Surprise double update because Christmas Eveeeeeeeeee!:
On most nights the majority of the Gladers slept outside, so packing over sixty boys and Mara inside the Homestead was a very tight fit. The Keepers, along with Alby and Newt, organised Gladers into different rooms, allocating each of them one blanket and one pillow each. It was the first time Mara had seen every Glader so disturbingly silent. They were trying avoid drawing attention to themselves by not moving a single muscle.
After helping the rest of the Gladers settle down Mara joined Newt, Alby and Minho in their shared bedroom. Mara sat on her bed with Newt, and opposite them sat Alby, Minho and Thomas, who joined them a few minutes later. The energy between them was much different to the energy flowing through the rest of the Gladers; instead of being frightened the boys were calm, and Mara was glad. If they had been panicking, it would have made Mara panic herself.
"Closest I've come so far to hangin' it all up." Newt started. "Shuck it all and kiss a Griever goodnight. Supplies cut, bloody grey skies, walls not closing. But we can't give up, and we all know it. The buggers who sent us here either want us dead or they're givin' us a spur. This or that, we gotta work our arses off till we're dead or not dead."
Everyone nodded in agreement, everyone except Alby. Mara watched the boy who did nothing but stare at the floor, lost in thoughts. His face wore a depressed expression and his eyes were baggy and sunken. Ever since the Changing he had been a completely different person. It really had changed him.
"Alby?" Newt asked with a worried tone. "Are you gonna pitch in?"
The boy looked up in surprise, as if he had forgotten that he wasn't alone in the room. His eyes wandered between Newt and Mara, and then Minho and Thomas. "Huh? Oh. Yeah. Good that. But you've seen what happens at night. Just because Greenie the freaking superboy made it doesn't mean the rest of us can."
Mara saw Thomas roll his eyes from the corner of her sight. Alby was being harsh on him, but it wasn't his fault. The changing controlled him, however he could have at least tried to be a bit nicer.
Minho met Mara's eyes and smirked. "I'm with, Mara, Thomas and Newt. We gotta quit boohooing and feeling sorry for ourselves." He rubbed his hands together and sat forward, leaning closer to Mara. "Tomorrow morning, first thing, you guys can assign teams to study the Maps full-time while the Runners go out. We'll pack our stuff shuck-full so we can stay out there a few days."
She nodded, and so did Thomas and Newt, but once again Alby disagreed. ""What?" He scoffed. "What do you mean, days?"
"Days, Alby. What else would he mean?" Mara shrugged. Days meant days, what didn't he get? "Now that the Doors aren't closing what's the point in comin' back here for the night? We can spend as much time as we need out there now, without worrying about being back by sunset."
"It's time stay out there and see if anything opens up when the walls move. If they still move." Minho added.
"No way." Alby shook his head. Why didn't he agree now? Mara thought in annoyance. She was starting to feel Tommy's aggravation herself. "We have the Homestead to hide in—and if that ain't workin', the Map Room and the Slammer. We can't freaking ask people to go out there and die, Minho! Who'd volunteer for that?"
"Me." Minho said. "And Mara and Thomas."
Mara nodded, then looked to Thomas who did the same. Alby unsurprisingly rolled his eyes at the idea, but Newt smiled warmly and patted Mara on the back. Sure, she was scared to go out there at night, but they had to do it. They had to do all they could to find the exit.
"I will too," Newt added, looking at Mara as he spoke. She smiled back at him; Mara knew he would do what he could, but she remembered that he wasn't ready. He had struggled to run in the Maze when he went with Mara, Minho and Thomas, staying overnight would be torture to his leg. "And I'm sure all the Runners'll do it."
"With your bum leg?" Alby laughed harshly. Mara stood up, about to storm over to Alby in rage but Newt tugged at the back of her top, forcing her to sit back down and leave Alby alone. How was she supposed to do that? He had no right to talk about Newt that way, what had he done to deserve that? Mara sighed, clenching her fists to stop her from doing something to the boy. She had decided she really didn't like Alby.
Newt just frowned and stared at the ground. Mara scooted closer to him and placed her hand on his leg, interlinking it with his own hand as the boy began to speak. "Well, I don't feel good askin' Gladers to do something if I'm not bloody willing to do it myself."
Alby sat back. "Whatever. Do what you want."
"Do what I want?" Newt asked, standing up. "What's wrong with you, man? Are you tellin' me we have a choice? Should we just sit around on our butts and wait to be snuffed by the Grievers?"
Mara smiled at Newt as he sat back down, he was a mixture of annoyed and slightly pleased with himself. She hoped that Alby would apologise, but he wasn't interested, he didn't even show an ounce of guilt in relation to what he had said.
"Well, it sounds better than running to them."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mara sharply answered him, shaking her head in fury. He was being a slinthead, and Mara really didn't like it.
Alby took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He reopened them, looking at each of his friends in turn, lingering at Newt. "You guys know I'm all screwed up. Seriously, I'm... sorry. I shouldn't be the stupid leader anymore."
"Oh bloody-" Newt began.
"No!" Alby shouted, his face turning a light shade of red. His embarrassment showed on his face, as if his old self was coming through. "That's not what I meant. Listen to me. I ain't saying we should switch or any of that klunk. I'm just saying... I think I need to let you guys make the decisions. I don't trust myself. So... yeah, I'll do whatever."
Mara was shocked, and by the looks of the other boys, they were too. Had Alby just demoted himself as Leader of the Glade?
"Uh... okay," Newt slowly said, in a unsure tone. "We'll make it work, I promise. You'll see."
"Yeah." Alby muttered. After a rather long pause, he broke the silence with a glimmer of excitement. "Hey, tell you what. Put me in charge of the Maps. I'll freaking work every Glader to the bone studying those things."
"Works for me." Minho nodded, but he was the only one. Mara didn't know what to say; she wanted to trust him with the Maps but she felt like she couldn't. She didn't trust Alby, the new Alby.
Alby sat up straighter, his sulking was over and Mara wasn't going to hide her thankfulness. "Ya know, it was really stupid for us to sleep in here tonight. We should've been out in the Map Room, working."
Mara chuckled. "Smartest thing you've said all night."
"Well... I'll go," Alby said with a confident nod. "Right now."
Newt shook his head. "Forget that, Alby. Already heard the bloody Grievers moaning out there. We can wait till the wake-up."
Alby leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "Hey, you shucks are the ones giving me all the pep talks. Don't start whining when I actually listen. If I'm gonna do this, I gotta do it, be the old me. I need something to dive into. Seriously, I need this." He said, standing up and beginning to make his way towards the door.
In a way, Mara was relieved to know he wanted to do something and surprisingly she was all up for going with him.
"You can't be serious," Newt said. "You can't go out there now!"
"I'm going, and that's that." Alby shrugged, taking his ring of keys and rattling them about. Mara respected his bravery, maybe the same Alby she had met on her first day in the Glade was still in him, somewhere. "See you shucks in the morning."
"Hey Alby," Mara stood up and the boy turned back. "Need any help?"
"No, I'll be okay. Newt'll never let you leave anyway." He smirked, and with that he walked out of the room. Newt turned to Mara and raised his eyebrows in question of her wanting to assist Alby, but she spoke up before he could say anything.
"Well, then. That was eventful." Mara chuckled, scooting Newt out of her way so she could climb into her bed. She wished Alby luck comparing Maps that weren't even in the Map Room. He didn't know where they were, unless Newt had told him, but that was unlikely since he said he was going to the Map Room and gotten his keys. "I'm going to sleep."
"You're going to sleep?" Thomas asked, narrowing his brow in confusion and shock.
"Yup."
"Mara, you're mad, love." Newt shook his head but he wore a smile. She duplicated his smile on her own face as she tucked herself into her bed.
"If we're going running tomorrow we'll need our energy saved up." Mara told the other three boys. She wanted to be ready to explore the Maze in as much depth as she could, which meant she needed all the sleep she could get. "Night boys. Don't let the Grievers bite."
Authors Note
Yeah, this was a pretty boring chapter but theres' a lot of action to come! For example the rest of this book is VERY dramatic and action filled!