Thank you stilestastic for providing some of the Group B slang and terms used in this chapter.

[Chapter 4] ✙ The Glade and The Glen

Eden spent most of the night drifting in and out of sleep, continuously shifting her attention between Winston and the distant howling of the Cranks. She thought about the numerous kids they left behind at the WICKED facility, as well as all the girls that were taken from their group during the first three days. They had and will be harvested, tied up and drained of whatever WICKED wants from them, and there wasn't anything she nor the others could do about it. She then thought about Jack, the boy she'd only known for a few hours, who plummeted to his death while trying to help everyone else escape the bloodthirsty Cranks.

As the first traces of dawn broke over the horizon of the desert, Eden sat up, figuring she wasn't going to get any rest either way. She stilled for a moment, staring past the shattered window of a nearby van and into the outstretched desert.

She thought back to those creatures from the night before, and the video message Doctor Ava Paige left for her group after they completed the maze trial. The Solar Storm, the Scorch, the Flare, the Cranks and WICKED's search for the Cure...

Why did the world turn out like this?

Before she could think further on the matter, Winston let out a soft groan, causing her to snap her head in his direction.

"Winston? Winston, can you hear me?" She scurried to the corner where he laid, asking in a hushed voice.

Shifting on his back, the olive-skinned slowly opened his eyes. He furrowed his brows, taking a moment to remember who she was before nodding weakly.

"Okay. Stay with me, alright?" She whispered, gently brushing away the hair that stuck to his face with the most reassuring smile she could muster at the moment. Focusing and holding her breath, she began listening for any form movement around the vicinity of their makeshift den.

After confirming that there were no Cranks around the area, she turned to grab her backpack. "Give me a second," She told the boy, pulling out the first aid kit from her bag as quietly as possible.

"This might hurt," She warned, receiving a strange look from him as she carefully untied the blood-stained scarf around his waist. As she lifted the fabric from his torso, the dried blood caused it to stick to his shirt, tugging at his wound as he let out a sharp hiss.

"I-I'm sorry!" Eden panicked. "I can help you. So just bear with me, okay?"

Though skeptical, Winston slowly nodded.

Removing the scarf in one swift yank, she turned back to her kit, taking out a clean towel and her water bottle. Opening the metal lid, she dumped a generous amount of water onto the towel, allowing it time to soak the liquid up before turning back to Winston. "Excuse me," She murmured, gingerly reaching forward to lift his shirt with a professional mindset, finally giving her full view of the deep gashes the Cranks had left the night before.

It ran from his chest to his abdomen, cut in jagged lines as his skin flared open with black blood and rotting flesh. She didn't even need to guess to know what would happen if someone were scratched or bitten by one of those things. But if they were immune as Ava Paige had claimed, Winston should be able to withstand this virus, right?

Wasting no time, she leaned forward to press the dampened towel onto the boy's stomach, wincing as he let out a cry in pain.

With his sudden yelp, everyone jolted awake.

Gently rubbing his eyes, Thomas was the first to rise to his feet.

"Are they gone?" Newt asked groggily, pushing himself up on his elbows.

"Yeah," Thomas said as he scanned the perimeter. "I think we're safe for now."

As the rest of the group slowly stirred, stretching out their rigid bodies, Eden folded the towel over onto a cleaner side, causing Winston to groan again.

"Hey!" Minho snapped his head around in alarm. "What the shuck are you doing?!" He shouted angrily, clearly getting the wrong idea about her intentions.

"N-Nothing! I'm just cleaning his wounds!" Eden shrank, though she never stopped applying pressure to the towel. "I just thought that even if we are immune, we still need to take proper precautions. It'll be really bad if he gets an infection because we didn't treat it properly," She hurried to explain herself, recoiling slightly under Minho's searing gaze.

Eyes shifting between Eden, the bloody towel and Winston, Minho's unsteady breath slowly began to even out as he approached Thomas. "Aris, I get, but you sure we can trust this one?" He said, nudging his chin towards the raven-haired girl.

Thomas pressed his lips together, not knowing what to say. "I-..."

"You can trust her." Aris intervened, stepping forth to shield his friend from the group's skeptical looks. "I can vouch for that."

"Aris...?" Eden peered up, eyes round.

"Actually, there's no one better than her for the job." He then added, stiffening up when he felt their questioning gazes fall to him.

"What do you mean?" Teresa asked.

"Back in the Glen, Eden was the Leader of our Medics," Aris said, standing a little taller as if he were attempting to boost his confidence as he spoke.

"The Glen?" Frypan raised an eyebrow. "The hell is that?"

"It's what they called their Glade," Newt elaborated. "And I'm guessin' their 'Medics' were like our 'Med-jacks,' yeah?" He glanced at Aris, who nodded.

Though he was a little confused by how Newt would know something like that, Aris kept talking. "Back when we were in the maze, Rachel was the one who led the charge out," He explained, eyes glazing over at the mention of her. "She found an exit after finding a Shade hole."

"Hold on," Frypan interrupted again. "A Shade? The shuck is that?" He looked to Newt, who this time, shrugged in response.

"A Shade," Eden squeaked, quietly repeating Aris's words as she set the bloody towel down and reached for a roll of gauze dressing. "It's what we called the giant monsters in the maze."

"So the Grievers?" Minho raised an eyebrow.

"We found a Shade hole, but we also got into a fight with one," Aris continued. "Rachel climbed up one of the walls to buy me some time to escape, but a Shade ended up knocking her off," He described, brows drawing closer as if the memories of the incident were replaying through his mind. "She fell and broke her leg."

Newt flinched.

"I managed to drag her back to the Glen, but that same night the Shades attacked."

Eden noticed that the others seemed to have stiffened a little at the mention of an attack.

"We thought Rachel was dead for sure when they destroyed the Medical Ward, but..." Swallowing down a harsh breath, Aris lifted his gaze to look directly at Thomas. "Eden helped her," He said just loud enough for everyone to hear. "She managed to get Rachel back into running shape, and we escaped the maze that same night."

"I really didn't do anything special though," Eden murmured, gently wrapping the gauze around Winston's stomach. "I told you, I just numbed the pain in her leg. She said it started to hurt again once we got into the helicopter, remember?"

"But you were the one who got her back to her feet, Eden," Aris stated as he peered over his shoulder. "Without Rachel, we would've never escaped. And she needed you to make that happen."

Taken off-guard by her friend's reassuring words, Eden grew speechless. She felt a little embarrassed knowing that Aris had such high regard for her. But at the same time, it also made her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. It was pleasant - the feeling of being needed. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she uttered a bashful word of thanks.

Everyone looked to Thomas, waiting on his final decision.

"Alright," After a moment of thought, the boy with dark-brown hair nodded. "I'll leave Winston to you then," He crouched before Eden, who's eyes widened with surprise. "Take care of him and everyone else."

"T-There's really no need to ask me to," Immediately waving her hands, Eden shook her head, not expecting such an earnest request from the person who she's viewed as their leader since their grand escape. "I'd do it regardless, it's my job after all." She said, clasping her hands before her chest with a timid smile.

"Thanks," Thomas pressed his lips together, quickly scanning the area. "Okay, we should get moving once she's done with-"

"Wait!" Before he could finish his sentence, Eden interrupted him with a small yelp. "I'd also like to check on a few more people, if you don't mind," She requested nervously.

Thomas quickly scanned his friends before looking back at her. "Okay, who do you wanna look over?"

Eden rubbed her chin in thought, slowly recounting the events from last night's grand chase through the shopping mall. "Minho, Teresa... and Newt." She listed.

+ + +

After wrapping up Winston's gash, spending an uncomfortable amount of time avoiding eye contact while bandaging Minho's minor cuts, and making sure Teresa didn't suffer any external injuries from the Crank the night before, Eden finally moved onto helping Newt. She wasted no time pinpointing the large number of cuts on his right hand before getting to work.

"How did you know I had these?" Newt asked, watching as she gingerly dabbed an alcohol-soaked gauze pad onto his wound.

"You fell onto glass, Newt," Eden pointed out, lips weighing into a frown as she recalled the terrifying incident from the night before. "I'm more surprised only one hand is cut up like this."

"Good luck, I guess." He let out a small laugh before eyeing the opened bottle of rubbing alcohol. "Why didn't you use this stuff on Winston?"

Eden peered down. "I read that you shouldn't use it on a large scale wound. It could cause major damage to the person's muscles."

"Read?" Newt raised an eyebrow, remembering she said something similar about plastic bottles the night prior. "Where did you read about somethin' like that?"

"In a book that came up with me in the Cube," She replied.

"The Cube?" He thought for a moment. "Is that what you girls called the elevator shaft?"

Letting out a small gasp, Eden suddenly remembered that they had a difference between their terms. "Yea, sorry about that." She murmured sheepishly. "What did you guys call it?"

"Ours was called the Box," He explained with a smile.

"I see," Eden hummed curiously. "But yes, I read it from a first-aid guide book that came up with me in the Box," She continued, adjusting her words to fit in with the Glader terminology. "Ximena- Oh, that's our first-in-command, she gave it to me since it came up on the same trip." Setting down the gauze pad, she reached for a roll instead. "At first, it was a little difficult to understand everything, but I eventually figured it out."

"I bet," Newt grinned. "You're already a lot better than the Med-jacks we had."

"Really?" Eden glanced up, brown-eyes gleaming.

"Yeah," Newt nodded, barely holding back the urge to chuckle at how earnestly she displayed her emotions. "All those shanks did was sit on their asses until someone called for them. None of this, 'let me take a look at you,' stuff."

"I'm sure they were trying their best."

With Eden's light-hearted giggle, the space between the two fell into a small, comfortable silence. Eden kept her head down, continuing the routined motion of wrapping the gauze roll around his cuts when she noticed something.

Now that she was looking at it, Newt's hands were a lot larger than hers, quite befitting of his tall stature. His palms were littered with callouses and blisters, suggesting he had a rather strenuous and involved job back in the Glade. They greatly contrasted her own, which were delicate and practically spotless by comparison. Her eyes hazed over for a moment as she absently brushed her thumb across his callouses, noting that even though they were stiff and hardened with use, the rest of his skin was somehow still soft to the touch.

"Eden?" Newt called out, quickly pulling the girl out of her train of thoughts. "Eden, you in there?"

Hearing her name, Eden snapped her head up, locking eyes with the blond for a brief moment as her mind attempted to process what she had just done. It took a while, but when it finally went through, she felt her face immediately began to flare up with embarrassment as she flushed a bright crimson.

"Y-Yes? What is it?" She stammered, quickly avoiding his gaze as she returned to her duties of dressing his wounds.

Estranged by the sudden rigidness in her movements, Newt raised an eyebrow but didn't pursue it. "I was asking about that girl who broke her leg," He said, voice growing a little quiet.

"You mean Rachel? What about her?" Despite her cheeks slowly lowering in temperature, her beating heart was still hammering against her chest, so much so she could hear it echoing in her ears.

"How did you manage to get her up and running so quickly?"

His words felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water onto her as Eden's movements suddenly stilled along with her heartbeat. "I used a serum." After taking a moment to recompose herself, she spoke. "There were these berries that could only be found in the southwest corner of the Glen. We called them the 'Deathberries.'"

"What did they look like?"

"They look a little like red olives," She described. "And they grow in large clusters."

Newt pursed his lips, trying recall if there was anything of sorts near the Deadheads of the Glade that matched the description. "We had them too," He said, eyes widening with realization. "Alby just told us not to touch them."

"Alby?" Eden blinked.

"Our first-in-command."

"It's a good thing he did, those things are really poisonous." Her brows furrowed. "'One will poison, and two will kill.' That's what I'd tell the new Glenners," She said, returning her attention back to his hand as she began taping up the gauze. "But I found out that if you reduced the amount you ingest by half, it'd only numb a certain part of your body. I managed to turn the juices into a serum, and that's what I used," She grimaced slightly at the thought. "Of course, the effects are only temporary. They wore off almost immediately after we got out of the maze." She paused for a moment before glancing up at him. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Newt stilled, staring at her for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "No, it's nothing."

Eden hummed as she flattened the last bit of medical tape on his wrist. "There. You're all done now," She announced, giving his hand a soft pat.

Reeling his palm back, Newt studied his freshly dressed wounds. "Thanks," He said, meeting her gaze with a small smile.

+ + +

By the time the group set off, the sun had fully risen over the horizon, golden rays stretching outwards into the baby blue sky as they trudge through what could only be described as a ruined wasteland. Metal wires and iron pipes stuck out of bricks and concrete, large sections and corners of the skyscrapers were melted and decaying. Every few inches, Eden would shiver once she'd notice the remnants of what used to be the signs of human life lying about. An arm here, a leg there.

Ava Paige and WICKED weren't lying. The Solar Storm had completely ravaged the earth.

"So 'the Glen,' huh?" Frypan sounded, attempting to make conversation with the two new additions to their group.

Aris and Eden nodded.

"I never imagined there'd be other mazes out there," Minho remarked as he rested his hands behind his head. "Especially one with nothing but girls."

Newt looked to Aris. "How was it, you lucky bastard?"

"It's not as fun as it sounds," Aris replied flatly. "By the time I woke up, they had me tied to a tree and were arguing about whether or not to throw me into the maze."

Everyone turned towards Eden, who immediately began to wave her hands in a panic.

"I-It wasn't my idea!"

"No, Eden was one of the people defending me," Aris laughed a little. "Ximena, our first-in-command and these other girls, Beth and Alejandra, were the ones who were suspicious of me. Thought I was a spy or a jinx."

"They were under a lot of stress," Eden reasoned, attempting to make a defense for her friends. "I mean, it was a little odd, having a boy suddenly come up in the Cube when they've only sent girls for the last three years."

"Yeah, that's how we felt when Teresa showed up," Frypan chuckled.

"At least we didn't tie her to a tree," Minho pointed out with a dry laugh. "Instead, this butt-load of sunshine started throwing rocks at us from the lookout tower." He said, smugly eyeing Teresa.

"I was confused," Teresa justified. "Imagine waking up in a room with nothing but a bunch of teenage boys staring at you."

Eden couldn't help but let out a wry laugh. She felt as if she's had a very similar experience relatively recently - standing in a bunker room with nothing but a bunch of teenage boys, that is.

"But you guys had a first-in-command too, huh?" Frypan continued, grinning a little. "So, what was the rest of your leadership system like?"

"Well, we had Ximena, who was first. And then we had our Second-in-Command, which was... Harriet," Eden listed, brown eyes dulling a little. "Other than that, everyone else had their own jobs. Things like the Medics, Builders, Gardeners, Wedgers, Cooks, and the Seekers."

"Seekers?" Frypan questioned.

"They're the people who ran the maze, looking for a way out." Aris clarified.

Turning around to face the group as he slowly trudged backwards, Minho let out an amused hum. "So, it's the same then."

"Huh?"

"We had a similar system back in the Glade," Newt explained, glancing down at Eden. "First-in-Command, Second-in-Command, and assigned jobs for everyone."

"Really?" Eden asked. "What were you guys?"

"Thomas and I were Runners, or erm... 'Seekers' in your words," Minho said, making air quote gestures as he adapted himself to the Glenner's terminology. "But I wasn't just any ol' run-of-the-mill Runner like Greenie over there. I was the Keeper of the Runners." He proclaimed with a confident grin.

"Keeper...?"

"It's like the sub-leaders for the jobs we had," Newt informed.

"So what you were like, for the Medics," Quickly catching on, Aris elaborated.

"I was the Keeper of the Cooks," Frypan announced, puffing out his chest with great pride.

"You should try his stew, it's pretty good," Newt joked, gently nudging Eden in the arm who giggled in response. "And Winston," His voice trailed off as he turned around, eyes landing on the paling olive-skinned boy. The latter was practically dragging himself along the dirt and sand. "He was the Keeper of the Slicers." He muttered.

Casting Winston a worried glance, Eden then turned to the blond. "And what were you?" She asked. "Were you a Gardener?"

Newt blinked, a little taken off-guard by her question. "No," He slowly shook his head. "No, I was actually Second-in-Command. But I did help out in the fields from time-to-time." He smiled. "How'd you guess?"

"Oh, that's because-" Eden opened her mouth, about to explain that it was simply an observation she made as she was staring at his hand only to freeze up in embarrassment. "L-Lucky guess, I suppose." She babbled, quickly turning away from his curious gaze as she pressed her palms against her cheeks, feeling the heat slowly creep up once more.

Once again, Newt noticed that her actions were a little stiffened, but let it slide for the time being. "Well, we know you worked as the Keeper of the Medics, but what about Aris?" He looked over at the smaller boy. "What'd you work as?"

"I didn't really have a job..." Aris laughed, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "I got to the Glen two days before we actually escaped. But I helped around the Mess Hall on my second night." He recalled nostalgically.

"So, like Teresa then," Frypan noted.

"Shuck, man." Minho cussed, glancing at the two newbies. "Our mazes had a lot of similarities."

"It's kind of amazing..." Teresa murmured, eyes flickering to a thoughtful downcast.

"Um, I've been meaning to ask," Eden squeaked, still a little afraid of making direct eye-contact with Minho as her gaze darted between him and the sandy ground. "What are those words you keep using? Words like shuck, shank and um... Greenie? Was it?" She tilted her head to the side. "What are those?"

"Oh yeah, it's Glader Slang." Minho snickered. "We made them up during our time in the Glade."

Aris's brows furrowed. "We didn't have anything like that-"

"No, we did," Eden interrupted, causing him to snap his head around with disbelief. "Didn't you notice? The girls would use words like 'stick' or 'finch' or 'crackhead.'"

Aris shook his head, a little awestruck by that sudden piece of information. It was only fair though. He had only spent a little more than two days in the Glen, and most of that time was spent around Rachel - who wasn't that well-versed in their language either.

"You never use them," He pointed out.

Tapping her chin, Eden hummed. "I guess I was never really one for slang terms."

Heaving a sigh, Minho's shoulders slumped. "Such a goody-two-shoe," He commented, throwing an arm over Eden's shoulder, who immediately tensed up with fear over what he was going to do to her. "Well, I guess that's that then. Let Professor Minho teach you some of our special Glader Slang." He offered with a wide grin.

"I don't think she wants your bloody lessons, Minho," Newt stated, swatting his arm off with an exasperated expression.

"Why wouldn't-"

"Guys, shh!" Before Minho could get out a full retort, Thomas, who had been silently tailing the group pressed a finger against his lips, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "Do you hear that?" He asked, looking as if he were trying to listen for something.

Following his instructions, the group went along, attempting to differentiate between the howling desert wind and whatever Thomas was hearing. Slowly but surely, the sound of an intense whirling made itself apparent.

Thomas's eyes widened. "Get down!" He ordered, quickly locating a pile of rubble as he dove under and began ushering everyone in. "Everybody hide!"

Soon, the view of a Berg accompanied by two helicopters flew over where the group once stood, bearing the familiar WICKED label on their bodies as if announcing for the world to see. In contrast to the ruined cityscape, the three high-tech aerial vehicles looked absolutely majestic from below.

"WICKED..." Teresa spoke once they were just far enough that the whirling wouldn't disrupt her speech anymore.

"They're never gonna stop looking for us, are they?" Minho grumbled.

Swallowing hard, Thomas nodded. "That's why we've gotta keep moving." He said before stepping out from under the rubble. "Come on, let's go."

As everyone slowly made their way out of the temporary shelter, Eden noticed that Winston was lingering behind, his face contorted in agony.

"Winston?" She called out to him, resting a hand behind his back as she gingerly helped him up. "Winston, are you okay? Can you walk?"

"Yeah... I'm fine." He grunted, attempting to steady his footing. "Thomas is right, we gotta keep moving."

Eden pressed her lips together, studying Winston's appearance, which only seemed to be deteriorating with each passing second. "If you can't walk anymore, just let me know, alright?" She asked, hoping that he would abide by that promise when he nodded.