Chapter Four

That night I couldn't sleep. My jaw was throbbing with pain, but I didn't dare bother the Med-Jacks. I was sure that after dealing with Gally's injuries, they didn't want to deal with mine too.

When I finally drifted off, I had a dream.

I was 16, and in this strange place with scientists. I was helping them with some type of statistics, when two guard were bringing a boy over to an elevator. He was fighting against it, and he looked very nervous. I walked over to him to comfort him, and walked him into the elevator. Suddenly, he pushed me down and bolted out, pressing a button to close the door. I pounded on it to get out, but it was no use.

When the dream was over, I sat up abruptly. 'Was that a memory?' I wondered. The elevator looked very familiar.. But I couldn't tell.

It was finally morning, and I decided I would get out of the Homestead before anyone else, so that no one had a chance to talk to me. I really didn't feel like reviewing the fight from the night before. Judging by the chatter that went around when the fight was over, it was most likely the talk of the Glade.

I sat down under the tree by the box, and put my head in my hands. I was so sick of being treated differently. I was also sick of wearing the same clothes every day. I desperately needed knew ones, mine were filthy and torn up from the fight.

That stupid fight, everything seemed to revolve around it. Even my clothes.

I spit into my hands, and tried to get some of the dirt off my clothes. It helped a little bit, but it looked like they were permanently stained. I sighed, and wiped my hands on my jeans.

I sat for at least half an hour, and then the sun started to come out. Gladers started emerging from the Homestead, and they didn't even notice me. I noticed that all the Keepers were headed to the Gathering, and I decided that I should probably head over there too.

I stood up, and started walking across the Glade. A lot of the guys stared at me, and whispered things to their buddies as I passed by. Luckily, no one approached me until I reached the Gathering.

As I walked into the building, everybody went silent. I sat down in the same chair I sat in the last time, except Gally was also seated by me.

Alby did the usual introduction, and then he looked at me. "Rosa, you will speak first. Tell us exactly what happened. No one will speak unless I tell them too." I nodded.

I explained the whole story. I explained how Gally approached me, wouldn't let me go, and we started fighting. I threw in that I was only defending myself, and I wasn't trying to pick a fight.

Then it was Gally's turn. "I was minding my own business, when out of nowhere, Rosa was in my face. She started talking about how strong she was, and how she should have equal rights. I told her that she was in Frypan's kitchen for a reason, and she lashed out at me. She tried to strangle me, she kicked me, and punched me. I had to fight back, to defend myself. That's when she smashed my chin into the ground. That's my weakness.. How would she know that? She's obviously a spy from the Creators. She's going to screw up the system, and get us all injured, or worse, killed."

I was speechless. None of that was true! But of course, the Keepers had no reason to believe me over Gally. Then suddenly, Minho jumped to his feet.

"That's a load of klunk, Gally, and you know it!" He shouted, furious.

Gally just glared at him, and said "How would you know Minho? Are you growing fond of this girl? A little too fond?"

Minho's face turned bright red, as well as mine. "That's not true, Gally, and you know it!" He was still shouting. I wasn't sure if he was flaking about his story, or Minho and I having a thing. Then again, it applied to both statements.

Alby had enough. "Stop it! Minho, sit. Gally, shut your hole. Now, what do the rest of you have to say?"

Frypan started. "Well, I didn't see any of it. I was still back in the kitchen. But, Gally's story seems a bit.. Far fetched. I doubt that Rosa could manage all that." He shot me a very quick apologetic glance. I knew he was on my side, but he had to seem believable.

Next was Zart. "Well, it's not like this girl has authority of any sort. She's just a Greenie. She got here three days ago, for shucks sake! How do we know we can trust her? Gally, on the other hand.. We've known him long enough to trust him more that."

I sighed. There was one vote against me, and probably more to come.

Everybody had mixed feelings on it. Then it was Newt's turn. "Minho and I saw the entire thing go down. Gally grabbed her should and wouldn't let her go. Then he started fighting with her. She defended herself, and fought back, so that she wouldn't get hurt too bad. Rosa's story is 100% true, Gally's is a lie."

I would've beamed, but I knew I couldn't, otherwise things would get even more awkward than they already were. Alby just nodded, and let Minho speak.

"I agree with Newt. She was defending herself not picking a fight. She's not a slinthead. This girl has some brains, and some skills." Everybody just stared at Minho. He shrugged. "Well, if no one's going to say anything, I'll keep going. I've experienced her strength myself. And trust me, she's got guts, and muscles. I think she should have a different job than helping Frypan."

Everybody's jaws dropped, including mine. Why would Minho help me like that? I thought he hated me, especially after our fight.

"Well..." Alby said, astounded by what he was hearing. "More people are in favor of Rosa's story than Gally's. His punishment will be staying in the Slammer for three days, with only bread and water."

I let out a sigh of relief. I honestly didn't think it was going to go as well as it did. But then, Alby spoke again. "Rosa and Minho, I need to speak with you." I nodded, and walked over to him.

Everybody else was leaving, and it was just the three of us. "Rosa, do you really want a different job than kitchen duty?" Alby asked, and I nodded vigorously. "Well, if you're as good as Minho says you are, we could consider giving you another job"

I felt my face light up. I was finally getting out of that shuck kitchen! Of course, I was going to miss Frypan, we were getting to be friends. But I honestly preferred more physical work than that.

"Thank you, Alby. What other job could I have?" I questioned, hoping it would be something good.

"Well, you could work at the Bloodhouse or the Gardens. Do either of those sound good?" He asked. I honestly didn't want to spend my days slaughtering animals, and gardening didn't sound all that exciting.

"Well.." I said slowly. "Do you think that maybe I could be a Runner?" I waited for either one of them to say something. Alby just kind of stared at me in disbelief. Minho spoke up when Alby didn't.

"I think that's a good idea. You seem fast."

Alby, just shook his head. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

I shrugged. "Maybe I do."

He sighed. "I don't know, Rosa.. There's always the option of being a Med-Jack, too.."

"I'd really like to be a Runner.. Yet, if I can't, Med-Jack sounds good.." I said, a bit disappointed.

"Well.. I suppose that maybe you could be a Runner.. But you'd have to stick with Minho, and follow his exact orders. Got it, Greenie?" He said, and I smiled.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Minho, keep her safe." And Minho nodded in return.

The three of us left the building, and Alby left Minho and I alone.

It had taken up our entire morning, and it was about lunch time. As we walked together to Frypan's kitchen, I started a conversation.

"Why did you stick up for me like that?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Gally is a slinthead. We all knew he was lying. I just thought that he didn't even deserve a chance to speak." He said, not looking me in the eyes.

"Well, thanks, I guess." I responded. To be honest, I didn't think he was telling me the whole truth. "Do you mind having me with you in the Maze?"

He looked over at me. "No, I don't. I thought you'd just be a burden on the Glade when you first arrived, to be honest. But you've proved yourself. To me, at least. Yeah, you probably need some training or something, but you're really good for a Greenie.. A girl Greenie, at that."

I was a bit shocked by the complement. "Wow, thanks. Minho. I.." I was pretty much speechless. Did Minho, the baddest bitch in the Glade, really just complement me? He shrugged, again.

"Eh, it's no big deal."

We sat down at a table, and I sat newt to Newt. We all grabbed a sandwich. Since I was technically a Runner, I could eat with all the other Gladers.

"Hey, Rosa." Newt said, not looking up from his lunch. I couldn't tell if he was still mad about our argument from the day before.

"Hey. So... Are we good now?" I asked, looking at him. He looked up, and our eyes met. He had deep, brown eyes, that fit him perfectly.

After a second, he nodded. "Yes, we're good." He said, and smiled. I smiled back at him, and continued eating. Minho said something to him that I didn't hear, and then Newt responded by kicking him under the table. He reacted over dramatically.

"Newt, how dare you?! I thought we had something going!" He fake pouted, and I laughed. You'd think that life with a bunch of sweaty boys who roughhouse all the time would be awful, but it really wasn't that bad. They had a good sense of humor, and they were cool once you got to know them.

Once we finished our lunch, everyone went off to do their own things. Minho said he had to show me something, so we said bye to Newt.

We entered a room, Minho called it the map room. He explained to me that it was where the Runners went every day when they came back from the Maze, and they marked down the pattern. I was confused why, after a year and a half, they still hadn't solved the Maze. He claimed that it was because every night, the walls moved.

"Really? The walls move? Or are you just trying to make me not want to be a Runner?" I asked, suspiciously. His complement could've just been fake, and he was trying to make me not want to be a Runner. But then again, why would he speak up for me in the Gathering if my theory was true?

"Yes, shuckface, they do." He said, and rolled his eyes. Typical Minho. He continued explaining how to Maze was divided into eight sections, what Grievers are, how to keep track of things, and other information.

"So.. What happens if you get stung by a Griever?" I asked him. He looked at me gravely, and I knew he wasn't going to joke.

"You go through the Changing. It's a.. Painful process. Technically, the Changing is caused by the serum that saves you from a Griever sting. If you don't get the serum, you'll die."

I nodded. Getting stung did not sound good at all. I made a promise to myself at that moment, that if someone else I was with got stung, there was no leaving them behind.

As we left the map room, we heard a scream of pain. It came from over by one of the doors to the Maze. Minho took off running to the cry, and I bolted after him. By the time we arrived, a large crowd of Gladers had already formed. Minho pushed his way to the front, and I stuck right behind him.

Then, and boy came into view. He had blonde hair, and he was pretty muscular. He was on the ground in pain, his body twitching. He let out cries of pain every few seconds.

"What the shuck is going on here?" Minho asked. The Med-Jack that was hovering over the boy (Clint, I believe his name was) looked up.

"It's Ben. He was stung by a Griever." Clint said.

My jaw dropped. Poor kid, he looked awful. But Clint's next words were even worse.

"We don't have any more Griever serum." I gasped, and so did Minho.

"Where do we get it?" I asked, worried. A lot of Gladers glared at me, but I just shrugged. How was I supposed to know?

"Every week, we get supplies in the Box. The Creators send stuff to us." Minho told me, and I nodded. I flinched when Ben let out another shriek.

"There has to be something we can do besides sit here and watch him die! Don't you have some sort of remedy we could make here?" Saying that earned me even more glares.

"That's not how it works, Greenie!" Someone from the crowd shouted. I just glared in the direction the voice came from.

"Someone help me carry him to the Homestead." Clint said. I quickly stepped forward and grabbed Ben from underneath his arms, causing all the Gladers to shout. They obviously didn't think I should be helping, but I didn't care. Ben needed help, and I wanted to help.

As Clint and I carried him up to the top floor, where the injured/sick stayed, Alby came over to us. "What's going on?!" He asked.

"Ben got stung by a Griever, and we're out of serum." I replied, focusing on carrying the heavy weight. He was a lot heavier than he looked.

Alby accompanied us, talking to Clint the whole way.

Carrying him up the stairs was a challenge. I nearly dropped him once, and Clint stumbled and hit his foot on a step. When we finally got him to a bed, we set him down gently, yet he still cried out in pain.

"Isn't there anything else we can do for him?" I asked Clint, and he shook his head. I sighed, and stated grabbing all sorts of supplies.

I got a cold cloth, and put it on his forehead. I then noticed his breathing sounded odd. In order to listen closer, I lifted up his shirt, revealing a six pack. "Damn.." I muttered under my breath.

I put my ear up to his chest, and it sounded like his lungs were failing. I quickly got ice, and wrapped it in another cold cloth, which I set on his chest.

"What are you doing, Greenie?!" Clint questioned, confused. I just looked at him in disbelief.

"Think about it, Clint. There's no reason we can't ease his pain until we get the serum." I said.

"Rosa, I appreciate your help, but there's no way he'll live. It's four whole days until the supplies comes. Some Gladers have died out in the Maze after an hour without the serum." He sighed, but I shook my head.

"They died in the Maze! Not here! We can actually take care of him here, but in the Maze, they don't have any care at all." I argued. He just looked at me.

"Fine. If you're so keen on nursing him until the supplies comes, then you'll be the one taking care of him." He said.

"That's a good idea, Clint." Alby said. I had honestly forgotten he was there. I looked at him, not really knowing how to respond. Of course I wanted to help Ben, but I wasn't even a Med-Jack!

"I suppose I could, but I have no experience in nursing people at all. I'm clueless!" I said. Alby opened his mouth to respond, but Clint got to it first.

"You're really not clueless. You must've had some experience in your past life, because you jumped right in and did the right thing." I nodded, a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be going into the Maze that week.

"Don't worry, Rosa. You'll go into the Maze when Ben's gotten the serum. I'll tell Minho about the change of plans." Alby said, and he left the room.

Ben let out another screech of pain. I felt awful for him, but then I got an idea. "Clint, where was he stung?"

"On the top of his right thigh, why?" He said. I ignored his question, and took of his jeans. "Rosa..." Clint started, but didn't finish.

The sting was awful. You could see the exact spot where he was stung, which was bright purple. The surrounding area was bright red, and extremely swollen. It was oozing yellow pus. I didn't really want to touch it with bare hands, so I pulled my sleeves down over my hands.

I gently placed my hands by the infected area, causing Ben to wince. I slowly moved my hands closer to it, until each hand was right next to it. Then I squeezed it, and more pus came out. Ben screamed, and started flailing.

"Clint, hold him down!" I shouted. For a moment I thought he hadn't heard me over Ben's screams, but he did as I told him to.

I continued squeezing until I couldn't get any more out. I then took my hands off him, and he stopped screaming. He was wincing, but I could tell the pain had eased a bit. I took the cloth of his forehead and placed it on the sting. He tensed up, but then relaxed again.

"That was something else. No one has ever done that before." Clint said. I nodded, and let out a deep breath.

It was about supper time, but I knew I couldn't leave Ben alone. I told Clint to go, and I stayed with Ben. He would occasionally whimper in pain, but I would comfort him in any way I could. I ended up not putting his jeans back on, so the sting wouldn't be rubbing up against them. I covered him up in a light sheet, and let him rest.

I sat down in the chair next to his bed, and drifted off to sleep.