doomsday
Dorcas is tired.
Tired of being put in a position she never asked for. Tired of shouldering the weight so no one else has to. Tired of watching the people she’s supposed to protect die.
A strangled shout sounds from the medi-center, drawing a wince from the surrounding faces hovering unsurely by the door. She pointedly ignores the glances they keep sending her way, confusion clear in their eyes. I should be in there, I know that.
Dorcas is their leader after all. But she just can’t bring herself to face the most recent person she’s neglected to save-
Evelyn.
She’d been like this for days. In and out of a painful delirium, with random bouts of consciousness. Usually the changing would be over in a few hours, only lasting a day at most. But after two days and no sign of Evelyn getting better, Dorcas needed to get away from it all.
Especially after the meeting they’d had because of it.
“This is the longest changing process any glader has gone through.” Dorcas stated once everybody had shuffled in and settled down. Immediately people jumped on the defensive, instant chaos breaking out at the declaration.
“So?” Kai, a beater, argued vehemently. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“She’s just stating a fact!” Someone shouted out.
“What, the fact that she wants to put Eve out of her misery?” Another questioned.
Dorcas looked down at that, crossing her arms uncomfortably as she shifted in place.
“What was that, Brenna?” Molly, the Glades’ resident chef, stood up, scowling down at the young chaser.
The room quieted down, and looking thoroughly scolded, Brenna shrugged her shoulders noncommittally. Molly stood for a second, ears steaming as she met each and every gladers eye, though some struggled to meet hers.
It seemed as if nobody wanted to cross the person who kept them fed on a daily basis, lest they face retribution. “Continue, Dorcas.”
She cleared her throat, forcing her her shoulders back as she continued. “I only brought it up because we don’t know if something’s changed. Whether it's the maze, or the makers.. or them.”
“So what are you suggesting we do about it?” Andromeda, keeper of the very few beaters left, asked curiously, having been silent until then.
“Nothing-“ multiple people scoffed, “-for now. We can’t exactly offer up our seekers as test subjects, but we’d be stupid to ignore it.”
“Dorcas is right, we need to be even more careful now.” Alice says. They seem to be lost in thought as they frown to themselves. “We don’t know if this is an isolated incident or if it could lead to more.”
Andromeda looks away at that.
“What about Evelyn? W-What happens if she doesn’t get better?” Zahra, a particularly quiet glader, looked apprehensive as she spoke, wringing her hands together in a nervous tick.
“I guess then we have to question whether or not we want to prolong her suffering or- as Brenna so eloquently said -put her out of her misery.”
The haunting statement had drawn the meeting to a close, silencing even the most outspoken of gladers. People then scattered, some of them choosing to linger by the medi-center, and the others choosing to converse quietly among themselves.
In her peripherals, Dorcas spots someone making their way towards her. Rita.
The blonde stops at a distance, gesturing her over all the while glaring at the anxious crowd surrounding the entrance. She looks drained, her hair a far cry from the stylishplaits that they’re usually in.
“Shouldn’t you be getting to work?” Her voice is as sharp as her glare, some of the gladers shrinking back in reticence at the bite in her tone.
“We just want to know how she’s doing.” Andromeda says calmly, despite the resentful gleam in her eye. The medic ignores her, instead looking at Dorcas, questioning in her eyes. It’s up to you.
It always is, isn’t it?
“You’ll find out after I talk to her.” She hates how hoarse her voice is, her vocal chords scratching against her throat. It makes her sound weak. “For now, get back to work.”
Like soldiers having just received their orders, they scatter. The thought makes bile rise in Dorcas’ throat, especially when she catches the knowing look in Andromeda’s eye as the taller girl reluctantly stalks off.
Silently and shamefully, she follows Rita into the hut.
Hestia, the newest and only other medic aside from Rita, greets her with a small smile. Dorcas nods back absently, her eyes falling towards Evelyn. She’s eerily still compared to the last time Dorcas saw her.
It had taken both James and Frank to help bring her in, the two sporting more than a few injuries after they successfully strapped her down on the cot.
“Eve’s stable for now. The changing is done. We just have to wait and see what she remembers now- how it affects her..” Rita trails off, sharing a concerned look with Hestia, when Dorcas doesn’t react. “Dorcas?”
“I heard you.” She didn’t. Her eyes were too busy cataloging the cuts and scrapes lining her friends arms, the deep bruises on her limbs were an image that was far too familiar to Dorcas by now. “Come get me when she wakes.”
“Well?” Mary stands there with her hands on her hips, an expectant glare on her face.
“Well, what?” Dorcas scowls down at her food. She had gotten used to the quiet mornings, yet another thing that was becoming more frequent as the days ticked by and their numbers dwindled.
“Don’t play coy, you know exactly what.” Mary sits down across from her, immediately digging into her food as she gives Dorcas her undivided attention. “How is she?”
“I’m surprised Rita didn’t let you in to see her.” Dorcas picks at the remains of her lunch, frowning lightly at the girl across from her.
“Just tell me how she’s doing.” Mary’s voice trembles, her face becoming unusually vulnerable.
Dorcas swallows.
It feels like she’s always saying the wrong thing lately.
She feels even worse when she realizes that she’d forgotten the extent that Mary had gone through just to keep her alive- to keep them both alive. James and Frank might’ve taken over for her once she got to the doors of the glade, but Mary had had to drag Evelyn through one of the farthest and most infested quadrants of the maze. The exhaustion was clear on her seconds face, dark circles firmly rooted under her eyes, and a gaunt quality that comes when one doesn’t sleep or eat for multiple days.
“She’s recovering- slowly,” Dorcas hesitates, eyeing Mary carefully. “We’re just waiting for her to wake up.”
“If she ever does.” Her friend murmurs bitterly. There’s a pause. A silence where Dorcas feels as through she should say something. But just as she’s about to open her mouth, Mary picks up her plate, ignoring Dorcas’ flinch when she clears her throat. “You know what, I’m actually not that hungry anymore.”
“Oh-“ Mary walks off, setting her food down on a nearby table as she goes.
“-kay.” Dorcas finishes lamely. She sighs, looking at the people around her.
They were all keeping a safe distance away, the seats surrounding her empty on all sides. They used to be full. There used to be laughter at the table, instead of the chilling silence where ghosts of the past hovered over her.
Then you did what you do best.
“Dorcas!” She’s snapped out of her musings by a twinkling voice. Involuntary she smiles, turning in place to face the young blonde who has become one of the Glades' only source of joy. “Luna, how are you doing today?”
When Dorcas had first gotten a glimpse of the little girl cowering in the box, she felt sick to her stomach. Children? They were sending up children now? All the Gladers had at the very least looked older than seventeen when they first came up, but this- this was an actual child -the only one in the glade that couldn’t be any older than twelve.
That was when Dorcas had lost any and all hope that whoever put them here sent them up for a reason. There was no reason- no excuse -good enough to warrant this.
“I lost my tooth!” Luna exclaims happily.
“No way!” Dorcas remarks fondly. The girl throws her arms around Dorcas, smiling brightly, and sure enough there’s a gap right where her front tooth should be. “Oh my, how’d that happen?”
“Well..” She smiles bashfully. “I may have been climbing a tree… and accidentally fell out of it. But Rita checked and she said that it was my last baby tooth!”
“Looking for nargles again?” Dorcas questions, unimpressed. She sighs when Luna nods. “Steer clear of them, okay? We still don’t know what they want.”
“I guess..” Luna frowns, before gasping loudly. “I’m supposed to be helping grab the flowers!”
“You better get going then. The new greenie is going to come up any minute now.”
“You’re right!” And with that, Luna darts off. Disappearing into the small thicket on the eastern side of the glade.
The smile she hadn’t realized was there fades slowly. She’s about to turn back to her food when a hand clasps her shoulder.
It’s James.
The curly-haired boy grins at her. “You didn’t forget about the prefect meeting did you?”
Dorcas holds in her groan, her food forgotten.
After all, a leader’s work is never done.
“Okay, let's go over it again.” Dorcas bites her lip thoughtfully, ignoring the exhausted sighs she garners from the group huddled before her. On top of the stress the past few days had brung, she had to plan a welcoming ceremony on top of it. For Greenie Day.
“Bloody hell Dorcas, did you even sleep last night?” Rita was staring at their leader, scrutinizing her closely as she sat slumped over the table. She was back to her obsessively put together nature, but you could spot her lingering fatigue if you looked hard enough. “Even I got a few hours.”
Dorcas gives a dismissive wave of her hand, mumbling under her breath. “We have to make sure everything goes accordingly.”
“It will go just like last month. And the month before that. And the month before that.” Rita lists boredly. She fiddles with the ends of her short, blonde braids, purposefully ignoring the glares everyone shoots her. “I have other things I could be doing right now.”
Andromeda lets out a derisive snort, crossing her arms. Instead of sitting with the others, she had chosen to stand by the door, leaning against the wall.
“I mean seriously, what is the point?” Rita groans, throwing her hands up in the air, clearly not done. Molly, sitting on the other side of blonde, gives her an admonishing look.
“What? We’re all thinking it.” She shrugs innocently.
“No, what we’re all thinking is that you need to shut up.” Andromeda mutters snidely. She smiles sarcastically as Rita turns around to glare at her.
The tension that had slowly been building since the two women set foot into the hut suddenly spikes, forcing them all into a stifling silence. James and Dorcas share a look, both of them daring the other to break the terse quiet resting over them.
Eventually Dorcas just clears her throat, giving a strained smile. The two women share a single, spiteful glance, before resolutely turning away from each other. “Let’s just go over everything again.”
“The chair has been built, and everyone else is gathering the flowers.” Andromeda drones, flicking her dark curly hair over her shoulders. They all pretend not to notice the way Rita tenses in her seat when she hears Andromeda’s voice.
“Perfect.” Dorcas mentally checks that off her to-do list and in its place adds: figure out what the hell is going on between those two.
“We already have the food cooking.” Molly gives Dorcas an apologetic smile, glancing between the two women warily.
If Dorcas had to choose any one person in the Glade she could always count on, Molly would be the first to come to her mind. She was the Glades constant. Always doing her job while still maintaining her ability to surprise them with one of her new creations.
Former hostility aside, things were starting to look better by the second, the anxiety that had been building in Dorcas’ chest was easing little by little. “Right.. Frank?”
They clear their throat. “We got the harvest done earlier this week. Field work has been slow but the pit should be done later this month. The rest of the Chasers are on setup for now.”
“James?”
He clears his throat, eyes looking at nothing in particular. “Me, Mary, and Alice are on our day off but so far nothing new.”
Dorcas didn’t bother to ask Rita about the Healers. If anything was wrong with them she’d know by now. She moves to the table in the corner, scrutinizing the smaller the various maps of the maze. “Well I guess that’s it then. You’re all free to go.”
The blonde is the first of them to leave, storming out as Molly and Frank follow after her with matching disgruntled frowns. Instead of leaving like the others Andromeda comes to stand in front of Dorcas.
“I need to talk to you.” Andromeda says, a determined glint in her eye.
James, who Dorcas had told to stay back before the meeting started, waits unsurely by the round table. She gives him a reassuring nod, and then it’s just the two of them left in the hut.
“What is it, Andy?”
Andromeda flinches at the nickname, before seemingly steeling herself for the conversation they’re about to have. “Don’t you think it’s time to stop this seeker nonsense?”
Dorcas startles, looking at the woman before her with wide eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Everybody is at risk because of you-“
“Excuse me?”
“-It isn’t safe! This week it was Eve, last month it was Wren. Who’s going to be next because of your poor judgement?“ Each name hits Dorcas like a bullet. Her question isn’t anything that Dorcas hasn’t already asked herself but it still feels like Andromeda has just poured acid in her forever bleeding wound.
“Nothing about where we are is safe.” Dorcas spits, barely holding onto her anger. “We stop being safe the second they decide to stop sending food up, the second they cut off our water, or our-“
“Still. We have enough to survive.” Andromeda interrupts, crossing her arms.
“Is that what she would’ve wanted? To survive?” She asks quietly, immediately regretting it as tears spring to Andromeda’s eyes.
“Don’t you dare use her as part of your argument.”
“I’m sorry.” And she is. They had all agreed not to mention her unless absolutely necessary, but it wasn’t the first time someone broke that promise. And it certainly wouldn’t be the last. “But you know I’m right.”
“Whatever. Just know whatever happens after this is on you.” Andromeda flings the door open, nearly running over Hestia in her haste to get away.
Dorcas sighs.
That could not have gone any worse.
Hestia looks from Andromeda’s departing figure to Dorcas’ tired one.
“What is it now, Hes?” She mumbles, running a hand over her face.
“Uh- It’s Eve,” Dorcas instantly snaps to attention.
“She’s awake.”
Rita is waiting anxiously by the door when Dorcas comes into the tent, almost ripping the flap on the hut clean off in her haste to get inside.
“Finally, what took you so long?” Without pausing, the blonde turns and makes her way to where Evelyn is sitting.
The binds have already been taken off, but that doesn’t erase the evidence of them. Her arms and wrists are rubbed raw, dark bruises covering almost every inch of her body. She’s staring blankly out the window that faces the glade, the other gladers blissfully unaware of her current consciousness.
“Dorcas?” Eve’s voice is croaky. She sets her stare on Dorcas with hazy, teary eyes, barely aware of Hestia and Rita’s presence. “Why us?”
Behind her, Rita and Hestia share a look.
Hesitantly, Dorcas sits by Evelyn. “What do you mean Eve?”
“I mean why did they put us down here? We helped, we..” Eve shakes her head then, clearing her head of the thought before she could finish it, and gnawing on her bottom lip. “Nevermind.”
“Are you sure? Did you- did you remember anything? Anyone?”
“I remember-” Evelyn stops suddenly, hands coming up to claw at her matted hair.
Silently Hestia and Rita spring into action, searching for something unknown to Dorcas in one of the cabinets.
“What did you see?” Dorcas asks worriedly, about to reach out to comfort her when Rita snatches her hand back.
“Dorcas.” She says sternly. Rita pulls her off the cot, taking her place instead.
All Dorcas can do is watch as her friend's mental state seems to deteriorate before her eyes.
“I don’t know— I-I can’t make it out. I think.. drowning? Red..? It’s all so hard to..” Eve rocks back and forth, flinching when Hestia enter her line of sight.
“It’s all right. Hestia and I will stay right here.” Rita’s words seem to soothe the girl and wordlessly Hestia pulls out a syringe.
Eve, as if burned, screeches when she sees it, smacking it away from her, and sending it tumbling out of Hestia’s hands. She launches herself over the bed and runs right at Dorcas.
“The red! It’s red!” She screams in Dorcas’ face, hands grabbing at Dorcas’ shoulder and shaking her roughly.
“Get the syringe!” Rita shouts as she tries to pry Eve off of Dorcas, who can only stare in stunned silence as her friends scramble around her.
“The re-“ Her scream dies as she’s sent back into a dreamless sleep. Slumped in Dorcas’ arms, Rita and Dorcas carefully lay Eve down on the cot she’s been residing on for the past few days.
They’re all still panting from adrenaline, when a loud siren echoes throughout the concrete walls.
“Go.” Rita breathes out, “I’ll stay with her but you need to make sure this transition is as seamless as all the others.”
Dorcas can only nod.
And as she makes her way to the box, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of Eve and what her warning could have meant, James and Mary peel back the doors to the box.
It’s then that Dorcas catches sight of fiery red hair, and all she can think of is the impending chaos the new greenie is sure to bring.