Chapter Text
First Part; Escaping the Maze
Harry speeded up, always making sure Liam was right behind him, and he turned the last corner of the Maze before he passed through the doors, arriving at the Glade. He bent over, leaning on his knees to regulate his breath and, seconds after, he saw Liam do the same on his left which made him smile to his best friend.
"On your left" Liam joked and Harry laughed, straightening his body and giving Liam a slight push.
Liam kept running, more slowly, to the homestead, on the North West of the Glade, while Harry just stood on his spot, looking at his surroundings, thinking how they achieved and conquered in two long years. Looking back, Harry could proudly say everything they conquered was with hard work, unfortunately, they lost a lot during it but with teamwork and together being a family Harry knew they could go through anything.
Two years ago, Harry arrived to an empty Glade, with nothing but the clothes on his body, some condiments that were in the Box with him and some tools. He was completely lost, his memory wiped, his heart completely shattered and all he could feel was fear.
The first week, Harry just wandered around every corner, crying in fear and starting to feel that he would die soon without food or water but that was also the time all that was passing through Harry's head was two simple questions; why am I still alive? Is it worth keep living? The second week Harry decided that it was time to explore the stuff that came up with him and he found some seeds, paper, some kind of pencils, shovels, wood and a couple other tools. Harry then decided to divide the Glade into four sections. The Gardens on the North East where they were going to grow crops and pump water; The Homestead on the North West where they would sleep and keep their equipment for the jobs; The Blood House on the South East where they would raise livestack and also slaughter them; The Deadheads on the South West where a small forest area was. The third week, Harry already had some food so he could fool his hungry stomach and he gained some courage to enter the Maze and explore for a bit before he almost got stuck inside. By the fourth week, the Box came up again with a new guy and new condiments.
Liam arrived one month after him and they quickly got used to each other, becoming friends almost instantly. Liam helped Harry with his plans, the Maze, and also came up with great ideas to improve the Glade. The third month arrive and Dylan came with it, as soon as he arrived he noticed the others names on their dirty shirts while in a panic attack. Took Dylan two weeks to get 'used' to the situation and to start helping Harry and Liam with everything. Together they built two sections of the Glade, plus a little high spot in the middle so they could see everything around. By the third arrival, Jason, everyone had a job to do. Harry would look out for an exit on the Maze, Liam would keep building and Dylan would cook. Jason was finding what to do there and by the time Peter came up, Jason was a runner with Harry.
Two years passed as slowly as it possibly could. They built the Glade to look something close to a home, which of course only worked with the help and support of everyone. Of course, they couldn't picture the places they came from or who put them in there or even know if the names printed on their initial clothes were their real names. The initial trio, Harry, Liam, and Dylan keep ruling and helping every single glader and also every greenie. Harry was 'promoted' to leader since he was the first to arrive and the first to actually try to make something out of the Glade. Liam and Dylan also became runners. Thomas, arrived four months after Dylan, and like every Greenie, had to help in every job on the Glade to know what he was good at, what turned out to be inside the Maze. Unfortunately, a year after Thomas was put as a runner, he got tangled up and broke his leg, so he went to medbay instead.
Harry, Liam, and Dylan are pretty close to each other since they are the three original gladers. They saw twenty Greenies come up the Box and saw five lose their way, they saw themselves taking care of every single person inside that Glade so they could feel warm inside while also feeling less empty and confused. Harry is the one with more jobs in the Glade, by choice, since he kept feeling that like a leader he should have more height on his shoulders. Liam is a Runner but also helps Zayn with his jobs as a builder and a bricknick. Dylan dedicates his days on the garden and is also a true help to Harry in terms of keeping eyes on the ones who don't respect the Glade's rules.
Harry looked to his side seeing Dylan helping Thomas carry some supplies to the medbay which made him smile because he knew that Dylan cares a lot about Thomas and worried even more about him since Thomas had his accident and broke his leg. Harry kept looking around, seeing Liam around Tom, who was making their food, and he laughed to himself, thinking how much those guys meant to him.
And although Harry tries to give his full attention to everyone, he tries to get a little more time with the ones who feel more down and depressed since those are the ones he has to make sure he is not going to lose and has to make sure they feel loved and warmed inside at all times. Unfortunately, two of their losses were results of suicide, inside the Maze while Harry and Liam were there running so they still feel the weight on their shoulders, always thinking they could've prevented it even tho they probably couldn't.
One thing Harry hates the most though is when a Glader calls him boss because; he doesn't just rule, he helps; he doesn't know how it is done to make them figure things out on their own, he shows how it is done when they don't know; he doesn't order a 'go', he says 'let's go'; he never says 'I', he says 'we'; he doesn't command, he asks; he doesn't criticise if the first plan doesn't work out, he makes sure to help with a plan B. Liam and Dylan both know all that about Harry so they like to joke with him and call him 'boss'.
Harry looked back, watching the beginning of the Maze still wondering if they would ever find a way out through there or if it's really any way out of there. Would they put them all in there just for fun? Just to see how long can they live with minimal conditions? If the human mind is good enough to actually build an empire out of just a few materials? If they could pull off whatever they inserted in their brain to make them forget? During the years, Harry always thought he would figure out a lot of question to at least one or two questions all of them have but until that point.
"Hey! Harry!" Harry, quickly, looked at his side when he heard Peter's voice calling for him, and Harry started to walk towards him, seeing his concerned eyes.
"Something wrong?" Harry looked around his 'table' just seeing the usually wooden board Peter uses to cut their meat or fish into pieces before passing it to Tom to cook them, and not seeing anything unusual.
"Do you think the Box will come up soon? We're running out of condiments, I haven't touched any meat on this table for two days and I'm not sure how much more Tom can save up."
"I honestly don't know, Peter..." Harry sighed. "I know this is not what you want to hear, it's not what I want to say to you either and I wish I had a better answer for you but unfortunately we just will have to wait and if we don't get more condiments, guess we are all starting a diet!" Harry joked and Peter laughed a bit.
"I know you don't like to hear this and that you don't have power over the Box bu-"
"Sorry to interrupt you guys!" Liam appeared behind Harry, patting his shoulder. "Zayn finished repairing the Maze room so we already can go there and write down what happened today"
"Let's go then." Harry passed his hand through his hair and looked at Peter once again. "Go eat something kiddo, don't push yourself down, we're going to be fine" Harry smiled at Peter, receiving a small smile back, before he and Liam started their way to the Maze room.
"Is something wrong?" Liam asked while they were walking toward the small round cabin at the beginning of the forest. "With Peter, I mean"
"The kid is worried the Box won't come up in time, we are running out of condiments, lacking animals. Honestly? If we don't get anything, I don't know how many days it's going to take until someone falls down" Harry sighed, visibly concerned.
"Let's not rush ourselves. In a week, if we don't get more stuff, we'll get a solution, we always do" Liam said, trying to convince both Harry and himself.
"There's going to be a time when we won't get one" Harry looked at Liam, that just shrugged. "Okay, let's do this" Harry opened the door to the Maze room and they both entered.
The Maze room is a restrictive part of the Glade that it's only allowed to Harry for being the leader and to Liam for also being the Runner. Although, there is the exception that whoever is with Harry or Liam can also go in since they're there to watch the person. They created that 'rule' to make sure everything inside that room is protected and, even tho they trust everyone in some way, they don't want anyone who gets stung to enter there, grab their plans and run crazily into the Maze.
Along with that one, there are three other restricted areas. The medication cabinet in the medbay for obvious reasons that only Harry and Thomas have access to, the Slammer that is where they lock up for a day or for a couple hours the ones who don't respect the rules that only Harry has access to, and the cabin that they use as warehouse, where they keep the stuff like the things they bring with them to inside the Maze or weapons that they built and received.
Harry looked at the Maze replica in front of them and the paper where they designed the area they ran through today. They knew the walls change inside the Maze because they can hear them move but after the sections rotate the walls go back to the same place. Although, not in the last rotation.
"It's different again. How are we supposed to know the way out if the ways keep changing to completely different patterns? Starting to think they don't want us to actually figure out how to get out" Harry murmured and Liam handed him the paper from the day so Harry put it next to the one he was previously looking, not finding any similarity.
"Things here change quickly and it seems like we can't keep up but we also can't give up"
"I'm never giving up, I'm finding a way out of this hole and I'm taking them home. This is just so confusing! They created a pattern for years and suddenly everything we know from the inside changes. It's frustrating to see that the work we've been doing for two years is turning into nothing."
"Maybe they reason and the similarities and the reason is right under our nose but we're not seeing the full picture here"
"The full picture..." Harry looked around to the other papers hang up on the walls, thinking and examining every single one. "We are not looking at this in the right way" Harry directed his eyes to the new pattern again, picking up the paper. "I don't know what we can do to see this differently bu-" Harry stopped talking as soon as a loud noise started to echo the entire Glade.
"The Box is finally coming up!" Liam murmured, happily. "Let's go meet our new Greenie!" Liam patted both Harry's shoulders before they both left the cabin.
The first thing they saw was all the Gladers leaving what they were doing to gather around the Box but no one was close enough, which was another rule. Liam and Harry ran to the middle of the Glade, passing through the others, hearing some of them teasing Niall about the fact that he wouldn't be the Greenie anymore. Harry looked at Liam when the sound stopped and the metal doors opened by themselves so they could both open the grade underneath it. Harry jumped inside, grabbing the Grennie's wrist to see his pulse and when he saw everything was fine, he nodded to Liam.
"Okay, guys!" Harry stood up, looking at everyone. "You know the drill. I don't want more than one person in here. Thomas, you come with me to the medbay with him and Peter you come with us to bring the medication. Liam, you grab the new clothes and the bedclothes as well. Tom, forme a line and take the cage with the animals out of here. Dylan, you take the seeds. Zayn, you take the wood and Niall help him with the tools. That order, calmly."
When Harry saw everyone nodding to him, he picked the Greenie up in bridal-style, being careful with his head and Liam grabbed Harry's shoulder, helping him get up. Harry saw Peter jumping in the Box before he and Thomas started walking to the medbay.
"Welcome to hell, Greenie."