The Glade ♚ TMR x TW - Complete

3; into the maze

From beside him, Chuck glanced up to Thomas then Newt before looking back down at his statute.

Newt took another swing at the roots before finally looking back up at Thomas with a sigh. He lifted the hand holding the machete and scratched the back of his ear. "Right, it's like you've heard, yeah? Every month the box sends up a new arrival."

Parrish let the machete smack the roots again, the noise temporarily pausing Newt before the kid decided to continue again.

"Someone had to be the first, right." All of a sudden his mind made the connections and Thomas understood but let Newt speak on. "Someone had to spend a whole month in the glade, alone. That was Alby."

Newt turned back to the tree and swung once, then a second time. "I mean it couldn't have been easy." Thomas watched him, fiddling with the end of his own machete and keeping quiet. "But when those boys started coming up, one after another," he hit the roots again. "He saw the truth." Newt swing the machete two more times before looking up at Thomas. "And he learned the most important thing is we all have each other. Because we're all in this together," he stated, waving the blade toward himself, Parrish, then Chuck and finally Thomas.

Thomas looked over at Parrish then down at Chuck who was looking right back at him. The two had connected right when they first talked. Thomas was like the older brother Chuck, possibly, never had and Chuck like a younger brother to Thomas. They both nodded and knew Newt was right. Wasn't he always?

Chuck went back to carving into the wood and Newt and Parrish to chopping the tree.

Thomas dug the tip of his blade into the ground, sucking in a deep breath before pushing himself up. He walked over to the tree and kneeled down beside a thick root stuck into the ground. Without a second thought, he lifted the machete and brought the blade down hard on the root.

"Ye-ah," Newt smiled, knowing his little talk had pepped Thomas up enough to help them. "There you go, Tommy." Thomas swung twice more then looked up and noticed grey clouds forming above the glade, a storm was rolling in.

♚♚♚

The Gladers had all taken shelter under the stringers roof they had, sticks as thick as small trees holding it up so it wouldn't fall on top of them.

"They should be back by now," Thomas spoke over the sound of the pouring rain. He was leant against on of the logs, watching the maze door that Alby and Minho had gone in from. "What happens if they don't make it?" He looked from the door to Newt who stood behind him with all the new greenies.

Newt was looking at the doors by that time too. "They're gonna make it," he reassured Thomas, but his face doubted that statement.

"And what happens if they don't?" Thomas repeated, walking over to Newt and standing beside him. "They're gonna make it," Newt said again, looking at Thomas that time with a slight nod. He sounded a little more sure that time.

Both looked back to the door before Thomas walked away from Newt and headed over to the greenies. They were stuck there together for a while, why not talk to them? See what they know.

Thomas looked down at the group all sitting together. Hayden and Liam were cuddling and so were Scott and Kira. The others were all just awkwardly scattered about.

"So, you have your memories..." Thomas started out slow, looking to Scott as the boy nodded. It made Thomas scowl, "more than all of these Gladers here."

Scott was shocked at his tone of voice, Stiles never used to act like that. Maybe he was named Thomas now because he had a more rough and rude exterior, Scott wasn't sure.