Thomas looked at the others, a strange expression crossing his face. "What happens now?" He asked through tight lips, sounding as though he were about to cry. "Minho is right, you know. What are we supposed to do without the Glue? What if we all fall apart now?" You swallowed nervously. "Tommy, what does that mean... the Glue?"
He looked at you with a pained expression. You felt bad for forcing him to remember his past, but you were too curious to say 'never mind.' After a second, he finally answered. "When we woke up the morning after we thought we'd been rescued, we realized that we'd been tattooed by WCKD. Each of us had something different. Mine was 'Property of WCKD subject A2: To be killed by group B.' The The A stood for group A, who knows what the 2 stood for. The part at the end was, like, our roll in the trial. It was probably some sort of experiment to see how we'd react to the role we were given. Anyways, Newt's tattoo said 'A5: The Glue.' He was the glue that held all of us together. It was more like his role fit him than he fit into his role." Thomas stopped speaking, sobs wracking his entire body. Brenda glared at you before moving to put her hand on his back.
Just then, a tawny haired boy with a wide grin came running up to you. "Guys guess what-" he started, but fell short when he saw Tommy. "What's going on?" He asked. Brenda spoke. "They were talking about Newt, Aris. He's dead." The boy named Aris gaped at us. "No. You're joking, right?"
Thomas, finally regaining control of himself, looked up at him. "There's no joke, Aris. Newt is gone." Aris made a small noise in his throat. "Does Sonya know? What about Minho?" He asked.
"Minho does. Sonya doesn't. Minho didn't take it too well." Jorge said. "You should be the one to tell Sonya. She knows you better. Harriet, too."
Aris nodded. You looked up, suddenly remembering that he had been wanting to tell his friends something when he first came on deck. "Hey, what did you want to say when you first came up here?" You asked. He smiled a little. "I was just going to tell them that Harriet agreed to go on a date with me when we get to Paradise. Wait, who are you?" He added at the end as everyone congratulated him. You smiled to yourself. "Just a friend of Newt's, from a place you will never have to see."
You watch as Aris makes the connection and nods. He turns and walks away, followed a few minutes later by Thomas, Jorge, and Brenda.
After watching the sea for just a moment more, you decide to go find Minho, hopefully to provide some small form of comfort. He seemed to need it as bad as you did.
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Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this. I know it's kind of slow but it will get interesting again soon.
See ya later, Gladers!
