the maze runner
chapter nineteen
❛❛ saw the way you looked at the girl, like you've seen her before ❜❜
————————————————
Poe walked away and made his way back to the camp after he denied of knowing the girl. But the girl does because she said his name, as what Gally told him. He really doesn't know her at all. She was just some girl who he saw in his dreams, he may know her before but now, he doesn't. How was he supposed to explain everyone about her? He doesn't even know her name.
While he was in the camp, he had seen the Med-jacks carrying the girl on the stretcher to the Med-jacks hut. Poe wanted to rest but decided to wait until tonight. He needed to go back into the maze and check the dead Griever. An unexplained feeling had urged him to go back to the Griever. But he knew he can't. So he must ask Minho to check on the dead creature.
He didn't want to walk all way back to the hut where he saw Minho went. There was a person nearby, putting up the tarp up over the hammocks, Poe called him, "Hey!" The person turned his head and it's Nico. The Builder raised his brows in question. Poe sighed sheepishly, "Never mind—" as Nico turned his head back as he shook his head in annoyance. Poe realized there wasn't much time nor he couldn't wait, "Actually—" Poe paused for a moment, Nico turned his attention on him again. "Do you mind if you go get Minho here?"
"Yeah, I mind. Do I look like a damn servant?" The Builder turned back to his work again.
Poe sighed sharply, he could just go get him, but he'd have to make a double trip back here. "I need to talk to him about the dead Griever and it's kind of an urgent"
Nico suddenly had an interest after Poe mentioned a dead Griever. Though he was hesitant of leaving to get Minho but he eventually went to the hut to look for Minho.
Poe only waited for about five minutes as Nico came back with Minho. Poe grabbed a crutch, leaned against his armpit. "Alright, what do you want, Poe?" Minho put his hands on his hips.
Poe didn't know how to explain it, nor why he would know it, "I need you to go back in the maze" he told him.
Minho exhaled sharply as he dropped his head down. "Poe—" he lift his head up and looked at Poe, "after what we just went through last night, you want me to go back into the maze?"
"I would if I could but I can't run" Poe was honest, "Look, there's something inside the Griever that I think we might need"
Minho pressed his brows together, "What is it?"
Poe shrugged, "I don't know" Minho frowned at him while Nico snorted. As Poe predicted, but he needed to convince him. "I saw something in there—" He was lying now. "I don't know what, but I saw something in there, something weird and you have to go get it and see what it is"
"Why didn't you tell me before we left there?"
Poe paused, unable to answer that, instead he responded, "Does that question even matter?" Minho stared at Poe in perplex, "Look, you know what? Maybe I'll go in there and fetch it myself if you're not going—" Poe began to walk and headed for the doors.
But Minho stopped, "Alright, alright! I'll go back in there and check on the Griever" the Keeper sighed peevishly. "Look, just give me a little time, I might need a little help so I gotta gather few Gladers to help me. Just stay put and don't move around too much" Minho nudged Poe's arm to sat back down and Poe did so. "You better be right about this. If not, I'll slice your other leg"
Poe just nodded in response.
"You—" Minho tapped Nico's arm, "if you're up to check out the dead Griever, you're welcome to come along" Minho walked back to the hut as Nico reluctantly followed him.
Within the hour, Poe seen Minho leading with five other Gladers, one of them was Nico, he recognized one of them as Thomas, there was also Teo and even Winston. Now he has to wait for them to come back.
Not long before Newt approached Poe, still seated on his hammock.
"You know, maybe it was a good thing that you denied about knowing that girl" said Newt. Poe raised a brow as he glanced up at him. "Saw the way you looked at the girl, like you've seen her before"
"I really do not know her, Newt" Poe was honest, "I mean yeah, I've seen her in memories but... I don't even know her name or who she really is"
"Like I said, good thing you lied to Gally about her, who knows what he would've done or what he would've said to you" Newt stepped closer then leaned against a tree that stood beside Poe. "He has a lot of speculations on Thomas already, like he blames him, I think he's about to lose his mind soon"
"Aren't you the leader at the moment? You're making the calls right now, aren't you? Can't you just— shut him up, or something?"
Newt winced, "Gally is... Gally." He shrugged, "he's extremely stubborn, and believes that he's in charge too. He has a lot of friends around here than I do. Right now, I'm just trying not to poke the lion"
Poe snorted and shook his head lightly.
"Anyway, have you seen Minho, or Thomas? Can't seem to find them"
Poe didn't respond to his question. Newt has no idea that Minho, Thomas and couple of others have left into the maze little while ago.
"Poe?" Newt had the tone of suspicion.
"I asked Minho to go back out there to check the dead Griever"
Poe could already tell that Newt was annoyed, strangely he could feel the annoyance raging from the guy. "After everything you, Minho and Thomas went through last—"
"I know, I know" Poe trailed him off, he grabbed the crutch, he got onto his feet, "It's important that they check it, you'll see" God, he hoped Minho and Thomas do find something from the Griever. He leaned onto the crutch under his armpit and he began to make his way to the picnic area.
It was a moment later that Newt caught up to him as he was halfway there. "Hey uhm—" Newt nudged Poe's arm. He stopped and look at the Second in Command. "Listen— I never had a chance to say this before but... I'm really glad that you're okay. Really I am" he was very sincere.
Strangely, Poe felt the warmth in his heart when Newt said how glad he was, Poe could feel his cheeks warming as well, he pursed his lips as he kept his glance on Newt before exchanging a smile. "Thanks" he continued his way to the picnic area.
Dusk was about to break soon when Minho and Thomas finally arrived back from the maze. Poe was with Anton as they were sitting on their hammocks when Minho, Thomas, Winston, Teo and Nico came to Poe.
"You were right. This is what we found—" Minho handed a cylindrical silver object to Poe, "any idea what it is?"
Poe examined the object, it was sticky from the Griever dried blood, there were letters of WCKD stamped at the bottom, which are the same letters stamped on the supplies. There was a tiny black screen with a red number seven in it. It was softly beeping as well. "I don't know" Poe muttered. As the usual, he felt he should know what it is. It's the same shape of a drawing he saw in his dreams. "Seven—" Poe remembered Minho mentioning yesterday about what section opened yesterday. What other reasons that these numbers mean besides what he was thinking of? "Which section opened yesterday again, Minho?" He looked up at Minho.
"It was section three" Minho was folding his arms.
"And what opened last night?"
"Sev—" Minho paused all of sudden as he realized it. Section seven was opening last night and that could be where the Griever Thomas killed came from. Minho was thinking the same thing as Poe.
"What's going on here?" A voice chipped behind Minho, Thomas, Winston, Teo and Nico. It was Gally.
Neither of them answered, but instead of answering, Minho asked Poe, "Where's Newt?"
Poe pointed towards the Homestead. "Saw him going there little while ago"
"Best we show him what we found" Minho walked away and made his way to the Homestead.
"Hey, what's going on?!" Gally demanded as Thomas, Teo, Winston followed Minho. Nico told Gally to follow along and he did.
"So what are you going to do?" Anton questioned, "with you barely walking and all"
"Well I don't plan on staying all cooped up on my bed everyday, that's for sure"
"You could work with Siggy and I in the kitchens, you know? It's not much of work"
"Really?" Poe looked at Anton.
"No" Anton scoffed, "What are you, crazy? You almost burned down the kitchens, remember?"
Poe frowned at him.
He was getting eager to hear what Newt and others are talking about in the Homestead. They didn't take that long in the Homestead, he spotted Minho and Thomas going into the woods, meanwhile Gally didn't look too happy as Nico was seemingly trying to talk to him. Winston and Teo found Poe and Anton in the camp.
"Looks like they already found your replacement, Poe" said Teo.
"My replacement?"
"Since you can't run and all, and Newt just promoted Thomas as a Runner taking your place until you get back on your feet"
"No way—" Poe half laughed and he was stunned. He quickly remembered what Nick said about they don't give the Greenies a shot of being a Runner and it takes a while to become one. But with Alby not being the leader at the moment and not making calls, and Nick is dead. Newt is making the calls now. Poe wondered if Newt had taken Poe's advice about how he's making the calls now. "Three months it took me to get this job and that new guy only took him like what? Two or three days?" Poe must admit that he was almost mad and how it was all unfair.
"Don't worry about it, friend" Winston pat Poe's shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get back on your feet in no time. But I pray that Greenie keeps your job and you stay with us in the Blood house"
Poe laughed softly as Anton and Teo snickered.
"Oh yeah, Gally is not too happy about Thomas being a Runner and he's not proud of Newt because he gave Thomas lack of discipline"
"He shouldn't" Anton admitted, "The guy killed a Griever and basically saved Minho, Poe and Alby, if he never went into the maze, you wouldn't be sitting here right now, that's for sure"
"Greenie is only getting one night in the pit with no food" Teo added.
"Hey! Come back here!" Jeff was heard shouting from the Med-jacks hut.
The four Gladers turned their attention towards the hut and then a girl was spotted running away. She stopped for a moment as she looked around. "Oh shit" Teo uttered.
There was Clint approaching the girl. The girl had pulled something off the log that was laying on the ground and prepared to swung the machete at anyone who comes close. "Get away from me!" The girl yelled, "Stay away!"
Many Gladers were about to surround the girl as they tried to calm her and convince her to calm or to put the weapon down. But the girl ran away again. Anton, Teo and Winston were already running to the girl while Poe stood by for a moment before finally moving ahead to see where the girl had ran to. He saw her climbing up the tower.
She must be confused and scared. Of course she would be, especially that she has figured that she's the only girl in this place and there are dozens of boys chasing after her. Poe wanted to go see her and talk to her himself.
Next thing, the girl began tossing down the stones at the boys as a few of them tried to climb up. The Gladers were all clamouring at once, grabbing anything near them they could find to shield their heads from the stones. "Hey, we just want to talk!"
"Stay away from me!"
"Stop throwing the—!" They were being cut off as the stones landed on them.
"Leave me alone!" The girl shouted back.
"Hey! Throw those things one more time, I'll—"
"I'm warning you!"
To watch this somehow amused Poe, he wasn't the only one, he had seen couple others laughing at the Keepers as they tried to persuade the girl to stop or to come down.
Anton approached Poe, "I think you should go there and talk to her" he implied.
"The girl is confused, she's freaking out to find dozens of guys surrounding her" said Poe.
"Yeah but—" Anton sighed, "she knows you... as what everyone thinks. The girl said your name when she came out of the Box, don't you think you should go up there and talk to her and see if she knows anything?"
Poe was hesitant. He could ask her how she knew his name, or if she knows who he is. Why else she would be saying his name? "Fine" Poe approached the tower, he hurried as he could, he barely walk quickly but with the help of the crutch, he arrived at the tower within a minute.
The Gladers were all still shielding their heads from the stones that she was tossing. Poe was in the middle of the Gladers.
"Hey! It's—" there was rock that almost hit his head. "Stop! It's Poe! It's Poe!" He shouted over the Gladers's yelling.
Then the girl stopped and it was all quiet.
When the girl peeked down, Poe waved rather awkwardly, "I'm Poe"
The girl didn't respond, she hid back, they almost expected that she would begin to throw rocks again but she didn't.
"I— I'm coming up!" Poe waited again for her to respond, but she didn't, neither she tossed down the rocks again. "Alright—" he turned as he looked at the Gladers, "I'll uhm— talk her down and see what she knows... just—" he didn't know what else to say so he just went up to the tower.
He had to climb up despite of his leg, he left the crutch on the ground, he had to climb onto his right knee instead on his foot. It took him about a minute or so to reach the top.
He found her drawing a machete at him with a threatening look. He was almost startled at this, "Whoa uhm—" he reached his hands up over his shoulders "it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you, alright? Just let me— wait for a sec—" he climbed through the threshold, lift himself up and sat down on the edge as his legs still dangled through the threshold. "Don't mind my clumsiness, I've got a bad leg— never mind" he shook his head.
"Where am I?" The girl demanded, "What is this place?! Why can't I remember anything?!"
"We don't really know" Poe answered, "Look, we came up with no memories as well, it's pretty normal, we all went through the same thing... but we still don't know where we are or who sent us here... can you tell me your name? If you remember— because some of them couldn't but will come eventu—"
"Teresa" the girl responded.
"What?"
"My name... it's Teresa" she said again.
"Oh uhm— well, I'm Poe" he gestured himself, "you knew that, right?"
Teresa paused, gave a moment to think but seems to be wondering. "I heard them saying that I kept saying your name in my sleep before I ran... who are you?"
Poe gaped, slightly disappointed, "I don't know, I was hoping you could tell me" he replied. "We uhmm— we all woke up here like you, neither of us can remember anything of who put us here or why we're all here"
Teresa's brows lightly pressed together in confusion and also there was a bit of sadness hinted on her look.
"Okay, can I— take this?" Poe slowly reached for the machete she was holding and still drawing it. "I promise we won't— hurt you, alright?" He slowly grabbed the weapon from her which she reluctantly let go of.
"Hey! What's going on up there?!" Gally was heard from below.
Poe pulled himself to the edge and peered down. The Gladers were all still there and waiting. They were all gazing up, "Is she coming down?" Newt asked.
Poe hesitated, he glanced back at the girl, she was hugging her knees. Oddly how Poe could tell she was still afraid, he knew she needed a little more time alone. He glanced back down at the Gladers, "Hey, why don't you guys give us a moment, alright? We'll be down soon"
It took a moment for all of them to leave, Newt ordered them to go and give Poe and Teresa some space.
Poe had told the girl everything he knows so far about the Glade and the maze. Especially how he the few others were locked out and survived the night. And he even told her about the note she came with. The Gladers around the area were all waiting and still watching from ahead. Especially Gally who was by the pond who haven't taken his gaze off the two.
"She's the last one, what does that mean?" Teresa questioned.
Poe lightly shrugged. "I don't know. Ever since you came, that Box hasn't come back down. I think it's got everyone worried"
The two of them went silent for a moment. Poe still wondered about her, he still haven't told her about his fragment of memories he's been seeing and how he's been seeing her in one of those. He wondered if she had seen him as well. "You sure you don't remember anything else?"
Teresa paused while she was thinking. "I remember... water. I remember feeling like I was drowning. There are these...faces staring at me. And this woman's voice saying the same thing over and over"
It immediately hit Poe, quickly remembering a woman's voice as well. Quickly wondered if it's the same one. "Wicked is good?" Teresa's gaze shifted, looked at him in a perplexed look. Poe sighed, "I've been having these dreams since I came up here few months ago. It's the same ones, over and over. They don't make sense at all, they're just.. pieces. I've seen— I've seen you as well—" he looked ahead and spotted Thomas walking with Minho. "And I've also seen him" he pointed ahead at Thomas.
"Who is he?" Teresa suddenly asked.
"His name is Thomas, and ever since he came few days ago, everything around here began to change, slowly falling apart"
"I've seen him too" Teresa muttered, "I've heard his name in my sleep as well. Just one of the pieces of memories, I saw his face"
Poe was surprised, and also relieved how he isn't the only one. How he wasn't the only one who was different. He breathed out sharply, "I wonder why we're so different" he wonder about Thomas, if the guy had seen him and Teresa too. If Poe and Teresa saw the guy, then maybe Thomas has seen them both too.
Teresa reached into her pockets and pulled out the two small objects. "These were in my pocket when I came up" she gave them to Poe.
The two objects were small, cylindrical, like pens with blue liquid in them, they looked like they were some sort of syringes or something else. It's the same letters as the strange object that Minho found within the Griever and the supplies they come every once a week and month. These two objects he has never seen before. "WCKD... Wicked. Wicked is good". If these are truly are the syringes, they looked like they must be but what for? What if... what if it's—
"What if we were sent here for a reason?" Teresa questioned.
What if these two syringes are meant to be for the girl, and maybe Thomas too? Thomas and Teresa were sent here within a week, only few days apart which never happens before. Perhaps they're the ones that were sent up here for a reason. Not Poe. Because if Poe had a purpose, everything that is changing would've happened already few months ago. So he's just merely a Greenie.
As he looked at the strange objects, he suddenly had an idea, they could at least just try them out and since Alby is already dead. It is awful to use Alby like an experimented mouse but what other ideas are there? "I think I may have an idea what these are for" Poe got up, "Alby... we should get this to Alby"
As Poe, Teresa, Newt, Jeff, Thomas and Clint were are gathering around Alby who was almost dying now. Letting out sharp breaths and pants. Poe showed the pens to Newt and explained them and implied that they should try it on Alby and see what happens.
"We don't even know what this stuff is" Newt gestured the syringe, "We don't know who sent it or why it came up with you—" he pointed at Teresa, "for all we know, this thing could kill him"
Poe sighed dolefully as Thomas responded, "Newt... he's already dying, you see—" he motioned at Alby, "how could this possibly make it any worse? Poe is right... come on, it's worth to try"
Newt looked at Alby for a moment, the leader was grunting and growling as he was suffering from the pain. Newt finally gave up, "All right... do it" Newt reaches the syringes toward Thomas, Teresa and Poe.
Before Poe took the syringe, Thomas grabbed it instead since he was the closest. He went over to Alby's side and leaned over. He held the syringe over Alby's chest as he prepared to press it against Alby's skin. When Thomas gazed over his shoulders and looked at both Poe and Teresa for a moment before turning back at Alby. The leader's eyes opened and grabbed Thomas.
"You shouldn't be here!" He yelled at Thomas, "You shouldn't be here!"
Newt quickly leaned over Alby and tried to pin Alby's arms down as he was still gripping onto Thomas's shirt. Jeff and Clint tried to get Alby off of Thomas.
"Get the syringe!" Thomas demanded.
Teresa went over with another syringe in her hand, she raised it then jabbed it onto Alby's arm as she pressed the top part of the syringe. Pressure hissed into Alby's skin, within seconds, Alby calmed and passed out again. Only this time, he wasn't breathing heavily anymore like he was no longer in pain. Like the syringe had taken the pain away.
"Well that worked" said Jeff as he stared in stun.
"Okay, from now on—" Newt began, "someone stays here and watches him around the clock"
There was silence again momentarily until there were footsteps coming from the entrance. It was Gally, "Hey—" everyone turned to the entrance, "sundown, Greenie. Time to go"
Meaning Thomas has to spend the night in the pit for breaking one of the rules.
The rest of the evening and night remained the same and it was all quiet. Newt had told Teresa she can take the other room in the hut, the girl didn't want to leave Poe's side at all. She even refused to stay in the hut and wanted to stay with Poe instead. He assumed that Teresa felt more comfortable and safer with him. But Newt finally convinced her when he told her that she wouldn't want to stay with Poe because she'll be sleeping with the rest of the boys. Before Poe left the hut with Newt, he and Teresa said their good nights.
***
[unedited]
4037 words, yikes o_O
I think this is the part where the chapters are gonna get longer since part I is nearly finished so I hope you won't mind long chapters.