" WHITE BLOOD " T. MAZE RUNNER¹

twenty-seven.

[CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN]

~

A scream echoed through the Glade as Eleanor passed the Homestead, and a shiver ran down her spine. It was a sound she heard too often for her liking- the sound of someone going through the Changing. She remembered hearing about a Builder named Ben wandering too far into the Maze the day before, which ended up with him being stung. This frustrated Alby beyond belief, and Eleanor couldn't say that she blamed him; the dark-skinned boy wondered what was the point of having rules if no one intended to follow them.

Eleanor stopped just outside of the patch of trees beside the Homestead, leaning against the trunk of one and sighing loudly. She was on a break from working at the Blood House, and she had nothing better to do than simply wander around the Glade. The screams coming from a room inside the Homestead bothered her greatly, though no matter where she went, they always seemed to follow. Eleanor groaned aloud, running a hand through her hair as she rested the back of her head on the trunk of the tree. She squeezed her eyes shut, then blinked them open once more to see Newt walking towards her with his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Something wrong?" he asked the girl, stopping in front of her with a slight frown on his face.

"I'm just tired of hearing that sound so much lately, that's all," Eleanor told him with yet another sigh, referring to the deranged screams coming from Ben as the Builder went through the Changing. Newt nodded in understanding, his lips pursed as he reached out and grabbed her hand in his. He rubbed his thumb over her skin in attempt to comfort the distressed girl.

"How's Thomas?" Eleanor inquired, for she wanted to get off of the subject of Ben.

"He's doin' all right, I suppose," Newt answered with a shrug. He pointed over his shoulder towards two figures wandering around the Glade. Eleanor had to squint in order to make out who it was- and then she realized that it was Alby and Thomas. "Fittin' in a lot easier than normal Greenies, that's for sure. And ol' Chuckie seemed to have taken a liking towards him."

Eleanor smiled at his words, thankful that the short boy was finally making some friends in the Glade. Before Thomas arrived, she was his only real friend, and she could only hope that Thomas would accept the young boy's genuine friendship he had to offer. Her lips parted as she was about to respond, though she was cut off by an all-too familiar sound- a sound that wasn't supposed to be heard for another month.

The Greenie alarm.

"What the hell..." Eleanor murmured, leaning up from the tree and glancing towards Newt in confusion. She then raised her voice so that she could be heard over the blaring alarm echoing through the Glade. "That's the Greenie alarm!"

She didn't hesitate before taking off in the direction of the Box, where several boys had already crowded around in confusion. She recognized the buff figure of Alby standing at the front of the crowd, though Thomas was no where to be seen. It wasn't until she heard his voice that she realized that the Greenie was making his way over to her and Newt.

"Newt, what's going on?" He yelled over the noise, stopping in front of the pair with confusion flickering over his features.

Newt seemed strangely calm amongst all the chaos. He simply patted Thomas on the back, motioning towards the Box with his lips pulled into a straight line. "Means a bloody Newbie's comin' up in the Box. Right now."