"I don't know how, but I know you." The words were blunt and spoke with unwavering certainty. Thomas' wide eyes grew round and he faltered in eating his breakfast.
The poor boy. He had been thrust into the Maze, already woken up early to be given the 'Griever Show', and now the girl of the Glade was only adding to the overwhelming pile of things he was being forced to deal with.
He swallowed his mouthful as the girl settled down opposite him watching him expectantly. The room was virtually empty; only Frypan was busying around the kitchen and singing loudly enough to block out their conversation.
"Well I- I already said I knew you. Yesterday." He shrugged uncomfortably, dragging his fork around his plate. There were wide circles under his eyes and Florence frowned sympathetically. She felt bad for what she had to say next, but it was necessary.
"Listen, no one can know about this. You've already made an entrance and a lot of people are uncertain about you. We don't want to give them a real reason to be."
He nodded begrudgingly, although it was not like there was a long list of people he could even turn to tell. He had obviously taken a liking to Newt, and Chuck was a friend also, but there was no one else that seemed to really like him.
"Thomas,"
She began, but when the boy's eyes fell on her again, she squirmed with discomfort. She wanted to ask him if he remembered talking to her when she came up in the Box. But how would she go about doing it?
"Do you, remember anything else?" He furrowed his brow at the odd question and Florence felt her cheeks flushing.
"What do you mean?"
Well clearly he can't.
"It doesn't matter."
Standing up abruptly, she seized her plate and returned it to the kitchen. Hopping up on the counter, she interrupted Frypan doing his usual cleaning up and inventing new songs about food.
"He's a weird one, huh?" He commented, as the girl was still watching Thomas. She jolted from her trance, relaxing her expression to avoid worrying the other boy. Frypan chuckled heartily at her daze, and she cracked a smile as she zoned back in.
"Yeah, he is."
When Alby came to fetch Florence later on to give Thomas the Tour, Chuck was tagging along by Thomas's heel like a small puppy dog. Alby was visibly agitated by this but Florence found it cute.
"Can I come Alby?" The younger boy asked, and Florence and Thomas shared a knowing look about how this would go down with their leader.
Alby reached down to smack him around the side of the head and Chuck yelped in pain.
"Ain't you got a job, slinthead? Lots of slopping to do?" Chuck rolled his eyes and Florence nudged Alby's shoulder, feeling sorry for the small boy.
"Don't be mean Alby, can't he come along?"
Now Florence could persuade Alby to do a lot of things, but for some reason, this was where he drew the line.
"Have fun." Chuck told their Greenie, and the girl flashed him a smile as he returned to whatever Slopper duties he was supposed to be doing.
Florence began the Tour at the Box as supposed to, and began to talk Thomas through the traditions and workings of life at the Glade. She could barely focus on how he looked when he was taking it all in because of the insane amount of information she was giving, but the tiredness of his eyes was clear.
She pointed out the four corners of the Glade, walked him past the Deadheads and the Blood House before stopping in front of the Maze walls. As she began to explain briefly the job of the Runners, she could see how Thomas' interest grew. It was scarily similar to her own.
"Are you a Runner?" Thomas asked questioningly, and Florence was happy to answer despite Alby's quiet protests of 'no questions until the Tour is over'.
"I'm a Runner when someone needs a break, so I'm mainly a Med-jack. I don't mind really, at least I get out there-"
She was cut off by the sound of the piercing Greenie alarm. Her eyes found Newt's immediately from where he was working in the gardens, and they were filled with alarm and confusion. Thomas looked between the girl and Alby, both of whom were frozen to the spot out of surprise.
"What's going on?"
"The Box is coming back up." Florence managed to mutter.
She looked to Alby who looked just as confused as she felt. When he didn't move, she decided to take initiative, sprinting over to the Box at the sight of the boys already beginning to crowd it.
Why is the Greenie alarm going off? It can't be a mistake, can it? The Creators don't make mistakes.
She knew that it only ever sounded once a month when they got their new Greenies, and Thomas had only arrived yesterday. So why was it happening now? Were they going to have another Greenie?
Newt and Gally had already raced over and opened up the doors of the Box, and when she reached them, Florence was surprised to see they were waiting patiently for her to get inside instead of jumping down themselves.
She landed cautiously on the ground, and felt her heart lurch as she spotted the sprawled figure in front of her.
It's another girl.
She was beautiful. Her long dark brown hair fell over her glowing pale skin and soft features. Her lips were plump and pink and she was unmoving. She looked so peaceful. But she also looked dead.
"Well what do you see?" Gally called down, his impatience evident in his voice.
"It's another girl." She recited her exact thought.
The boys began chattering in excitement at the prospect of another girl, but Newt frowned. He knew that something must have been wrong because Florence didn't sound excited by this like he knew she would be.
"I think she's dead." She muttered, although she hadn't checked for a pulse. She was nervous that if she did, she might not find one.
"What's in her hand?" And sure enough, Gally had spotted a crumpled piece of paper in the ball of her hand. Leaning down, Florence extracted it from the girl's enclosed palm and smoothed it out. Upon reading it, she felt her heart drop even further to the floor.
"'She's the last one ever'."
She's the last Greenie.
No more once-a-month Greenie deliveries. No more making fun of the kids that knew nothing about themselves or the place they found themselves in. No more just calling people Greenie.
I guess we'll have to call her Greenie forever.
But why? Why was she the last? What was going to happen now? Did this mean things were going to change?
"What the hell does that mean?" Newt exclaimed in frustration, and Florence wanted to smack him for his stupidity.
"Newt-"
Florence was interrupted as the seemingly dead girl's eyes shot open and she came to life with a gasping breath. The boys all jumped back in fright as she caught back her breath with a wide fearful expression and a heaving chest.
"Thomas..."
She mumbled out, just as her eyelids began to flutter close and she drifted off again. Every single pair of eyes fell on Thomas who kept his eyes on the sleeping girl with discomfort from the attention.
"At least she's not dead."
Florence shouted up, in attempts to dissipate the tension. However, it was unbreakable. Gally looked smug at the fact he was suspicious of Thomas and he was apparently now proven right.
But how does she know Thomas?
Gally and Newt jumped down inside the Box to lift the girl out and onto the grass. Immediately she was crowded, and with a frustrated groan, Florence found herself pushing them all a small distance away to give her space.
"We need to get her to the Med hut." She murmured to Alby, who nodded in agreement. He looked over the crowds in search of Clint and Jeff, both of whom he realised was with Ben already in the Med hut.
"What do we do about Ben?"
Florence was surprised that the leader was looking to her for guidance, but didn't show it as she thought up an answer from the top of her head.
"Move him to a room in the Homestead."
They really didn't have a better option.
Alby ordered Gally and Newt to carry the unconscious girl to the Med hut whilst Florence ran ahead to tell Jeff and Clint they would have to move Ben. It was only then she noticed her heart was racing with adrenaline, and it had been since she saw the girl.
"My prayers have been answered." She muttered to herself jokingly, but she was serious at the fact she felt saved by another girl's arrival.
I'm not alone anymore. Well, if the girl wakes up..
Practically skipping into the Med hut, she had to tone down her excitement at the change in atmosphere. It was awkwardly quiet, a large contrast from the noisy chatter out in the Glade. Florence presumed the boys had heard the Greenie alarm but did not want to leave Ben alone - she was impressed to say the least.
"We've gotta move Ben."
Clint whirled around to look at the girl with a bemused expression. He put down the bandages he had finished putting on one of Ben's wounds and let out a laugh.
"What?"
"Well basically we have another Greenie. And she's kinda unconscious so I suggested putting her in here."
"She?"
The boys' eyes both widened and as if on cue, Gally and Newt came barging into the room carrying the unconscious girl in their arms. Clint and Jeff looked even more overwhelmed but managed to hold off on asking any more questions for the moment as they moved Ben onto a stretcher and headed out of the hut to the Homestead.
Moving to the girl's side, Florence realised she was the only Med-jack in the room and therefore automatically 'in charge' of taking care of her. Sure, she had been in the Glade for two months, but it was still a lot of pressure.
Newt folded his arms across his chest and took his worried eyes from the girl to ask Florence,
"What's going on? What's the matter with her? Why won't she wake up?"
Feeling bombarded by his questions, she collapsed into the chair beside the bed and shook her head unable to answer. The girl seemed completely fine, just, asleep.
"I have no idea Newt. I'm not a medical professional."
She glanced away from him to see their previous Greenie Thomas hovering behind, watching the girl nervously. Seeing her eyes shift away from him, Newt also turned to the other boy, expectantly.
"Well do you recognise her?"
He seemed angry when asking, confusing both Thomas and Florence, but the girl just brushed it off as Newt feeling stressed.
"No," Thomas replied, his eyes still trained on the girl in question. Florence didn't analyse his expression but couldn't help but feel unbelieving of his answer.
"Really? 'Cause she seemed to recognise you."
Newt's tone was exhausting for Thomas. He was just as confused as anyone else in the Glade, if possible, even more. He had barely been there for more than a day and already had Gally and now Newt on his case.
"Newt please." The girl butted in, and the blonde looked to her in surprise. He looked confused as to her pleading tone.
"I know you want answers but Thomas looks like he's about to explode. Tone it down a bit?"
Almost feeling ashamed, Newt gave a nod and directed his eyes to the floor. Thomas glanced briefly at him again, as if he wanted to know what was going on inside his head, before asking,
"What about the note?"
Newt shook his head, looking back to their new arrival and replying firmly,
"We'll worry about the note later."
"I think we should worry about it now." Thomas argued, and Newt looked as though he was going to snap at the boy, but he refrained.
"I agree with Thomas." Florence spoke up again, stealing the second-in-command's attention. He raised an intrigued eyebrow, obviously curious to hear what she had to say in back up of it.
"Well if the Box doesn't come up again, what are we going to do? How long are we going to last without supplies from the Creators?"
A frown edged onto Newt's face and a brief panic passed over him. Firmly deciding in his mind he couldn't deal with thinking of that possibility, he faked a smile as if to say he thought the suggestion was ridiculous.
"No one said that. Let's not jump to any conclusions." He paused, looking over the sleeping girl. "We'll just wait until she wakes up and see what she knows."
"And if she knows nothing?"
Newt couldn't help but let dread swell in his stomach at Florence's question. Thomas noticed the shift in his smile, letting the unbothered veil slip, and his eyebrows knitted in concern. If Newt was worried, they all should be.
At that moment, the door swung open again and Florence's question was never answered. Alby groaned in frustration as he walked towards the group stood beside the bed, oblivious to the nervous tension hanging in the air.
"Newt, never leave me to calm down those shanks ever again. I can't shucking handle them." He grumbled to the second-in-command who just nodded stiffly. Alby didn't notice anything wrong and turned to look at the girl.
"So when's she waking up?"
It was Florence's turn to groan in frustration. She already knew she would be getting this question a lot.
"I don't know!"
Alby glared at her, but his judging eyes softened when he remembered that it wasn't her fault. Needing to take his rage out on someone else, he shifted his gaze to Thomas.
"Don't you have work to do Greenie?"
"I'm not the- she-" He cut himself off multiple times before deciding to just stop talking altogether. Mumbling to himself, he turned on his heel and begrudgingly left the Med hut with one last glance back to the scene.
"Does Thomas recognise her?"
Their leader asked, and Newt answered him with a simple shake of his head. Florence huffed, capturing both of their attention again, and she shrunk away in her chair sheepishly.
"The Runners are back, by the way, Florence." Alby said after a while, clearly just referring to Minho, and then she suddenly realised that he would have no idea of the girl's presence in the Glade.
Her eyes widening, Alby chuckled due to receival of the reaction he expected. Knowing she would be itching to go tell him, he stepped aside from where his figure blocked the path outside, and tilted his head towards the door.
Although she felt a little guilty leaving the girl already, she knew Minho would kill her for not telling him about the sudden change in the Glade. And besides, she got the leader's permission to go, and she'd be crazy to skip that opportunity.
She was a little surprised to see only Minho sat at the table in the Map room. His head turned up at the sound of the door, but when he saw it was Florence, he relaxed again.
Grinning, he ran a hand through his flattened hair and turned back to drawing his map. Florence drew out a seat beside him, resting her elbow on the table and placing her chin in her hand.
"You boys missed quite the day." She commented in amusement and watched how Minho's lips curved up in a smile.
"Oh really?" He replied in the same tone, "What happened then?"
As much as he thinks he is, he's not prepared for this.
"Well we got another Greenie." She told him nonchalantly, smirking when she saw him falter in drawing the map, refocusing his attention on her.
"Wait, we did?" He almost looked concerned now, nervous for how things were finally changing. This was a new look for Minho - nervousness. But as quick as Florence thought she saw it, it had disappeared and his cool exterior had returned. Maybe she was just imagining it.
Nodding to confirm, she couldn't help but wonder how he would react to the other strange thing about the day.
"It's another girl."
His eyebrows raised with curiosity but Florence couldn't detect any interest in that sense. She felt relieved about that. Without realising it, her hand edged closer to where Minho's free hand was lying on the table.
His eyes darted down to the table, but quickly back up to her eyes, pretending he hadn't even noticed. But then his hand moved towards hers as well.
"Another girl huh?"
Florence nodded again, swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat. Her mouth felt dry and she had no idea why she felt so nervous about the thought of Minho's hand touching hers.
We literally sleep in the same bed, why am I nervous now?
"A-and she had a note with her. It said she's the last Greenie."
Just like Newt earlier in the Med hut, a flash of panic came over Minho's face. Florence couldn't imagine how weird this would be for the boys who had been there two years.
"What does that mean for us? The Box?"
She shrugged.
"I'm holding onto the hope that the Creators will keep sending us supplies. If they don't..." She trailed off, shivering at where the thought had sent her mind. With a surge of confidence, Minho reached for her hand and placed his own on top, squeezing it reassuringly.
"Hey. Don't think about that, okay? If things are changing, it means we're more likely to get out of here."
He spoke firmly, and although he really didn't have a clue what would happen, Florence hung onto his words - and his hand - for peace of mind.