For some reason Newt wouldn't tell me, I wasn't allowed to go run in the maze the next day, so was forced to work with Zart, Newt, Thomas, and Chuck. Chuck was making something out of wood, Thomas and I were sitting on a log, and Zart and Newt were cutting a tree.
"But why would Alby go into the maze?" Thomas anxiously tapped his feet. "I mean, he's not a runner."
"What?" I frowned. "Alby went into the maze? Why?"
"Alby went to retrace Ben's footsteps before sundown." Newt quickly explained, pointing his knife at us. "Are you gonna help?"
"So he's gonna go back to where Ben was just stung?" Thomas kept on going.
"Why would he? That's not very smart. And why am I not allowed to go in there? Minho is there too!" I protested.
"Alby knows what he's doing... all right?" Newt sighed. "He knows better than any of us."
"What does that mean?" Thomas questioned, like always.
"I'm sure Minho knows the maze better than Alby," I added.
"It's like you have heard, yeah?" Newt started. "Every month, the Box sends up a new arrival. But someone had to be first, right? Someone had to have spent a whole month in the Glade, alone. That was Alby."
Immediately I had all my respect for Alby. I would never survive a week on my own, let alone a month.. though at that point, I didn't know that I was actually able to survive a week on my own, but that was something I would find out later.
"I mean, it can't have been easy." Newt scratched the back of his head. "But when those other boys started coming up, one after the other... he saw the truth. And he learned that the most important thing... is that we all have each other. Because we're all in this together."
He had a point, definitely. I wouldn't make it without Chuck, Minho, and Newt.. well, again, that was what I thought. But soon appeared I was capable of more than I guessed.
Thomas sighed and got off the log, taking his knife and helping Newt and Zart help cut the tree.
"Yeah. There you go, Greenie." Newt encouraged. "Come on, love. You too!"
I jokingly rolled my eyes and walked over to the boys, helping them too.
"I see you have some other talents too?" Newt chuckled after I almost hit him with my knife when it slipped.
"Shut up." I snapped, Newt laughing after.
I slipped again, great.
"You're gonna cut off one of our heads if you keep going like that, love," Newt warned.
I got butterflies in my stomach by him calling me love, but also got a bit pissed. "Watch out then."
He sighed and took my arm. "Hold it like this." He twisted it slightly as my breathing got taken away by his touch, my cheeks turning red.
Thomas laughed and gave me a wink, causing me to push him on the shoulder. "Hey!" He fell to the ground.
"Your own fault." I simply responded about him teasing me for blushing by Newt.
"I would watch out if I were you, Thomas." Newt scoffed. "She's pretty good with knives."
"Yeah, I can see that." Thomas motioned at me slipping my knife again.
"If she would throw it right now at whatever, she would one hundred percent hit it," Newt assured, talking proudly. I blushed even deeper.
Thomas shook his head. "I will need some proof of that."
"Alright." Full of confidence since throwing knives was one of the only things I was actually good at, I got up.
Newt stood up too and put his hands on his hips, glancing at Thomas.
"What do you want me to hit?" I asked Thomas. "Gally's crotch?"
"You better do that, Jane!" Chuck shouted from the log.
Newt and Thomas chuckled lightly.
"That tree." Newt pointed at one a few feet away from us.
I nodded and got ready to throw, keeping my balance and holding one hand forward. Then I threw. The knife landed right in the middle of the three, causing me to give Thomas a satisfied glance.
"See?" Newt grinned.
"Maybe it was luck." Thomas pointed out. "Do it again."
I sighed and got in my position again, the grip on another knife Newt handed me tightening. I breathed in and threw, then it all went very slowly.
The tree, and I don't know how, changed shape and turned into Newt. It was impossible, but seemed so realistic. I gasped when the knife landed right in Newt's chest.
Thomas spoke, but his voice was blurry in my ears. All I focused on was the unreal Newt falling to the ground. The memories of me trying to kill him with a knife earlier also came back, flashing in my mind as images.
"Jane?" Someone put their hands on my shoulders as I was still gasping and staring at 'Newt' with wide eyes, tears forming in them.
I dropped to the ground, crying quietly at the faint vision of Newt lying on the ground lifeless.
"Love, it's okay." Newt's voice echoed in my mind. It was soothing, yet so far away, but I realized Newt was right in front of me and not dead on the ground.
"Newt?" I quietly asked, panicking a bit. It was all so confusing.
"I'm right here, love," Newt assured.
I sniffed lightly and wiped some tears off my cheeks before looking past Newt. No one lay on the ground anymore. Just two knives stabbed in the tree.
"It wasn't real," I whispered, not realizing I said it out loud.
"Just an imagination," Newt replied, talking quietly. Somehow he understood that whatever happened, was something like the other times I almost killed Newt.
"You okay?" Newt gently pulled me off the ground.
I have a quick nod in reply. "Fine."
When suddenly I felt some wet drops on top of me, I thought it might've been another imagination or just Chuck throwing water over my head, but it was rain. It never rained in the Glade.
"Come on." Newt took my arm and pulled me under a roof with Thomas and the others.
"They should be back by now," Thomas stressed, tapping his fingers against a pole. He turned around to get something out of Newt. "What happens if they don't make it?"
Newt stared forward, eyebrows scrunched. "They're gonna make it."
It didn't sound very convincing, but Newt seemed sure of his case.
"What happens if they don't?" Thomas bugged.
"They're gonna make it," Newt repeated. It was like he was mostly convincing himself instead of us. Maybe he was.