very interested in this. Clint sat down at the now cleaned and scrubbed table.

"Well he's technically right. A few unlucky shanks at the beginning did see one, but were stabbed or poked with something- we call it a stinger- it injects them with some kind of poison. It makes the shank go crazy! One guy was so jacked, he went off on his best friend, looking like a shuck crazy animal. Alby had to stab the kid with a sharpened piece of wood, dude wound't stop! His friend escaped the MedJack hut and ran off into the maze the next day and we never saw him again. The second kid, we used one of these and he went even more nuts, if that's possible. He didn't make it either." Jeff paused, holding the syringes up, "This serum seems to help, now. The creators seemed to have figured out the proper dosages or whatever. I guess the creators used those other shanks as guinea pigs. Gally is the only other."

Her head was spinning. This was a lot of new information to take in. She sunk down at the end of one of the beds, the boys had her full attention.

"Ok, wait a bloody second! You're saying crazy death monsters inside the maze- they try to stab us, injecting poison. Creators have sent us some kind of serum antidote, but we don't really know if it works 100% and that's all we know, ya?"

The boys nodded "ya, sums it up nicely." Clint said gloomily.

"The bloody shuck is this place?!" Alex whispered in horror, she was at a loss for words.

Giant stone walls that close in the middle of a maze were bad enough, now add in bloodthirsty monsters...that had the option of killing you or poisoning you, whatever their fancy is at the moment. Or maybe the creators have control over them and the creeps behind the camera decide who lives and who dies.

Her blood ran cold, and she could feel the blood leae her face.

"Wait. You said Gally? If he was stung- or whatever- wouldn't he know?" Grabbing on that piece of information. Her curiosity peaked, and she sat up straight. Jeff nodded.

"Ya, he went outside the glade walls in like his first few months, got stung in the back." Clint said. Her eyes snapped to him, drinking in all the information.

"They can be quite sneaky buggers when they want. They snuck up on him. His builder crew heard him scream, Minho, Newt and the building crew pulled him back here. We had no choice, injected the serum. And he went through what we call the Changing. He then woke up and said he remembered. Won't talk or elaborate. And it also makes you a different person. Well Gally has always been short tempered, kinda a bully...but he's more so now than he used to be." Clint finished.

Jeff cleared his throat, turned to put the syringes away and only now noticed that the shelves were cleaned. "Nice job Alex. We can actually find things now!"

She showed them everything she did, and suggested a few things, like washing hands before and after. Also, throwing out garbage and used supplies. She also showed Jeff her suggestion list. Agreeing to send it down the box, he sent her for lunch. She met up with Fry in the kitchen, it was the end of the lunch hour so there were only a few stragling gladers left. She sat down to eat.

"So Alex, how's being a Med Jack?" Newt asked, he was limping over and sat down opposite her.

"It's great! It's something that feels right, feels natural. Also I organized and cleaned the hut. You guys, your organization is awful! And your hygiene is even worse! I'm surprised no one has had any major infections!"

After she was done eating, she wanted to take a quick walk around the glade in the sun, before heading back into the Med Hut. Newt decided to join her. They chatted about this and that, wondering what was outside the walls. Bark joined them, they took turns throwing a stick for her to chase. They had just rounded a corner, towards the construction area where the new Med Hut was going when they heard a loud crash and thud followed by screaming and yelling. Alex looked at Newt and they both ran towards the noise. Alex out ran Newt by a lot and made it to the commotion first, what she saw was truly horrifying.