A/N: Hey everyone! This is a very exciting chapter as a certain someone that has been stung causes some problems for Clara :) Friendly reminder that the words that are italicized are part of a dream that Clara has but there is one sentence a little later in the chapter that's also italicized that's not a part of a dream but there's a follow up statement after that one. Enjoy!
Clara's POV
The next time I woke up the sun was shining bright through our room and I could feel my body shivering under the thick blankets. There was sweat on my forehead so I knew I still had a fever but thankfully there wasn't anything left in my stomach to upset it. Then again my stomach was rumbling so I had to do something about that. I wrapped my blanket around myself and trudged down the steps and to the kitchen.
"Awwww there's my sick little she bean!" Fry Pan greeted me pushing a bowl of soup towards me. "I figured you'd be coming down soon."
I smiled the best I could and grabbed the bowl and slumped into my seat at the table.
"Clara, what are you doing up?"
I looked up as Newt walked in and sat down beside me. He put his hand to my head once again and sighed. "You're still burning up. I don't think that medicine is helping you any. I'll be back." He walked out and I was too tired to even watch him.
I woke up in my hammock, surprised at how I got there. Wasn't I eating breakfast?
"Oh good you're awake." Newt walked in the room with Jeff behind him.
"I don't know why this illness has hit you so hard but I've doubled up your meds. You should be feeling better by the end of the day so we'll just keep an eye on you." Jeff reported, walking over and feeling my forehead.
"How did I get here?" I whispered to Newt.
He grinned as he spoke. "Well, after you fell asleep at the breakfast table I carried you up and had Jeff put your medicine in a syringe. You've been sleeping for about seven hours now."
My eyes widened slightly as I pulled the blanket higher. "What happened?"
"We think Ben brought the virus in from the maze since Minho is sick now too. It should pass quickly though, Ben is up and going again. Just goes to show how delicate everything is around here." Newt replied, sitting down on a box beside my hammock. "Just get some more rest. You'll feel better the next time you wake up." He smiled lightly at me and I passed out once more.
I could feel the straps around me get tighter, pinning me to the metal table below me. My head was in some sort of brace and the tubes were being removed from me. I could hear the doctors talking but can't quite make out what they're saying. Except for the word electro shock. My eyes widened slightly and the machine that monitored my heart started beeping faster.
"Good, it's working. She's reacting appropriately. Remove the other subject from the room."
I searched for the source of the voice but couldn't see who had spoken. All I could see was a table being pushed from the room, a mop of blond hair on it. "Clara!"
Chills went down my spine as Newt screamed for me. What was happening? Why did he sound so scared and hurt? What were they going to do to him? I tried to see where they were taking him but the brace kept my head in place. So, I looked back up at the face now above me and gasped when the electricity flowed through my body. I let out an agonizing scream as it tore out of me and I could feel every inch of my skin sizzling.
I jolted awake, my heart pounding in my ears. I felt his hand on mine before I looked up to see him. My hand tightened around his as I tried to focus on what was happening. The concern shown in his eyes and I knew I must have screamed out in my sleep.
"Is she okay?"
I glanced over and saw Alby sitting up in his hammock, also concerned.
"Yeah, it was just a dream." Newt replied for me.
Alby nodded and laid back down and my attention returned to Newt.
"What happened?" He leaned closer to me so I could talk to him but I wasn't about to relive that. I shook my head and ran my hand down my face. His hand gripped my other hand tightly and he nodded knowing I would tell him when I could. "Want to go for a walk?"
My teary eyes met his concerned ones and I nodded, letting him pull me from the hammock and outside. The cool night air felt good on my hot body as my fever had finally broken.
I gripped his hand in mine as he led me to where the animals were. "I don't know why but it's always relaxing to come up here. For me that is. Watching the goats and chickens..." He shrugged and I smiled lightly at him in response.
"You can talk to me ya know." He leaned over the fence around the animals and glanced at me.
"It wasn't even..." I sighed and looked up at him. "You were there Newt. You called out my name and your voice...you just sounded so....hurt." I twisted my hands together nervously as I tried to get the sound of it out of my head.
"Tell me what happened." His eyes probed mine but his expression was gentle.
"You were on the table beside me again. They wheeled you out of the room though before..." I glanced at him and shook my head. "It doesn't matter. You're obviously okay now."
"Before they electrocuted you?"
"How did you know?" I whispered.
He sighed and placed his head on his arms. "Because I had the same dream, Clara. Your scream in the dream is what woke me up. And then I looked over at you and could tell you were having a nightmare. By the time I got over to your hammock you bolted awake."
I looked down at him and smiled lightly at the mess of blond hair hanging over his arms. I ran my hand through it and smiled at how the action felt so familiar. He visibly relaxed under my touch so I scooted closer to him. "We can't worry about this now. Clearly things are different."
"We probably need to talk to Alby about it."
I nodded in agreement. He leaned back up and leaned his forehead against mine and one of his hands went to the back of my neck. His other hand made its way to my waist and I could feel the heat rising in me.
He pulled me close to him with both of my hands resting against his chest and we stood there together until the sun came up. We separated as the other gladers filtered onto the glade. "Let's go find Alby." He mumbled, turning towards the homestead.
His hand rested on my lower back as we walked and I realized how much better I felt than yesterday. How happy I was to be walking next to this person who had apparently been a big part of my past. And would hopefully play a large part in my future.
"Alby, can we talk to you for a moment?" Newt asked him as we approached him in the kitchen.
Alby looked back and forth between us and nodded silently, leading us back to our room. I sat on Newt's lap in one of the chairs Alby had, he only had two, as Newt filled him in on his theory about the dreams being memories. Alby listened intently with a solemn expression. Finally, when Newt finished speaking Alby turned to me.
"And you've been having these exact same dreams?"
I nodded, subconsciously intertwining my hands in Newt's. He pulled me closer to him as Alby thought about what this could all mean. "Well, clearly I think she was sent here now for a particular reason. We just need to try to understand why. I know it has to do with you though." He nodded to Newt and shook his head. "I don't know. We'll just go about things as usual and see what happens." Alby stood and patted Newt's shoulder before walking out.
"Newt, I want to learn how to fight." I looked at him as I spoke knowing the reaction I would get.
He frowned but nodded as he stood, pulling me to my feet. "Gally will teach you. We need you to know how to defend yourself should something happen." He brushed the hair from my forehead before pulling me downstairs.
"Gally!" He yelled out to the keeper of the builders.
Gally turned with a sour look on his face until he spotted us. He smiled lightly and nodded, approaching us.
"Clara needs to learn how to defend herself. I figured you were her best bet."
Gally grinned and nodded to Newt. "You're most likely right about that." He shifted his gaze to mine and winked at me. "I'll be gentle don't worry."
"You better bloody be careful with her." Newt said before walking off to the kitchen.
I looked back up at Gally who had a small smile on his face. "Alright, let's start with some basic techniques."
He moved around behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Okay, this is how most attackers will try to get you. So, get out of it."
I looked back at him puzzled a brief moment before I spun away from him.
"Okay, good. I let you get away though. You need to learn the fundamentals of where to attack someone."
We continued learning and practicing defensive moves all morning until lunch. He tossed me on my butt several times by the end of our session resulting in both of us laughing every time he did. We made our way to the kitchen where Fry Pan stood, shaking his head at me. "You didn't have breakfast."
Gally looked at me suddenly with a frown on his face. "Really?"
I shrugged. "I'm sorry, I forgot." I grabbed the bowl of food Fry Pan gave me and started scarfing it down.
"Yeah, you forgot alright." Gally smirked at me before going back outside with his food. I pulled myself up onto the counter so I could talk with Fry Pan as I ate.
"I see you out there fighting with Gally. What's that about?"
"I figured I needed to learn self-defense things." I replied, taking another bite of food.
Fry Pan nodded thoughtfully. "That's probably a good idea. He can teach you a lot."
I nodded and continued eating. "Newt thought so too."
"I bet he did." He murmured. I grinned and looked up at him with an arched eyebrow.
"I'm just saying there's been a lot of talk going around about how close you two seem." He shrugged with a smile on his face. "But I think there's something more than that."
"Oh do you?" I asked taking another bite.
"Yeah. I think you two knew each other before this all happened. Maybe even more than just knew each other." He winked at me with a small laugh as he started cleaning dishes.
I rolled my eyes at him but the blush in my cheeks betrayed me.
"It's true isn't it? You two knew each other?"
I nodded. "We've been having the same dreams but now we don't think they were dreams. And I think we more than just knew each other too." I winked at him with a grin while taking another bite.
"That's crazy! I knew something was going on with you two!" He grinned excitedly but stopped suddenly and flipped back around to the dishes.
I turned and smiled when I saw Newt leaning against the doorframe. "Clara, may I have a word?"
I pushed my now empty bowl to Fry Pan and he grinned at me before I went outside with Newt. He led me to the heavily wooded area that I hadn't been to yet. I looked around as we walked and once again collided with him when he suddenly stopped. He chuckled lightly before turning around.
"I believe as important as fighting is for you that you should also be skilled with handling weapons." He pulled the machete from the sheath on his back and handed it to me. "I want you to be comfortable with this. There are a few more in the map room but you need to be able to defend yourself in every way."
I met his concerned gaze and nodded, twisting the machete around in my hands. He grinned as he watched me play with it. "Here, take this." He handed me a harness for it, similar to his only mine would fit into my runner's harness. "I'll be right back love." He rushed towards the map room as I fiddled with getting the harness on. When he returned he had another machete exactly like the one he gave me. "Okay, hold it up like this." He held his up and I mimicked, making him laugh when I nearly dropped it.
He shook his head and put his machete back in its holder on his back and walked up behind me. I could feel the hairs all over my body stand on end as chills ran up and down my body. His arms wrapped around me and his hands went to mine. "Okay, you're going grasp it here." He moved my hand into the position, his face right next to mine. My breath came out in short gasps as I did what he said. "Very good. Now you're going to use it like this." He helped me swing it back and forth properly still gripping my hands. He seemed to notice how he was affecting me then because he grinned and lightly kissed my neck. "You seem very on edge right now love, what's wrong?"
My breathing hitched and I cleared my throat. "Nothing. Nothing at all." I barely whispered.
His right hand moved lightly up my arm and around my shoulders while his left hand moved down to my waist. He held me tightly against him and his right hand moved to my neck. He pulled me closer to him and lightly kissed right behind my ear. "You sure? You seem nervous." His voice purred in my ear, sending chills through my body once again. I stared at his lips out of the corner of my eye and felt my teeth pull my bottom lip in. My eyes lifted slightly and I met his. They were a deep chocolate brown and he almost looked...hungry. He spun me around so that I was facing him and wrapped an arm around me to keep me pressed against him. His hand went up to my hair and he gently pulled my face to his. His eyes dropped to my lips then returned to mine. For a moment it seemed the world stopped until his lips finally met mine. His soft lips brushed mine lightly, barely touching me. I gasped and he was able to deepen the kiss. He tilted my head back slightly and his tongue probed my lips. I eagerly parted my lips to allow him entrance and I wrapped my arms around him tightly to pull him closer. He grinned and his tongue slid in my mouth, mingling with mine. His hand held my face against his while his other held my body close. I could feel his body heat seeping through me and could feel his heart pounding against me.
When we finally separated we were both breathless and only half an inch from each other. I looked up at him and his fierce eyes met mine.
I moved my hands to his chest and glanced back down at his lips briefly before he crushed them to mine again. We kissed only a few more moments until we heard someone approaching. We separated and his body moved to shield me from our visitor.
"Ben? What are you doing out here?" Newt asked, turning completely away from me. My hands rested lightly on his back as I peered at Ben over Newt's shoulder.
There was something seriously wrong with him as his eyes looked crazy. I gasped slightly when his eyes met mine and moved my hands to Newt's shoulders. He glanced down at me and started backing us away from Ben sensing my fear.
"You shouldn't be here!" Ben yelled at us.
"Why, Ben?" Newt spoke calmly trying to reason with him.
"You're part of their tests they'll come back for you!" He shouted out, spit flying from his mouth. His hard gaze was focused on me.
My eyes widened and I felt Newt look at me. I kept my gaze on Ben though.
"Ben, have you been stung?" Newt asked him quietly.
Ben screamed and rushed forward and Newt reacted quickly, blocking the path to me. His arms wrapped around Ben and he pinned him to the ground. "Clara go get Alby!" I nodded and ran as fast as I could back to the glade.
Run faster Clara
I nearly tripped when the words popped into my head as if someone had spoken them directly to me. What the hell was that I wondered.
I cleared the trees, spotting Alby immediately. "Alby!" I yelled.
He quickly looked up at me and started running my way. I was out of breath by the time I reached him. "Ben, he's been stung." I got out as we turned back towards where I left Newt.
We ran through the trees and spotted Newt wrestling around with Ben. Ben must have broken free when I went to get Alby. Ben had the leverage temporarily until Alby tackled him. Newt got to his feet and quickly helped Alby contain him. "We have to take him to the pit, he's gone bloody mad!" Newt's words came out rushed due to the adrenalin rushing through him.
I followed them wondering the whole time what he meant by they'll come back for you and whose voice that belonged to that spoke in my head. Nothing frightened me more than being electrocuted again with the possibility of Newt being in danger and now someone was talking to me inside my head. We knew nothing about our captors, couldn't remember anything, except for that they tortured me. They most likely tortured him as well.
I frowned, deep in thought when I collided with Newt. He spun around quickly as I looked around, not realizing we had already reached the pit. His arms went around me and he led me to our room, Alby in tow. "Are you alright?" He asked me cautiously.
"I...I don't know. What's going to happen to him?" My eyes met his wide, concerned ones and my heartbeat accelerated.
"He'll be banished for trying to harm another glader." Alby replied not bothering to sugar coat it.
Newt's grip tightened around me. "It'll be alright Clara."
I knew he was referring to what Ben had told us but the fear wouldn't leave me. I could feel myself trembling in his arms and felt foolish dwelling on what might happen. "You're just going to push him out into the maze?" I whispered into the crook of his neck.
"We have to." He said into my hair. He kissed my head before looking up at Alby. "We might have a problem."
He quickly filled Alby in on what was said, the whole time my mind going back to Ben. "We'll keep her safe. They can't just take her out of here, not now. You're one of us now Clara." Alby told us, I could see the fear in his eyes though.
They talked a bit more before Newt led me to the kitchen murmuring about starving myself but I had tuned him out long before. I ate silently, staring at my food while I did. I could feel his arm around me and could feel other's gazes on me as they walked in and out of the kitchen. None of that mattered though. All that mattered was that poor kid stuck in the box driving himself crazy.
The rest of the day I pulled weeds in a daze under the watchful eye of Newt and Zart. I heard them talking about me but didn't bother listening as we neared sunset and the inevitable banishing. When I saw Minho and Alby walk Ben out, I froze. My breathing stopped. I could see the sweat soaking his clothes and the black veins traveling up his neck. "Clara!"
I jumped and turned to Newt hovering over me with Zart behind him. "What?"
"You stopped breathing for a moment there. Are you okay?"
I nodded in response and he pulled me to my feet. "I have to go take care of this. I suggest you take Chuck and you two go off somewhere you can't see anything, alright? Maybe go see the animals?"
I nodded and slowly started making my way towards the homestead. I paused by a group of trees and spotted Chuck walking towards me. Everyone else had gathered by the doors, posts in their hands. I briefly met Newt's worried gaze before turning back to Chuck. I wrapped my arm around Chuck's shoulders when he got close enough and we walked over by the showers, the furthest possible place from us and Ben.
"What do you think is going to happen to him?" Chuck asked me, picking at the grass we sat on.
"I'd rather not talk about it Chuck. He's most likely not going to make it through the night though."
"Is that why you've looked so sad today?"
I looked up at the sorrowful tone of his voice and frowned. "Yeah. I'm sorry, I'll be better again tomorrow."
He nodded and looked back down at the grass. "What do we do now?"
"Let's go feed the chickens and goats."
He smiled and climbed to his feet, grabbing my hand as we walked towards the bloodhouse. I let us into the gate and picked up the only white rabbit we had. Chuck threw out the seed to the chickens and walked over to where I sat with the rabbit.
"He's cute." Chuck said, petting the rabbit on the head.
I smiled up at him and nodded. "He is, isn't he. What should we name him?"
"I wouldn't name him anything, he probably won't be around too long."
I looked up at the sound of Winston's voice.
He had a lazy grin on his face as he nodded to the rabbit. "It's not wise to get attached to any animal out here."
I looked down at the white rabbit in my lap. "You could at least wait a little while, right?"
"For you, yes." He smiled as he walked over. "What's his name?"
I looked back down at the rabbit. "Thumper."
He laughed and shook his head. "Wonderful. I'll remember that when we're all having Bambi's friend for dinner."
I gasped and looked up at him but he was grinning. "I'll make sure Thumper remains safe." He winked at me before retreating to the bloodhouse and I smiled at Chuck.
"We just saved a life, Chuck."
Chuck shook his head and started walking away, laughing. "Girls are weird." He said before he left. My eyes landed on the blond hair I had fallen in love with and I smiled as Newt let himself in to the area.
"You doing alright love?" He sat down on the crate next to me and bumped my shoulder lightly.
"Yeah, I think so. How are you?" I continued to pet Thumper when I looked up at Newt.
"I'm alright. Just really wanting to know what he meant by what he said." He gestured to Thumper. "Made a friend did you?"
I smiled and nodded. "Thumper. Winston said he'd keep him safe too."
"You're unbelievable." He said with a grin. "We're having another fire tonight if you'd like to accompany me?"
I stood and put Thumper back in his box. "I would love to."
"Before we go though, I wanted you to have this." He handed me the harness from earlier, my runner harness with the machete in it. I couldn't help the "Just so you're prepared." He smiled at me and grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the growing crowd.
A/N: The next few chapters is where the story really starts going so thank you for your patience while we reached this point! I should be able to post another update in an hour or so ;)