The Rogue Variable

Chapter thirty-two

It wasn't even dark yet. How could all this happen, and not even be night yet? It wasn't long till Minho came bursting in, first fretting over my wounds, and then... Take a wild guess. To talk about Newt. "Shuck, what'd yah do to him?" He asked, and I looked up in worry. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I guess. He disappeared into the deadheads. And when I found him, he just told me bluntly that you guys were over. Then got up, and walked to who knows where," he sighed. Hearing someone else say it really put into words. We were dating for about TWO DAYS. That's like a sixth grade relationship!

But it shows, how dangerous I am. Gally had visited me earlier, and he's my brother, so I told him everything. Instead of jumping for joy, he seemed sad. He must've sensed how much I cared for Newt. And it dawned on me, we never even said I love you.

Perhaps, our relationship wasn't meant to be. "Hey, hey it's okay," Minho said, blinking me out of my thoughts. He was wiping tears away that had seemed to appear on my face. "What have I done?" I whispered, my hands covering my mouth. "Go and try to shucking make it work," he said, but I shook my head, "I can't, I'll hurt him,"

Minho stood up, exasperatedly waved his hands in the air and shouted, "enough of this Klunk! You're hurting him right now!"

"One tiny milestone in im his life! We're kids! Okay, when we get out of here we will find our families! And we'll move on! We'll find our special someone! Okay it's not me! When we got together I was the only girl in the glade! Not like he had options!" I shouted, tears water falling my face. Minho trudged over to me, crestfallen.

"Don't think that. You could be his special someone," then he paused, "I don't even think things will ever go back to normal, not even when we leave,"

I nodded, sniffing. "I'll get him,"

"No!" I hiccuped, "no..."

He solemnly nodded, before leaving me to wallow in my sorrows, and drift into a dreamless sleep.

*****

I slept until midday, then had Clint and Jeff fixing my wounds. They said tomorrow I would be released from care. After some complaining, I was able to get a leisurely walk through the glade.

I spotted a figure darting out of the maze, and another, approaching him. Then all of a sudden, the running figure collapsed.

I sprinted forward, gasping as my wounds stretched and tore. I knew I would need new bandages.

The muddled heap was Minho, and I rushed to him, Thomas was in his company. "Alby! Newt! Somebody get them!" He shouted, before kneeling towards the boy. "Hey- you okay?" I asked, finally catching up. Thomas looked at me worriedly, then back at the panting boy. "I'm...fine," he said, looking towards me, before turning to Thomas, "who the Klunk are you?"

"He's new here," I explained, "I'm Thomas- been here a couple of days," Thomas said. Minho sat up, stretching slightly.

"Oh, yeah, Thomas," he huffed. "Newbie. You and the chick."
Alby jogged up then, clearly upset. "What're you doin' back, Minho? What happened?"

"Calm your wad, Alby," the Runner replied, seeming to gain strength by the second. "Make yourself useful and get me some water-I dropped my pack out there somewhere."

But Alby didn't move. He kicked Minho in the leg-too hard to be playful. I winced, but had learned long ago it was alby being alby. "What happened?"

"I can barely talk shuck face!" Minho yelled, his voice raw. "Get me some water!"

Alby turned to Thomas, a hint of a smile on his face, "Minho's the only shank who can talk to me like that without getting his butt kicked off the Cliff."

Then Alby turned and ran off, presumably to get Minho some water.
Thomas turned toward Minho. "He lets you boss him around?"
Minho shrugged, then wiped fresh beads of sweat off his forehead. "You scared of that pip-squeak? Dude, you got a lot to learn. Freakin' Newbies,"

Thomas seemed hurt at the rebuke, but none the same, asked a question, "isn't he the leader?"

Minho grunted a laugh, "leader? Yeah, call him leader all you want. Maybe we should call him El Presidente. Nah, nah-Admiral Alby. There you go." He rubbed his eyes, snickering as he did so. Thomas seemed extremely confused, before asking, "so who is the leader if he isn't?"

"Greenie, just shut it before you confuse yourself more," he said, rolling his eyes. "Why do you shanks always come in here asking stupid questions? It's really annoying."

"What do you expect us to do?" Thomas said, and I internally cheered him on.
"Do what you're told, keep your mouth shut. That's what I expect."

Minho looked straight at him, and Thomas backed away slightly. "Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what you did as a Newbie."
Minho looked at Thomas carefully. Then, again staring straight in his eyes, said, "I was one of the first Gladers, slinthead. Shut your hole till you know what you're talking about."

I snapped my head at Minho, that was something I didn't know. But thomas hadn't learned how to deal with Minhos sass. He stood up, but Minho caught his arm. "Dude, sit down. I'm just playin' with your head. It's too much fun-you'll see when the next Newbie ..." He trailed off, a perplexed look wrinkling his eyebrows. "Guess there won't be another Newbie, huh?"

"Guess not," I said, speaking for I believe the first time throughout this ordeal. "You've been quiet huh, Joanie-girl?" He said, softening. But he turned back to Thomas, "You saw the chick, right? Everybody says you probably know her or something. Both of you," he said.

Thomas fidgeted for a second, "I saw her. Doesn't really look familiar at all."

I nodded, even though lately, I was even questioning myself. We shared a look, as if we knew something, but then it was gone.

"She hot? Like Joanie-girl here?" He asked, nudging me. I looked down, knowing what he was implying. My relationship with Newt. "Yeah, I guess she's hot," thomas said. Minho lay down on his back, "yeah, you guess. If you got a thing for chicks in comas, right?" He snickered. I rolled my eyes, Minho was being sassier than usual.

"Right," Thomas stated bluntly. "So... Did you find anything today?" I asked. He looked at me incredulously, "I remember when you first asked me this. I thought you were shuck annoying, because the worst thing you could ever ask a runner," then he hesitated, "but not today,"

My breath hitched as I sighed in what I thought was false hope. "What did you mean?" Thomas asked. "Just wait till the fancy admiral gets back. I don't like saying stuff twice. Plus, he might not want you to hear it anyway." Minho said, causing thomas to sigh.

"Yeah, well at least tell me why you're so tired. Don't you run out there everyday?" Thomas asked. "Minho groaned as he pulled himself up and crossed his legs under him. "Yeah, Greenie, I run out there every day. Let's just say I got a little excited and ran extra fast to get my bee-hind back here."

"Why?" Thomas desperately asked.
Minho threw his hands up. "Dude. I told you. Patience. Wait for General Alby."

Thomas seemed to relax, "Okay, I'll shut up. Just make sure Alby lets me hear the news, too."

"Okay, Greenie. You da boss." He said after studying Thomas for a while.
Alby walked up a moment later with a big plastic cup full of water and handed it to Minho, who gulped down the whole thing without stopping once for breath.

"Okay," Alby said, "out with it. What happened?"
Minho raised his eyebrows and nodded toward Thomas.
"He's fine," Alby replied. "I don't care what this shank hears. Just talk!"

He winced as he stood up, then finally looked each of us dead in the eye. "I found a dead one,"

"Huh?" I asked, "a dead what?" Alby concluded. Minho smiled.

"A dead griever,"