Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

2. The glade

"What happened to them?" The dark blond boy Gally had called Nick came in.
Clint shook his head. "I don't know. But the injuries are a little older. Someone did this to them and he was clearly after the girl."
"The creators don't seem to be very positive..." I didn't realise Nick was followed by a black boy. They must have been about 17 or 18, while I thought the others were more like 16.
How old was I actually? I did not know.
"I am Alby," he said. "And when you're settled, I'll show you the glade, shall I?"
We nodded, and Alby and the boy I'd come in with waited for Clint to finish with me. He decided that the wound on my forehead would have to be stitched up afterwards, otherwise the skin would not grow back together properly. So he washed off the dried blood, disinfected the wound and started to stitch it up with a few stitches. I squeezed my eyes together, as it hurt quite a lot, but tried not to flinch too often to not look weak.
Finally he was finished and gave the go for us to leave. Gally helped me up and then went back to work himself, as he said. So I was alone with the two boys.
First Alby led us to a hut that smelled like food. A boy, also black, was standing in a kind of kitchen, yelling at something.
"Fry Pan, these are our new Greenbeans. Folks, this is Fry Pan, our cook."
Fry Pan bowed to us and I thought he looked very nice. I smiled at him and he smiled back at once.
"You must be starving, skinny as you look. But lunch will take a little longer. Would you like an apple?" He offered us two apples and we accepted them gratefully. I felt like I hadn't eaten for days.
"Thank you, Fry Pan. I'm Anna."
Alby and the chef exchanged glances and looked at me with raised eyebrows.
"It's new that someone remembers their name so quickly," Alby explained.
I looked at him confused. "Is that a bad thing?"
But he shook his head. "No, that's good, I think."
Still, I couldn't help noticing the looks the two of them were still throwing at each other. I felt a little uncomfortable, but I convinced myself that they would not hurt me just because I remembered my name.
We said goodbye to Fry Pan and walked towards some sort of fields where some of the gladers were working, including the boy with the brown eyes that had confused me. For some reason, my heart jumped when he came to us after he discovered us.
"So - this is Newt, my deputy. He helps out here and there, apparently he's with the track-hoes today."
Newt held out a hand to greet me, and I was so fascinated by his eyes again at first that I reacted too late, which certainly looked funny. But he just smiled at me and shook my hand with a swing. He also shook hands with the other boy.
"Newt, this is Anna. And this one doesn't know his name yet."
When Alby said my name, it looked for a moment as if Newt flinched slightly, but I was sure I was just imagining it. Why would he do that?
"Well, so these are the gardens. We grow fruits and vegetables and are currently trying to grow cereals, but it's not that easy. One day, maybe sometime corn will come up with the box, we are still waiting for that. Until then, we'll have to make do with what we have.
"Looks great," said the boy next to me and I nodded.
Alby shrugged his shoulders. "How to take it. So: You can choose a job, apart from Frys, who does it best when he's alone. Option number one is the track-toes, or as we would normally call them, the gardeners. We haven't explained a real keeper here yet, so Newt would probably be your contact person".
I looked into the brown eyes again and my stomach was tingling in a funny way.
Now pull yourself together!
Without another word Alby went on and we followed him. Newt stayed behind and when I turned around again, I caught him still standing there just like before and looking after me. When our eyes met, he quickly looked away and then turned around.
In the meantime we had arrived at Gally's, who was visibly busy finishing the roof of a small hut.
"Gally is our only builder so far, so we appointed him as the keeper. He is doing a really good job. This might not be the most suitable job for a girl, but if you feel like it..." He looked at the other boy. I felt a little discriminated against because he judged me on the basis of my gender, but I said nothing.
"How far along are you?" he asked Gally.
"Your hut is almost ready. Then I'll start with Newts, probably tonight. And then when I'm finished with it sometime and we get more material, I can start with my own." He jumped down to us and grinned at me broadly. "Well, what do you think so far?"
I smiled back. "Yeah, you've got it really nice here. I couldn't have imagined a better place to wake up without memories."
That wasn't quite true, but I didn't know whether to tell Alby that I had known Gally before.
But he got there first. "Looks like you finally got her back."
I saw a smile flit across his face as he pointed his head in my direction.
He knew about this?
"Yes, I did." Gally took me in his arms again and I enjoyed being near him. Apparently I had missed him very much, without being able to remember.
Alby nodded knowingly and then meant for us to follow him. As we walked to a shed that was a bit off the beaten track, he said: "Perhaps it would be better if you kept what you just heard to yourself. I don't know how Nick would react to this story with you and Gally." He looked from me to the boy and we both nodded.
"I'm not telling anybody anything," he said.
"Nobody else knows but Newt and me. So keep your mouth shut."
We reached the shed and I immediately noticed a slight smell of decay. A boy with a light dark skin came towards us and held out a bloody hand to me. I looked at him with big eyes and only now did he seem to notice what his hand looked like.
"Oh, sorry, occupational disease." He laughed and I smiled at him in astonishment.
"This is Winston, keeper of the slicers. They slaughter the animals here that we don't use for milk production or wool, but for food. - It's not for everyone."
He was absolutely right. As nice as Winston looked, no one could talk me into this job.
Alby seemed to notice that I was not feeling well and we continued our tour after saying goodbye to Winston.