INNOVATION - CHAPTER NINE

⚘ GLADER BALL ⚘

"Kalisa, wake up,"

    The girl grunted and rolled over on her bed, wishing she could lay there forever.

    "I'm serious, if you skip work... the Keepers won't think very fondly of you." Kalisa allowed one of her eyes to peel open, revealing Newt crouched down to eye level. His brown eyes were staring intently at the girl, as if he were attempting to move her mentally.

    "I don't care what they think." Kalisa rolled over so her back was to the boy.

    "Look I know you didn't want to be a Slicer, and I don't blame you, but you can't avoid it forever." Newt's accented voice broke the peaceful silence of the room, cutting the sleep away from the girl.

    She sighed and sat up. "I know."

    "Are you- do you wanna get some breakfast?" Newt questioned carefully.

    "No."

    I'll probably end up just throwing it up.

    "It'll be alright. Winston- er- well he means well. Don't let him frighten you." Newt hesitated before lightly patting her arm. Kalisa's eyes snapped to the boy and he pulled away under her glance.

    "I'll leave you to get ready," Newt stood and started for the door. "Thank you," Kalisa called out before he shut the door.

    Newt smiled, "Don't worry 'bout it,"

    When he was gone Kalisa went to her trunk and changed. While being a Slicer was scary she couldn't give up yet. She would go back to the blood-house. She would listen as Winston rambled on and on about the different ways to stab a Hog. She would care for the animals and wear the blood stained apron.

    But she would not kill.

༻✧༺

    Kalisa was surprised to see the Blood-house deserted when she arrived. As she walked in the only person in sight was the boy from a couple days ago.

    Harry, or maybe Hank?

    "Welcome Greenie, congratulations on making it as a Slicer." The boy was sitting on a table polishing a machete.

Henry.

"Thanks," Kalisa nodded taking in his appearance since last time she had been preoccupied. He had dark black hair and mud colored eyes, with a thin scar running from the length of his eye to his cheek. He was scrawny and tall, with two knives in his belt along with the sword in his hands.

"The swords are my favorite. Knifes are alright for clean kills, but the swords are cooler don't you think?" Henry glanced up from his polishing.

"I guess so,"

"Do you have a favorite weapon?" He asked almost smirking.

"No," Kalisa shook her head.

Henry grunted, "You will,"

"Greenie! Good to see you!" Winston entered at that moment already wearing an apron. "You ready for your first official day as a Slicer?"

Kalisa gulped, "As I'll ever be."

"Great, then lets go." Winston handed her an apron, and Kalisa forced herself not to dwell on who's blood stained the front.

Like last time the day started out easy, just simple house keeping tasks such as wiping down the tables and polishing the blades. Then Winston assigned her and Henry to feed the cows while he prepared inside.

While the two worked Kalisa voiced a question that had been bouncing in her head for hours now. "Are there any other Slicers?"

Henry poured slop into the Cows bin and faced her, "There were, a few months ago. We used to have 5 others."

Kalisa frowned, "What happened to them?"

"Well George died, Hardin lost a hand, and the other three quit." Henry listed casually.

"Died?!" Kalisa exclaimed, horrified.

"Well not from being a Slicer," Henry stated in an obvious tone. "He volunteered himself to go to down the box-hole years ago and was decapitated."

Kalisa dropped the bag of food she was holding. "He- he went down the Box-hole and came back with no head?"

"Thats what being decapitated is, yes."

Kalisa had to sit down to avoid falling over. She had known boys had died here since her tour, but she had stopped pushing for answers days ago, now that she had some it nauseated her.

"Thats- thats awful." Kalisa shook her head in disgust. Whoever sent them here had killed a child with no second thoughts.

They were more than bad people. They were just plain evil.

"Sure is, so now its just us three. Doesn't matter though, we don't need many anyways." Henry grinned.

Kalisa found it in herself to stand, forcing the idea of someone's head at the bottom of the Box-hole to disappear. "You said the others quit? I thought you couldn't do that."

"Well technically you can't, but these three boys had a pretty good reason." Henry explained turning grim for the first time in the conversation.

"Why did they?" Kalisa was curious now.

"Thats enough questions for now, lets go Greenie, I think Winstons ready for us." Henry brushed her off easily and made his way back to the Blood-house, leaving the girl with new questions.

Something bad must've happened, and while it was intriguing, Kalisa couldn't help but feel alarmed.

As she followed Henry back inside she thought of George. He had died trying to escape this place, and the creators had killed him without a second thought.

Kalisa couldn't imagine what it must've been like. One second a boy was being lowered down into a pit of darkness, hope radiating off the walls as he went deeper and deeper. Then the next he was dead. Decapitated as if he were an animal.

Expendable.

Thats what they were, Kalisa realized. Whoever put them here didn't care if they lived or died. They had an unknown purpose, and the Gladers lives paid the price for it.

It made her nauseous. And the worst part was that there was nothing she could do about it.

༻✧༺

A few hours later and the day was finally over, meaning Kalisa could rip off the apron that weighed her down like a burden and leave.

Luckily she didn't have to kill anything today as Henry and Winston were capable of doing it with just two people, but it was still disgusting and Kalisa shuddered to remember the noise of anguish as the pig took its final breaths.

    Now that she had her job the days began to fly by. She would wake up, go to work, be forced to kill something, gag her dinner down, and sleep.

    Despite her hatred for being a Slicer the rest of her life wasn't to shabby. She was beginning to grow more comfortable around the Gladers, more specifically Newt, Minho, Frypan, Tyler, and Henry. Of course being trapped in the Maze was less than perfect, and Kalisa would give anything to go home, she couldn't deny that the Glade was peaceful, and it could be a whole lot worse here.

    A few weeks after she had gotten her job Winston and Henry had gotten into a fight. A verbal one, but it was pretty brutal.

    Kalisa only watched with a slack jaw as the two went back and forth like a tennis match. The two boys seemed to have forgotten she was there for they only were focused on each other.

    "Everyone can see it Winston! You're so shucking obsessed with your job that you don't have eyes for anything else! You said that you would change!" Henry's voice broke at the end.

    "I'm not obsessed I'm devoted! There's a difference shuckface!" Winston snapped back.

    "The others were right, you're insane." Henry threw down his apron and turned to the girl, "Come on Kalisa, we're done for the day."

    Henry only ever called her Greenie, never Kalisa.

    She frowned and followed him out of the blood house, watching as Winston angrily picked up a knife and slammed it against a table, sending splinters everywhere.

    The two walked in silence, Henry silently seething, and Kalisa trying to work up the courage to ask what the hell that was all about.

    "He's crazy." Henry scowled as they continued walking.

    Kalisa sensed that if she interrupted him he wouldn't continue so she stayed silent, patiently waiting for her answers.

    "He loves being a Slicer. Loves it. It blinds him sometimes, and... and he becomes dangerous." Henry started.

    They were crossing the Glade now, and up ahead there was a cluster of boys, Newt in the center holding a round object.

    "Last year was really bad. He almost got banished because- well-"

    "Hey Kalisa!" Kalisa wanted to groan in annoyance as Newt yelled her name cutting Henry off.

    "Well?" Kalisa looked to Henry hopefully but she knew all hope was lost.

    "Forget it. Just watch your back around him." Henry turned away, heading for the hammocks.

    Now burdened with more questions Kalisa faced Newt where he was watching the exchange with narrowed eyes, but when their eyes met he broke into a wide smile and waved her over.

    Begrudgingly Kalisa jogged over to see what the commotion was about. "Do you know how to play Glader Ball?" The blonde asked as soon as she neared him.

    "No," Kalisa was momentarily stunned with confusion, forgetting about her inquiry's.

    "No one does because Newt here made the shuck game up." A short boy crossed his arms.

    Newt ignored the boy and passed the ball from one hand to another. "Its simple really, I'll teach you all." Without warning Newt threw the ball to Kalisa, who managed to catch it before it hit the ground.

    She stared at him blankly and he grinned, "Well what are you waiting for? Run,"

    "Run?" Kalisa questioned.

    "Towards the woods, we all try to stop you." Newt explained. There was a beat of silence until another boy lunged at Kalisa and all hell broke loose.

    The girl dodged the boy and took off towards the dead-heads, the boys following closely behind her. The ball was large and slightly heavy so it was awkward to carry, but luckily Kalisa seemed to be pretty fast.

    Out of no where she was slammed to the ground, a heavy body on top of her.

    "Stop, stop!" Newt scolded sounding fed up. The boy who had tackled her stood and Kalisa followed his lead, dusting the dirt off her.

    "You can't tackle in Glader ball. You can only run into people, with your arms tucked into your sides," Newt said like it was the most obvious thing ever.

    "Try again Kalisa," He waved her on and she frowned.

    "Wouldn't someone else have the ball?"

    "Not after a tackle, you've still got possession." Newt stated.

    Kalisa sighed and began running again, a few boys ran into her with their arms tucked over their chests, but no one was able to knock her down.

    "Don't hog the ball, pass it!" Newt cried from behind.

    "To who?" Kalisa questioned.

    "Anyone, there are no teams in Glader Ball."

    Kalisa looked around and saw Tyler off to the side holding a light jog, and looking winded. "Tyler!"

    The boy's eyes widened as the ball soared in his direction. "I don't want it!" But the ball already flew into his chest, throwing him to the ground.

    "Stop!" Newt cried again. "Tyler just brought up an important rule. In Glader Ball you can refuse a pass, and possession will go back to whoever had the ball before."

    All the Gladers groaned including Kalisa. "Can't someone else have the ball, I'm the only one who's had it."

    Newt gave her a a knowing look, "They all will get their chance, now run."

    And so Kalisa ran. As they played Glader Ball the rules began to clear up. There were no teams so everyone was team-mates and everyone was enemies. You could only get the ball by receiving it in a pass or stealing it from whoever had possession.

    Newt kept throwing in weird new rules as the game went on, but eventually even he grew confused so he just shut up and played.

    Kalisa found herself to be rather good at the game, always able to dodge the Gladers and find someone open to throw the ball to. Everyone who played couldn't help but grow very passionate, laughing merrily or arguing against Newts calls which for some reason always seemed to benefit Kalisa.

    This was the most fun Kalisa could remember having. She finally felt like she belonged at the Glade.

Here's a nice short filler chapter for now! I love how I made an updating schedual just to completely disregaurd it. From here on out I want to try and update daily! Except for tomorrow cause I'm getting my wisdom teeth out whoopie. I'm so scared- Happy reading!

1/2/24

2108 words