LIBERATION | A Thomas Love Story

2- Tension and acclimating

"The glade?" The Greenie repeated, which made the boy nod. 

"This is our home, and now yours. I'm Newt, and that's Minho." He nodded to the asian boy, who gave her a smirk which caused her to  cross her arms.

"So am I the only girl here then?" she asked. She had remembered the confusion on the boys' faces when she arrived. Newt nodded and gestured towards the boys who were standing by the box still, some wandering over to them.

"Don't worry. Me and Alby will take care of you and make sure they don't bother you." He said reassuringly with a soft smile. Then, as if on que, a tall boy with dark skin walked over and stood beside Newt.

"Welcome Greenie, I'm Alby. The leader of the Glade." The boy held out a hand for her to shake, which she accepted.

"Watch out Alby, she has one hell of an arm." came Minho's voice in a comical tone. The girl's cheeks flushed a bit red from embarrassment.

Alby laughed, his laugh sounding merry.

"I saw that. I think you showed us already not to mess with you." 

"Yeah, sorry.." She let out a small grin, which made the boys snicker.

"Here, I'll show you around and explain everything to you." Alby offered, motioning for her to follow him as he began walking. She followed, trusting the boy seeing as he was the leader of this place.

Minho looked at Newt, his eyebrows raised,

"I think I outta pinch myself. A girl is in the glade.."

Newt crossed his arms and let out a small smile, shaking his head.

"It's all fun and games until someone goes too far. We need to enforce some new rules."

Minho agreed before jogging to the other gladers. Newt silently watched Joan and Alby walk together.

*****

Thomas sat in the monitor room silently, Teresa across the room. His lip was covered with a small bandaid and his mouth set into a thin line. He stared at the computer monitors, trying to think of something to say to her, but she beat him to it.

"Tom, I'm sorry. I didn't think that they would take it that far." she said in his head telepathically.

Thomas silently shook his head.

"I can't take this anymore, Teresa. I just can't." he replied.

Both of the subjects sat silently from then on. Thomas began to open up the subject files and tried to find Joan's, seeing what pathetic data they've gathered on her so far.

He finally found her file and read it silently to himself.

Subject A12: Joan. "The Liberator"
Namesake: "Joan of Arc" who was considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War and the liberation of Orleans, France.

Activity: Hostile at first towards other subjects due to confusion and fear. More data coming soon.

Updated 20 minutes ago by Assistant director, Janson

Joan of arc?  Thomas thought. He racked his brain and then remembered learning about the saint in an old history textbook.

He wasn't gonna lie, it was fitting.
Joan was the fiercest and most determined girl that he'd ever met.

Thomas scolded himself when he realised that he used "was".

His heart sank once he realized that she wouldn't remember him. Or ever will. Thomas's mind swam with the memories he had collected of Joan over the years of working for WCKD.