The creaking sound started at around sunset, maybe 7? It was too hard to tell as A), the only way to tell time here was the position of the sun in the sky, above the vines of the tree and partly stony roofing of the Meadows itself. And B), well, it was sunset.
Hands reaching to cover his ears, Austin found himself immediately sitting up in his tent. He'd been resting a bit since after applying the numbing agent, he could barely feel his entire, upper right side. The noise was like a bunch of screeching children to his ears. The sound, however, was so abrupt and disturbing, Austin left his tent to find the source.
But, outside his tent, the sound was worse. Less like just screeching children but also as if metal was clanking against metal simultaneously being slammed against more metal as the background music to babies screeching in pain, dying.
As Austin turned around, a completely 360 degrees, he could help but notice the source of the sound was coming from the north, the south, east and west, all at once. Though, the term 'source' isn't the right word for this — 'sources' was more like it.
It was the Gates. The huge, vaulted doors that Austin remembered seeing earlier were moving, just like everyone had told him they were. They were closing, sealing Austin inside the Meadows for the night — as well as sealing any dangers out there from reaching him in this place.
It must've been only a few seconds, but, as Austin stood there, frozen in place as if his legs were jelly, it felt like time had slowed down. At some point after the four gates were closed, a little girl, maybe 13 years old, with short, dirty blonde hair, green eyes and blue jeans, a green short skirt and a white blouse top walked past Austin. He couldn't help but ask "Those doors really do close?"
The girl fixed Austin with inquisitive eyes before answering with a slow "yes," with a toothy grin. "You'll get used to it eventually."
"Who are you?" Austin asked, curious as to why a girl this young would be in a place as hellish as this. "And do you have the time?"
"I'm Cleo," the girl said proudly. "I'm the overseer of the Bandagers." she checked a watch Austin hadn't noticed on her wrist before. "It's 7:01."
Austin stared at the young girl in front of him, perplexed, wondering how messed up their situation was to have a girl this little as a doctor, or 'Bandager,' whatever, and not playing around with toys and going to school or something other normal kids her age typically do.
Austin didn't know much about this place aside from what he's been told so far. And with no memories of his life before waking up that day months ago — and, seeing as if he searched his brain for memories too much, he'd hear a ringing accompanied by a headache and liightheadedness — Well, it would be safe to assume the concepts he did remember about the world outside the Labyrinth to be tweaked. After all, if these 'Watchers' can make him forget thing and restrict his memory bank, what else could they do?
Still, Austin felt as if this was wrong. Little kids shouldn't in a place like this.
"You should apply that cream I made you at least twice a day," Cleo after a minute of silence, interrupting Austin's thoughts. "It should help speed up the healing process. It'll help with soreness as well. If you end up needing more, just come to me directly or ask for Reya, okay?"
"Um, yeah," Austin said, as Cleo began walking off and Reya came his way, her arms crossed, eyes still obvious with distrustful daggers, eyebrows a downward arc. "Hi, Reya. Thanks for the, um, the ointment—."
"Whatever," Reya sighed away Austin's appreciation, her expression still unmoving and daggered. Austin did not understand this woman. "Follow me; Stryker has called for a Summit, and wants you to join."
"A 'summit'?"