It was late afternoon when a screeching ringing sound rebounded off the walls of the Glade. I was done for the day, quite horrified by and done with rearing animals, and was settling down to one of Frypan's famous stews when my ears positively burst from the sound.
Warily, I followed the other Gladers towards the middle of the Glade, where the metal box (the Box, they called it. So original.) I had been sent up in lay. Squeezing into the crowd of boys, I found Newt standing at the front of the crowd, with a troubled expression on his face.
"What's wrong? What's that sound?" I asked, out of breath from all the shoving and squeezing.
"It's the box, it's coming up," he replied, still staring at the Box. I peered at it, and indeed, the metal frames seemed to be rattling form some movement inside the chute. But still, I didn't get what was so special about it.
"So? You guys didn't look so surprised when I came up yesterday," I said, speaking to him over the shocked chatter of Gladers behind me.
"Exactly. It's only supposed to come once a bloody month."
"Well, maybe it made a mistake," I shrugged, "no big deal."
"Tommy." He turned to look at me. "It's been like that for the past three years. Always once a month, always the same day, same time. Never different. But this time, it's coming up two days in a row. Something's bloody up."
Just then, the Box came to a stop right below the metal grills. A few boys helped to open the cover, and Newt jumped inside. From the dim light, I couldn't quite make out what or who was inside the Box, only a vague shape laying crumpled at the corner of the Box.
Newt looked up with a look of puzzlement. "It's a girl."
As soon as he said that, chatter broke out across the crowd.
"A girl?"
"I call dibs!"
"No, me first!"
I shook my head, disgusted at their responses. I squinted at the girl curiously. She almost seemed... Familiar. Like I had seen her somewhere before, but I couldn't quite put my finger on where.
"And she has something in her hand," Newt's voice rang out, quieting down the Gladers. He bent down and took a piece of crumpled paper out from the girl's hand, smoothing it out and reading it.
"She's the last one, ever." He paused for a moment, his brows furrowing. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
A few minutes of debating followed, and Newt ordered the medjacks to bring the girl into the Homestead to check on her since she was in a coma. Newt followed them, and I followed him, though no one seemed to notice me until I entered the Homestead. The medjacks and Newt went upstairs without disturbance, but I was stopped by a few boys. I looked up at them, and I recognised one of them. Gally.
I took a deep breath. Though nothing much had gone on between the two of us, I could sense he was not a good person to mess with, or be around in general. The only people who could stand up to him were probably Alby, Newt and Minho, the keeper of the runners. He glared at me, and for a moment I wished Newt was here.
I tried to go past him and up the stairs; I wanted to see how the girl was, but Gally just blocked my way. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, his voice menacing and ridiculing.
"I'm just going to find Newt," I said. For some reason, I didn't want to mention the girl.
Just then, I heard a blood curdling scream echo through the Homestead, one I had heard only vaguely during the day. "What's that?" I asked in a small voice, wincing from the high pitched screech.
"That's Ben, he's going through the Changing. You know what, go on, go in," Gally replied, suddenly smirking. I narrowed my eyes at him, remembering Newt telling me that Ben had been stung by a Griever, and as a response he glared at me in a way that made me shiver. Slowly, I climbed the creaking stairs, unsure if I wanted to go in anymore.
I didn't know which room Newt or the girl was in, so I entered the first room on my left. I peeked my head in. Newt was in the room, talking to a medjack at the side, and they didn't seem to know I was there. But on the bed wasn't the unconscious girl I had came to see. It was... it was... I didn't even know if it even was a human. Its veins were black, and a huge grey blackness spread across its entire arm. The skin seemed raw; cut, though there didn't seem to be blood anywhere.
But its face; I recognised its face. He'd been there, with Gally, the first time I came up in the box.
It was Ben.
I mustn't have known it, but I screamed. He looked hideous.
And the next thing I knew I was out the door and pressed against the wall by Newt. I was taken by surprise. Once again, I didn't know the capabilities of his strength and speed. I breathed heavily as my back pressed uncomfortably against the wall, newt holding me by my collar and his face dangerously close to mine. I say dangerously not because he could bite me, but because I was now fully aware of my insane wanting for him.
A moment of silence passed between us and Newt seemed to freeze as my gaze caught his, then finally let go of me, to my slight disgruntlement. He seemed fidgety all of a sudden, his eyes darting everywhere but mine. "Newt," I began, just as he cut me off.
"Tommy, what the bloody hell was that?" Newt said angrily. But in that kind of angry where you want to be angry but you're surprisingly not. He kept on shaking his head, furrowing and unfurrowing his brows. What was happening?
"Newt, you're not angry at me, are you? I'm sorry," I said quietly, looking down at the ground. Then, his gaze caught mine and I blushed. He saw that, too.
"No, of course not. Well yes. But no. How can anyone be angry at an angel like you?" He said, and the words tumbled out of his mouth. "Wait, I didn't mean that. No, you're way too ugly. Actually you're not, but let's just pretend you bloody are," he rambled on. I must have been smiling, because he threw his hands in the air and turned away form me in exasperation.
Oh my god. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Did he just call me an angel? I blushed furiously, but couldn't help grinning despite the circumstances. The little spark of hope and desire from this morning relit inside my, this time burning brighter.
"Newt," I tried again. He turned around, much to my relief. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see how the girl was doing. Since, you know, she was in a coma and all that." I thought that Newt would be happy to hear that, but apparently he wasn't.
"The girl? Why do you care? Why, do you know her or something?" He snapped, frowning once more, throwing me off guard.
"Uh, no? I'm just a nice person. I think," I replied, temporarily dazed by his sudden rage. "Can't a person be kind around here without being questioned?"
Newt opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and closed it. He shook his head. "No. I mean yes, you can. I don't know what's bloody wrong with me, I'm sorry," he said with a wave of his hand, then turned and walked away.
Dazed, I walked after him. Something was defnitely off.
~t iiiii m e s k iiiiii p~
"So, where's Alby been this whole time?" I asked Newt casually during dinner. We seemed to have made up from the small dispute a while ago, since he sat next to me for dinner.
"He went out to the Maze with Minho today, yesterday they found a dead Griever," Newt explained after swallowing his bite.
"A dead one? Aren't they shucking deadly?" Chuck piped up next to me.
Newt nodded, then continued to eat. "It's the first dead one we've seen in bloody forever."
"Well shouldn't they be back by now? It's getting late, the doors close in a few minutes," Chuck continued. Hearing that, Newt sat straight up.
"Yes, they should," he muttered, a look of worry crossing over his face.
"Will they be ...okay? I mean, what happens in the night?" I asked, Newt's concern spreading to me.
"We don't know. No one ever survives a night in the Maze," Newt answered. His eyes saddened, and I could see the sadness he's been holding in start to slip out. "But they'll be okay. Minho's the best of the best, they'll make it out." He seemed more like trying to calm himself than anyone else.
"But what if they don't?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. I knew as soon as I asked it that I shouldn't have. Newt gave me a hard stare, and I looked away uncertainly.
"They will."
When we finished dinner, we joined the rest of the Gladers gathered at the stone wall-gates, anxiously waiting for Minho and Alby to arrive. I stood next to Newt in the front, my arm wrapped around his waist. I had no idea how it got there or why Newt allowed it, but frankly I couldn't mind less.
Finally, the huge creaking sounds rang across the Glade, and the walls began to slide close. As every second ticked away and the walls inched closer and closer, I began to lose hope, and so did Newt. I could see the tears glistening in his eyes. He knew it, and with a sinking heart, so did I.
They weren't going to make it.
However, as the doors closed about halfway, a shout caught my attention. Slowly, everyone began squinting through the darkness. I gasped when I saw the silhouettes of two people limping towards us, towards safety.
Minho and Alby.
Alby was badly hurt, barely even walking. Minho had an arm slung over Alby's shoulders, and was basically carrying him over. He was strong, but Alby was heavy. He staggered, then almost stumbled, but righted himself and continued to make his way to the Glade.
But the doors were closing. Fast. As they inched closer and closer together, I realised with a pang in my heart that they weren't going to make it. Nervously, I looked around. Everyone was egging them on, but no one made a move to go in, to save them. And suddenly I hated this place.
People needed saving. And if no one else was going to do it, I was.
With a determined expression, I unwrapped my arm from Newt, and started making my way through the crowd into the Maze. I heard shouting behind me, but I didn't care. I squeezed through the doors of the Maze and made it into the Maze just as they slid shut.
"No, Tommy, don't do it!" Newt's shouts were the last thing I heard before the Gladers' cries were cut off short by the deafening thud of the walls.
"Good job, Greenie, you just killed yourself."
A/N: Wow this was longer than I thought o.o okay then IDK I kinda just get carried away when I write... Gah there still wasn't much action in this chapter... Only the middle part ><
A newt pov chapter coming up soon (not the next one though I think? Maybe the next one IDK if you can't already tell I don't really plan my stuff I really should shouldn't I)!!! I think I also messed up some chronological events in this ooooops i apologise sincerely for that :x
Anyways pls comment and vote if you like it! :D thank you <3