Work Text:
‹ Three Years Earlier ›
A loud rattling startles the poor girl awake, she frantically blinks, sitting up and surveying the area. She was in a cage. A moving cage. It was surrounded by cement walls that had red flashing lights protruding from it.
"Help." She tried to scream but it came out in a hoarse whisper, the lack of water tearing her throat apart and leaving a dry barren waste land in it's sted.
A sudden groan sent her reeling into the corner of the ascending cage. Her gaze meeting the body across from her. Something was wrong, this couldn't be normal.
She studied the body in silence, her mind raced with questions - Who was she? Who was the person across from her? Why were they here? Who sent them? Did they chose this? Why couldn't she remember?
Another groan silenced her thought as she held her breath. His eyes fluttered open and moments later he was sitting upwards and breathing fast as the panic set in. The figure stumbled to a stand and looked around as he tried to slow his breathing, his eyes frantic and dancing around the cage.
"Who are you?" She demanded, trying to keep the hoarseness from her voice as she gathered her courage. His head snapped towards her and he stumbled backwards into the opposite corner, falling over crates and landing with his legs in the air against the crates while his head smashed into the vertice of the cage.
"Ow!" He grumbled, his lanky build struggling to remove himself from his predicament.
"I could ask you the same thing," he spoke, finally manoeuvring himself into a more comfortable position, his back against the wall and his legs against his chest.
"I asked first," she muttered, rolling her eyes, her throat too arid for this much conversation.
"Where are we?" He questioned, deflecting her earlier question, she shrugged, "Better question would be: why are we here?" she spoke observing their surroundings. The box still hadn't come to a stop or even slowed.
They sat in silence, both refusing to acknowledge the other any further. It seemed to have lasted hours, their stare down speaking louder than either of them had.
She stood, realising that he was no threat - he had no weapons and seemed too scared to try anything - she moved over towards the crates closer to herself and began to try and pry them open, curiously. She really hoped for a hairband or a bottle of water.
"What are you doing? What if something deadly is within that?" The male growled, standing to his feet and stomping towards her, he tried to peel her prying hands from the plain wooden box and yet she wouldn't budge - instead opting to stomp on his foot.
He jumped and took a step back, "What was that for?" He shouted, "Stay on your side!" She sneered in her hoarse voice, she really needed something to drink and she really needed to get out of this humid cage.
"There are no sides!" He hissed, stepping closer once more. She growled something incoherent and he ignored her, opting to help her instead. They managed to release the crate of it's lid, "See, nothing dangerous," she boasted with smug smirk and he rolled his eyes, grumbling about her arrogance. Inside the crate lay satchels of seeds, hay, a shovel and a few sticks. She couldn't bother with her search anymore and thought about returning to her corner, the heat was making her sight fuzzy
"Hey! What's your name?" She calmly huffed out as he turned to return to his corner, he shrugged in answer, "I-ah. I can't remember," he spoke and she nodded, "me either," she solemnly whispered before deciding to retire to her own corner.
Sweat trickling down their necks, and fluttering eyes, the pair dozed off to the incessant rattling in the humid box, bored of the solemn silence and unanswered questions that hung in the air - threatening to block their windpipes and squeeze their throats until their eyes popped from their skulls.
«★»
"WICKED is Good"
She woke with a jump at the sound of a foreign voice. She rubbed her eyes before noticing the lights had stopped flickering. Instead the cage was drenched in darkness and had stopped moving. A pit began to form in her stomach, but she willed herself to stand as she knew the floor wouldn't be generous enough to swallow her whole. She slowly shuffled towards where she believed the boy to be but instead heard voices over head.
Her breath caught in her throat and she fumbled towards the open box, jumping inside and sliding the lid above her. She cramped in as much as possible without hurting herself against the shovel and sticks, listening to the shouting.
She heard the boy mumble something as he woke, not long after she heard him shuffling, "Hey!" He hissed, trying to look for her in the dark. She contemplated saying something but figured her chances of survival where better if she stayed quiet.
The shouts got louder and she heard the boy's breath begin to quicken. She couldn't leave him to face whatever was above them alone, "Hide!" She hissed, moving the lid slightly, "Why? They could help!" He hissed, "They could not! I don't feel like dying! I'd rather escape instead of getting eaten!" She hissed back before sliding the lid back over the box.
«★»
The boy huffed, hiding between two crates that had a blanket thrown over the top of them. The girl was right, there was a higher chance that whoever put them in the cage was shipping them off for a bad reason.
Above the cage creaked as something was pulled open, grunts following it. He'd made up his mind, they were going to be eaten by savages.
"No Greenie?" "That's gotta be a bad sign Alby!" "We never have no shucking Greenie!" "What? No Greenie!" "Where's the Shucking Greenie?" "There's more supplies than normal!" "Alby!" "This is bad!"
«★»
Multiple voices could be heard through the box top, they sounded panicked, this really wasn't looking good for her or the other guy. Were they gonna get eaten?
"Quiet Down!" Someone shouted and silence consumed them, she held her breath, "He's probably just hiding, you shucks remember coming up in this klunking thing," the same voice spoke before she felt the cage bounce as someone jumped in, they weren't after her. They wanted him.
She really wanted the tiny bit of relief to swallow her whole but instead the pit in her stomach was dug deeper as she worried for the guy. Anything could happen. He was in the same boat as her, it would be cruel to hand him over to the savages with their weird native language while he had no memory or recollection of who he once was.
«★»
He tried not to stumble as the man jumped into the cage but he couldn't help it, his lanky limbs were too much for a 16 year-old who was trying to hide. He fell backwards and heard a shout, "Behind them crates! Under that tarp!" Someone shouted and the tarp was ripped from over his head. He let out a shout of fear before backing into the corner, a tall coloured skinned man - in about his mid 20s - was stood on the opposite side of the crates holding the tarp.
«★»
"You don't need to be scared, Greenie," he tries to sound soothing but his gruff voice was too harsh, "My name's Alby," he introduced but the boy was still curled into the corner, "I know your scared, we've all been there but it's time to get up and do something about it," Alby spoke.
"Drop the rope!" Alby spoke as the lanky boy stood and shuffled towards his out stretched hand. A rope was dropped and the boy was pulled up, Alby followed shortly after, "Give him some space!" Alby spoke as the Gladers crowded the poor Greenie, they immediately gave him some space but still hovered around him in a makeshift circle.
«★»
He was crowded and even if he didn't trust them yet they seemed a little safer than what he thought they were going to be like.
"Hurl up the supplies!" Alby called, and panic rised in his throat, she was still down there. What would they do if they found her?
But he could only watch as two people dropped down and started to hand the supplies to the others, the others stacking them beside the cage.
He worried for the girl, there seemed to be no other girl around. What happened to the other girls? Surely there would be more.
Her box was pulled up and he slowly gravitated towards it - unnoticed as everyone pitched in to help - her box was placed down but it hadn't lasted 3 seconds before she toppled it over and crawled out, standing up and grabbing his hand before taking off in a sprint.
"There's another Greenie!" Someone shouted, "We've got a pair of runners!" Someone else shouted, "Two Greenies?" Another person shouted.
«★»
She ignores the shouting, her blood pumping in her ears as she ran towards the first exit she could see.
Looking over her shoulder briefly she could see them following her, "Split up! It'll be harder to catch us both!" She shouted and the boy tried to protest but she'd already let go and started running towards another exist
«★»
Without her hand he stumbled a bit before finding his balance, he raced towards the exist, the blood pumping in his ears, his lungs burning and his legs unsteady. He was almost there when he heard a shout, "Stop!" He looked back to see half the group following him.
He turned around and stumbled as he treaded on a large root, he tried to find his balance but instead fell, just a few feet too short of the exit.
By the time he stood up and was ready to take off again he was crowded.
"Got a nice pair of chops!" "Actually thought you were gonna make it before you fell on your face!" "Not a runner!" "Definitely a Runner, he's fast!" "Just a little lanky!" "He'll get better!" "He's been cramped in the box! Leave him alone!" "He's a runner!"
They chanted, insulted, complimented and fought over the boy. He didn't understand what was happening but he figured he'd leave it at that. Instead opting to watch his firey friend.
«★»
She could hear the others shouting, glancing over she knew he'd been caught. She turned back as saw the others following her, she turned towards the exit again and began to run faster, her throat was burning but that could wait, she had to get out of here.
She tried to help him, he didn't seem to need it, they've accepted him. That's enough to quell any guilt she would have for leaving him.
Three man emerged from the exist, "Get the Greenie!" She heard the Alby guy shout. She pushed herself harder, sprinting faster than she knew she could, she was so close.
Until she was slammed into from the side, sending her rolling and tumbling as she fought to get back up. When she finally stopped rolling she was pinned to the grass, she thrashed and fought but the exhaustion and dehydration was really starting to make it's self known. She tried screaming but it was hoarse and unhelpful.
"It's a girl!" "She's gonna be a shucking runner!" "Can we even send a girl into the maze?" "We have too! She's the fastest here, no offence Minho!"
"She's strong too," the man pinning her down strained out as she continued to fight against him.
"Maybe a builder?" "No definitely a runner!" "We can't send a girl into the Maze!" "Would you babysit her? Get rid of her!" "It's bad luck! Two Greenies!"
Her movements weakened and slowed as the voices began to blur together, darkness creeped into her sight and she fought as hard as she could to stay awake and fight but to no avail.
«★»