Amy’s Comments (group member since May 06, 2015)

Amy’s comments from the Write, Wrote, Written group.

Chapter two

The morning didn't suggest anything to be out of the ordinary that day. The runners got out into the maze and the rest of the Gladers got to their work. Even Anna's spirits were higher than usual and she talked to Jane while working.
But everything changed in the afternoon. Anna had just been cleaning the goat pen when out of the corner of her left eye she could see a stumbling figure coming from the direction of the south gate. Anna turned to look and saw Marie. She seemed at the end of her strength and looked very pale. But why was she back so early? And more importantly, where was Sonia?
Anna's heart raced as she let go of her shovel and ran towards her, apparently the only one who had noticed so far. She ran quickly as possible and caught Marie just as she was to fall over with exhaustion.
Anna held her firmly. "What happened? Why are you back so early? And where is Sonia?" She blurted out questions at her.
"She......she got.........got stuck there. Stuck......in the......maze." She managed between breaths.
"What? What do you mean stuck? It's the middle of the day!" Her temper rising.
"I...know.....but the wall......just.....just closed. We've....been running......the fifth when the wall closed behind her." She managed and threw up.
By this time Jane, Harriet, Beth and the others arrived. "What happened?" asked Harriet.
"Sonia got stuck in the maze." Anna answered for Marie, who had collapsed against her.
"Stuck? What do you mean stuck?!" Beth blurted out.
"I don't know, she said the wall closed." Anna told her, her own temper raising more.
"Okay." Harriet took over. "MedJacks! You take her away and take care of her." She commanded. “Keepers to me, we have to discuss our next step. All others back to your jobs!"
"Discuss?!" Anna exploded. "What do you mean discuss?! We have to get out there now! We have to help her!" By now she was shouting.
Harriet raised both her hands. "And we will, but we can't go out there with no plan whatsoever. We have to prepare." She reasoned with her.
"But then it may be late!" She wouldn't let it go.
"You listen to me now, okay?" She told her putting her hands on her shoulders. "We won't let that happen, right? We will only quickly prepare for it, right?" She looked her deep into her eyes.
Anna looked wide eyed, but took a deep breath, and after a while nodded, "right."
"Good that." Harriet said and turned to the keepers. "You come with me, quick!" She told them. "And you go back to your job!" She turned back to Anna, jabbing a finger at her.
Anna nodded and slowly went back. But when the keepers went past her, running towards the homestead, she quickly turned on the spot and run towards the door as fast as she could. Jane saw her from the corner of her eye and shouted after her. The keepers heard her and stopped, but by then it was too late, she disappeared outside.

Anna ran as fast as she could and used what she knew from Sonia, trying to memorize her turns as best as she could. Left, right, then left again and one more, and right again. And also she marked her way through. Every now and then she cut a piece of ivy with the blade she always wore with herself, strapped to her side. She took a right, another right and then left, cutting of another piece of ivy. The maze wasn't easy, and it was giving her a claustrophobic feeling. The great walls towering above her, there being no other way than to follow its path. She had to stop and calm herself. If she continued like this she'd only panic and get lost totally, never finding her way back, not to mention help Sonia.
She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, calming her mind. Then she went and cut off a bigger piece of ivy, making a bigger marker out of it for herself as much for the others, who for sure were coming? After that was done she set off again. Taking a left turn and then one more, keeping her mind focused. She ran on and on, but after a while she needed to stop to rest. She was breathing hard. "And I thought I was in good shape," she thought to herself.
But just as she wanted to set off again a piercing cry rang through the maze. Anna's heart almost stopped. It was Sonia.
Anna set off as fast as she could manage in the direction from which the scream came. She took a right turn at an intersection and then ran down a long corridor until she came to a dead end where she saw a big, fat Griever cornering Sonia, her face a mask of horror. It was nearing her, reaching out with its mechanical arms. Anna stopped dead in her tracks. She never saw a Griever before. It had big slimy looking body, metal rods protruding from it. She could see Sonia leap onto the beast in a desperate attempt to fight her way over it, but it caught her with one mechanical arm. At seeing her friend get caught by the beast she came back to her senses. With a war cry she ran forward and leaped onto the thing, kicking and cutting with her knife, trying to get the arm holding Sonia free, but to no result. The beast held firmly, and it didn't intend to let its prey go.
Anna had to dodge a saw, and then got a minor scratch over her back from its claw. But then she got stabbed in her leg. She let out a scream but didn't stop fighting. Together they pulled at the mechanical arm until it came free from the thing. The monster let out a violent scream. Anna thought they had won, but too early. Suddenly Sonia let out a painful yelp, and Anna turning to look what happened saw that she got stung.
Anna stared in horror at her friend falling to the ground, and in that instant as if something snapped in her and she started stabbing at the things body, not paying attention where or how, only stabbing as much as she could, cutting the thing open, yellow liquid streaming from its wounds, getting onto her hands, face and soaking her clothing. The Griever let out a deep cry, twitching, trying to get her off, but filed, Anna was now a machine mind set only on one thing. Kill.
Anna stabbed furiously until her arm ached and she fell back with exhaustion, finding the thing already dead. It must have been for some time, but she took no notice. Breathing hard she looked at the disfigured thing, yellow liquid oozing from every wound. She collapsed on the cold ground, all the adrenaline slowly retreating and she started to shake. Did she really do that? After a moment she looked at it again, shocked. Was she really capable of this?
After a moment she remembered Sonia and shuffled next to her. She quickly looked her over and found only one wound and that from the syringe. She was unconscious already and seemingly in great pain, but if she brought her back in time they could cure her. She gathered her in her arms and tried to stand up, which failed. He leg, after the Griever's stabbed her lower thigh, betrayed her and they both fell forward. Anna held her leg, gritting her teeth, unable to breathe, the pain too much.
Finally after a while it let go and she could breathe again, by now seeing black spots in front of her eyes. She'd never get her to safety like this.
Anna gritted her teeth, gathered Sonia in her arms again and used the wall to help herself stand up. She let out a high cry when she put weight on that leg, but she remained standing. She stood like this for a moment to get used to it, at least a bit. And then she slowly limped away from there, using the wall to help herself.
She made slow progress, too slow. She'd never get them home safely. Not to mention if they should meet another Griever. She was in no shape to fight off another one. So her only option was to somehow notify the others of their location, and so she began to scream at the top of her lungs for help while still slowly walking down the corridor, slowly getting to its end.
But after a while she had to stop, for she felt dizzy and didn't want to kip over again. She took deep breaths, while resting with her back against the wall, favoring her better leg. But soon was walking again, determined to get them as far as possible, taking the left at the intersection, knowing for sure that was the direction she came from, wincing at every step, using the wall again for help.
She looked above and could see the lights progress. Despair gripped her. They were alone in the maze. Alone and injured. They could not survive here. And again she cried for help, cried as loud as she could. And her cries were heard.
Around the corner came Harriet, Beth, Jane, a girl named Ariel, and one more whose name Anna didn't know.
"What happened?!" Harriet asked shouting from afar.
"A....a Griever," she said breathless. "Left around the corner and right down a corridor." She told them.
"So we must hurry before it comes!" She said quickly.
"Dead." Anna managed.
Beth stepped forward. "What? Speak clearly you shank!" She yelled at her.
"It's dead." She told them. "I......I killed it," her eyes wide.
"You did what?!" Beth asked shocked.
Harriet thought for a moment. "Okay. Okay, you, Ariel and I will go have a look." She told Beth. "You two stay with them." She commanded the other two, and they set off to have a look at the Griever.
The girl, whose name it turned out to be Simone, took Sonia from her to look at her wound and tried to give her some water. In the meantime Anna took a canteen from Jane and took a long swing. When she was finished Jane turned to her. "What the hell were you thinking?!" She had tears in her eyes Anna could see.
She looked down at the ground. "I don't know. I....I just wanted to help her. She is my friend." She told her.
"You almost killed yourself!" She yelled at her almost sobbing. "Why couldn't you wait?! They would have found her!"
Anna turned to look her straight in the eye, her temper rising now. "If I didn't she'd be dead now! The Griever had cornered her! They'd never have got here in time!" She shot back.
Jane shocked at her outburst as well as upset looked away. "But you could have died too." She said in a small voice.
Anna's anger left her as fast as it came at the look of Jane, and she felt bad. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to worry you. I just felt like I had to do something."
After that they fell silent, Simone looking at the two of them, then returning her attention to Sonia. And in silence they sat till the three came back, ashen faced.
"I have never seen anything like it." Beth said looking she might be sick, but looking straight at Anna. And there was something in her eyes, but she could not say what.
Harriet shook her head. "Let’s get them back home now." She said and took Anna. Beth took Sonia, and on the way they changed when they got tired. But they made good time and were back in the Glade before the gates closed shut.
They were both brought straight to the MedJacks. Sonia got the serum and Anna had her injuries treated. Her back wasn't so bad, but her leg had to be stitched, and she wouldn't be able to walk properly for a while.
In the meantime the keepers discussed all that happened, and when they were finished Harriet came up to her and Anna could see the rest of them looking at her darkly.
"How do you feel?" She asked business like.
"Like a piece of klunk. But glad to be back." Anna answered honestly.
Harriet nodded. "Rest now, your fate will be decided in the upcoming days. After all the keepers had a gathering and best after we can question Sonia." She glanced towards her. Then turned and walked away, leaving Anna open mouthed back.

Chapter one
That was a year ago. And many things changed since then. Well, some did. She didn't particularly like to talk and keep to others. She was a loner in a community, which didn't go down very well. They all played like a big team, but she was no team player. It took the others a long time to really accept this. They tried to talk to her, engage her in conversations and activities, but failed miserably.
It took them a long time getting used to it. But she did her part. And when she got the tour of jobs she immediately got close to the animals. She enjoyed working with them, and she was very good. Better than any other, actually. And according to her personality and attitude they often underestimated her, like they did with jobs. Harriet, now one of her very few close acquaintances, reckoned her to be a Slopper, someone who cleans the bathrooms because they aren't good enough for anything else. But she proved them all wrong, and now Harriet was close to her. Soon recognizing her talent and intellect, which doesn't mean it's not there if you don't talk much. However, it did affect her performance at first. It's hard to do proper work when you hate to ask.
But she came a long way since then, and was now a proper Glader. Well, sort of...
"Say something! Your constant grunting and nodding really ticks me off!" Beth erupted.
"What do you want me to say? She's got an infection. But you can see that for yourself." Anna answered calmly and without an expression.
Beth gritted her teeth. "Yea, but how could it happen and what about it?"
She shrugged, giving her the same look. "How am I to know? I take care of them, yes, but I cannot know everything, can I? And I'm no doctor either, but I'd say some penicillin can fix it."
Beth's face flushed a fierce red, and she stomped away cursing under her breath.
Harriet came over and clapped her on the shoulder. "You know how to tick her off." She nodded towards Beth.
"Well, I didn't mean to, but her questions were rather silly." Anna answered her.
"You never mean to, but you always do." Harriet fired back.
She shrugged again. "That is not my fault. I'm barely ever asked any sensible questions."
Their leader laughed and clapped her on the shoulder again. "Maybe not, but some questions have to be asked, even if the answer is more or less clear, you do have to understand that."
"I do understand that, and I did give her an answer. It's not my fault a nod isn't enough." Anna answered shrugging.
Harriet shook her head and left her to her work.

***

After the little argument the life in the Glade went on more or less as usual. The work with the Stockers, that's what people who worked with animals were called, Livestock raisers, was fairly easy, as long as you kept out of Beth's way, which wasn't usually the way for Anna. She didn't like to admit it, but they really had something going between them. She could firmly feel how Beth despised her. Every little thing she did could set her off, and Anna quickly learned not to care. She did at first and it upset her. She did not understand, but she noticed that Beth was easily set off by many things. Not as much as with Anna, but still. The best way was to let it go.
Anna did, and the argument now forgotten she chatted with her friend Jane, another Stocker. She was about the same age as her and been there only for about three months but the two of them became friends very quickly, and Anna liked her a lot. Actually, she liked her more than just as a friend. She loved the auburn, wavy hair, her full red lips and freckled cheeks. Yes, she loved her, but had not told her so. Anna was fearful it wouldn't go well, and might lose her. Her heart ached, for every moment was a blessing as it was a curse, being with her, but not fully.
And Anna's thoughts were becoming darker by the day. She’d never been optimistic, rather the opposite, and her thoughts were already dark enough because of their situation in the Glade. Being sent here by who knows who, trapped and their memories wiped, except for their first names. Not knowing who she was, not knowing why she was there, and just by being there, depressed her. That was no life. Being closed in a box of stone with some trees, never allowed going out, only having their work and themselves, which frankly depressed her even more. It seemed to her as futile existence, and every day gnawed at her. And it began to show a long time ago.
"I still don't get why they didn't make you the keeper of the Stockers." Jane said to her. "I mean, you run it here better than Beth ever could."
"Oh, that'd be hilarious, wouldn't it? I can see her head exploding." She said sarcastically. "Be real, they'd never take someone like me, and honestly I'm glad."
Jane wiped her forehead and asked, "But why?"
Anna gave her a look that said do you have to ask? "I don't want to be the boss and be responsible. It's hard enough already." She said darkly.
Jane gave a worried look but Anna took no notice. She stopped her work and watched the south gate. It was evening and the gates would be closing soon, and exactly through that gate the runners would be coming back. Especially Sonia, her other friend, and closest confident and like a sister to her, who knew all her secrets. Sonia was older, about seventeen and been here much longer than Anna. She was tall and in great shape, which was necessary for a runner. She seemed delicate under her veil of blonde hair and soft face with piercing blue eyes, but she was tough. And actually the keeper of the runners, who were eight people in all, running the maze every day, mapping it and trying to find a way out. And every evening Anna watched those doors, through which Sonia ran every day, to see she got back safely.
And today was no different. Sonia came running through those doors with her partner, Marie, who was a smaller, about 5 feet 2 tall, Asian looking girl. Anna did not know her well. Only what she heard from Sonia.
They both kept running towards a small concrete building with a metal door where, Anna knew, they were going to draw their maps and compare them with previous days, to find a pattern, Sonia had told her. Anna smiled one of her rare smiles and got back to work, she'd talk to her later, knowing they had a lot of work to do now.

Later on all three of them were sitting around a cozy fire, the light slowly fading around them. Anna was looking into the flames, allowing herself to relax, feeling better with both of them close.
"So, how did it go?" She asked not taking her eyes from the flames.
Sonia knew it was directed at her. How many times had she heard this question? "Pretty much as usual, nothing new again." She answered looking over at Anna, whose expression did not change, but Sonia knew that inside her a fire burned, consuming her. "But don't worry, we will find something. There is no giving up!" She added quickly hoping they would, or it might be too late for her.
Anna's eyes never left the flames. "I know you will. You never give up. You will get them out." She said to no one really.
Sonia's worry became more pronounced than ever in her expression. Them. Not us. But them. She didn't count herself in. What she had in her mind, she wondered. She wanted to say something but bit her lower lip.
Jane noticed too. "What do you mean them?" She asked worrying. "We all will. You, I, Sonia, Harriet and all the others as well, we all will make it. One for all and all for one." She told her.
"Yes, exactly!" Joining in. "We are a team!"
Anna only smiled sadly. But nothing could prepare them for what would happen tomorrow.

Anna's memory

Prologue
She remembered the journey in the box as if it were yesterday. The rumble of the machinery as it took her up. How slow it went. And the constant hum of the lift and of course also the darkness. She felt well in the dark, she didn't know why, but she felt safe. Even though she did not know where she was, or how she got there, the dark helped her, gave her solace. It always did, then, and after.
After the long climb the box finally stopped, and she waited for whatever might come next. There wasn't anything else she could do she'd been around the box a couple times after she woken up, to see if there was a door, or some switch, just anything. But there wasn't. Only cool metal. And so she sat and waited.
At last the door above her head opened and bright light flooded inside and she had to cover her eyes. Blinded she could hear voices above her. She couldn't really tell how many, but obviously they were discussing her, laughing.
She tried to look but the light hurt her eyes and she had to shield them again. But after a while she tried again, still shielding herself, and saw a little over thirty girls standing around the box, pointing and laughing. She turned around in a circle to take them all in until she felt dizzy and fell back down on her butt. The crowd laughed, and then they lowered a rope into the box, but none came in. She looked at it and noticed that at the end was a loop, a loop for her foot. She stood up and went over and stepped into it, her hands grabbing the rope, and just as she did someone gave the command to pull her up.
When she came to the edge she felt hands grab her and pull her out, letting go of her when she was fully out. She lay there looking up at the faces that, once more, crowded around her. Her panic rose, and she started backing away, but there wasn't really anywhere to. She only bumped into the legs of people standing behind her, and when she did the crowd laughed again. Someone touched her, presumably to help her up maybe, but she jerked away, got up and broke through the crowd running, eyes closed, concentrating only on getting away.
"WE GOT A RUNNER!" Someone shouted after her.
She ran and ran, not looking where she was going. After a while she heard people shouting after her that she had to stop, that she can't go there. That she cannot go out. She opened her eyes and stopped dead. Before her was a giant opening that lead into some system of corridors, it seemed. At that moment she turned around and for the first time looked around where she actually was. She saw giant walls encircling what seemed to be a square area, with some trees and buildings. Each one of the three remaining walls had also an opening like this one, before which she now stood. She then looked at the crowd and saw several people were running after her, still shouting. Her panic rose some more. Where was she? And more importantly, who was she? All she could remember was her name, Anna.

This is something I wanted to share here. It's a small fanfic based on the Maze Runner boks, from group B. And I added a lesbian couple. No TMI.