The Runners | Teen Ink

The Runners

October 10, 2016
By Anonymous

As he slowly opened his eyes, he found himself in an elevator going upwards really fast. Frightened, he started to scream for help “Help! Is anyone there?” When the box finally reached to the top, a few boys opened the box and said “Hey what’s up new guy, welcome to the Glade”. He opened his eyes and couldn’t function right, for he had no memory of his past but his name, Dave. 
He noticed it was day time and saw a bunch of teenage boys surrounding him and said “Where am I ?” and, “Who are you guys?” The boys started to introduce themselves but Dave was so frustrated and scared because he couldn’t remember anything. As he stood up from the box, he noticed the place was solid and that these people were living their lives as if they were in the old days with very few resources and things. Their clothes were torn and they looked like farmers and hunters. Then he said “Why can’t I remember anything?” A boy name Carson came over, he had red hair and was wearing ripped jeans and a saggy torn shirt and looked at the back of Dave’s shirt and it read “DAVE”. He told the others boys that his name was Dave. Then he responded “Well hello there Dave. You might not know where you came from, or who we are but now you’re one us and you're not the only one with memory loss, we all can’t remember anything either.” Dave sat down on the ground annoyed with his hands over his head trying to remember where he came from and why he was here.
Then a  guy came and screamed “Everyone get back to work!” “Come on let’s go everyone!” He came to me and introduced himself. “Well hello there my friend, my name is Tary, the leader of this place. You might be Dave, the new member right?” I responded “Hi, yeah I’m Dave, but what am I doing here?” “Why can’t I remember anything?” He said “ This is the Glade.” He pointed to that same elevator that Dave came from and said “One new person comes out of that box every month, and you happen to be that person for this month. Surprised, Dave looked around the place and told him “How long am I going to be here?” He giggled “This is your new home, try to get along.”
Later that day, Dave was sitting on a wooden made bench talking to Carson and about the Glade until Dave noticed a huge and tall metal wall. Dave asked Carson what that was and he replied “Oh that, that is nothing. Don’t worry about it.” “What is behind that wall?” Dave asked again. “Okay fine I’ll tell you, but you cannot tell anyone I told you about this okay?” Questioned Carson. “Ok”, replied Dave. “Behind that wall is a maze. A maze that opens at night and closes as soon as daylight appears. But only the strongest and fastest people amongst us are chosen to go hunt at night and find a way out of here.” “Find a way out of here?” Dave said. “Yeah, all these past years we’ve been trying to find a way out of here, but unfortunately no one has found a way out. That maze has a path to get us out of here, but that path has been impossible to find.”
The boys were gathering at the fire place and it was getting dark. Dave went with Carson to the gathering and saw that after a whole day of cropping and finding ways to make food with what they have, that everyone was tired. “Here have some of this, you must be starving.” said Carson. Dave took the bowl and saw that it was homemade soup with vegetables and started eat it.
It was completely dark and everyone was getting ready to sleep. Dave noticed that they slept on the ground or they tied their blankets to two trees and slept on that. “There, I made your bed Dave. You can sleep there and I’ll be sleeping right there. Dave said “Thank you.” But he didn’t want to sleep. He wanted to know who was going to the maze.
About a few minutes later, Dave heard footsteps running towards the maze. And then a loud noise striked everyone's ears. Dave held his hands to his ears real tight, but noticed everyone else wasn’t bothered by it and were still sleeping. “It’s just the maze opening up, go to sleep!” yelled Carson. But Dave didn’t listen, he thought it was his chance to get out of the place so he followed the group that was going towards the maze. “No Dave come back, we aren’t allowed to go there!” Screamed Carson. But Dave didn’t listen and the others woke up to see what was going on. When the maze opened, he saw that it was dark and noticed that it was just like a living maze. The guys who were going to the maze were called the “Brayors” which meant they were brave and they wore silky black and blue one pieces to represent who they were.. They yelled at Dave to go back.
As soon as the maze opened, Dave saw that it was gloomy and dark. The Brayors started running inside the maze and yelled “Stay back kid” to Dave. Dave stood back curious and frightened. Then Carson came beside him and said “Dave I told you we aren’t allowed in there, let’s go back to sleep.”
The next morning, when Dave woke up he saw the teenage boys surrounding the elevator. He walked over there and saw that everyone was surprised that they were receiving something from the box twice in a month, for this has never happened. When the box rose up a few guys helped to open the box and when they opened it, they all stood in shock. It was a girl.
Every month, one teenage boy would arrive in the elevator, but this time two people came from the box within two days and one was a girl. When the girl woke up, she squinted her eyes and looked around not saying a word. Then at once she softly said “Where am I?” One of the boys said “This is the Glade”. The girls confused said “I want to go back!” Everyone stood there and watched, for they have never seen a girl before and didn’t know what to do.
Later on that day, the girl was sitting near a tree worried while Dave came by her. Before he could say anything she said “Dave?” “Da, da, Dave” she stuttered. Dave looked at her closely and then he realized who she was. “Tereasa!” “It’s you!” He yelled happily. “Dave what are we doing here?” She asked. “I don’t know where we are but they said this place is called the Glade and that there is a maze behind that wall over there.” He pointed where the steel wall was. “There is a way out of here, but it is behind that wall. We have to find the key to the maze if we want to get out of here.” “Uh- okay, but why isn’t it open?” asked Tereasa. It opens at night so we’ll have to wait. Until then try to get along with these people.
It was getting dark and the two were waiting patiently for the maze to open. Finally, the maze opened and they both began to run towards it. When it fully opened, they ran right inside before anyone else. “Get out of there the others yelled!” “It’s too dangerous out there!” But Dave and Tereasa already had gone in the maze. It was dark, but they had brought a flashlight with them that they had stole from one of the boys. They held hands together and ran to each corner of the maze until they found an exit.
When they ran towards the exit, they entered the hall and when they ran to reach the other side, both of their heads turned. They started to feel really dizzy. Then, a sudden bright light flashed directly in their eyes. “Ahhhhh, this burns!” yells Tereasa. Dave was so striked out, he could barely talk.
A few hours later, they opened their eyes. They saw the same kind of people  when they first came from the box. But this time they were older people.  They both looked around. The place was different and they were in another maze. “What are we doing here?” Teresa said worried. “I thought we escaped this place yesterday.” “We found the exit of the maze so why are we here?” Questioned Dave. “This is the never ending maze. Welcome to the next level.” said a women.



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