Two months ago I entered the Glade without a single memory, frightened, overwhelmed, and alone. It had been sixty one days and I still couldn't remember a single moment before I had arrived in the Glade, and yet in just sixty one days I was filled to the brim with new memories. Some of them were good; like the time the boys and I spent an entire day playing an extreme version of tag out in the rain, or the evenings I spent alone, just lying in the grass and looking up at the stars. And some of them were bad, like the day Gally got hurt, or the day I had spent caged inside the Pit.
It had been sixty one days, and maybe I was still a little frightened. I was scared of snakes. I was scared of the Grievers. I was always on edge after what Mikey had done, although I still didn't know why. I was scared to lose the people I had come to care for. I was still scared of the Box. But I was no longer scared about how I was going to survive. I was no longer overwhelmed by every little piece of information that was thrown my way. That felt like progress.
It had been sixty one days, and I still felt alone, although it was a different kind of loneliness. No matter what I did, now matter how well they treated me, there was always going to be some small divide, even if it was just a biological one . I wished it didn't matter, but it did. There were things they would never understand about me, as there were many things I would never understand about them. But, one thing I had learned in such a short span of time, was that in the end that doesn't really make much of a difference as long as we were supportive of each other, and we had empathy for each other. And in that way, I supposed that I was less lonely. I was their equal, and that was clear the moment I was finally able to open up to them . As much as I hated the creators for putting me in the maze, I often found myself thanking them for putting me there with Newt, Gally, Zart; in some ways I was lucky. They were my friends, and the closest thing that I might have ever had to family.
It had been sixty one days and that meant it was time for a new Greenie. Once again, my hopes to have another female in the glade were sadly dashed. Ben was the next to appear in the Box. My first impression of him was the same I had of Minho. Scared out of his mind, a loose canon, a bit arrogant, and hungry as hell. Between the two of them they probably could have swallowed all of our crops in an hour. It was no surprise to anyone that they had become close friends in a matter of seconds. They bonded over their love of food, being the two newest members of the glade, and above all else, teasing me. Of course Minho's antics were something I had gotten used to. He was more like a big brother than a total nuisance like he had been when I was first getting to know him. He spent a good deal of time that day teaching Ben how to push my buttons.
But, while it was nice to have a fresh face in the glade, Ben's arrival was easily the most dull thing that happened on Box Day. The more exciting development was the goats. Yes, Ben came up with a pair of goats, and we spent all day talking about the what we were going to do about our new friends.
"Look I'm telling you guys," Minho began. We were all sitting around the fire pit after dinner attempting to wind down from a long day; Everyone except for Mikey who never spent much time around any of us anymore. I sat with Newt and Gally to my left, and Bach to right. Everyone else, including Minho, sat on the other side of the empty fire pit. "Let's just fry 'em up right now! I am so tired of eating lettuce, corn and rabbit." Zart, Newt and I all rose eyebrows at the Runner. "It's not that I don't appreciate vegetables okay? But I need meat, real meat."
"We can't kill them," Newt said rationally. "They're no good to us if they're dead."
"I beg to differ," Gally smirked. "I think they'll taste pretty freaking good."
"You know what else tastes good? Goat's milk," Zart pointed out. "If you kill them now they'll be good for one or two meals. If we keep them longer we can use their milk. Not just to drink, but for cooking too."
"Exactly," Newt agreed.
"Yeah, but-"
"Has anybody bothered to check the sex?" I asked. Each of the boys eyes opened wide, they blushed, and promptly looked away, accept for Alby who attempted to retain his composure. "I'm just saying, if we've got one male and one female we can breed them."
"Jo's, right," Alby agreed. "A female can't produce milk if she doesn't have babies to provide milk for."
"How do you know that?" Zart perked up. Alby simply shrugged.
"Well I'm not gonna touch the goat's...thing," Minho said.
I rolled my eyes at his immaturity. "Seriously?" Alby and I spoke simultaneously.
"What if one of them like, kicks me in the face or something?" he replied.
"Really Minho? You can run in and out of the maze every other day, but you you're scared of a goat?" Zart smirked, amused at himself.
"Well, if you're so brave why don't you do it," Minho egged Zart on.
"I'm not gonna do it!" Zart exclaimed. "Who cares about it hurting me, I'm afraid, I'll hurt it."
"Yeah, because you're sooo strong," Minho rolled his eyes, and each of us chuckled, except for Bach who stood out of great frustration.
"Oh for- I'll do it!" He proclaimed. "Where are they?" Our eyes began to search. The sun had already begun to set, leaving a beautiful orange glow around the Glade, but making it harder to see the details in the open area.
"Maybe we should split up?" Ben suggested. "Divide and conquer?"
"Good idea, Greenie," Alby approved, with a pat on Ben's shoulder.
"Jo and I will take the area by the North doors," Bach said.
I was taken slightly aback by his the idea. Bach had never been close to anyone, especially not me. "Oh," I said, but quickly attempted not to sound surprised. "Sure."
"Gally, you want to pair up?" Newt asked.
Gally nodded, "You sure you want the kid with the sprained ankle, Newt?"
"Two kids with bad legs is better than one I suppose," Newt joked and then turned to Alby. "We'll take the South."
"Minho, you want to hit up the East?" Ben offered. "I don't know where that is, so I may need a hand."
"Sounds good to me," Minho sighed, shaking the Greenie's hand with a smirk. "But you gotta promise to protect me from those scary goats!"
"I'll protect you with my life," Ben entertained hitting his chest with his fist. It was nice to see someone who had assimilated into the group so quickly. Unlike Minho and I, Ben seemed to take the "no memories and being locked inside a maze" thing rather well.
"I guess that means I'm with Alby," Zart said.
"The West it is," Alby agreed.
We each split up into our objective areas. Bach and I walked casually toward the North Doors keeping a lookout for our new furry friends. "So..." I said attempting to spark up some sort of conversation."
"So, what?" Bach said plainly.
"I don't know," I replied. "You know me, never been the best with small talk."
"Silence doesn't have to be uncomfortable, you know. If you don't feel the need to talk, don't." Bach began walking at twice the time of his original pace.
"Okay, then..."
The sun had dimmed almost fully as we made our way through the small cornfield. When we reached the end, Bach pushed his head out of the tall corn plants to look out out at the rest of the Gardens. "Shit," I heard him whisper under his breath.
"What?" I peaked my own head out, in an attempt to see his point of view. "Shit," I spoke in a regular volume. One of the them, the smaller black haired goat with white around the ears, snout, and just under its belly, had gotten into the crops; chewing nonchalantly into our root vegetables.
I was about to take step forward when I felt Bach's hand quickly grip around my wrist. "Shhh," he breathed out and then whispered, "Wait. We don't wanna spook it."
"It's getting into our crops!" I whispered back frantically.
"Yeah, I can see that." He took a moment to think, peeking his head out to look at the goat once more. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. We split up, I'll take one side of the field, you take the other, and we quietly make our way toward the little beast, and when we get close enough, we grab it by the horns."
"What if we hurt it?"
"I'm a little more concerned about it hurting us, and our food supply at the moment," Bach was quick to point out.
I groaned begrudgingly, "Yeah, alright. Let's go."
"You stay here. I'll move around," Bach ordered. I watched him disappear back into the center of the cornfield. I turned around, looking off at our new friend, and smiling at its innocence. Despite the frustration of the goat making a meal of our hard work, there was something rather peaceful about watching this adorable creature behave naturally in our habitat. I wished I had the same kind of ignorance about my surroundings.
Bach popped into my peripheral vision from several yards away. My eyes followed his frame quietly and sneakily make his way to the other side of the field. His face was concentrated as his eyes locked onto mine and gave me solid head nod. Moving as slowly and gently as I could, I made my way out of the corn plants and into our rooted crops. My gaze continues to shift between the goat and Bach, just checking to make sure we were on the same page.
When we made it about two feet away from the goat Bach gave me another nod signaling me to make a leap for the goats horns. Just as I was about to jump, the goats small head turned upward from the crops. He- or she was looking at me.
"What are you doing?" Bach whispered sharply.
I ignored him, stepping closer to our new friend. It was more beautiful and calm up close then it had been from far away.
"Jo..."
"Shhh..." I said both to calm Bach and the goat. I crouched to the ground, my hands leaning into the dirt. I gripped my hands around one of the green stems rooted in the soild and briskly pulled out a carrot. I reached out to the animal. It hesitated for a moment, sniffing out the end of the orange vegetable, running it's nostrils all over it before it began to nibble. I let out a silent giggle at the goats enthusiasm for the fresh food. Pulling my other hand out of the dirt I began to pet its side, doing my best to keep it relaxed. It's soft hair weaved through my fingers as I felt their breath moving their chest up and down, at a slow and rhythmic pace. "You can look now," I said to Bach.
"Huh?" he said. I hadn't noticed because I was to focused on the goat, but Bach had been staring intently at me.
"The sex," I said. Keeping one hand on the animal, and the other hand on the half chewed charrot. "Check the sex."
"Oh right," Bach shook his head back into reality and peeked underneath the goats stomach. "I think it's a girl," he said bending his body down a little farther. "Yep, definitely a girl."
I grinned even wider, "Well hello there," I said warmly to my new friend. "Bach, go find Alby. And bring a rope."
"A rope?"
I nodded, "To make a leash. We can tie her up to a tree tonight so she doesn't get into any more of our food source, and then hopefully the builders can start getting to work on a fenced area for her and her pal tomorrow." I made a quick glance up in his direction. "Go," I insisted. He rushed off as I directed my attention back to the goat.
"You like carrots, huh?" I asked as she start to really chomp down on the carrot. "I'm more of a potato girl myself, but to each their own I guess." She paused for a moment and let out the cutest little sneeze. "Gazuntite!" I giggled. She finished up the rest the carrot, and I let my other hand move the other side of her body, to comfort her more. "You know, if you're gonna be our new neighbor, you're gonna need name."
"Jo," my thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Alby with a rope in hand. Zart was only a few feet behind him, followed by Gally and Newt.
"Hey," I said. "Go ahead and just gently tie a loose knot around her neck."
"Her?" Newt raised an eyebrow.
"Well, that's good," Zart patted Alby''s shoulder. "We've got a male and a female."
"You caught the other one?" I asked.
"Not exactly," Alby said as he bent down next to me and the goat and formed the rope around her neck.
"Minho and Ben got a quick second to look at him, and then the poor thing got scared and started chasing after them," Newt said.
"Chasing after them?" I asked rhetorically with a giggle. "Yeah, that sound right."
"There," Alby finished the knot. "I'll take her over to the homestead. Seeing as your so good at this, why don't you go help Minho and Ben with the other little guy."
"Sure." I stood and as I did so, I started to hear the sound of Minho's voice from the other side of the Glade.
"Get back here!" The male goat came dashing out of the field. Minho came barreling through next.
"Oh come on!" Ben shouted not too far behind the Runner. He quickly caught up with him, running into Minho causing them both to trip and fall. It didn't take them long to get off their feet to go after the male goat again.
"Well, at least their chasing him now," Zart shrugged as we all laughed at the two boys frantically running across the Glade.
Through his own laughter Newt said, "I'd definitely say that's an improvement!"