*WARNING* Change of POVS in this chapter.
Newt:
"Honestly, I don't know why we're discussing this." Gally shook his head, "We don't have a choice. If Alby was here you know he'd agree with me."
I sighed, "Clint, Jeff how's he doing?"
They both looked at each other before Jeff spoke up, "It's bad. It's getting worse."
Everything is getting worse.
First, the boys and Maeve decided to run off into the maze, and now Alby's condition is getting worse.
Being first in command is shucking exhausting. I don't know how Alby did it.
"Alright, umm... just keep an eye on him. Thanks."
Just as they were about to head out, someone slammed the door open and I looked up to see that it was the runaway gang.
"Oh it's nice of you to join us." Gally sarcastically said, "You guys enjoy your little field trip?"
Steam practically came out of Minho's ears, "What the hell Gally. You think you can call a keeper meeting without us?"
Gally crossed his arms, "Last time I checked Greenie, Ashton, and Maeve weren't keepers. Do you guys mind waiting outside?"
"They stay," Minho spoke firmly
His gaze then drifted to me, "What's the point of all this?"
I knew I couldn't beat around the bush, "We got two hours until sundown. We've got to figure out what to do with Alby."
"You wanna banish him." Winston frowned
"No. No one wants to banish anyone. Alright? But he's stung. We don't have a choice." Gally remarked
"Yes we do," Thomas said
"You say something Newbie?"
"Yeah, we have a choice we don't have to banish Alby."
"Right. And how's that?"
Thomas snatched a piece of metal that resided in Minho's hand, "Here, we found this. On our field trip. It was inside a griever."
Dropping it into my hand, I examined the metal cylinder that had a glowing number 7. That wasn't what caught my attention though, It was the letters written underneath.
W.C.K.D
"These are the same letters we get in our supplies."
"Yeah. Whoever put us here obviously made the grievers. And this is the first real clue, the first anything you've found in over three years. Right Minho?"
"Right."
It was driving me insane at how right Thomas was sounding right now. Especially when I found myself mentally agreeing with his suggestion of going back into the maze.
Gally raised his eyebrows, "You see what he's trying to do right? First, he breaks our rules and then he tries to convince us to abandon them completely. The rules are the only thing that has ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here you know he'd agree with me."
"Stop pulling the Alby card," I said sternly
"This shank needs to be punished," Gally demanded as he ignored me
I didn't want to do it. But I had to accept that Gally did have a point, "You're right. Thomas broke the rules. One night in the pit and no food."
Gally was inraged, "Oh come on Newt. One night in the pit? You think that's gonna stop him from going into the maze?"
"No. And we can't just have non-runners running into the maze whenever they feel like it." Frustration seeped into my voice.
"So let's just make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're a runner."
Gally let out a sigh of disbelief, "Wow."
"Gally-"
"No Fry." He stomped out of the Hall with Frypan behind him.
Tension rose in the air and Thomas's words seemed loud in the quiet room, "Thanks Newt."
"What were you guys thinking? Running into the maze without telling anyone?"
"Newt-"
"No Minho." Jaw clenched I stared at one of my best friends, "You know better than anyone not to take non-runners into the maze."
Maeve made herself heard, "Technically I'm allowed."
"No. I don't care if you're a backup runner, you can't go into the maze unless you're assigned to."
Seeing the hurt on her face, made me come to my senses. This was the first time I'd raised my voice at her. At Minho. And my heart felt heavy.
My eyes shut tightly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. Just... don't do it again."
With my final words, I dragged myself out of the council hall and to my room. The voices in my head were loud and I couldn't hear anything but them. That was until someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Maeve's head peeked through the door frame, her eyes silently asking if she could sit beside me.
A simple nod was all she needed to shut the door behind her and join me on the bed, as her body faced me.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled
My gaze stayed fixed on the ground, "No. I'm sorry."
"You don't get it Newt. I'm sorry about everything. I haven't been there for you ever since Alby got stung and I know how stressed you've been feeling and us going into the maze probably made that worse. But you have to understand Newt. This could be a step closer to escaping."
"I just don't understand why you didn't tell me." I finally looked up at her, "Do you know how worried I was when I couldn't find you anywhere? Maeve, you mean a lot to me, and I can't stand the idea of you getting hurt."
Her eyes glanced at me full of emotion, "You mean a lot to me too."
There was barely any space between us and I couldn't help but flicker my eyes down to her lips. Taking notice of her doing the same, I slowly started leaning in.
"Newt."
"Yes love?"
The door slammed open and we both jumped apart, "I've been looking for you- oh."
Ashton stood there smirking, "You two need a minute?"
I scratched my neck, "No. Umm, w-what do you need?"
"Girly's awake. Thought Maeve could calm her down since you're a girl as well." Ashton replied and that's when I heard the shouts in the distance
"I'm gonna- I'm gonna see what I can do." Maeve stuttered as she backed out of the room.
The moment she was out of sight, Ashton patted me on the shoulder, "Sorry man."
Maeve:
"Leave me alone!" A female voice yelled out
"Watch your head!"
The boys were shouting as they dodged the rocks thrown by the girl who seemed to be hiding in the watch tower.
It was hilarious watching them doge her attacks with things such as bowls and pans as their shields.
"Hey! Throw one more of these things...OW!" Gally was cut off when one of the rocks hit his head
"Go away!"
"We come in peace!"
"What happened?" Thomas asked
Frypan dodged yet another rock, "Just duck!"
Since when did we have so many rocks up there?
"I don't think she likes us very much." Newt chuckled
"What do you want from me!"
I raised my voice trying to get her attention, "We just wanna talk!"
Suddenly things stopped getting thrown at us and her head peaked over the ledge, "You're a girl?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm coming up okay?"
She didn't respond, instead, she pulled back until her head was no longer seen. We weren't getting attacked anymore so I took it as a sign to climb up the tower.
Opening the trap door I was met with a machete inches away from my face, "Woah woah woah. Uh okay, calm down."
Not once did she drop it, "Where am I? What is this place? Why can't I remember anything?"
I pulled myself up trying to create some distance between me and her weapon, "This is all normal. We've all been through this okay? Your name. That will come to you in a couple of days. It's the only thing they-"
"Teresa."
"What did you say?"
"My name." She explained, "It's Teresa."
"Okay umm, Teresa, my name is Maeve."
Her voice was stern yet at the same time filled with panic, "Is there a Thomas?"
I found it weird how she remembered her name quickly and somehow knew Thomas's name, "How do you know him?"
"They said I kept saying his name in my sleep."
"Who's they?"
She stayed silent and I didn't like the feeling that crawled up my neck when I stared back at her.
"What's going on up there?" Gally yelled followed by Newt
"Is she coming down?"
Without bothering to reply, I climbed down the stairs, "Thomas I think you should talk to her."
He sent me a quizzical look but still climbed up the watch tower.
"Is this what girls are like?" Frypan asked no one in particular
"I'm literally right here."
"I ain't talking about you she-bean."
Anyone who was still standing by the watch tower started leaving as they went by their day.
Ashton wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "What happened up there?"
In return, I wrapped my arm around his torso as we started taking little steps, "I'm not sure. I mean, she seems off but maybe it's because she was panicking."
"Well, no need to stress about it. Out of sight, out of mind."
I chuckled, "Who said that?"
He grinned, "I have no idea. I just thought of it."
My eyes landed on Newt's figure who stood by Minho. Blood rushed to my face as I remembered our almost kiss.
Was that just in the moment or did he actually want to kiss me?
Ashton nudged me with his hips, "Thinking about lover boy now are we?"
"No!" I squeaked
I guess the word came out of me too quickly as Ashton doubled over in laughter.
"I'm just teasing you cupcake. Go talk to him. Tell him how you feel."
My words came out no more than a whisper, "What if he doesn't like me back."
"Maeve." The moment he said my name I knew he was being serious, "You're my best friend. My little sister. Anyone with a brain cell can tell that you two have a special bond and that you adore each other. I want you to be happy."
His words shook me in a way and I couldn't help but pull him into a hug. I don't remember if I had a brother before I came up here. But maybe I didn't need to remember, I had Ashton.
"Okay, that's enough with the sappy moment."
I laughed as we parted ways. The closer I got the more I could make out what Newt and Minho were saying.
"I'm sorry, you're my best friend and I trust your decisions."
"Newt it's fine I'm not mad at you. You need to relax man."
I spoke up allowing my presence to become known, "I can come back later if you guys are busy."
Both of them faced me and I couldn't help but notice the slight blush that coated Newt's face.
I yelped when Minho pulled me under his arm, "Actually, Newt you said you trusted my decisions right?"
"Where are you going with this?"
"Thomas and I are gonna take a closer look at the maze tomorrow to see what we can find now that we have that metal thing," Minho said as I pulled myself away from under his arm
"And?"
"Thomas and I wanna take Maeve with us."
I placed my arm on my hip, "And you didn't think of asking me first?"
"You don't wanna join us?"
"Of course I do."
"Then everything is settled."
Newt shook his head, "Hold on I did not agree to this."
"Come on it'll be fine."
He stared at the both of us with a conflicted look, "Alright."
I beamed, "Really?"
"Just be safe. Both of you."
I didn't have time to register what I was doing but I found myself placing a kiss on Newt's cheek.
It wasn't something that hadn't been done before, I mean Newt kisses me on the cheek all the time, but I've never been the one to do it so the shock on Newt's face was visible to everyone.
Luckily Thomas stopped what was about to be an awkward moment.
"Newt." He panted as he ran towards us with Teresa on his tail, "You need to see this."
Not a word was spoken as Minho and I watched Newt follow Thomas and Teresa to the med hut.
"Think we should follow them?" He asked
"Yeah. How come she gets to go and not us?"
A griever serum was not what I expected to see in Newt's hand.
Alby's legs were strapped to the bed, and his hands were bound together. He couldn't stop letting out grunts of pain as Thomas begged to inject the serum into him.
"We don't know what's in this stuff," Newt said
"That's a griever serum. They haven't sent one since Everet." I explained
He turned his attention to me, "Exactly. Why would they send one now? For all we know this thing could kill him."
Thomas flared his arms, "He's already dying. Look at him."
He was right.
Alby was covered in sweat and multiple black veins bulged against his skin. He hasn't stopped twitching and groaning since we came in.
"Alright." Newt looked at me. "You've done this before. Do it."
I took the serum from his hands and positioned it above Alby's chest but I didn't have the chance to inject it as Alby's hands shot out and started aggressively shaking me.
"Where's Thomas!?"
"Stop!"
"Get the serum!"
"He shouldn't be here!"
Everyone fought to get Alby's arms away from me while Teresa managed to grab a hold of the serum and shove it into his chest.
"Well, that worked," Jeff announced
"Okay from now on," Newt panted, "Someone stays here and watches him around the clock."
His hands gently grabbed my face as he scanned for injuries, "Are you alright?"
I nodded in confirmation and he placed a kiss on my forehead. My mind immediately went back to our almost kiss.
Tension filled the air as a voice came from behind us, "Hey."
My eyes landed on Gally's figure who stood at the entrance, "Sundown Greenie. Time to go."
Right. Thomas's punishment.
"Where is he going?" Teresa questioned
I easily wrapped an arm around her shoulder, her being a few inches shorter, "Let's not worry about that okay? Let's go. You'll sleep in my room tonight."
I stole a glance at Newt who was already staring at me before silently leaving along with the only other girl.
Nothing was heard except for the crackles of the torches and the sound of crickets in the distance. That is until Teresa spoke up.
"Are you guys dating?"
I frowned at her question, "What?"
"You and Newt."
"No no no. He is just my best friend."
She stared at me like I just told her that I was a griever, "It didn't seem like that when we were in there. He kept staring at you the whole time."
I didn't know how to reply because even I didn't know what we were. I mean he's my best friend but it doesn't feel the same as Minho and I's friendship. And almost kissing? I'm pretty sure that's not something friends do.
After managing to grab a sleeping bag on the way to my room, I spread it out on the floor as Teresa took off her shirt leaving her in a sports bra.
"You don't mind, do you? It's just very hot right now."
I chuckled, "No your good. I do the same anyway. Good night."
She whispered good night back as my eyes shut. I needed a good amount of sleep for tomorrow's run.
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