The First Glader | The Maze Runner || Newt x OC

Chapter 3: Two Peas in a Pod

"Monsters? What... exactly do you mean?"

Alby stopped planting some of the vegetables in the garden and gave a skeptical look at Rowan, who was doing the same thing a couple of feet away.
It had been almost twenty-four hours since Alby had arrived in the peculiar box and met Rowan, the strange, unhinged, beat-up girl who had pulled him out. In a very short time, he had gotten used to her dry sarcasm. Although weirdly, he could feel the security and reassurance that radiated off her. He didn't feel as troubled thanks to her remarks. Yet yesterday, he had also been ready to strangle this girl to death. No matter how many questions he asked- which were a lot- she would beat around the bush and divert the conversation. He knew she was doing it on purpose. So, ultimately, he resigned to her shenanigans and took the few pieces of information she provided before going to sleep in a hammock that was hung beside hers.

The next day, she woke him up early, and the first thing she did was show him around the "glade." It was a five-minute tour, max. They then went back to the vegetable garden, focused on getting their breakfast, when she randomly started answering his questions from the day before in order.

"That's right. They're like massive 'spiders,' in a way. Their legs are like metallic blades or something- and make a mechanical churning sound, you can hear them from afar. They scream loudly- like a grief. Hell, I still have nightmares- and they're fast. Very fast... their bodies are slimy and mucky, truly disgusting." Rowan shook her head and dramatized the shiver running down her spine, although the underlying fear she felt was pretty real. She looked back at him, shaking the dirt off her hands. "Look right here," she said as she unwrapped her neck bandage. "This was the little welcome present they gave me on my first day here."

Alby winced at the brownish-red scar traveling across her neck and all the way to her back. It wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but it looked terribly painful. The injury was healing properly, but it was still a shocking sight.

"How?" he asked quietly.

"From behind. I'm not kidding when I tell you those things are fast. A little slower, and you could have woken up alone in here, too." Rowan laughed at her joke, which did not land on Alby. Her smile twitched.

Rough audience, huh...

Alby cleared his throat and followed. "So... a glade... surrounded by a maze... where terrifying monsters that kill on sight roam. Plus, there's no one else here besides us, and a box that sends supplies every week?"

...

"What about yesterday? When the walls closed and today opened, can those things get out?"

Rowan shook her head. "Nope, not thus far. The walls close and open every day. And those things don't come out during the day as of now. For the first week, I couldn't even set foot anywhere near the maze. I realized you wouldn't hear them during the day, so after I measured the time exactly, I decided to venture it. After all, it's probably the only way out of this place. In the supplies sent, there was also stuff for running, almost as if it was a hint that we must explore the maze. So I started to run and map it with those." Rowan pointed at the small stack of notebooks close to the shelter and on top of the supply containers. Then she tapped the watch around her wrist. "And I use this one to make sure I always come back in time before the walls close."

Alby sighed, his nod following her explanations. "So we get out through the maze... okay... apart from the monsters, it doesn't sound too bad, right? They only come out at night? Then it won't take us long before we find a way out."

Rowan stared at Alby's faint, hopeful smile. It wasn't that she didn't hold hope, but this month had made her realize it wasn't as easy as it seemed.

"Don't want to burst your bubble, but I think you're underestimating the size of it... Also, did you not hear the loud rumbling last night?"