They Don't Own Me

Chapter 18

"Honestly, I don't know how though," Ivy said. "He would literally flirt with me all the time around the other guys."

"Because that's the kind of guy Minho is," Newt responded. "And in our defense, we thought you two were just good friends!"

"Closer than friends, apparently," Thomas said, making Ivy laugh.

"Come on, ya shanks," she said once her laughter was under control. "You boys have work you need to do."

"And you don't?" Newt questioned with a playful look in his eye.

"Day off, shank. I get to sit back and watch you boys work."

The boys laughed. After giving their dishes to Frypan, they walked out of the Mess Hall. Chuck said goodbye before going off to do whatever work he needed to do. Thomas followed Ivy and Thomas to the gardens. They greeted Zart and set to work.

Ivy sat in the grass, plucking strands of grass and weaving them together. Newt and Zart dove into conversation with one another, talking about the gardens and what they thought would be for dinner. Ivy raised her head when she noticed how silent the curious Greenie was. Instead of working, Thomas was staring at the Maze walls.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, Thomas?" she questioned.

"Has anyone tried climbing to the top?" Thomas asked after a moment.

"Tried it," Newt replied, not bothering to look in Thomas's direction. "The ivy doesn't go all the way to the top. And besides, where are you gonna go from there?"

Ivy looked down, thinking back to when she ran along the tops of the Maze walls. She shivered slightly at the memory.

"And what about the Box? You know, next time it comes up-"

"No, we tried that. The Box won't go back down with someone in it."

"Okay, what if we-"

"No, we tried it, all right?" Newt interrupted Thomas. "Twice. All right? Trust me. Anything you think of, we've already tried. And by anything, I mean everything."

Ivy laughed at Newt's words. Thomas gave her a confused look.

"Believe me, Thomas. When he says 'everything,' he means everything. One time, he was so drunk on that stuff Gally makes that he tried to use one of the poles to fly out of here. I found him by the wall saying, 'Come on, ya bloody pole. Fly.' I just about died of laughter. I was laughing so hard that the other guys couldn't get anything out of me for a solid ten minutes."

"You had to bring that up," Newt groaned but there was a smile on his face.

"Darn right I did. It was hilarious! But Newt is right. The only way out of here is through the Maze."

"Look, you wanna be helpful? Here." Newt threw him a basket. "Go dig us up some more fertilizer."

Thomas caught the basket, a confused look on his face. Ivy rolled her eyes.

"I'll show you where to get some, Thomas," she said. "These two shanks apparently just assume you already know where everything is." She gave the two Track-Hoes a playful glare.

"We were about to tell him," Newt replied.

Ivy rolled her eyes before she looked back at Thomas and raised her arm. "Help me up, shank."

Thomas grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She motioned for him to follow her, the two making their way to the forest.

"You know what I'm starting to realize?" Thomas said after several moments of silence.

"What?"

"You and Newt look like you could be siblings." Ivy looked at Thomas. "You two look pretty similar, not to mention you both kinda talk the same."

"You mean with our accents?"

"A little, yeah."

Ivy smiled, glancing back to look at Newt.

"I've got that a lot, actually. We see each other as siblings and we've bonded a lot over the course of time that he's been here."

"How long have you been here?"

"Over three years."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Second one here after Alby."

Thomas looked at her with wide eyes, shocked that the girl before him had been stuck in the Glade that long. Ivy could feel him looking at her but she chose to ignore it. They walked through the forest in silence, slowly making their way to where the fertilizer was.

"What's that?"

Ivy glanced at Thomas, who headed off in another direction. She sighed but followed after him. Thomas walked down a small hill and toward a grave made of sticks. Ivy's heart clenched at the sight. Thomas knelt before the grave, reading the name written on it.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, glancing at Ivy.

"Dark days," she replied in a soft voice, not trusting herself to speak any louder.

Thomas looked back at the grave for a moment before standing. He turned around only to jump in surprise. Ivy looked in the direction Thomas looking, quickly spotting Ben. Ben was a Runner but he wasn't supposed to be back for hours. It wasn't even mid-day yet.

"You're Ben, right?" Thomas said, obviously still surprised at his sudden appearance. "I don't know if we ever..." His voice trailed off as he studied Ben. "Are you okay?"

Ben growled and launched himself at Thomas, knocking him to the ground.

"Thomas!" Ivy shouted, hurrying toward them.

"Get the h*ll off me!" Thomas cried. He tried to fight Ben but the Runner held his down, his hands wrapped tightly around Thomas's wrists. The Greenie gave a cry of pain.

"It's your fault," Ben growled, jamming his arm into Thomas's neck. "I saw you. You did this. I saw you!"

"Ben, get off him!" Ivy shouted, tackling Ben. The two fell off Thomas, who sucked in giant breaths of air. Ivy got to her feet and looked at the Greenie, who was still on the ground. "Run, Thomas!"

Thomas stumbled to his feet and bolted away. Ben tried to go after him but Ivy got in his way. She nailed him with her shoulder, knocking him back a little. Ben growled again and charged at Ivy. She did well in holding him off until he punched her in the gut. Ivy hunched over a little but was forced to look back at Ben when he grabbed her by her shirt.

With a shout, he used all of his strength to haul Ivy off her feet and throw her. Ivy cried out in pain when her body came in contact with a tree and collapsed to the ground. She tried to push herself up but found her body to be too weak and her head was spinning a mile a minute, black spots clouding her vision.

Ivy turned her head toward Ben, only to catch a glimpse of him sprinting after Thomas. Her arms suddenly gave out and her eyes grew heavy. Against her will, Ivy was dragged into darkness.