Half Gally-Half Love

Chapter 2

?'s POV

It was my first night in the glade and so far I was having a great time. Newt showed me who everyone was and told me if I ever needed anything to always go to him. I liked Newt, he was actually one of the only boys that weren't talking to me just to try and hit on me. I wasn't interested in that, I wanted to find out more about this place, so far I had been told zilch about who I was, why I was here, etc. So I took to asking Chuck, a young chubby boy with brown curls, he was patient and took time to explain and answer my many questions, which I liked. So far all my questions had just been dismissed or deemed as 'too complicated' to answer. Chuck was showing me what life is like in the glade. The jobs the life style etc.. Gally didn't seem too impressed as I had been receiving looks from him since I arrived. If looks could kill, I'd be 6 feet beneath the ground right now; although he's barely spoken a word to me since I got here. I guess he didn't want me to fit in.... I was sat eating my dinner, minding my own business, when something bizarre happened. A small voice rang in the back of my mind. It said one thing and one thing only. I listened a couple of times before I actually knew what it was saying and when I did, I was overjoyed.... My name?...."Tee, my name's Tee!" I screamed at the top of my voice. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked round. "Here's to Tee" Alby said raising a glass and I got a round of applause. Chuck and an Asian boy walked over to me. Chuck spoke first. "Tee, Tee....Sounds amazing, this is Minho." He introduced. "Congrats Tee" Minho said smiling. "Thanks Minho, so what is your job here?" I asked smiling.

"I'm a runner..." Minho said softly.

"What are they?" I questioned eager to know more about this place. "Basically the least working job" Chuck chipped in but Minho pushed his shoulder, nearly knocking the poor boy over, I laughed. "Rubbish" he remarked smirking. But then his facial expression suddenly changed and his tone was more serious. "A runner risks their life every single day, you can never stop running. A runner runs in and out of the maze each day, we enter it when the doors open early in the morning and don't come back till the evening when the doors close for the night. Being a runner is all about trying to find a way out. To escape" he exclaimed carefully.

"Why escape? I mean it seems quite adequate here... Why would you want to leave?" I muttered but soon regretted my words when I saw the look Minho now gave me. "You obviously haven't had the full talk greenie. I ain't gonna explain everything but let me tell you this, it may be fields and flowers here in the day but at night, well that's a different story, strange noises waking you up in the night and so on... I don't want to frighten you but, it ain't nice here and we were put here for a reason, not a holiday" he finished looking at me.

I looked at them bewildered and then a bit nervous..."What makes all of you so scared, what is it?" I asked furrowing my brow in confusion. Chuck stepped closer to me and said in a horse whisper. "Foul, vicious, blood- thirsty creatures, we call them Grievers" he said, his voice shaking with fear. "What are grievers?" I asked timidly. "No one knows" Minho answered. "Why?" I asked again. "No one has ever seen a griever and lived to tell the tale" Chuck replied gravely. "Why do the doors open and close though?" I asked leaning in. "I don't know but thank god they do close otherwise we'd all be dead, we don't know much about them but we do know that they come out at night. We don't see them. But we hear them. We know their there" Minho said solemnly. Chuck nodded. "You don't want to see a griever" he said nodding vigorously. I smiled nervously and gulped. Minho sighed.

"Listen guys, as much as I'd like to stay here and talk about monsters that would potentially kill us but I have a meeting to attend, see you around Tee!" he said smiling, got up and strode off. Chuck gave me a nod and pursued him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gally looking in my direction, I immediately returned his gaze and he carried on with what he was doing. I looked longingly at the spas passages within the maze, the doors were still open. Minho said that they close at night, it was already getting dark. No sooner had I thought so, a low rumbling noise shook the ground and a cold breeze started to blow, the giant rusty clogs clicked into place and gradually the doors closed. I know I had been warned but I still was panicking; I ran to Newt. "Why so anxious?" he remarked grinning. I held his arm and looked at the doors, he returned the gesture and bought me into a hug. "Don't be frightened, it happens every morning and every evening" he said patting my back. I looked around nervously and then back at him. "Look, why don't you go and find your hut?" he patted me gingerly on the back. I nodded and walked over to the big pile of huts which I think were called the Homesteads. I looked at the hut nearest me and the wooden sign said "Girl" typical... I tutted and started to go in when Gally pushed past me and angrily knocked the sign off and kicked it away. "Gally, man what are you doing?" Alby asked. "She can't sleep on her own!" he complained. "Do I hear a touch of anxiety in his voice?" Chuck cooed. Gally looked at him sharply. "No! Because... we could use this hut for storage. And how do we know she won't steal things and run off?" I cut in; offended. "Oh yeah and if I did steal all your things, where would I run to? The death barn?!" Everyone laughed and Gally glared at me. Alby considered this. "Hmmm, a reasonable suggestion Gally, we do need more storage space, fine, as you don't have to share your hut, Tee can sleep in your hut." A series of wolf whistles were made. "Shut up you shanks, I didn't mean that!" Gally yelled quickly. I could see his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. Gally scowled and and turned to me. "Well, come on, or shall we stand out here all night?" he said sarcastically. He stood outside his hut and let me go in first, failing to make eye contact with me. As we entered I looked around me. It was all made out of wood and branches. Carved wood to make walls and decorations and there was a hammock in the corner. "There's your bed" he pointed to the hammock. "Where will you sleep?" I asked concerned. "I'll kip on the floor" he said, not really caring. He grabbed a pillow from the floor and laid it down next to my bed. I looked at his face. "What? Something funny greenie?" He asked harshly, and lay down. I lay down and closed my eyes; I could not make head or tail of Gally...