If you've ever been my friend, love me.

Chapter 6

All Thomas could feel was newts hand in his as he pulled newt through the gap in the walls.
Newt burst out of the maze, toppling into the glade.
He fell to his knees and shoved his palms into his eyes.
The whole glade was silent.
Only the sound of ragged breathing filled the air.
Before the whole place burst into commotion.
People began talking all at once, some crowding around newt on the ground, most of the others rushing towards Alby. Thomas saw the medjacks sprint off with him, a few gladers following them to the homestead.
Voices rang in Thomas ears and he caught his breath.
Newt was okay.
He was okay.
Minho was shouting things Thomas couldn't hear as they all shouted at each other - questions flying around in the night air.
"Everyone SHUCKING SHUT UP" Minho yelled, everyone instantly fell quiet.
Minho then pushed through the people around newt, some kneeling on the ground with him.
Newt hadn't said a word and his face still rested in his hands.
"'Com on" Minho pulled him up by his arms and newt winced in pain.
They both kept their heads down as they too, made their way to the homestead.
Thomas set off after them, pushing through the others.
Minho turned around and yelled at the group.
"Right! Bed! Now!" Then he turned back and threaded his arm under newt shoulders to hold the boy up.
Thomas approached them,when he saw newts face, battered and bloody, he took in a short gasp of air.
He looked horrible. But he was alive. Thanks to Thomas.
"Hey, newt, Minho - where are you -"
Minho cut his of with a short glance backwards
"Never you mind, shucking greenie"
Thomas stopped walking in shock, but only for a second.
"Will he be okay?" Thomas asked, despite the runners rude answer.
"He'll be shucking fine. Would have been perfect if he hadn't entered the shucking maze"
"Yeah - and you would have been dead" Thomas retorted
Minho spun around to face Thomas behind him, their faces so close, Thomas almost ran into him.
"You don't get it. Newt entered the maze. You don't know what that means for him"
The rules Alby told Thomas flashed in front of his eyes.
Rule three: never enter the maze.
"But he broke that rule to help you guys, you can't possibly-"
"He didn't just break the rule, okay shuck face?!" Minho spat.
"What? What do you mean?!" Thomas felt numb. He had only been that place for a day.
He hardly knew anything.
He only knew newt was all he had.
"He didn't tell you?"
Thomas' mind spun. To much information in a small space of time.
"No"
"Newt survived a night in the maze"
Minho shifted newt and kept walking, leaving Thomas in a puddle of confusion. Thomas stumbled back to Minho who was now walking even faster to the homestead.
"He did?"
"Yeah suck face. He did. Then he was shucking forbidden to enter the maze again in his condition"
"Forbidden?"
"Look, just go. We will sort him out just-"
"But I-"
Minho turned around to Thomas again, anger now set in his face. Newt hung on Minho's side, his eyes still watery, blood slowly drying on his face.
"I gotta get him to the medjacks, alright suck face? I'm sure he will have a nice little chat with you later and tell you exactly what's going on. But for now - just slim it and go to bed, alright?"
Thomas mind was exploding with questions.
Newt survived a night in the maze?
How?
Why was he forbidden to go back in the maze?
What was his punishment if he ever did go back into the maze, like he had done that day?
That's when newt spoke.
Three words at first.
His voice was low and barley audible.
"I'm sorry tommy"
Newt squeezed his eyes closed then open again, to look Thomas right in the eye.
"Just go. I'll be fine. I'll explain everything to you. everything tomorrow"
***

"Tommy" newt was resting on a plain white table, covered in blankets and pillows.
It had taken Thomas a while to get to him, but with help from one of the medjacks he had soon found newt.
"Newt" Thomas didn't know what to say. He had no words.
Newts face was clean and a bandage covered one of his cheeks.
The grime from the maze was gone, the blood the sweat and the tears.
It had been one day since Thomas had pulled newt from the maze.
"Thank you" newt whispered, his voice shaky.
"It's okay" Thomas replied, although he was not quite sure exactly what newt was thanking him for.
Thomas sat down on one of the chairs near by.
His ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
To much.
To much.
"What on earth is going on newt?" He asked, just wanting answers. Just. Answers.
Newt sighed back and slowly shut his eyes.
"I wanted to be a runner" newt began, his hand slowly reaching up to touch a small cut on his lip.
Thomas sat back to listen.
"Runners go out everyday to try and figure out the maze. One day - I did the stupidest thing a human could do. I went out into the maze. I didn't tell anyone I just...ran. Stayed out way to long and the doors shut before I got back. My curiosity got the better of me, tommy"
He paused, his eyes still shut, his chest rising and falling with steady breaths.
"I survived. It was buggin hell. Grievers everywhere. But I survived."
Newt opened his eyes and looked at Thomas, that same darkness pooling in the black circles of his eyes. Newts gaze wavered over Thomas then closed again, slowly and painfully.
Thomas wondered what exactly, that boy had been though.the thought of newt being hurt or challenged or scared or afraid made Thomas clench his own eye closed - hoping to escape the image.
"But it was my fault - it was stupid to leave the glade. One of our rules is to never enter the maze. So when I went back to the glade the next day, the others had mixed reactions" newt continued.
Thomas thought about Minho, how he had said that newt was 'forbidden' to enter the maze again
"I hurt myself - my leg - it was real bad, so after I got a bit better they held a gathering, a meeting. gally proposed that I should be punished - I had broken a rule"
Gally?
"Minho and ably had other thoughts - I had survived hell, surely there was no worse punishment. But Gally said that rules were rules, he said they had to punish me. Minho and ably were worried about me. Thought I'd be buggin' stupid enough to do it again. They thought that my curiosity would win over again, that I'd get locked out for the night again, and that i wouldn't survive a second time. So they settled on a point halfway. If I ever entered the maze again - I would be punished. For certain. They thought they were protecting me"
It occurred to Thomas that newt probably didn't tell this story to many people, he wondered how many people knew. He wondered how many people thought they knew. How many people knew the truth. He opened his eyes slowly.
Thomas was speechless. Even more then before. He had never expected this. Any of this. What even was 'this'?
"And so.... They assigned me a job in the fields to try and distract me and said that if I ever went back into the maze... I'd be Banished"
In a moment of insane curiosity newt had run into the maze. He stayed out way to late. He survived hell. Then when he came back - to protect him from himself - the other gladers told him that if he ever entered the maze again he would be...banished? Banished?
What on earth did 'banished' mean?
"Banished?" Thomas muttered, his head far away in so many thoughts. He tried to take newts advice. Don't think much. But it was to hard.
He looked across at newt, wishing that he would just be the smiling boy he first saw when he got out of the box.
"It means there gonna put me into the maze. For the night"
"What?!" Thomas was stunned
"They can't do that! You were trying to help! They can't -"
"Tommy. They have already decided. Rules are rules. I went into the maze again. And with Alby going through the Changing, Gally has more control then ever"
Thomas stood up, far to quickly. His head spun and he only just heard newt say the words
"I'm being Banished tomorrow"

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR READING MY FAN FIC!!!!
AND THANKS FOR 400 VEIWS THATS CRAZY! 💕