THE TOUR
-
"and i've heard of a love that comes once in a lifetime."
• • •
ALBY WALKED THE GIRL OVER to where minho was standing, just outside the homestead, and then wandered off towards some gladers who seemed to be in a heated verbal argument.
"sleep well, shebean?" minho turned to lyn and asked.
the girl, wanting to have as little interaction with the boy as possible, simply replied, "yeah."
"doesn't seem like it. did ya wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"
"shut up. i'm here for a tour, not to make small talk."
minho laughed at her snarky comment. "lighten up a bit. now come on, we'll start over there," he told her calmly, pointing over to a little glass square in one part of the ivy-covered wall.
~
"this is why you don't go in the maze, alright? take a look." he took a step back from the glass cut-out and placed his hand on lyn's shoulder as she stepped up onto a rock so she could peek through the murky window, and they waited there for what lyn guessed was ten minutes. she was about to walk away and accuse minho of simply trying to make her stand there for an hour like an idiot when she felt minho turn her back around and start to get excited.
a sinister silhouette stalked closer to the clouded sheet of glass. even before it became a clear image, lyn heard the grinding sound of it pacing down the stone corridor. it kept getting closer and closer, and lyn could just about make out spikes sticking out of its back, making it appear as if it'd been stabbed with a spear through its torso fifty times, its grub and slime oozing down its body leaving a vile-looking trail behind its chilling shadow. she couldn't help but imagine the awful stench that must have been ensuing the creature. every few metres it rolled up into a ball and the girl felt obliged to bring her hands up to her face and rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't imagining it, it seemed so impossibly ludicrous.
whatever vulgar animal she'd laid her eyes upon was not natural, she knew that much. and whoever designed it, she decided, was an insane, sick psychopath looking for nothing but destruction. any normal person would never in a million years dream of throwing a group of teenagers into a hopeless situation of being trapped in a maze with a merciless, spider-like creature. but then again, there they were. that's fake. it must be, she told herself in her head.
minho looked at her as if she'd said something, but looked away immediately when he saw her lips hadn't moved from their trembling position that seeing the monster had put them in.
"what d'ya think?"
"it's... ugly."
"the window must be a mirror then." minho laughed at his own joke, causing lyn to roll her eyes yet again at his immaturity.
"ha, ha, ha, i'm laughing so much right now," she told him with the straightest face she could manage. "and to be honest, at first i thought i was just looking at a picture of you."
this time minho was the one to roll his eyes and he crossed his arms as he did so. lyn noticed he crossed his arms a lot. "it's a griever. they're always out in the maze at night — sometimes during the day too. and that, shebean, is why you will not be making a trip outside the glade anytime soon."
lyn felt slightly startled by that new information. "what do they do to you? do they eat you?" her eyes widened at the thought of one of those beasts gobbling up a human, and it sent a shiver down her spine.
"they sting you with their little metal pincers. lucky we have a serum, but you'll still go through the changing." he noticed her baffled look and continued: "you're unconscious for a bit. you get a few memories, at least that's what we think they are. they could just be things the creators put in our minds to drive us even more mad, since most of the "memories" don't seem to be happy ones, and they've already obviously been able to get into our minds somehow. but whatever they are, and whatever happens in the changing, you do not want to go through it."
she nodded hesitantly. "that sounds awful. maybe i won't be going in there any time soon."
"yeah, too right you won't. gally's been through it; one of the reasons he hates thomas so much. apparently he saw him in one of those 'memories'. mad one, gally. well anyway, enough of all that. i'll take you round to wave ben and leo off since they're running the maze today, and then i'll introduce you to some of the other gladers."
~
ben and leo were stood by the door on the north wall, about to leave. the pair ran up to them just as the stone started to rumble once again, and they were met with a happy greeting from the two runners.
"hey, lyn. how's your tour been? has minho been an alright guide?"
"it's been good thank you, ben. and yeah, minho's the best," lyn muttered, hoping he'd pick up on her attempt at sarcasm.
"we'd better get off. bye, minho! bye, lyn!" leo said, and they waved them both off as they ran through the huge gap in the towering wall.
~
minho then walked her up to the kitchen, where she assumed she'd be eating breakfast. there was a tall boy cooking numerous strips of bacon, and as the warm aroma filled her nostrils it made her feel like she was actually at home, no matter how far from it she really was.
"nice to see you greenie! i'm frypan. that's not my real name of course, but it's stuck ever since we got here. anyway, breakfast?"
lyn thanked him as he handed her a plate, and she walked over slowly to a table, careful not to spill any of her food, and took a seat beside newt and opposite thomas. minho sat diagonally across from her, next to thomas, and chuck joined the group soon after they'd started tucking in.
the food melted in her mouth and she savoured every bite, all while listening in to the boys' conversation happening around her and chiming in between mouthfuls.
"so greenie, how's your date with minho going?" newt asked playfully, nudging her arm gently as she scowled at him. she heard him wince slightly as minho kicked his shin under the table, making her smile to herself slightly.
"are you mental?" she asked laughing, and made a gagging noise to prove her point.
minho smirked, before announcing, "i'm too good for her newt, you know that."
lyn raised an eyebrow at his obviously untrue comment and continued wolfing down her breakfast.
once she was done, which took only a matter of minutes, she said goodbye to the boys and stood up with minho again.
~
before she knew it, she'd been dragged over to meet the keeper of the slicers, winston. pigs and goats and chickens were making various noises in their pens as he introduced himself to the girl. "i'm winston, keeper of the slicers." he held out his hand expectantly for her to shake, and as she did she could feel his sweaty, blooded palms underneath hers. she wondered what all the blood-staining plastered across his arm was, but assumed they were just injuries he'd obtained from working around the glade that he hadn't yet got cleaned up.
lyn had a decent conversation with the slicer until minho whispered to her that she was stood beside next week's breakfast and once she realised what he meant, she decided she wasn't eager to stick around — and then it hit her what the blood on winston really was. she said goodbye to the kind boy, animal murderer or not, and hurried off in front of minho as he pointed her towards zart, who was stood talking with a few other gardeners.
meeting the rest of the keepers was a blur, and before she knew it she was already back at frypan's kitchen with her stomach howling for lunch.
sat again with the friendly group from earlier, she got more familiar with thomas during the meal of ham, cheese and mayonnaise sandwiches. after one bite lyn decided she didn't like the mayonnaise very much, and newt took it without hesitation and scraped it all off for her, dumping it on his sandwich instead.
"i don't understand how you don't like it, lyn," he told her as he used a knife to remove the dressing from the bread. he didn't seem to mind however, since he clearly enjoyed the mayonnaise and wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to get extra. "thanks though." he said as he passed the sandwich back to her.
lyn laughed and responded, "you're very welcome, newt."
newt turned to the rest of the boys sat with them and suddenly said, "ya know, i think we should ask the creators for a chess set. we can play it and do little tournaments."
chuck just stared at him blankly, not knowing what on earth chess was, let alone how to play it.
"where's that idea come from?" thomas contributed.
"i don't know. i just think i'd be good at it."
minho let out a grunt, before muttering, "i'd be better." his cockiness showed through in everything he said, lyn thought, but no matter how much she hated herself for even thinking he could be anything but obnoxious, she couldn't tell whether it was attractive or repulsive.
either way, she refused to let her thoughts wander any further, rising from her seat and wandering off to find something to do for the rest of the day since the tour was over.