I sat cross legged, back straight and my dark eyes glued to the boy who called himself Newt.

"So..what you saying is it's all the damn same?!?" I whispered in shock.

"Well, after your explanation, there seems to be some very major bloody difference."

"But it's the fuc-"

"Launguage Jessie!"

"-king same!" I finished, "it's the same!" I cried. Without breaking eye contact I pointed, wood building, we called it the Cabin, ours looked more sturdy, yours looks like the big bad wolf could blow it over. I pointed to the other corner, behind him, "big red barn, where our Ranch hands work with the animals, the next corner is the fields, produce is grown and harvested. Under us is the Forest, where we have our Night Walkers burried. We have a healers hut, we have Newbies sent every month, and supplies once a month."

"Yeah...there are differences...but your right, roughly the buggen' same." Newt frowned.

"Is she comitdown soon?"

Newt leaned over the edge and then glanced up at me and then raised an eyebrow.

"If they keep their hands to themselves."

Newt nodded, and then called down. He climbed down the ladder and looked up, waiting. Now that I had time to relax slightly catch my breath and let my wild adrenaline slow down I realized how rickety this thing was. I wrinkled my nose. I looked over my shoulder and saw the tree wasn't probably as tall as the second story window I jumped out of.

Why not a are them some more.

I walked to the edge and stepped off. There was a collective gasp a few shouts, I landed light as a cat on my feet knees bent, one hand on the ground for support and the other stretched out to the side for balance. I straightened up pulling two knives out of my holster when the guys started forward.

I held them up, ready to throw and fight if I needed. Newt came hurrying forwards, his hands out stretched.

"They mean no harm. Relax Jessie."

"I'll relax when I know what's going on, who they are, why I'm here, how I got here and why my life is a parallel universe!"

"She's trouble!" A tall huge blond said crossing his large arms and glaring at me.

"That's my middle name, Jackass."

His eyes widened in shock.

"Oh I'm sorry, only you're allowed to talk like that? Sorry, I missed orientation."

"Listen here you little -"

He stopped talking immediately when there was a sharp knife under his chin, forcing his head up.

"Talk to me like that again and you won't have a tongue to talk with." I hissed.

"Jessie!" Newt cried. He tried to grab me, but with our taking my eyes off the huge blond in front of me, I held my other knife out, pointing it at Newt, he scrambled to a stop, the knife point inches from his eyeball.

"No one talks to me like I'm a lesser being. No one touches me. At all. Ever. I'm not a fucken Newbie. I am an original in my Maze. I spent a month alone, now show some fucken respect! Am I clear?" I hissed.

The blond at knife point swallowed and growled. Newt held his hands up. I held my knives up a second longer.

"Tell them all to back off." I hissed.

"You heard her! Back to supper ya shanks!" The bald guy barked.

The crowd slowly disappeared. Only a few hung around. I slowly lowered my knives. My jaw was clenched and my dark eyes narrowed.

"Jessie, was it?"

"Depends on who's asking."

"I am. The shucken leader of the Glade!"

My eyes flicked to the guy. I made an elaborate bow, with a lot of arm flailing, "my humblest apologies your royal Highness."

I heard a snort from beside me. I straightened up. I raised an eyebrow at him.
He looked like he was going to explode.

"That's Alby, he's in charge-"

"Yes, clearly. I don't bow to just anyone Newt."

"That's Gally, Keeper of the builders."

"I'm the leader of-"

"Building things, yeah, I gathered as much. We have them too." I rolled my eyes at him. "I don't need you to mansplain to me, ya ox."

Newt hurried on, introducing the others who still stuck around.

"That's Frypan, Keeper of the Kitchen. Winston, Keeper of the Slicers, in the Blood house." Newt looked at me.

"We call them Ranch hands...at the Barn."

Newt nodded and went on, "Jeff, Kepper of the MedJacks-"

"What the hell is a MedJack?" I interupted.

"Uhh, takes care of the sick..injured."

"But what the hell is a MedJack? We have Healers."

A few of the boys opened and closed their mouths, unsure of how to answer what a MedJack was. Newt searched the back of his head and the shrugged.

"Not sure. Umm, then we have Dug, he's the Keeper of the Slopers, they do the odd jobs, the cleaning..."

I nodded with a frown, "We call them helpers."

"We then have Zart keeper of the track hoes, in charge of the gardens"

I chocked. I coughed a few times, trying to get my breath back, I looked around at the guys, they were serious. That was a name.

"Come again?" I sniggered.

"Funny." The Asian said dryly.

"I thought so. And your the one who caught the pun. So I'm not the only one."

"Yeah, making dirty jokes...your a quick one."

I snorted again, and raised an eyebrow , "is that what she said?" But I finally turned my whole body to look at him, "I'm not the idiot who gave the title Track Hoe to something." I said.

"You're a mature one aren't you."

"Again. You're the brainless fools who named shucken farmers track hoes. I think it's hilarious."

He narrowed his eyes at me, his strong jaw clenched. His huge arms folded and I was positive he was flexing.

"And who are you, King of the Hill?" I asked, in impressed with his show if muscle.

Okay that was a lie. All these guys had muscle and it was hot. I hadn't seen a guy in two and a half years and before that I couldn't remember guys. So...this was a shock.

"Minho, Keepers of the Runners. And what were you doing in my maze?"

"Well Minho keeper of the Slow Pokes, I'm Jessie, Leader of the Mappers, and I was in MY maze. I was checking out a section. Slipped off the wall in the rain storm, slammed my head and somehow ended up here when the walls changed."

"Likely story." The blond, named Gally scoffed.

"Why the hell would I make that up?"

"Not sure. But I think there's something off about this."

"Really? Ya don't say? What part of this is normal?"

"Okay okay, let's all take a deep breath." Newt cut in, "Jessie, why don't you come and have some supper, you were out most of the day, I'm sure your hungry." He motioned with his head towards the dinning area.

"Fine."

I followed Newt threw the crowd of boys. The Keepers as they called themselves, all followed. Newt led me to the kitchen counter, and grabbed some food and over to an almost empty table. I took my backpack off and pulled the hood I had on, off. Finally letting my long dark hair fall around my shoulders, I tucked the hood and mask away into my bag I pulled my hair up into a pony tail and went to eat when I stopped. Every head in the dinning area had turned to look at me.

I sat up straight and raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a problem with you Sticks?"

"We just ain't seen a girl in a long time." Minho said, he shamelessly looked me up and down.

"Oh, well you see, Minho, were the same as you, except better looking, can get the job done right the first time and all while bleeding for a week."

His face hardened again and his eyes flashed.

"Oh I'm sorry, did I bruise you ego?" I mocked.

I heard him growl.

"All right...just eat." Alby cut in, "you always like this?" He asked.

"Worse. The girls have learned to leave me the shuck alone, and keep there hands and eyes to themselves." I snarked, making a point to look at Gally and Minho and a few others who were still gasping at me.

"Well when it's been how long since seein' a girl!" Dug smirked at me his eyes glued to my chest.

The disgust in me rose. But I leaned forward slightly, taking my fork casually a started to spin it in my fingers.

"Hmmm. Funny. Ya know you also have boobs. Mine are just designed with a fucking purpose; to feed my offspring, unlike you, you worthless flab of skin and bone. I make life and can feed that life with my body, and you done jack all." I hissed sweetly, "so again. Females are far superior." I stabbed the fork down between his fingers into the picnic table.

His eyes went wide as he looked at the fork which stood straight up when I let go.

"As soon as those wall doors open, I'm outta here. I'm going back to my maze, no matter how long it takes." I stood up and grabbed my bag.

"You can't!"

I froze and turned around.

"Excuse me? What do you mean I can't?"

"No one goes into the maze if you ain't a runner."

"Except that I am. I'm also the Leader. So you better back the shuck off. I have run and mapped every inch of the maze." I placed my hands flat on the table and leaned forward, looking him dead in the eye.

"And I wasn't asking permission. I'm leaving, and I'll see you never."

"Good luck against the Grievers, girl."

"Don't need it. Been there and done that."

He laughed. "You've never seen one! How could you?"

"Ha. If you're a Mapper, then clearly you've seen them. Everyone has seen them."

"No."

"Yes."

"Only Runners know what's out there."

"Sure, seen the walls, but everyone knows what a Griever looks like."

"Jessie, Love, no. They only come out at night." Newt said slowly.

"At night? Ha! Nice try guys."

The table was dead silent. I frowned and stood up straight, folding my arms.

"So...your telling me...you as the Keeper of your Runners have never seen a Griever?"

He didn't respond.

"And they don't roam your halls during the day?"

Again he didn't respond, Newt did, "right."

"And they don't come into your...whatever you call this," I waved my hand around, "we call it the Meadow."

"The Glade. And yeah, they don't come past the walls." Alby nodded.

I stood for a second trying to process this. I frowned, my brain hurt

"So, none of you have been stung? Or gone through the changing? Or seen a friend ripped apart and found dead in the halls? None of you have had to fight against a Griever inside the walls of your home and watched a friend did beside you?" I paused taking in their shucked expressions. I went on slowly again. But I could feel the anger inside. These boys knew how to take a joke way too far.

"And let me guess you don't have wild hail and rain and wind that devastate your crops at random, beetle blades don't poison you? You always have the right medicine and proper medical supplies...You're Glade here is happy and sunshine all the time."

"Uhhh...yeah. Jessie...?" Newt asked hesitantly.

I spun on my heel and walked away as fast as I could. My heart was slamming into my chest so hard it hurt. I could feel my throat tighten and there was definitely something stuck in my throat and my eyes burnt. I stormed over to the Map room and threw the door open.

I stopped in my tracks, this wasn't my Map room. This one was a mess, and it stunk like sweaty boys. Wrinkling my nose I pushed some of the paper out of the way and sat down. I pulled out my notebook and pencil, and wrote. I just finished when the door opened and Minho of all people came in.

"What the shuck are you doing in here? Only Runners-"

"I am one, you idiot." I snapped.

He growled.

"Prove it!"

"Are you shucken serious?" I rolled my eyes, "fine. Come here." I pulled out the map I keep in my backpack. "This is our maze."

I slid the paper over to him.

"The walls move every night. The sequence is always the same, 71526483. The sections change, it's always the same pattern. One changes while the other closes. The doors to the different sections are always in the same spot, but the route there is different. Section 4 has a weird opening," I pointed to the map, "we call it the cliff. It looks like the end of the world, just nothing. Section seven leads to a weird place with rows of thin flaps or fins that are made of metal. Our maze is one giant circle..." I trailed off, "with no way out." I muttered bitterly.

He didn't say anything while I explained, his eyes glued to the paper. He finally handed it back. His face was so hard, I couldn't read what he was thinking.

"You've seen a Griever."

"After everything I said, you're gonna ask me about the machine animal monsters that haunt the halls?"

He folded his arms and nodded.

"Yeah. I see one like every other day. I've had to fight them off, I've watched many good mappers die in my arms, a lot of good girls die. Only a few have survived the Changing...what do you want me to say?"

His eyes narrowed.

"Fine. Don't believe me. That's your problem not mine. But here you moron," lifted my shirt, and showed him the scar I got from the Changing, from where the Griever poisoned me. His eyes flicked down to the scar and never left. His dark eyes narrowed slightly. I dropped my shirt.

"I know what I'm talking about. I'm leaving tomorrow."

I stood up and got to the door.

"No one survives a night in the maze."

"Again. You would be wrong." I looked over my shoulder, I saw his eyes go wide. "More than once."

I pushed the door open and left. The sun had set behind the wall. I saw the guys getting ready for bed. I slipped into the shadows and walked to the edge of the forest and like a cat I climbed up a tree and leapt onto the tree fort. I sat down and pulled the rope ladder up. I was hoping the guys here were too big to climb the adjacent tree, or too dumb to think of it. I pulled my backpack off, using it as a pillow I lay down.

I closed my eyes and tried very hard not to cry. I was now stuck in a strange yet familiar place surrounded by guys, most who didn't believe me, or probably wanted to use me. I missed Sonya. I couldn't believe I actually thought that... but I did, I missed her.

I curled up with my back to the tree, a knife in my hand and fell asleep only to be taken into the awful world of nightmares and memories.