Tired of Running

2|| glowing eyes

// open up your
eyes and see;
the clouds above
will hold you,
the clouds above
will sing \\

•
A warm breeze blew through the glade, tossing Harper's hair in every direction. Newt and Minho had already disappeared into the maze and Winston was busy with his slicer duties- something she really didn't want to be a part of. Being assigned as "med-jack" didn't really turn out to be anything. Being the doctor of sort in the glade sounded like a good job- except no one ever got hurt, therefore there was no reason for her to play doctor. She watched Gally from the distance, trying to hold a board up and nail it at the same time. Harper had already learned that Gally wasn't one to be overly friendly to the newbie. In her first day, he had yelled at her about getting in the way and then nearly decapitated her with a board- she convinced herself it was an accident. Sighing, and seeing nothing better to do, she pushed her hair out of her face and walked over to Gally. Probably the stupidest thing she could have done, but she was bored and he looked like he needed help.

Harper just stood there quietly, watching him, partially too scared to say anything.
Gally, noticing someone watching him straightened up, looking at her.
"Can I help you?" He dropped the hammer, looking at the girl expectantly. Harper stood up straighter, not going to let him bully her again. "You looked like you needed help..."
Gally's eyebrows relaxed, his face softening.
He looked at the girl with a confused look on his face, "Hand me that board..."
Without another word, he turned back around and picked up the hammer again.

Harper held up the boards while he nailed them in place. "So what are you building?"
Gally shook his head, smiling, "You ask a lot of questions..." He turned and faced her as he grabbed more nails, "It's a tower- just to see everything going on in the glade. Alby's orders." Harper nodded as she grabbed another board.  "It's really not so bad here..."
Gally gave Harper an odd look, "Yeah."
He laughed, the sarcasm thick. 
"No I'm serious.  I mean, we have a little group, a way of living, and we're safe insid—"
Gally put his hand up, stopping her,
"Listen to me, greenie."  Harper took a step back, surprised at his sudden change of tone.
"Whatever shuck fantasy you're living in, you need to wake up right now.  This place is hell.  We're about as far from safe as we could be.  The maze only locks the monsters inside.  They're free to attack us whenever the runners go inside."  Harper's mind raced; monsters- so there was more than just the changing walls that she heard at night.  "We've lost so many boys.  They grow panicked, depressed- they run blindly into the maze, breaking our rules; they end it, not seeing a way out...  We've had mostly dark days.  The reason you think it's so peaceful now is because we created rules, we demand order."  Gally sighed, his eyes softening to the girl, "As long as you follow our rules and stay with us, you'll be fine..."

Harper nodded, her heart now heavy, her head full of information.  Suddenly she didn't feel so eager to be building a tower.  Handing the last board to Gally, she turned and walked toward the homestead.  It was a shifty building, held up solely by thin poles held together by more poles and twigs.  The roof was entirely leaves and cloth; for what the boys had available, it was an impressive establishment.  Alby was inside, talking to two other boys.  Their voices dropped as they all turned to look at the girl.
"Hey, green bean..." 
Harper returned a weak smile and turned back to the door, regretting she interrupted a meeting. 

   A scream broke through her thoughts and a stampede of boys were sprinting towards the blood shed.  "Great..." Harper muttered, picking up the pace herself.  She skidded to a stop next to Gally; wishing the sight in front of her wasn't real.  Winston stood next to James, mouth open in horror as James held his blood covered hand.  His right hand was dripping in fresh red blood, the tops of two of his fingers completely missing.  Several of the boys gasped, some of them even gagging.  Harper, snapped back into reality and pushed to the front, remembering her job was to deal with bleeding boys. 

    With an arm tightly wrapped around James's shoulder, the other pressing his arm tightly against his chest, Harper rushed James over to her medical room.  Gally followed right behind her, pushing the door open for her. 
She sat him down inside the homestead, immediately digging for the bandages.  James moaned, squeezing his injured hand tightly; more blood spilled out the tighter he squeezed.  "Let go...  Here," she gently grabbed his wrist, resting his arm across her leg.  Blood already stained her light grey pants.  Harper wrapped the boy's fingers as he cried out in pain; she thought he was being a bit dramatic.  As she tightened the bandage, James yelped and shoved her away roughly.  Harper glared at him, smacking his good hand away, "If you would cut up the meat and not your hand, I wouldn't be doing this."  Gally snickered, giving Harper an approving smirk. 

    Harper dumped water on her hands, cleaning the blood off.  She sighed, looking down at her clothes.  She looked like she had been stabbed.  Huffing, she set back towards the homestead; she would not be staying in these clothes.  On her way, Minho and Newt crossed her path, both sweat covered and breathing hard.  "Whoa!"  Minho slid to a stop, staring at Harper with wide eyes, "What the shuck did you do?"  Harper gave a breathy laugh, "James sliced off a few fingers..."
Newt raised his eyebrows, looking the girl up and down, making sure the blood wasn't hers.
Minho shook his head, "Those shanks aren't too careful with sharp objects."