Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/11986950.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Choose_Not_To_Use_Archive_Warnings, Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major
      Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      The_Maze_Runner_Series_-_James_Dashner, The_Maze_Runner_(Movies), The
      Maze_Runner_Series_-_All_Media_Types
  Relationship:
      Newt/Thomas_(Maze_Runner), Teresa_Agnes/Minho_(Maze_Runner)
  Character:
      Newt_(Maze_Runner), Thomas_(Maze_Runner), Minho_(Maze_Runner), Teresa
      Agnes, Alby_(Maze_Runner), Gally_(Maze_Runner), Sonya_(Maze_Runner), Aris
      Jones
  Additional Tags:
      Alternate_Universe_-_Zombie_Apocalypse, Newt_Is_Badass, thomas_is_a_mess,
      Fluff_and_Angst, happy?_ending, Sonya_is_Newt's_sister, One_smut_scene
      very_later_into_this, WICKED_|_WCKD_Is_Not_Good, Newt_is_like_Alice_from
      Resident_Evil
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-09-03 Updated: 2018-03-18 Chapters: 19/? Words: 48428
****** Get Out Alive ******
by ThomasSangsterAddict
Summary
     Don’t even ask me how I ended up in this situation. I am lost, cold,
     and I am being chased by ravenous, blood-thirsty creatures. I count
     almost 6 of them, but I keep losing track as I run between trees. I
     have one thing to blame for my situation. The U.S. government. More
     like a department in it that got way too much power. World In
     Catastrophe Killzone Experimental Department. WICKED is their name.
     They created a lethal virus to win WWVI. The virus mutated three
     years later, and sent the world in a global apocalypse. The point of
     their whole department was to prevent anything like this to happen.
     They did this to the human race. They were the ones responsible for
     the things chasing me at the moment. I hate them, and I hate what
     they did. Now isn't the time to think about it, I have a more serious
     issue at hand. How am I going to get away from these things?
Notes
     Welcome, my friends. This isn't going to be like any of my other long
     fanfiction where I get bored and delete them. I already wrote most of
     it! I'll be updating every Sunday, and I might drop two chapters here
     and there. Leave a kudos and comment. Tell me your thoughts, and
     ideas to make this story better. Ready, set, read.
***** Another Day, Another Crank *****
Don’t even ask me how I ended up in this situation. I am lost, cold, and I am
being chased by ravenous, blood-thirsty creatures. I count almost 6 of them,
but I keep losing track as I run between trees. I have one thing to blame for
my situation. The U.S. government. More like a branch in it that got way too
much power. World In Catastrophe Killzone Experimental Department. WICKED is
their name.
They created a lethal virus to win WWVI. The virus mutated three years later,
and sent the world in a global apocalypse. The point of their whole department
was to prevent anything like this to happen. They did this to the human race.
They were the ones responsible for the things chasing me at the moment. I hate
them, and I hate what they did. Now isn't the time to think about it, I have a
more serious issue at hand. How am I going to get away from these things?
I look behind me to see that four are still on my tail. Even further back, two
of the things were chasing a traumatized squirrel. I want to laugh, but I push
my mop of blonde hair out of my eyes, and I pick up my pace.
I can feel my energy slowly leaving me. My mind races with thoughts that I’m
going to die. I try to push them away, but they come back with a force. My
chest starts to burn, and I slow down my pace. Another look behind me reveals
only three of the ominous beings are still tailing me. One trips over a branch
and I hear it scream at the top of its lungs. A gargled, inhuman cry that sends
shivers down my spine. Two remain and with a vengeance.
I have a vendetta too against the creatures. They killed my parents. My mother
died right in front of me. We found my father’s body the previous day. I don’t
know what happened to my sister. As far as I know, she is long gone. Tears
swell up at the thought of it, but I force the memories into the back of my
head. I clutch the golden chain around my neck while I run.
I try to focus on the sound of my boots, one size too big, clunking against the
ground as I evade the deadly threat looming behind me. The thin, checkerboard
coat, that is tied around my waist, blows hard in the winds as I gain momentum
from a downhill slope. At one point, I think they catch up to me because I hear
snarls and growls of hungry beasts that found a feast. Luckily, not for them of
course, I don’t plan to be on their menu.
As we pass through a bramble, I wince at the thorns that home into my leg. One
of the creatures gets it so much worse. All I hear is plants, leaves, and
sticks breaking. Another bloody scream invades the air, and pain shoots through
my head. Those things have quite a pitch. I look back to find that there is one
creature left. A devious smirk is plastered on my face as an idea finds it’s
way to my brain.
Surprising myself at my own stamina, I whip around instantly to face the
creature that ran full speed for me. It seems shocked at the sudden movement,
and fumbles a little. I take advantage of that as it crashes right into a small
knife firmly placed in my hand. I get knocked down by the blow, but the
creature at the end of my blade is surely dead. I examine myself for any cuts
or wounds, put the blade in my belt, and I walk away.
I have no idea where I am going, and I am not completely sure that I care
anymore. Nowhere is safe in this world, and I have to come to terms with that.
Everywhere I go, I see dead people, broken buildings, burning cities, and so
many more horrifying things. I take as much as I need, and I leave the place
behind. It became a routine over the years. I routine I shouldn’t have. The
whole predicament is so completely unnecessary.
I walk with caution because I know that there are man-eaters wondering around
in the forest. I am careful to avoid any branches, leaves, or anything else
that could reveal my position. The last thing I need at the moment is something
else chasing me while I am still recovering from the last assault. Eventually,
I calm down and begin to walk normally. I have a tense feeling in my stomach,
but it is hard not to be nervous when you are in the apocalypse. I chuckled at
my own thoughts, but froze when I heard a stick crack behind me. My hand went
to my belt, and I pull out the knife conveniently tucked into one of the loops.
I turn myself around prepared for the assault. It didn’t come. I turn my head
and body in 360-degree angles. Each turn makes my head pound harder and my
heart beat faster.
Nothing was coming at me or attacking me. My guard is still up, and my weapon
is still in my tight grip. I didn’t survive for four years letting my defense
down so easily, so I wait in silence. It is so quiet, a pin drop could send my
arms flailing and my attacks random. Another crack of a stick sets me on panic-
mode. I look in the direction of the sound to face whatever was to come.
It wasn’t a something- but a someone.  He  is a man around my age. He has black
hair, dark skin, and almost black eyes. The man is a little taller than me, and
he is much more muscular. He stands there looking beaten, and eying me
suspiciously. There are bruises and a few cuts on him, but none of them look as
if they had been done by one of the beasts I had encountered. I began to step
toward him, but the dark-skinned boy steps back as I step forward. I don’t
think he trusts me, and the feeling is mutual.
“Who are you?” The boy asks, and takes another step back. “I- I have a weapon.”
“I’m Newt.” I say, and they boy eyes me again. “I only have a small knife. Do
you know what the bloody hell those things are exactly? You're first person
I’ve met in the last four years that hasn’t killed nor looted me yet.
“Alby.” The man- Alby responds.
Alby, for the tenth time, looks me over, but smiles. I think he decided that I
did not pose any threat to him. He started to pull something out of his pocket,
and I hesitate. I do want to know more about this person, but I am not willing
to risk my neck for it. Alby seems to sense my discomfort, but still, pulls a
small item from his pocket. I get a closer look, and recognize it. The item is
a box of band-aids.
“You have cuts on your legs.” The dark-skinned boy said, gesturing to the cuts.
“I wouldn’t want them to get infected.”
I take a step back from shock, but a smile appears on my face as the man throws
me the box. I don’t hesitate nor say thank you as I pull one out, and put it on
my leg. I don’t have to look to know that Alby is smiling. I consider taking
him along with me, but I choose to ask him more questions.
“You never told me what you know.” I say, and it makes his grin grow bigger.
“Oh yeah?” Alby asks, and begins laughing. “What makes me inclined to tell you
anything?”
I can only imagine the look on my face. Alby starts to laugh, and I feel red
rush right to my cheeks. He stops, and he looks at me. His black eyes staring
not at me, but through me. Alby comes slightly closer, and stops. His lips are
slightly parted, and I suddenly feel nervous.
“Want to know the truth about the virus, Newt?” Alby asks, with a deepened
voice, and a chill runs through my spine. “It turns the dead into living, and
the alive to creatures. The same creature for both believe it or not. We call
them cranks. It's because the ones that turn into them that were living
experience hatred, hatred, and more hatred before they finally go insane. The
virus eats them alive at the brain before they cannot remember who they are,
and replaces it with hunger. Hunger for the living.”
I go numb at this information, and dizziness runs through my head. My stomach
hurts, and I have a feeling like I am going to pass out. Alby senses this, and
smiles at me. The next thing I see is an extended hand placing itself firmly on
my shoulders. I don’t break eye-contact with the dark-skinned boy, but I smile
back.
“Is that your only weapon?” Alby asks me, changing the subject. “It’s rather
poor defense, from man-eating cranks.”
I look at the blade I forgot is still in my hand. It’s a good thing too, to
never let your guard down. Oddly, I don’t feel in danger. I know the feeling
will pass, so I try to savor it. The living is just as dangerous as the dead. I
know this from previous experiences. They kill, salvage what they can, and
shoot you when you turn. Alby, however, doesn’t seem the same.
“Yes.” I say, only saying what I need to. “It’s gotten me pretty far for four
years. Just before you arrived, I was being chased by six of them.”
Alby’s eyes narrow, and he clutches the weapon in his hand. I know the look in
his eye. He is ready for an assault. I call random attacks from these creatures
assaults instead of ambushes. The  cranks  seem to be incapable of thinking an
ambush out, so it is really just random. If you happen to be in the area, it
attacks you without thinking. My mind wanders to the cranks I lost in the
chase. I wonder where they went.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alby asks, with a horrified expression. “They can
track you for up to twelve miles.”
I wonder how he knows this, but my confused expression changes to terrified as
a crank crashes through a tree to get to us. It doesn’t work because the thing
falls to the ground, and lets out a shrill screech before he falls limp. The
tree sways back and forth, and tips in our direction. All I can do is watch as
it crashes directly on top of Alby as he tries to get away. Dirt is thrown in
the air blocking my vision. A few seconds pass and I can clearly see the
situation. Alby is still alive, but his legs are pinned under the tree. He
squirms and throws a look in my direction. I run over to help him, but I am cut
off by a crank throwing itself directly in my pathway.
I try to fake it out, but it doesn’t work. I don’t see the point in it either,
because I would not be able to get Alby out from under the tree before it gets
us. One look at Alby tells me that he is trying to figure out a way to get
himself free. Seemingly giving up, he starts squirming from under the tree,
starts digging at the dirt, and ends up flailing on the ground. The crank turns
his attention away from me, and charges at Alby.
“Run!” the dark-skinned boy shouts, as the crank tackles him into the tree.
“Find the Gladers.”
I barely hear him because I am already fleeing the scene. I take one look back,
and I regret it instantly. I see blood splattered across the fallen tree, and
Alby’s body still pinned under. I have reason to believe that not all of the
blood is Alby’s. Next to the body, the crank that attacked him lies completely
still except for occasional twitches. Alby’s knife is well buried into it’s
head. I keep running.
My heartbeat starts matching the sound of my boots stomping on the ground. I
can’t tell if it is adrenaline or fear, but it is amplified when I hear the
sounds of more feet hitting clumsily behind me. I turn to see three or four
cranks stumbling on each other to get to me.They seem to be killing each other
more to get to me first than I would if I were fighting them. It looks like a
bunch of hungry animals fighting over the last meal on earth.
I trip over a root in the woods, and I am sent flying in the air. The ground
feels oddly warm and inviting. All the energy leaves me, and leaves me on the
ground gasping for air. It was beginning to look a lot easier to just give up
and die, but I refuse to die here. I manage to get on my feet, and I start
running again. This time, gasping for air, and feeling close to death. The
battle did not even begin.
They tail me nevertheless. I turn to see three left. I know better than to
assume that the last three are gone for good. Even if they are killing each
other to get to me, there is only one option left to have a chance of
surviving. I need to fight them. I am exhausted, and in no condition to fight,
but it is the only way I can get out of this mess.
I turn around so suddenly, they are taken by surprise. The idea comes to me
because of the previous encounter with these creatures. Instead of staying
where I am, I run full-speed for the gang of cranks. They are running for me
too, but one of the cranks tackles one of its own, and bites down on its neck.
Two left to go.
I run directly in the path of the incoming crank. It doesn’t back down as I
take a quick step to the left. My weapon raises in the pathway of the creature.
It doesn’t change directions in time, and runs directly into my blade. I turn
away right before it’s head falls clean off, and I go for the final crank.
It is still feasting on the crank that it killed when I get to it. I stumble
over my own feet at the sight, but I regain posture. Then I charge at it. It
doesn’t notice me until it is too late. I get a good look at it’s eyes before I
deliver the final blow. Hatred was the only thing burning in it’s eyes besides
hunger. Those two things were the two reasons it has to die. I drive my blade
directly into the side of it’s head. A blood-curdling scream gets cut short as
blood pours out of it’s mouth, and it falls to the ground. Looks like I win
this round.
A smile is plastered to my face as I walk away. I have a small limp from the
fall that I took, but I figure that it won’t be much of a problem for now. As I
leave, I face the part of the forest I ran through evading the second wave of
cranks. Dirt is lying in clumps from each step I had taken, branches are
snapped along the bottom of the ground where I had fallen, and plants all
around are forked from the ground from my boots when I made sharp turns and
jumps previously. It’s no wonder the cranks tracked me so easily.
I turn my attention back to where I want to go. My smile never leaves my face
as I make my way through the woods. I do it rather quickly to avoid the cranks
being able to track me. I process information that had been given to me by Alby
because I am left alone with my thoughts and my thoughts only. Wishing to
stumble upon a city, I follow the same direction until my feet start to feel
tired. I want to find these Gladers, but the need for sleep compels me to set
up bed.
I look around for a good tree to climb. I do this every day, and it became a
routine over the last four years. I see a huge one in the distance. It looks
easy to climb, but I need something to hang onto in case I fall. I untie the
sweat-shirt around my waist, and use it to hold myself on branches above me as
I make my way up the tree. I stop climbing around 35 ft. in the air, and I sit
atop a thick branch. I tie the coat around my body and the trunk, and I make a
knot in the front of my waist. I try to fall asleep.
My eyes feel heavy. I can’t seem to close them though. Anxiety starts kicking
in, and I get the image in my head of a zombie dragging me across the woods
into the dark unknown. I sit and stare at the setting sun. I begin to think
that there is hope, though. People are out there besides me. Some are good, and
some want to loot you after slitting your throat open. I guess it’s just the
luck of the draw. Maybe these Gladers I am supposed to find will be good
people. Alby was nice… Alby is dead. A boy I barely knew. A tear slips down my
face as the final rays of sun get concealed by leaves. I let the darkness flood
my vision, and the nightmares come out to prowl.
***** The Chase *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt evades cranks in a really badass way.
Chapter Notes
     I've been looking forward to posting this since I wrote it. This is a
     great chapter, and I hope you leave a kudos or comment. I would make
     this whole thing worth writing because it took a lot of time and
     effort. Here it is, chapter two. I hope you are ready for this.
All I see at first is total darkness. Panic washes through my body as I try to
scream. Nothing seems to be coming out. I open my mouth to scream again, but
cold water seeps into my mouth. Then, I can’t close my mouth, nor can I
breathe. The desperate need to breathe sends me flailing in the darkness. As
fast as the water came, it disappears. I can finally breathe again, but for how
long?
The next thing that comes is faces. I recognize all of them, and tears slip
down my cheeks. Floating in the darkness, I can make them out perfectly. Every
curve, shape, and, in my mom’s case, dimples. Her smile appears brilliantly
through the darkness, emitting a weird glow. Next to her, my sister’s face is
there. Sonya has a frown on her face. Somewhere inside of me, my heart breaks
and a longing feeling to reach out and touch them radiates within. Next to
Sonya, Alby’s face appears. His face is the worst of them all. Bite marks are
all over him, bruises appear on his forehead and left cheek, and then blood
starts pouring from his hairline. I scream again, but all that comes out is a
gargling, inhuman cry that I have grown too familiar with over the past few
weeks due to recent encounters.
I blink, but I regret it almost instantly. The faces disappear when I open my
eyes. The only thing left was a hushed whisper. A feeling like I am falling
comes over me. I hate the feeling, but I can’t find it within me to cry. I
scream, but the air takes away the sound before it can be heard. Below me, a
light slowly comes into view. Colors of green, yellow, and blue appear as I
fall to what I make out to be Earth. Another scream gets swept away by the
wind. Only this time, I can faintly hear it. The ground rapidly appears right
before my very eyes. Adrenaline flows through my system, and I struggle to slow
my downfall.
Then, something odd happens. Before I hit the ground, waves of light invade my
eyes that I realize had been closed. I gently open them and realize I am not
falling, but lying up. I had been previously sleeping. It was just a nightmare.
My head aches where my head had been pressed against the bark of the tree. You
might think after four years of this, I would be used to the pain. You are
wrong. I groggily try to roll over, but I am bound to the tree by the coat.
Good thing I am because a drop from this far up is fatal. I shiver at the
thought, and untie myself while putting the golden chain around my neck. I make
my descent from the tree, and I begin on the move once more.
Tree branches snap below me, and I am not trying to be cautious in the
slightest. In the morning, I really don’t care whether or not I die. I am not
awake enough to care. Although, I bet myself if I get bit in the morning, I
would not have the same attitude. That is exactly the thought that makes me
walk with more care. I turn my head every now and then to make sure that
nothing is chasing me. That would be just a great start to my morning.
An hour or so passes so quickly that I do not even notice that it is almost
midday, until I check the position of the sun. It is almost directly above me.
Heat plagues my body, and I consider ditching the checkered coat boasted around
my hips. I know that I need it for winter, so I decide to leave it around me.
I swipe away sweat from my forehead with the sleeves of the coat, and continue
walking in the same direction. A crack of a stick fills the air, and my head
immediately snaps to the direction of the sound. Before me, a deer stands
prominently from behind a boulder. It’s eyes tore through my body, and I
tremble slightly before picking up my pace.
I want to kill the deer, but I can’t. I wield only a small knife, and I run on
two legs. I wish I had a gun because I would be eating good today. Instead of
torturing myself, I decide to shake the thoughts of deet away. I focus on the
entities in the view in front of me slowly becoming more visible with each step
I take.
I pass the edge of the forest, and find myself in a field. In the distance, I
see something I haven’t seen in a few months. Standing before me is a city. The
buildings are half-crumbled, (probably from the nuclear wars that broke out
when the virus broke out) the windows are broken, and blood stains litter the
bottoms of most of the buildings. My jaw drops when I see how many corpses lay
on the streets as I walk through the city. I am out of supplies, and could not
eat the previous day. My stomach growls, as if reminding me that it was still
there. Hopefully, my luck is not as bad as I think it is.
Concrete broken, streets piled with vehicles, lamp post and other structures
fallen over, and debris scattered across the neighborhood is all I see as I
pass the ruins of a once populated city. I begin to think that I am the only
one currently in the city. A frown makes it’s away from the depths within me,
and places itself where a smile should have been.
Where are all of the cranks? The word feels like acid on my tongue without
Alby, and I have the sudden urge to cry. I manage to suppress the feeling, and
I make my way down a street that was less affected by whatever ruined the city.
I couldn’t help but notice that nothing was attacking me, and I wasn’t running
from anything. A strange feeling twisted in my gut.
I pass a house that seemed virtually untouched by the world. I stop dead in my
tracks, and approach the house. It’s color is a faded color of blue, is two
stories high, and the door has a somewhat intact screen door. I walk up a few
stairs, and find myself on the porch. I push open the screen door, and my jaw
clenches. I hear a noise coming from a few streets down, and I find myself
closing the door to investigate. In the distance, I see two cranks tumble out
of a broken window with something in their mouths. They hit the ground making a
weird cracking sound. One manages to get up, while the other dies. The crank
drags away the mysterious object that, once I get a closer look, turns out to
be a ripped off leg. I shudder at what the world became.
I focus my attention back to the door. I shudder as a push it open slowly. It
hardly creaks, but I know that any crank in the house would be on me
immediately. That’s why I find myself pulling out my knife from one of my belt
loops. After entering the house, I find myself wandering around an entrance,
then I’m in the living room.
Chairs and a couch are either destroyed or turned upside down. The cupboards
are open, but still full. It looks like cranks have been inside, but nobody
raided this place. I smile to myself when I open the fridge to find it
completely full. I find a book bag laying in the middle of the floor that must
have belonged to a school student. I start plundering the cabinets and
cupboards with ease. In a drawer, I find two fire starters, two packs of
matches, (one not opened, and one half empty) and a few candles. I don’t know
why I put them in the bag, but I did.
Foodwise, I find varieties of good things. There were lunch cakes, canned ham,
canned tuna, spam, canned fruits, and I even find multiple bottles of soda and
water. It reminds me of when I used to shop with my mother and sister at KMart,
Walmart, or various other stores. I take kitchen knives and put them in my book
bag also.
I creep up the stairs with a giant kitchen knife in my hand instead of the
small knife I always use. The white walls along the stairwell turn red and more
red as I go up. I takes me a minute until I realize that it is blood smeared
across the walls. The grip on the knife gets tighter as I make my way into
another hallway at the top of the stairs.
There are four rooms. Two on the left, and two on the right. I open the first
door, and I immediately come face to face with horror. Two bodies (or is what I
can call them at this point) are laid on the bed half eaten. Next to the beds a
small boy. It isn’t a human, but a crank. It is munching off of the shoulder of
what I assume used to be its mother before it snapped to my direction, and
jumped forward.
Taken by surprise, I throw the knife forward, and it crashes right into the
young crank’s neck. My hands fall right to my belt loop, and I pull out my old
friend. I rush forward, and I bury it into the skull of the crank. It tries to
scream, but blood only pools in the hole I made in it’s throat. I get weird
flashbacks to my nightmare, and I snap the thing’s neck to put it out of its
misery.
I scan the room quickly for supplies, but I desperately want to get out of
there. My eyes land on a vault. A smirk appears on my face before I lean down
to examine its contents. There is a lock, but a blow with my knife sends the
door falling open. Four years did a lot of damage to the poor vault door, but
its effects did not touch what was inside. I carefully place my hands inside
the box, and I pull out a weapon. My grin grows bigger when I recognize what it
is. A pistol. This is a gun safe.
I pull out multiple items before the vault is empty. Another pistol, a
revolver, and a pouch with a ton of bullets. I also find a holster for my gun
with loops to hold a few of the bullets in. I cannot believe my incredible
find. I do not hesitate to put the holster on the back of my pants with the
revolver in it. I put the two pistols in belt loops on the sides of my pants. I
tumble a bunch of ammunition in my bookbag, and I exit the room. I decide that
I want out of the house as quickly as possible because of the incident with the
child crank.
I find myself wandering the streets of the fallen city once more. Somehow, I
feel different from before entering the house to now. I have a new bookbag full
of supplies and weapons stuffed in my pants. I am wondering a crumbling city
potentially full of cranks, but yet, I feel nothing. I feel no fear, no hope,
no nothing. I remain emotionless as I walk past an alleyway with about eight
cranks fighting each other for half of a rat. Somehow, I go unnoticed.
Eight cranks is not the biggest group I have ever seen. I get flashbacks to a
moment where I am running from 17 hungry cranks in the first week the world
went to hell. I used to be so scared, and so sure that I was going to die. Now,
I finally feel like I can defend myself. I am actually looking forward to the
unfortunate group of cranks that cross me next. I mentally slap myself in the
face when the group of cranks from before suddenly shoot after me.
The first thing I do is pull out the two pistols from inside the house. Bang
bang bang bang is all I hear, and I instantly regret ever getting the guns from
the house. The sound attracts more cranks than I can process. There must be
around fifty man-eating cranks surrounding me as I reconsider every life choice
I have ever made. I see no way out, and I get a crazy idea. I am going to just
make my way out.
The horde is barely five yards away before I pick a random direction, and start
firing. I rush the crowd before they react, and I kill some more cranks. Bodies
and bodies fall before I barely manage to push through them all. One scratches
me, but only gets through the fabric of the shirt I am wearing. More shots ring
out before they all realize I am out of the crowd, and they start to chase me.
There is no way in hell that I am going to survive this. Thoughts of me dying
fill my head, and I try to focus on anything else. I take random twists and
turns, and I run through random streets. At one point, more cranks joined the
chase. Every once in awhile, I twist my arm around, and shoot whoever is
directly behind me.
My boots bang against the broken roads, and I almost trip on a chunk of a
broken house. My chain flies loosely in the wind as I run. I take a look behind
me, and there are around thirty cranks still after me. I rush into a huge
apartment complex without thinking. There is no way that thirty cranks can fit
through the door though. I am right because they all plowed right into the
doorway. About five got through before I started up a flight of stairs. The
five tail me up the stairwell. The bookbag starts wearing me down from all of
the things I crammed in it.
Eventually, I ran out of stairs to run up, and I found myself on the roof. I
close the door to the roof, and quickly scan my surroundings. There is no way
out besides going down. Growls and screams instantly fill my ears when the door
to the roof flies off of its hinges. The worst possible situation comes true
because the five cranks quickly turn into around fifteen.
I edge closer to a long descent to the ground. My eye catches the building
across the street. I could probably land on one of the platforms about a story
and a half below me. The problem is the distance. I still have a limp from
yesterday’s encounters, and I don’t know if I can make the long jump. I don’t
have much time to decide when the cranks see me, and charge after me.
I make a split second decision, and I throw the book bag to the landing point
below. I don’t have time to see if it makes it because I need to jump off of
the building. I take a 50/50 chance of death over a guaranteed death to a bunch
of those creatures. I want to close my eyes, but I keep them open to see where
I am going.
I am only in the air for a second or two. The next thing I know is that I am on
the ground gasping for air, and the wind is knocked out of me. The book bag is
right beside me, and I clutch it like a lifeline. I am alive, and all of my
stuff is safe. I look up to the building I used to be on to see cranks stopping
in their tracks, only to be pushed off of the building by cranks that stopped
to late. I count eleven bodies plummeting to their imminent death, but four or
five remained on the building scowling at me. A shiver goes down my side before
I start moving again.
I roll over to see feet standing right next to me. I freeze directly where I
am, preparing for the grueling death that is quite possibly coming next.
Instead, a very human hand extends down to my own, and helps me up. My first
thoughts think that it is Alby, and by some miracle, he is still alive.
Instead, I come face to face with the most beautiful teenager I have ever seen.
He has brunette hair, looks about my age, he is slightly shorter than me, and
has tiny moles dancing across his face. A smile is plastered on his beautiful
face, and his caramel eyes glistened in the evening sun.
“Hey,” the teen said. “I’m Thomas, and we really should run.”
This is how I end up running away with a beautiful stranger. The grip on my
hand gets tighter as he pulls me to a door leading inside the building I landed
on. I look right before the door closes at the platform just in time to see a
crank land on the roof. It lays there for a second, before scrambling to its
feet, and runs for the door. Then the door gets slammed in its face, and the
chase is on again.
***** The Chase: Part Two *****
Chapter Summary
     Thomas and Newt evade hungry cranks. Then, Newt learns that Thomas
     lives in a place called the Glade, and then things go from there.
Chapter Notes
     Third chapter. I wish you would leave a kudos. It would be very
     thoughtful. A comment would make my day. Writing this chapter was
     really fun.
The faint sound of cranks breaking down the door fills my ears as Thomas and I
sprint down the corridors of the office building. The strangled gurgles and
screams fills me with dread, and encourages me to run faster. I let Thomas lead
because he runs through the building with ease. It seems like he’s done this
before because he doesn’t hesitate running through the building. He looks
certain of where he is going.
Cranks dump into the same hallway that we are in. I whip around with my
revolver, but Thomas intercepts my arm. He shakes his head, and mutters
something about them being attracted to sound. I shudder, and put the gun away.
I fumble a little, but regain my balance.
“Down the left.” Thomas said, taking a sharp left. “There should be a staircase
leading to the exit.”
I missed the turn a little, but Thomas’ hand grabs mine. A shiver runs down my
spine as he pulls me in the right direction, and we keep running. His hand
still grasped mine. There are many doors on the right, and left. A crank
tumbled out of one of the open doors, and tackled me to the floor. I don’t know
if I whimpered in pain, or at the loss of contact. Either way, I am on the
floor, at the mercy of a crank, with many more on my tail.
I struggle to hold the crank away from me while being careful to not be bitten
or scratched. My hand slips, and the crank is about to bite me. Before it does,
a knife flies into the side of its head, and it falls limp on my body. My face
contorts, and I turn to see Thomas helping me up. We don’t have much reunion
time because cranks start catching up to us. We are on the run again.
Doors, doors, and more doors is all I see running down the endless stretch of
hallway. Thomas looks unsure at this point of where he is going. He must have
lost track of where we are because of the run-in with the crank.
“Tommy, where are we going.” I ask, after a few minutes of blind running.
“Uh- um,” Thomas says, taken aback by the use of the nickname. “We’re on the
16th floor, so I would assume down.”
I chuckle, but it is cut short by the increased snarls of the cranks behind us.
I mentally curse before running ahead of Thomas. If he can’t lead us anywhere,
then I have to take charge. I sprint ahead of Thomas down a twisting hallway.
We come to two hallways, and I stop in my tracks because I am unsure of where
to go. Thomas catches up to me while I decide.
“Left.” He says, simply. “I know where we are now.”
“Do you?” I ask, sarcastically.
He nods, and I decided to go with it. I follow him as he goes down a stretch of
hallway, that eventually leads to a flight of stairs. I look down them
questioningly, but I have no other option but to go down.
Instead of hearing the distant shrieks from cranks, I only hear the sound of my
boots and Thomas’ shoes banging on the floor. I hear our heavy breaths, and
wind blowing in from open windows in the office complex. We pass large numbers
indicating which floor we are on. After we pass the 4th floor, I manage to
convince myself that we lost the cranks. I know it is probably not true, but it
is comforting at the very moment.
It is slightly dim in the stairwell, but I can make out Thomas’ features as if
he glew in the dark. Moles danced along his perfectly sculpted face. His brown
hair, though shaggy-looking, blending in well with his gorgeous, rich brown
eyes. I try to focus on where we are going, but my sight always falls on the
way Thomas’ lean build marches down the stairs with speed. I smile to myself,
and I hope he does not notice.
The sounds of feet pounding messily against the stairs above me tells me that
the cranks are in the stairwell. My heart rate picks up, and this time, it
isn’t because of the beautiful stranger that may just save his life. Just as I
see light at the bottom of the stairs, a body tumbles to the ground below. I
look up to see cranks throwing themselves over the railing to scale the stairs
faster. Luckily, none of the ones that falling get up off of the ground.
“They’re committing mass suicide.” Thomas said. “They are trying to block the
door before we get down.
I didn’t notice it, but the bodies are piling up. As Thomas and I make it to
the final floor, the dead cranks are piled just at the door. Thomas landed
first, so he instantly goes to move some of them. The more he moves, the more
replace them. The cranks that are alive, start to gain up on us. I turn my head
up to see them practically falling down the endless flights of stairs. I pull
out one of my conveniently placed guns, and turn it on the cranks. I don’t
fire, but I will if they get too close to us. My hand goes to my neck. I scan
the stairs quickly, while frozen in place.
“What is it?!” Thomas asks, aggressively shoving bodies out of the way.
“My necklace!” I scream. “It’s a golden chain. I think I lost it.”
Two floors up, light from the increasingly opening door shines on a foreign
object. I waste no time rushing up the stairs for it. Thomas tries to grab my
hand, but it’s too late. The necklace is way too important. My boots beat
against every step, but eventually I reach the chain. I put it around my neck
on the descent down the stairs.
Thomas finally clears a way, so that the door could be opened a bit. I squirm
over to where he is, and I force the door open. The squeeze isn’t ideal, but we
both manage to fit. As soon as we are out of the door, it seals itself shut
like a tomb. The cranks are now lost. I let out a breath of relief, as does
Thomas.
“We’re alive!” I half-scream, and Thomas embraces me. “Woah- bloody hell Tommy,
you could have warned me you were hugger.”
I take in the warmth of the brunette. I am so glad to be alive, I just need
someone to hold on to. Thomas provides that perfectly, as I try to memorize
every muscle in his arm. He isn’t strong enough to be a big boulder embracing
me, but is perfectly strong enough to create a warm, safe feeling. Butterflies
start to form in my stomach. Butterflies in the apocalypse, with a stranger, in
the middle of nowhere, as we barely escape the grasp of man-eating creatures.
Butterflies are butterflies nevertheless.
“Do you live somewhere?” Thomas asks, as we break away from the hug. “Are there
people looking for you, or something.”
“Nope.” I reply. “Just me, myself, and I- unless you would want to come with
me. I’m traveling place to place, and I never really settle down.”
“Well if you don’t have a place, then you might be interested in mine.” Thomas
says, getting my attention. “I have a camp somewhere in the city. I was
actually on my way back from one of my runs when I heard the gunshots. I
figured I should check it out.”
My breath suddenly feels caught in my throat. Other survivors, are the words
that just left his mouth. My tongue felt numb at the concept, and Thomas seemed
to understand this. He took my hand in his, and started pulling me in a certain
direction. I assume we are going to his camp, but I can’t shake the feeling
that not everything is what it seems.
“Yes.” I say, as we move through the streets of the city. “I would really like
stay with you, and the rest of the survivors. I mean- if you truly want me to.
The last thing I want right now, is to be looted by a bunch of thugs.”
Thomas looks hurt by my comment, but throws it off of his back at the
realization that I said I would live with him. He pumped his fists in the air,
and muttered something about Chuck needing to make another bed. I warn him to
be quiet walking through the streets of the city, but he ignores me. We turn on
Salt St., and I cannot help but chuckle at the coincidence. In the distance, I
see something that has me on edge, and Thomas at bay. This must be his
campsite.
I can’t see much of it, due to a wall surrounding the whole thing. It looks
sloppy, made entirely out of long sticks, built in a hurry by 16-year-olds, but
it is a wall. Apparently, it works. If it didn’t, then Thomas might not be here
today. I can’t help but feel a little grateful to the structure concealing the
camp (and hopefully survivors) in it.
“You ready to meet your new family?” Thomas asks, making me feel a little
nervous. “Don’t worry! I think they will love you!”
“I guess.” I say, not too reassuring. “I’m just a little nervous. This is all
happening a little too fast.”
Thomas says nothing in return, but puts his hand on my shoulder gently. It is
comboed with a convincing smile, and pleading puppy dog eyes. I know that
saying no is not an option. I sigh internally, before approaching the camp.
Thomas leads me to this ticket-booth-like thing. It has metal bars that you
have to push past to get in. I try to push them open, but they’re locked.
Thomas laughs, before pushing a button. A quick, blow horn-like sound emits
through the air. It goes as quickly as it came, and I find myself being led
through the once locked gate.
“Are you sure you want to stay with us?” Thomas asks, begging with his eyes.
“You have to at least spend the night.”
I laugh, before I reply. “Of course, I want to stay. I just don’t want to be a
burden for anybody here.”
“A burden?” Thomas asks, confusion in his eyes. “We have a well system here.
Everyone does their part if everyone wants to eat.”
For the third time or so, Thomas bursts into laughter. This time, I smile back.
Thomas has to be the perkiest person in the entire apocalypse. He strikes me as
the kind of person that’s always cracking jokes, and being goofy. It makes the
butterflies in my stomach take flight again.
Thomas continues to push me past the rest of the gate. My eyes widen at the
sight in front of me. The camp Thomas was talking about, isn’t a camp at all.
It’s a community. People walked around the ruins of a once-huge park area.
Gardens grew in the remains of old sand boxes swingset areas. The place was
littered with hammocks, and tiny structures that probably held sleeping people.
In one area, a picnic area now contained a makeshift kitchen and dining room.
My jaw hangs down, and Thomas moves his hand to push my jaw up. I stumble back
a bit, and Thomas laughs at this. I decide that his laugh is one of the better
things in this world. I find it pretty amazing that after this world went to
hell, someone can still find something to laugh at. It eases my nerves as
Thomas directs me through the crowd of now staring people. They aren’t staring
at me with fear, but of curiosity. There is this one person though. He has
short, dirty blonde stubble on his head. He has muscular shoulders, a tall
build, and looks the same age as I do. In fact, most of the people look around
my age.
Someone walks out of the newly formed crowd. It’s a girl. She has long, wavy
black hair. She has a scrawny build, but looks like she can take a thing down
or two. She probably has. I watch as the girl sees Thomas, and runs into his
arms. My heart sinks a little when he places as firm kiss on her cheek. I
suddenly do not like this girl.
“Hey, T.” Thomas says, when the girl stops mauling him. “Teresa, this is Newt.
 He’s going to be living with us for now on.”
A smile internally at the thought of not being utterly alone for once in my
life. I get a flashback of Alby, and my smile drops instantly. Teresa seems to
have noticed this because she put a reassuring arm on my shoulder. I cringe at
the touch, but I try not to show it. She smiles at me with a brilliant set of
white teeth that matches her icy blue eyes well. I despise it.
“Welcome to the Glade, Newt.” Teresa says. “You are a Glader now.
***** The Glade *****
Chapter Summary
     “What’s the matter?” Minho asks, in an almost too innocent voice.
     “It’s not like he spit in it… Well, I don’t know that for sure, but I
     don’t think he did.”
     His eyes widen at both drinks, and I start laughing. Minho picks up
     his own drink, and investigates it. He doesn’t find anything wrong
     with it, so he takes a suspicious sip of it. I snort before taking a
     sip myself. As soon as it hits my throat, a flavor so strong invades
     my senses, I almost choke. It tastes inviting, though. I almost
     forget that I am in a crank-filled world. Minho looks at me with a
     raised eyebrow when I start glugging the jug down.
     “Jesus, Greenie.” Minho says, the shocked tone I can’t miss. “Never
     seen a first timer actually like the drink. Something must be wrong
     with you.”
Chapter Notes
     The fourth chapter of this fanfic. I'm so excited. I'm going through
     each chapter, adding words to make them relatively lengthy, but it's
     fine. I have no life, so I can do just that. I have no beta reader,
     so I can't really make everything perfect. I'm trying though. Leave a
     kudos and comment. Tell me how you are feeling.
I try to calm my nerves, but nothing seems to be working. The day is going too
fast, the air is becoming much harder to breathe, I start to feel numb, and
words on my tongue go unspoken. These all must be because Thomas left me alone
a few minutes ago. I have no idea why, but I remember Teresa sneaking off with
him. Something boiled in my stomach as I wandered around my newfound home.
I try to take in the scenery. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing it for the
first time. Maybe except the second time. This time I am looking at it from a
whole new perspective. I am looking at it with a different mindset. This is
where I am going to be building my future.
I reach the edge of the camp, and I find myself dragging my hand along the
stick walls. There are stones at the bottom, but it goes up to my ankles at
most. In each corner, sloppily built stairs lead to the top of the wall.
Messily built structures sit atop every corner. They have to be watchtowers.
The only things keeping them from crashing to the ground are unevenly cut
support beams. I count around six for each tower before my eyes land on another
building.
The kitchen grabs my attention. I observe the looks of the building as I make
my way toward it. The thing reminds me of cookouts with my family. We would go
to parks like this, and use the grill they had. I wonder if I have ever been
here. Have my family and I sat in these very seats, and hung out before the
world went to hell? The thought if it was crazy, but nostalgic. A few years ago
I would have cried at the thought, but the world hardened thoughts like that.
I see a few people standing in line. None of them I recognize. Not that I would
recognize any of them. A few of them stare back at me. I am the new guy after
all, but this is just awkward. One guy leaves his place in line, and approaches
me. He had short, black hair. He is kind of pale, and slightly taller than me.
He has light brown eyes that reminded me of an autumn leaf. He smiles at me,
and greets me.
“I assume you’re new here.” the Asian boy said. “My name is Minho. Welcome to
the Glade, and all of the stuff.”
“My name’s Newt.” I say, smiling for no reason. “Welcome to the apocalypse.”
“It’s only the end of the world because no more new music is made anymore…”
Minho said, sarcastically. “Seriously! Try to get a good radio station
anywhere.”
For some reason, I took a quick liking to this kid. He apparently has a
sarcastic demeanor, but a good-natured one. He makes jokes, and seems all too
friendly for the end of the world. Minho led me around the Glade, and
introduced me to different people. I only remember Chuck because he is the baby
of the glade, Gally because he is the jerk of the Glade, Frypan because he is
the cook of the Glade, and Ben because he’s the first person Minho introduced
me to. We find ourselves trekking back to the kitchen area, but I don’t know
why.
“Where are we going?” I ask, getting Minho’s attention.
“I left my place in line to show you around.” Minho said. “In other words, I’m
hungry.”
I laugh as we take our places in line to grab some grub. Minho let me in front
of him, and told Frypan to get me some of Gally’s recipe. Based off of what I
know about Gally, I don’t like him. His food or drink should not be very good
either. My suspicions are confirmed when Frypan comes back with two trays, and
two jars of an orange drink.
“I am really hoping that is orange juice.” I say, but I grab the jar anyway.
“Just don’t drink it all at once.” Minho says, with a wink.
I let him show me to a table, and we sit down. We aren’t directly near any of
the Gladers, but not too far away from them either. I assume Minho does this to
gradually ease me into the community. I don’t realize how hungry I am until I
swallow the first bite of this chicken-like thing. Flavor hits me like a crank.
It is easily the best thing I’ve had in years. Minho smiles as he watches me
gorge down the meal, but I hesitate at the drink.
“What’s the matter?” Minho asks, in an almost too innocent voice. “It’s not
like he spit in it… Well, I don’t know that for sure, but I don’t think he
did.”
His eyes widen at both drinks, and I start laughing. Minho picks up his own
drink, and investigates it. He doesn’t find anything wrong with it, so he takes
a suspicious sip of it. I snort before taking a sip myself. As soon as it hits
my throat, a flavor so strong invades my senses, I almost choke. It tastes
inviting, though. I almost forget that I am in a crank-filled world. Minho
looks at me with a raised eyebrow when I start glugging the jug down.
“Jesus, Greenie.” Minho says, the shocked tone I can’t miss. “Never seen a
first timer actually like the drink. Something must be wrong with you.”
I wheeze before taking another big gulp. Someone sits down next to me, but I
cannot tell who it is. I am too busy drowning away everything inside me. It
feels intoxicating. Just as I down half of the jug, the person next to me
snatches the jar. I internally hiss before I eye the culprit. Then I find
Thomas’ eyes glaring back at me.
“I was looking for you, ya know.” Thomas says, in a rather irritated voice.
“You could have told me you were gonna wander off!”
That comment makes me slightly annoyed. Thomas thinks he can put me in some
random place, and then leave me? Yet, he has the right to be annoyed at me for
exploring my new home. Home… that’s a bitter word on my tongue. Back to the
point, what the hell! Thomas is not getting away with this.
“Maybe if you wouldn’t have left me in a strange place full of strangers to go
attend to your bloody friend, then maybe you would be sitting across from me,
not Minho." I growl, earning a hurt look from Thomas. “Did you once consider,
in the time you were gone, what I was feeling?"
I hear a few whoops from Minho, signaling that I win the battle. Too bad, I’m
really looking forward to what Thomas has to retort. Instead of yelling at me
or telling me to leave, Thomas’ face softens. He puts his arm on my shoulder,
and I can practically see the apology on the tip of his tongue.
“I’m sorry, Newt.” Thomas says, shockingly sincere. “I won’t leave your side
for now on.”
My breath hitched in my throat, and I pray that he doesn’t hear it. I imagine
my entire life with Thomas glued to my side. Instead of a look of anger forming
on my face, a goofy, loving smile appears. I mentally punch myself in the gut.
“Whatever.” I spit, trying to be stubborn. “I guess you might just have to do
that.”
I swear I see a ghost of a smile appear on his face before we are approached by
another person. This time, it’s Chuck. I met him once, but it was when Minho
ran around and screamed my name to people while I ran to catch up with him.
Chuck catches my eye and smiles. Everyone just smiles here. The award for the
most optimistic band of survivors goes to-.
“My name is Chuck.” Chuck says, extending his hand to me. “I know your name is
Newt. Minho told everyone. Well, you probably know that heh. That was really
funny seeing you running to catch up to him. Everyone was watching you. Am I
talking too much?”
My jaw was slightly dropped by how much this kid can talk in a minute. Instead
of answering, I give a light chuckle, and I shake his hand. He smiles again
before rambling on to Minho. Thomas and I sit at the table, and I notice it
getting slightly darker. I turn my head to catch Thomas staring at me. How long
had he been staring?
“Do you want to meet some more people?” Thomas asks, gesturing for me to stand
up. “You’re gonna be really busy tomorrow, so try to make friends to make the
time pass by faster.”
“Aren’t you enough?” I say, sarcastically, but in a friendly way.
“Oh!” Thomas says, happily. “I guess you’re not mad at me anymore.”
“I guess not.” I retort. “Hard to be mad at the person who’s saved my life.”
The conversation ends because Thomas and I get up, and leave the table. I don’t
know where he is taking me, but it’s probably going to end up with me meeting a
bunch of strangers. I begin to feel exhausted. Instead of telling him that, I
let him drag me to one of the corners of the Glade. It is one of the ones I
looked at earlier. This time, the sun is just setting on it as Thomas drags me
to the top.
“Check out the view…” Thomas says, in a somewhat tired voice. “The view of the
sunset is always best from here.”
He isn’t kidding. The view is spectacular. A burnt orange danced around the top
of the sky. A faded red trails above it, followed by a deep purple. Thomas
walks around the wooden tower to a loose board in the floor. He lifts it up
with ease, and pulls out a few contents. A red and white checkered blanket, two
bottles of water, and a bar of some sort. It looks like chocolate.
“This is where I go when I need a break.” Thomas says. “I think of it as a
little sanctuary in a sanctuary. It’s also a great way to shmooze while
watching for cranks. Makes me wish I was a guard instead of a runner.”
“Here I thought I was going to meet more people…” I reply, my eyes meeting
Thomas’ smile. “Also, what do you mean by guard and runner?”
“We all take jobs here.” Thomas says. “You should be tested tomorrow for what
job you want to take. There are many options! There’s a guard. Guards guard the
Glade. Heehee, say that 10 times fast. There’s a gardener! They harvest, plow,
plant plants, and all of that good stuff. Uhm… you can be a runner like me. We
run around the area and city gathering supplies. We have to be back by
nightfall. You will learn this all on the tour.”
By the time Thomas is done talking, my mouth is already hung to the floor. Not
that it was too much to handle, but he said it all in one breath. Noticing my
look, Thomas starts laughing at me. I mentally slap myself, and my view goes to
the view in front of me. I awkwardly gaze out to the sunset, when I hear Thomas
spreading out the blanket. Red rushes to my face, and I try not to turn. When I
do, I don’t regret it. Thomas stands there looking at me, with his hands
together, on top of the blanket. My heart stops where it is.
“Don’t just stand there looking at me like a bloody idiot, Tommy.” I say,
sarcastically.
“Uh- uhm… well uh- lay. Down...” Thomas says, seemingly unsure of his words.
“Come lay down and watch the stars.”
“Wanker.” I mutter, as I take my place next to Thomas on the blanket.
I sit up with my legs pressed against my chest. A bottle of water is placed in
my hand. My gaze goes from the boy next to me to the view in front of me. An
urge to go and look down fills me, but dissipates when Thomas pushes me to the
floor. At first, I struggle to get free, but my defenses fall when my eyes
catch something in the sky.
Stars.  The must be millions of them just dancing in the sky. I gasp when I see
them all clouding my vision like fog. The shimmer, shine, and dance in the
moonlight sky. I face the boy next to me to find him not staring at the sky,
but staring at me. It’s like he thinks I’m more worth looking at than the
diamonds in the sky.
“Catch the view?” I ask, in an innocent voice.
“Seen it a million times.” Thomas says, but softens his voice. “Now this view
is one I haven’t seen before.”
It doesn’t take a genius to know he’s talking about me. I smile at him, and he
smiles back. It would be really hard not to like this guy. I look back up the
sky when I can no longer look at him without feeling the urge to lean in, and
close the distance. Eventually, my head starts to hurt, and I shift a little in
the tower. Just as I give up, and arm swoops in, and props my head up. I don’t
need to look to know that it’s Thomas. I smile at the sky, and eventually, I
fall asleep.
The next thing I know, the arm’s owner is shaking me awake. I find Thomas’ eyes
staring at me. I smile, but then I realize that it’s still late at night.
Exhaustion soon kicks in, but Thomas shakes me, and ushers me down the
watchtower. His hand guides mine down, and we travel across the Glade. I am
careful not to step on anybody. Eventually, we reach another corner of the
Glade. The tired, irritable me kicks in.
“You woke me up to bring me to yet another corner.” I say, bitterly. “You gonna
watch the sunrise too?”
Thomas ignores me, but points to the wall. I look at it, and my heart skips a
beat. Names upon names are supported on the wall. I make out names like  Minho,
Chuck, Alby,  and I even spot a large uneven  ThOMaS.  This must be the wall of
Gladers. I stare at the wall in shock. Realization pounds into my head when I
realize that I forgot to tell Thomas about Alby.
“Who’s he?” I ask, pointing to Alby’s name on the walls. “Did you know him.”
“He was the best.” Thomas says, but his expression turns to a much sadder one.
“Until he never came home from running- a few days ago actually.”
“He’s dead.” I say, deciding it would be best to come right out and say it. “I
met him in a forest the day before you found me. He’s the one who told me to
find the Gladers.”
“Oh...” Thomas says, his expression unchanging. “How did he die?”
“Cranks.” I say. “A tree fell on him. I tried to save him, but I was too late.
A long period of silence falls on us. I want to cry, and one look at Thomas
tells me that he feels the same way. A loud sigh emits from Thomas, and he
extends his arms to me. I let him pull me into a hug, and a knife is shoved
into my hand.
“Carve your name in the wall.” Thomas says.
I take the knife, and I try to find a spot. I find one almost directly under
Thomas’ name. I barely hear Thomas’ breath hitch as I carve the letters in. I
am a little hesitant at first, but eventually, I get to the ‘t’. I consider
putting the full  Newt Isaacs , but nobody else put their full name.
“Congrats.” Thomas says, his voice slightly hoarse. “You really are a part of
us now.”
***** The Watchtower *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt tries out his first job at the Glade.
Chapter Notes
     This is fun! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do. I update on
     Saturdays when I'm bored, but I really should be updating on Sundays.
     I'm really trying too, so leave a kudos and comment.
I wake up screaming. I’m not in the Glade, but I am in the city. I’m in the
same house that I looted the weapons from. Instead of looking around the house,
I am stuck in a bed. The same bed that the two parents were with their crank
kid. He doesn’t seem to notice me. I look to my left, and the dad is there.
This time, he is a crank. I look to the right, the mom is there in the same
condition. They notice me, and they scream. This alerts their kid, and they all
slowly climb on top of me, readying themselves for a feast.
I wake up in the Glade. This time, it is overrun by cranks. Someone has my
hand. It’s Thomas. We’re running out of the Glade. Minho, Chuck, and Teresa are
all running beside us. We pass the kitchen, then the gardens, then a clearing
until we come face to face with the gate. Cranks are all on our tail. We reach
the gate, but a horde of cranks are there to intercept us. Looks like we are
going to have to fight our way out.
“Newt!” a voice screams. “You’re having a nightmare!”
Slowly, light seeps into my eyes. My vision becomes more clear and my
surroundings come into vision. Thomas’ worried look staring at me. I smile at
him, and shake it off like it doesn’t bother me. Truth is, I am bothered by it.
I’m sick of having nightmares all the time. As if Thomas can sense the hurt, he
puts an arm on my shoulder.
I’m in a hammock. Someone must have moved me while I was sleeping. My first
hunch is that it was Thomas. Had he made the hammock too? It looks relatively
new. I meet Thomas’ eyes for a second time. This time, he takes my hand in his,
and pulls me to my feet. I don’t ask any questions as we make our way across
the Glade. We end up at the same guard tower as yesterday. This time, Minho is
there staring at us. I wonder if we are in trouble for yesterday.
“Quit looking so cheerful, Newt.” Minho says, sarcastically. “Nothing like your
warm smile in the morning to brighten up people’s day. Sarcasm aside, this is
your first official day. This means that you have to find a job, so you can
start contributing as soon as possible. I wouldn’t want you to end up being a
slopper.”
Whatever a ‘slopper’ is, I don’t want to be it. Minho gestures for me to head
up the tower. When he get to the top, I see that the mess from last night had
been picked up. I get a strong ‘Thomas’ vibe once again. Thomas practically
confirms it by patting me on the back, then pushing past to stand next to
Minho. They both look at me.
“This will be a test to see if you are fit for being a Glade guard.” Minho
says, with somewhat pride. “I happen to be the keeper, so you will be spending
quality time with mwa.”
Spending the day with the most sarcastic person on earth is not the most
‘pleasant’ thought, but it is better than spending it with someone like Gally.
I barely know that guy, but I get a strong feeling that he is a douchebag. In
the distance, I see the man himself. He is building something new in the Glade.
Minho is talking, but I find myself mesmerized by the clanks of the hammer. One
of the times the hammer goes down, but it doesn’t hit the nail. A scream echoes
through the Glade as I go beet red holding in a laugh. Minho and Thomas are
hysterical, so my defenses fall quickly. I find myself laughing with them. A
guy I haven’t met goes to help Gally, but gets a blow to the face. I watch the
frame crumble to the ground, and Gally staggering to the makeshift hospital in
the Glade. Asshole confirmed.
“Well that was something,” Minho says, not really sure what to say. “I need
your focus on me now.  This job isn’t as easy as it looks. You have to be on
your best observational skills. You have to focus, and be prepared for
anything. You also have to ring that bell when there is an emergency. 1 ring
for cranks, two for human, three for ‘come see me.’”
He points to a bell hanging from the watchtower ceiling. It looks too heavy for
the unstable watchtower made of sticks and wood. I laugh at the thought of this
whole thing just suddenly crashing down. I suddenly feel nervous to be up here.
This is going to be an interesting experience. Though, I am not too confident
that this is going to be the job for me.
“You ready?” Minho asks. “Do you have any questions?”
“Why do we ring a bell to alert each other if cranks are attracted to sound?” I
blurt, taking Minho by surprise. “Doesn’t that let the cranks know where we
are?”
“Ug- uhm…” Minho starts. “You see- the thing that about that is… um. It’s only
one ring, so it isn’t bad. Don’t question our logic.”
I start laughing, but Thomas joins with me this time. Minho glares at us, and
mutters something about murder. I may have to sleep with one eye open tonight.
A faint sound echoes in the distance. It gets more audible the closer the
source is. The next thing I know, Teresa pops into the watchtower. Her eyes are
glued to Thomas, but they switch to me then back to Thomas. I suddenly feel
like I’m intruding on something.
“Tom!” Teresa shouts, pointing at Thomas. “You missed breakfast this morning… I
had to sit all by myself with Chuck. He is annoyed at you too. You coming to
eat?”
“Teresa,” Thomas starts. “Can’t you see I’m a little busy with something?”
He gestures to me, and I suddenly feel a lot more uncomfortable. Half of me
wants to scream at Thomas for involving me in his personal affairs. The other
half of me wants him to stay. Most of me wants him to stay, but I know that it
won’t happen. I open my mouth to speak, but I close it trying to think of the
words. Teresa stares at me. She isn’t glaring or anything, but simply looking.
I wonder if she is going to leave anytime soon.
“Minho can take of him, Thomas.” Teresa says. “It’s guarding duty, not rocket
science. The only reason Minho does it in the first place is that it is the
easiest job in the Glade.”
I laugh again, but I earn another glare from Minho. God is he going to make me
pay for that later. I find myself wanting Thomas to stay even more now. Instead
of fighting with Teresa, Thomas sighs in defeat as he lets her drag him away
from me… again. This is becoming a pattern I don’t like. If this continues, I
might explode. I turn to the Asian boy next to me. His eyebrow is raised
questionably.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.” He replies, almost instantaneously.
I shoot him a look, but I don’t know why. I shake it off, and I listen to what
he has to say about being a guard. Bla bla something about observations. Bla
bla something about the bell. There is really nothing to the job that is hard.
You look for cranks and ring the bell if you see one. As time passes, I realize
that this isn’t the job for me.
“Now that you learned about how to properly watch over the Glade,” Minho says,
with a smile on his face. “We can go for lunch. It’s Chris’ turn to watch
anyways.”
At that, another boy emerges into the watchtower. He is shorter than me, with
sleep-deprived eyes. He has slick black hair, and freckles dancing across his
face. He’s slightly too skinny, and his eyes faded from what looks like blue to
more of a grey. Now he is the first person I’ve met in the Glade that looks
like he has seen the apocalypse. He isn’t overly cheerful or built like a
skyscraper. He’s worn out looking, hungry, and has a permanent depressed look.
I watch as he takes his place on a chair, and sets his sights on the surrounds
outside of the Glade.
“He used to be a lot happier.” Minho says, when we hit the ground of the Glade
from the watchtower. “That is, until his mother died. She was the last adult in
the Glade.”
“What do you mean last adult?” Newt says. “Did something happen to them?”
“We think that adults are more susceptible to the virus.” Minho says. “I think
that they had it from the very beginning.”
Trying to process this all, I have to slow down my pace to the kitchen. Does
this mean that every adult is dead by now? This also means that my sister could
still be alive. A memory flashes in my mind, and a tear slides down my face. I
turn to Minho, and a worried look is plastered on his face. I feel my defenses
falling. Even before the apocalypse, I had always fought tears back in front of
people. Now, I just feel so weak. I barely hold back a sob before Minho puts a
reassuring arm around my shoulder.
“Look,” Minho says, getting my attention. “Things may be hard, and it’s the
apocalypse. It’s completely ok to cry. It’s unhealthy to hold it back. It even
makes things worse. It lets you know that no matter what, even at the end of
the world, you’re still human.”
I keep on walking, but I feel a million times better. Minho senses this, and
his grasp on my shoulder is released. Looks like Minho can make up for being
annoying at some moments. I look over at the asian, and I force a smile. It may
be fake, but it makes me feel better. My parents had always told me to fake a
smile, and eventually, you will feel better.
“Fake it till’ you make it, Newton.” My mother says, holding me as I smile at
her though tears are falling down my face. “You will feel better soon.”
“Chin up, Newt.” Minho says, with a sarcastic grin. “I’ve never seen a sadder
smile on our way to get  food . C’mon now!”
“You’re right.” I say, and my smile becomes genuine. “They were right, too.”
Minho doesn’t seem to hear the last part about my parents, and the kitchen
comes into view. The dark-skinned chef handing out lunch to hungry Gladers
makes my stomach growl. Minho’s whoops and cheers fill the air, and we take a
place in line. Minho grabs a tray, hands it to me, and gets his own. I’ve never
seen someone so excited about food. My stomach growls, and I suddenly feel a
lot happier to get food slapped in front of my face. Before I know it, Minho
and I are at the same seats as yesterday. We do not hesitate to dig in.
“What were your parents like?” Minho asks, a little hesitantly. “You don’t have
to tell me if you don’t want to. Just trying to start a conversation.”
“The best.” I say, feeling nostalgic. “They were the best. My mother always
sung my sister and I to sleep as my father put away the story he would read to
us beforehand. My mother was a stay at home mom with an in-home office job. My
father was a lawyer, and a damn good one too. One time a toy came in the mail
for my sister. It was broken, and all I remember is shouts from my father on
the phone with Sonya’s wailing in the background. The next day, a hundred
dollars and a new toy came in the mail.”
Minho laughs after I tell the story. I go on about how he always used to fight
with customer service on the phone. One employee changed his name to Cock
Sucker in the postal service records. Everything shipped for a few months came
to Cock Sucker. That employee got fired, and my dad got a few thousand dollars
after suing the company.
“I would have killed that bastard!” Minho says, laughing while coughing out
food as if it was the funniest thing he heard. “Can’t imagine the phone call he
made!”
“He made the lady on the phone tell him his name!” I shout, getting looks from
annoyed Gladers. “She broke out laughing on the phone. My father was bloody
pissed though. All you hear is ‘Woman, you tell me what my name is!’ I almost
felt bad for her, but she seemed to be having a ball!”
Minho is roaring with laughter when I finish the story. I don’t find it as
funny five minutes after the story is told, but Minho continues laughing. I
almost wish I can start laughing again. It feels great to laugh at the end of
the world. It must be like crying. At least I know I am still human if I can
laugh and cry. Minho is the definition of a human if that’s true.
“That was funny.” Minho says, still cracking up. “I think I laugh too much.”
“I would kill to laugh as much as you.” I say, being completely honest. “It
feels amazing to laugh. It’s like your body is forcing you to feel at least
slightly happy.”
“Hey, I know this is off-topic,” Minho starts. “But you will be spending the
afternoon with Thomas. He will be showing you how to be a runner, then you will
be with Gally tomorrow to learn how to be a builder, and then you will be with
Zart in the afternoon learning how to be a gardener.”
I smile on the inside about spending the whole afternoon with Thomas. I don’t
care that I’ll have to be running or something because I will be spending  the
whole afternoon  with  Thomas.  This is definitely something to be looking
forward to. I look past Minho to the Glade gate. Thomas is walking in our
direction carrying a few items. Minho seems to notice my lack of attention, and
looks where I am looking.
“Speak of the devil!” Minho says, when Thomas reaches us. “We were just talking
about you.”
“Well I hope it was all good things.” Thomas says, and shoots me a wink.
“You’re mine for the afternoon. Just like yesterday!”
The inside-joke goes over Minho’s head, and red rushes to my face. Minho shoots
me a questionable look, and I shrug it off. Thomas looks at the two of us, and
frowns. Just as I’m about to question it, a booming voice rings through the
Glade.
“How  dare  you even  think  you can talk to me like that?” Teresa’s voice
echoes through the Glade.
I turn to see Gally fall to the ground. Teresa is standing a few feet away from
him. A scared look is frozen on Gally’s face. A, very well contrasting, furious
look is branded onto Teresa’s face. If looks could kill, a grave would drop
from the sky and land on Gally’s head. I don’t know what he did, but the three
of us almost pass out of laughter when Teresa kicks him in the side. Now I know
not to mess with Teresa. She’s a bear.
“We should get going.” Thomas says, gesturing for me to follow him. “We’ve got
a lot to do.”
***** Running With the Weight of the Past *****
Chapter Summary
     Thomas is testing Newt to see if he should be a runner. Newt has a
     nightmare.
Chapter Notes
     Okay, now things start to get interesting in this one. A little bit
     of Newt's past is revealed, and there is more to come. Leave a kudos
     and a comment for me because they inspire me to keep on going on with
     this.
Of course, it’s cold out on the day of the apocalypse. It’s the middle of
winter in July. I don’t know that it’s going to be the last winter I see in a
long time, but somehow, I sense it. It doesn’t stop me from hating it. I’ve
always hated the winter. Luckily, Sonya is planned for that. I’m currently
sitting in the snow with my legs crossed while Sonya builds a snowman. She
looks so pretty with snowflakes in her ghostly blonde hair and her pale skin
standing out against the snow. It should be a perfect day. It should have been
a perfect day.
I live in a great England country house. A nice cabin-in-the-woods type home. I
have a big yard, but an even bigger forest in front of the house. A frozen lake
is behind the yard, and railroad tracks pass in front of the house. I watch the
train every day as it zooms past my house. The next time I see that train is
the last.
I’m reliving it again. The day everything went to hell. The earth, humanity,
and even my family. It goes from building snowmen to cranks in .5 seconds. A
gust of wind blows through my blonde locks of hair, and then something flies
into the snowman. Sonya looks at it in horror when the thing rises up, and
stares at her.
It looks human. It has hair, eyes, a mouth, and even walked sort of like a
human. Except this is no man. At least, no man that I’d encountered. Hair is
ripped out in places, one of the eyes is ripped clean out, and his jaw is
dislocated. It is a truly horrifying sight. It gets even worse when Sonya
screams, alerting our parents of danger.
My brotherly instincts kick in, and I fling myself onto the creature. I start
punching and punching with all of my 13-year-old strength. Sonya backs up, but
trips on a rock that sends her face-planting the snow. My parents are there
within the minute. My mother pulls me off of the creature before my father
pulls out a revolver.
It’s a simple ‘bang’ and the thing drops to the ground once more. This time, it
doesn’t get up. We thought it was a good idea, but pulling the trigger triggers
a whole new nightmare. I look out into the yard of our England country house to
see a nightmare unfold. There are tons of those creatures. I count around
sixteen. They seem to be drawn to the spot that my father is. Suddenly, like a
switch had been pulled, they charge us.
My mother gets us inside the house. She closes the door behind us, and all I
can see is my father. He stands exactly where he is, as if not fazed by the
looming danger in front of him. I shout for him to shoot the gun.
“Shoot the gun, Dad!” I scream. “Shoot the gun before the bloody things get
ya!”
I scream and scream, but nothing I do is able to stop him. He takes the gun,
shoots it, and runs into the forest. All of the hideous monsters go after him
as he runs deeper and deeper into the forest. Then he trips, and all of the
creatures are on top of him. Mother closes the blinds right before a gunshot
goes off.
“Mum!” I scream. “Where’s Dad? Tell me where Dad is?”
She never speaks. The sudden realization that I will never see my father again
hits me like a truck. I slump to the ground in defeat. Tears well up in my
eyes, and the whole room gets filled with cries. Not all of them were from me.
Sonya had been crying the whole time. We don’t leave the house for the rest of
the night. We spend it crying, hiding, and preparing for the worst. The only
thing is that the worst is yet to come.
=====
“Newt?” Thomas asks, realizing I’m not paying attention. “Newt, are you okay?”
Thomas and I are just heading out of the Glade gate. I’m a little nervous
leaving the Glade for the first time since I got there, but there’s nobody I’d
rather do it with than with Thomas. The thought that I may see cranks seeps
into my brain, but I try to push it out. It takes me until we make our way past
the gate to realize that Thomas is talking.
“Oh…” I say, feeling mildly embarrassed. “Were you talking. Sorry, I got caught
up in my thoughts.”
“Don’t worry.” Thomas says. “I understand completely. It’s usually just me
outside the Glade, so this is usually my time to think. I guess I should train
you to be a runner then.”
Thomas explains that they run every day to make sure nothing changes in the
world. Say a new refugee camp opens up, Thomas needs to report it. There are
also supply runs and scouting runs. On a supply run, Thomas goes through the
city (and sometimes in the forest) searching for supplies. On a scout run,
Thomas looks through the area to count how many cranks there are. It’s pretty
fascinating, but sounds really challenging. The thought of being outside all
day like the last four years of my life seems a bit underwhelming.
“We don’t really have a protocol for finding survivors…” Thomas says. “We
usually find a survivor once a month. Last month, it was Chuck. This month, it
was  you.  I don’t know why nobody thought of making survivor runs, but I guess
if you see one along the way of any run you bring them back.”
I don’t respond, and he doesn’t seem to mind. I’m kind of anxious to be out in
the open city. Especially with my luck in this city. I shiver at a flashback of
the old office building, and the cranks that lie within. Instead of being lost
in my thoughts again, Thomas starts rambling on about his job again. I don’t
think that I am going to be a runner either. The thought of spending every day
with Thomas is pretty appealing though.
“What’s your favorite color?” Thomas asks, catching me totally off guard.
“Uhm- purple!” I blurt out, hoping he doesn’t notice my awkwardness. “What’s
yours?”
“I think I like the color green the most.” Thomas says, looking at the trees
planted around the city. “It’s such a vibrant and calming color to see at the
end of the world. I think of it as the color of hope.”
I just like the color purple because it’s pretty. My dad told me that it’s a
girl’s color, but that only makes me love it more. I am a firm believer that
things like that are stupid, and not true. I guess I like purple so much just
to prove a point. Purple is genuinely an amazing color though. Lucky for me as
a kid, tons of kids in my class were under the same impression as my father.
That means that the purple crayons were usually the ones left in the box… for
me to snatch.
Thomas and I start entering buildings of all shapes and sizes. Each one
crumbling, decrepit, and a mess as the next one. Thomas is looking for supplies
as I make sure the area is clear of cranks. We enter a small apartment
building. Its bricks lost their bright red color, and remains a solemn grey
with a tint of red. It blends in with the rest of the universe.
“Make sure the building is COC.” Thomas says, trying to hide his smile.”
“E- Excuse me?!” I yelp, as red floods my cheeks. “Repeat that.”
“Make sure the building is… COC!” Thomas says, screaming the last part with an
all too innocent face. “COC is an acronym for ‘clear of cranks.’ I was thinking
we should use code words.”
I stand there dumbfounded. “You’re an idiot.”
I go through the building with a flashlight that Thomas gave me. It occurs to
me that I haven’t seen my backpack since I first entered the Glade. I need to
ask Thomas about that when I get out of this stupid building. It smells like
dust, the ground is slippery, and flies are everywhere. I’m about ten feet or
so inside the building before I smell something. It smells like something died.
I freeze in my place. I turn back, and Thomas is staring at me through the
doorway. He gives a thumbs up before I turn back to the building. I regret it
instantly. As soon as I shine the light forward, a crank is two inches from my
face. I fall to the ground instantly. My flashlight drops, plummeting me into
darkness. I hear my name being called, and light is shone into the room. I
learn why the floor is slick. I look at my hands to find that they are covered
in blood.
I look around the room for the crank. Nothing is there. What I do find,
however, is much more horrifying. Body after body is littered in the room. Men
and women of all ages. Some children are scattered in the mix, and I have to
turn my head away before I throw up. Movement in front of me has me scrambling
to the door. I regret that too instantly because I run directly into a body.
This time, it’s Thomas. He drags me to my feet before we rush out of the door
and we get enveloped by the sun.
“Shit, Newt.” Thomas says, as we run through the city once again. “This town
must seriously hate you. What were you doing before I found you, having sex
with the daughter of Karma?”
“Well if anything it would be the son- woah!” I say, before Thomas jerks me
around a sharp turn behind a build. His hand is firmly placed on my mouth,
signaling for me not to speak. I comply, and Thomas peeks around the other end.
He returns to me, and raises two of his fingers. There are two cranks right
around the bend.
“Tommy?” I ask, in a hushed whisper. “Do you bring weapons with you?”
“Only a knife.” Thomas says, pulling it out.
I swipe the knife away from him before he has time to react. I rush the cranks
at full speed. I knock one of them to the ground, and it lands with a cracking
sound. I bury my knife in the other one’s chest. It goes limp, and plummets to
the floor. My legs are swept from beneath me, and the crank is on top of me. I
kick it in the chest, sending it flying off of me. I launch myself on top of
it, weapon poised. I plunge it directly into the side of the creature’s head.
My attention goes back to Thomas, who is staring at me as if I am made of solid
gold.
“Close your mouth, Tommy.” I say, with a smirk. “The flies are out.”
=====
Thomas and I make our way back to the Glade after Thomas decides that the
incident in the apartment building is enough action for the day. I find the
showers, and I’m surprised to find that they still work. I wash all of the
blood off of me, and grab a towel. A pair of clothes is left out for me along
with a note.
Sorry that I almost got you eaten by a bunch of cranks. Sorry that I also
scarred you for life because of it, so please don’t hate me forever. Sit with
Minho, Chuck, Teresa, and I at dinner? ;)
-Your bloody idiot
Tommy
I laugh without even realizing it at the signature. I put on the clothes, fold
the notes, and put it in my pocket. After getting dressed, I exit the showering
area to find Thomas and Minho already waiting for me. I smile at them, and
Thomas waves at me. Minho has an unhappy look on his face, and I can smell the
remark coming next.
“At least my job didn’t scar him for the rest of his life.” Minho grumbles,
then catches my gaze. “Hey Newt! We were just discussing how Thomas almost
served you as crank food. Do you remember that, Newt?”
“I bet he left the part out where I kicked two cranks’ asses right in front of
him.” I retort. “He wasn’t saving anyone tonight.”
“As the matter of fact,” Minho says. “He did leave that part out… Did you piss
yourself, Tommy?”
Thomas doesn’t reply. In fact, he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the
conversation at all. Instead, he’s staring at me. At first, I think he is
staring at me because he’s mad at me. His softened features and parted lips
tells me otherwise. My mind just tells me that it’s all a trick, and that
Thomas is in love with Teresa. They seem to be in a relationship with all the
times that Teresa has snuck off with him. The image of Thomas and Teresa in the
middle of  ‘it’  fills my brain. I suddenly feel sad.
“You ok?” Thomas asks, when they decide to start walking to the kitchen area.
“Did I really scar you for life?”
“Not really.” I reply. “Just thinking of something that makes me sad.
“You want to talk about it?” Thomas asks, with a worried look on his face. “It
isn’t healthy to keep things inside like that. You might end up with
depression.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Tommy.” I say, unintentionally sour before I
move my pace up to walk with Minho.
Thomas doesn’t move up to stand next to me again. Not when we get in line, and
not when we sit at the table. I sit next to Minho, who sits next to Chuck.
Thomas is across from Chuck, with Teresa next to him and an uncomfortably
closed gap between them. I suddenly feel like gagging up the chicken and rice
Frypan graciously made us. I would have if I wasn’t so hungry. Running must
have worked quite an appetite.
After dinner, we part ways. I wander around the Glade until I reach a corner. A
big tree lays a few feet away from both sides of the Glade. I sit at the bottom
of it, and begin to think. Eventually, I feel bad for making Thomas feel bad. I
decide to go look for him. I wander around the Glade again just in time to see
Teresa dragging Thomas away to who-cares-where. That’s when I decide that my
luck is worse than anyone else’s in the Glade. Certainly worse than Teresa’s.
I go back to my tree, but this time I climb up its huge trunk. I find a perfect
hole inside it. There is enough space to at least sit inside it. The old oak is
at least good for something. I begin to think to myself once again, while
absent-mindedly playing with a familiar golden chain around my neck. Thomas
said that  I  was sleeping with the daughter of Karma? Look who’s talking.
***** The Story of Newt *****
Chapter Summary
     The last bits of Newt's tragic past is revealed.
Chapter Notes
     I don't know if this is any good or not, but I think its pretty good,
     so let me live in my fantasy world. Leave a kudos and comment because
     those make my day, and inspire me to continue on.
A loud bang wakes me up, and I’m on alert. Sonya and my mother are next to me
in the living room. Those creatures that killed my father still lurk outside my
house. They’re waiting in the shadows ready to strike at any moment. I’m the
only one awake, so I go and investigate. I creep through the kitchen, and
through the dining room. I am careful to not make any noises that reveal my
whereabouts.
I make my way through the black and white tiled dining room when I hit
something. I watch as a fork drops to the ground practically sealing my fate.
It hits the ground with a clang. I’m immediately frozen in place when a figure
moves into the kitchen. All I see is a big shadow cast upon the white
wallpapered walls. The next thing I know, a hand goes over my mouth, and I am
shoved against the dining room wall. I try to scream, but nothing comes out.
“Newt.” My mother whispers, very careful to make as little noise as possible.
“You’re ok. It’s just your mum.”
I scan the room for Sonya, and she appears right behind my mother. I smile
internally, but then the figure in the room moves again. This time, it knocks
over a chair, and the breaths leave all of our bodies. It has to be doing this
on purpose. It has to be watching us. It could be observing us. Learning from
our every move. Perhaps it’s like a cat, and toying with us before it kills us.
A shiver runs down my spine, and the hair on the back of my neck stands. I
realize that this is most likely where I am going to die.
My mother is determined to get us out of here. She starts moving us along the
walls of the dining room. The only noise in the room is the noise coming from
the creature. A low, gurgling, choking sound emits from the thing before it
moves around again. We exit the dining room and find ourselves back into the
kitchen.
A small light is lit in the room. My mother and my sister are pale as ghosts,
and I imagine that I look the same. My eyes land on the counter. A small knife
lays there, along with a butcher’s knife. It’s the best option I have, so I go
for it. I grab the two blades before my mother grabs me by the collar of my
shirt. If we get out of this alive, I am definitely going to be grounded for
that. All is going smoothly, but then the crank makes its way into the kitchen.
We would have gotten away if Sonya had not gasped. The creature’s head snapped
toward our direction and lunged directly for me. Then something weird happens.
My life flashes right before my eyes. I see my mother pushing me on my old
swing set, my dad teaching me how to use a knife, and even my mother’s
beautiful voice as she sings us to sleep. Unfortunately, she won’t be singing
us to sleep this time. My mother flings herself right in the pathway of the
creature. It takes her down, but she takes it with her.
I wrestle my sister out of the room, despite her pleas to save our mother. I
look back just in time to see the creature lay a final bite to her neck. Blood
spurts into the hallway we are now standing in and Sonya’s pleas turn to cries.
The monster in our house wastes no time hurtling itself into the hallway.
Without reacting, I bury the small knife into the neck of the creature. It
falls to the ground. The body twitches before finally going limp. A final
gurgle fills the air before it is replaced with undying silence.
My parents are dead. That’s a weird thought for a 13-year-old like myself to
comprehend. It must be harder for Sonya because she is only 10. This shouldn’t
be happening to us. I don’t even know what ‘this’ is, and how many people it
has killed. Surely my family cannot be the first to fall victim to these
merciless creatures. The time of wondering ‘why me’ is over. I have a sister to
take care of now and creatures that want to kill her. I’d be damned if I let
her go without a fight.
I slip the butcher’s knife in my back pocket, and the small knife gripped in my
hand. We make our way upstairs, and into my room. I close the curtains and flip
the light switch on. We need to get some things before vacating the house in
search of help.
“Sonya,” I say, slightly whispering. “Mum and Dad are not coming back, so you
need to listen to me for now on. Do exactly as I tell you if we have any hope
of getting out of here. Say yes if you understand.”
“I understand.” She says, in such an adult way that I take a step back.
“G- good.” I stutter, before handing her a book bag. “These are our school book
bags. Empty your books out, and start filling them with anything you think you
need to survive. That includes food, water, weapons. Anything that you cannot
live without.”
Sonya leaves my room, and I almost scream her name. I throw my book bag onto
the bed, and I run after her. I walk slower when I get into the hall. There are
four doors. One leads to the bathroom, one to my parent’s room, the one to
mine, and one to my sisters. Her door is wide open, so I race into her room.
There she is. She is on the floor pulling out a small box. She opens it so
delicately and pulls out a chain. It is a golden chain, and she wraps it around
her neck.
“Sonya.” I hiss. “Don’t you even think of pulling a stunt like that again,
ever. Do you hear me? You can’t just walk around at a time like this.”
“I’m sorry,” Sonya says, fiddling with her chain. “Mum bought me this on my
birthday a few weeks ago. Now that she’s gone I just want something to remember
her- her-...”
Tears cut her off, and I find myself cuddling up to her to comfort her. I don’t
tell her to be quiet, I don’t tell her to settle down, but I let her quiet sobs
fill the air. It’s nice to have someone to hold and to cry with at a time like
this. I’ll die before I let Sonya die. I couldn’t stop my father or mother from
dying, but Sonya is going to get out of this.
“We have to finish packing Sonya.” I say, gesturing to her book bag.” Throw in
some clothes, food, water, and all of that stuff. I will wait here for you.
Then you and I are going to wait in my room until it is daytime again.”
The house is eerily quiet. Sonya and I went downstairs to get food to pack. Our
mother’s body lay in the middle of the kitchen floor, so I went in to raid the
cabinets. Our quick trip ends with us running up the stairs, and barricading
ourselves in my room. Now it is Sonya who whispers to me while I fill my book
bag with essentials.
“Here Sonya,” I say, handing her a small object. “I want you to keep this, and
remember who you are.”
“You’re not leaving me,” Sonya says, in a worried tone. “Are you?”
I shake my head, and she takes the object in her hand. It’s a family photo. My
mother and father are side by side, with me in front of my dad, and Sonya
kneeling in front of my mother. I keep it on a shelf in my room, but now Sonya
has it in her book bag. I suddenly feel a lot more confident that things are
going to be ok.
“How come you aren’t sobbing like me?” Sonya says. “Mum and dad are gone,
monsters are chasing us, and we are on our own. This situation is out of
control.”
Tears well up in her eyes. I don’t respond, but I do place an arm on her
shoulder. We don’t talk for a good while. Eventually, she yawns, and I lay her
head on my pillow. I curl up next to her, and I start singing the song my
mother sings to us before bed. I don’t know all of the lyrics, but it is enough
to make her fall asleep. I fall asleep as well eventually.
=====
A little beam of sunlight goes directly through the curtains, and directly into
my line of vision. I grumble and moan, but I surrender and open my eyes.
Memories come crashing down on me, and I have to hold a hand over my mouth to
keep from crying. I look around my room, and Sonya isn’t in my arms. The wind
is knocked out of me, and I stagger to my feet.
I pour myself into the hallway, looking for Sonya. I don’t risk calling her
name just in case those creatures are still outside, or even inside the house.
I check in her room, but nothing is there. Just as I am about to leave, an open
drawer in her room hints to me exactly where she is. I go up to her closet, and
I knock a secret knock. Sonya and I had made it up when I was 8. It was on her
5th birthday when she began having nightmares about the world ending.
The closet door opens slowly, and Sonya’s golden hair pours out. She looks
sleep-deprived and disheveled. I smile at her when my eyes catch the stuffed
animal in her arms. It’s a little pony that she sleeps with when she is
nervous. She told everyone that she had thrown it away because she was too old.
Sonya stares down at the stuffed animal, before meeting my eyes. Her enchanting
brown eyes now tell a horrifying backstory.
“I got nervous.” She whispers. “I had nightmares that those creatures dragged
me into the dark, and you weren’t there to-”
Once again her own tears cut her off. I calm her down and tell her that
everything is going to be ok. That I’m never going to leave her side. Even when
this is over, that I am never going to leave her. Right on cue, I hear
something break through the door. I run out of the room and peer down the
stairs. A ton of cranks dog-pile into the living room.
“We have to get out of here, Sonya,” I say, opening the window. “They’re
coming.”
I usher her out of the window, and onto the roof. I head out onto the roof,
both book bags in hand, and enter the light from the dawn sky. I hand Sonya the
book bag, before handing her the butcher’s knife. She gives me a questioning
look, but I nod my head in a serious way. We both walk across the roof of our
house, trying to find a place to get down. Sonya tugs on my shirt, before
pointing to the pool in our yard.
“You think we can make it?” She asks.
“It’s frozen solid Sonya,” I say, before realizing that it isn’t frozen.
I whip around really fast. It’s supposed to be the middle of winter. Actually,
it's supposed to be the middle of July, but it is supposed to be snowing like
yesterday. I look around for the snowman Sonya built, but there is nothing to
be found. The sun starts beating down on us, and the sound of glass breaking
fills my ears. I look in the direction of Sonya’s room to see that the monsters
are starting to climb on top of the roof. Sonya takes my hand, and we both leap
into the pool.
Cold water fills my senses, and we return to the surface. We pull ourselves out
and start running to the front of the house. A train whistle fills my ears, and
I get an idea. Cranks start coming at us from all sides, but we make it into
the forest. I pull Sonya a bit faster than she can run, but she maintains her
balance. I have a plan, and Sonya is going to live.
“Where are we going?” Sonya asks.
I look at her for a moment, and I no longer see the 10-year-old girl that I
knew. This is a much stronger Sonya that I can be real with. I decide to let
her in on the plan as we make our way in the direction that the whistle is
blowing. She gasps and squeals at some parts, but goes along with the plan
anyway.
We find ourselves in a clearing. Railroad tracks are lined on the edge of it.
The sound of the train speeding our way makes my adrenaline kick in. As soon as
it comes into view, Sonya and I start waving and screaming for help. Part of me
believes that it will work, but part of me remains doubtful. The train ignores
us, and I catch a glimpse of cranks coming out into the clearing. Unless the
train is super short, we are trapped.
“I love you, Sonya,” I say, preparing for the worst.
“I love you too, Newt.” She says, tears welling up in her eyes.
Our begs and pleas get louder and louder as the cranks draw closer. The train
visually slows down at the sight of the crank, and two doors fling open. One
man appears in each door. Their arms ready to scoop us up. Sonya runs a bit
closer to them, and delight shoots through my body when she gets successfully
picked up.
As for me, I am a split second late. Sonya tries to grab onto my hand, but my
hand gets caught on her necklace, and the thing flies off of her neck. I watch
as Sonya gets taken out of my line of vision. Her scream gets quieter and
quieter, and eventually, fades into nothingness. I find myself all alone, with
her necklace in my hand, my bookbag on my back, a weapon in my hand, and no
means of escape.
=====
I wake up screaming at the top of my lungs. I almost fall out of the tree, but
I manage to keep hold. I take in my surroundings at once. I am not in the
clearing, but I am back at the Glade. It’s my second official day, and I have
jobs to get to. I hop out of the tree prepared for whatever Gally has to throw
at me. Instead of meeting Minho at breakfast, he, Thomas, Chuck, and Teresa are
all staring at me when I hit the bottom of the tree with worried looks.
“The shuck died up there?” Minho says before they all pull me into an embrace.
Maybe things aren’t going to be so bad here.
***** The Garden *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt tries the building and gardening jobs. Thomas suprises him, and
     Newt does not handle it well.
Chapter Notes
     Leave a like and a kudos. This one wasn't posted early like I usually
     do, but I'm going through a heartbreak. My first heartbreak actually,
     so cut me a bit of slack please.
I sit next to Minho at breakfast. Teresa next to Minho, but Thomas sits next to
me. Chuck stares at me from in front of me. I feel awkward that everyone is
staring at me, but I do understand why. Instead of looking at them though, I
stare at my food. Hopefully, to give them the hint that I don’t want to talk
about it, I pick up Frypan’s food, and I start to eat. Today was pancake day
apparently, and one of the other runners found batter to make them.
“Newt,” Teresa says, with a worried look on her face. “Are you okay? You woke
up half the Glade by your scream.”
“I’m sorry I woke up half the Glade.” I spit. “I just don’t want to talk about
my issues with people I’ve only met when? Three days ago.”
Everyone around me stays silent, and I start to feel slightly bad for snapping
at Teresa. Every time I think about the incident, it puts me in a bad mood. I
start playing with the necklace around my neck, and I think of the sister I
once had. Her scream when the train left me is burned into my brain for the
rest of my life. I look around at the other Gladers around me. Teresa is still
staring at me. Minho and Chuck start a side conversation. Thomas is still
staring at me too. Except, he wasn’t staring at my face but at my neck. I
suddenly feel self-conscious, and I get up to throw away my almost finished
pancakes.
I scan the Glade to find the one person that I judge based off of cover, Gally.
I see him a few yards away from the Glade gate, and I start to walk toward him.
My head starts pounding, and I don’t know why. I do know why, but I try not to
focus on it. I just need to not focus on the fact that I’m spending the morning
with a person that I really dislike. Speak of the devil, Gally notices me
walking in his direction, and starts walking toward me too.
“Hey, greenie,” Gally says, in a shockingly friendly tone. “I don’t believe I
said welcome to the Glade, but that’s ok. Welcome anyways.”
My jaw hangs slightly open as Gally leads me toward a thing that he is
building. Is this the same Gally that is made out to be the Glade asshole? Wood
planks lay all over the surrounding area, with a bunch of sticks that poke out
of the ground. I don’t have the faintest clue what he is building, but I don’t
think that it is going well. Gally catches me noticing, and decides to shed
some light on it.
“It’s supposed to be a place to hold herbs,” Gally says. “Notice the holes in
the ground? We found buckets a few days ago, and now we are planting parsley,
basil, cilantro, and other weird herbs. I’m not a gardener, so I don’t have to
know. One of the perks of being a builder is that you can be as dumb as a rock
as long as you know how to use a hammer.”
I laugh at his joke, and it really breaks the ice with him. I find him a lot
more likable now that I know that he isn’t such a bad guy. Perhaps, everyone is
wrong about him. Maybe he’s just nice to me, but I feel a lot better knowing
that I probably won’t have to deal with mean Gally anytime soon. Gally flashes
a warm smile toward me, and I can’t help, but return it. I feel fantastic.
“Hey, Newt.” A familiar voice calls from behind me.
I turn around to see Thomas staring at me with a goofy smile, and his head
cocked slightly to the side. I can kiss him right then and there, but I know
that he doesn’t feel the same for me. That, and he also apparently has a
girlfriend. I wave back to him, and I notice Teresa trailing a few yards behind
him. When she catches up, they begin to talk to me.
“We thought you could use some help with the big bear,” Teresa says, nodding at
an oblivious Gally who is working on the herb holder. “It was Thomas’ idea
though. I think you can handle the brute.”
Of course, it’s Thomas’ idea to come and see me, and not Teresa’s. Teresa
couldn’t care less if the ground would open up, swallow me whole, and I would
never be seen again. I look at them, then I look at Gally, and then I turn to
them again. I grin is plastered on my face because I know that Gally is
actually a nice person.
“He’s actually a really nice person,” I say, as Gally approaches us.
Teresa and Thomas look at each other and then glare at Gally. I smile, though
I’m not really sure what to do. Gally looks at Teresa with a nervous expression
on his face, and she just moves her head at him. Gally takes a small step
toward me, and I can tell that he doesn’t want to be here right now.
“Hey, greenbean.” Gally says in a casual tone. “You going to get to work, or
not?”
I shrug and follow him, despite the hisses and growls coming from Thomas and
Teresa. I mentally laugh as Gally shoves a hammer in my hand to start building.
He explains the length of nails and screws, and eventually, I want to hit
something else with my hammer. The sun is beating down on me, my hands are
really sweaty, and I broke a few boards. It didn’t take Einstein to figure out
that building was not going to be my job.
“I think it’s time for you to head to gardening,” Gally says after I broke my
fourth board. “You don’t seem to like building as much as I do.”
I nod my head, before getting up to go to my next job. It doesn’t take very
long for me to find Zart because I remember seeing a garden a while ago.
Gardening with Zart is what I am going to be doing now. I head to a picnic
area, and I see a boy sitting in a small dirt patch. A trowel is placed in his
moderate-sized hands, and he digs away at the dirt. Part of me wants to sit and
watch, but the other part of me wants to get my hands dirty.
I look around to see that not all of the garden is in one spot. It’s in four
different parts. One part has long, vine-like plants growing on poles. The
poles are side by side and connected with a wooden rod running through the
middle. I take the fruit off and eat it. These are grape vines. The other part
has little shrub-like things. They lay side by side to each other in an
enclosed area. I break a piece off. My face contorts in disgust when I realize
that it’s broccoli. I place it onto one of the nearby picnic tables, hoping
someone will eat it later, and I go to find the guy I had seen earlier.
I take a look at the boy in the garden. Nothing changes except he wipes the
sweat off of his forehead, and then adjusts his curly blonde hair. I don’t know
why, but I get the feeling that I am going to like this guy. My eyes trail to
the third section. Two rows of bushes lay parallel to each other. A stone
pathway in between them. One one side, I see blackberries. On the other side, I
see raspberries. I don’t know why, but I smile.
“Oh- hey, greenie.” the boy, that was previously digging, says. “I didn’t see
you there. My name is Zart. You’re with me for the afternoon- and apparently
mid-morning. Come help me plant these.”
I wander over into the fourth section and plop down next to the boy. He smiles
at me and drags over a box. A bunch of unearthed plants lay inside. I pull one
out, and a bunch of dirt falls on top of my pants. Normally, I would be pissed,
but for some reason, I feel at peace. I grab a trowel from Zart’s hand, and I
begin to dig.
I don’t know how much time elapses, but I am halfway through the box of plants.
They took up two rows of dirt, which was surprising because the area can hold
maybe twelve rows of plants. Zart explains a lot to me about spacing out the
plants, how to plant them in the sun, and how to care for them every day. I
find myself hanging onto every word, and I get the sudden feeling that I should
be taking notes on what he is saying. Gardening is so weird for me. Usually, I
feel like I should be running from cranks and hiding from enemies. The garden
gives me a good feeling of zen that I never noticed I could feel. Perhaps this
is going to be my job. I don’t hate the thought of gardening every day.
“What do you like most about this job?” I ask, in the middle of Zart’s
sentence. “Sorry for interrupting, it’s just that I think that I might choose
this as my job.”
“Uh- oh,” Zart says, fumbling with his hands. “Nobody really ever chooses this
as their job. I guess my favorite part of this job is how little you actually
have to do. It’s just watering, weeding, and harvesting. Then the rest of the
day is all free. That is unless you have to plant more plants. That is a lot of
work.”
I smile before getting prepared to plant my next set of plants. At this point,
I can identify some of the plants that I am planting. In my hand, I hold a
watermelon plant.  Zart watches me as I dig a hole, and I gently set the newly
growing plant inside. My heart buzzes with happiness to know that, one day,
this plant is going to grow a watermelon or two. I am definitely going to
garden for my job.
Zart nods, and I continue to tackle the box of plants. I can’t help but get
dirty doing this job, but I’m practically playing in the dirt. Zart tosses an
amused look at me and throws a little bit of dirt my way. I open my mouth in
pretend hurt, and I launch some back. He holds his hands in the air to signal
his surrender, so I turn back to my newly planted plants.
“Looking great,” Zart says. “We still have another box to plant until we are
done with this section. After we are done with this section, we are moving on
to herbs!”
My smile drops when he points to a slightly larger box behind him. It looks
like it is the perfect amount of plants for this section though. I know it is
going to take a while to plant, but it still feels good all the same. I sigh
before taking one plant out of the box, and I set it to my side. I get out my
trowel, and I dig another hole.
“Hey, Newt.” I hear a familiar voice say, and I look up to see Thomas looming
over the garden. “You enjoying yourself?”
“Yeah, but there’s this bloody idiot popping up, and talking to me at the most
random times,” I say, jokingly. “Thank goodness I’m starting to like the little
bugger.”
“Your British is showing,” Thomas says as if my zipper was down.
I look down to check, but it’s still up. A hysterical laugh comes from Thomas
and another figure that appears. At first, I think that Teresa joined the
party. I am a lot happier to figure out that it is Minho who joined us.
“Sup, you shanks,” Minho says, cracking a smirk. “You almost done here? Thomas
and I want to show you something great.”
I turn my head to Zart, who is sitting next to me. He nods his head, and whoops
and cheers fill the air from the two morons in front of me. I get up, and I
thank Zart before letting Thomas drag me away. It doesn’t go unnoticed how he
wraps his hand around mine before we run through the Glade. We come across a
small forest in the park, and, right along the edge of the trees, is a hole.
“Dear God, Tommy,” I say, smiling. “You’re going to bury me here!”
Thomas’ face contorts into many different expressions, and it sends me into a
fit of laughter. Laughing is the best feeling in the world. Thomas goes to say
something, but only a muffled sound comes out of his mouth. I double over
laughing. He’s only making it worse.
“No!” Thomas says, eyes still wide in shock. “We’re making a pool! We need to
be discrete about it because a lot of the gladers will think that it is a waste
of water! We found a river going into the city, and we are using a hose to
transport the water. Jesus, how did you think we were going to kill you?!”
I look down into the pool, and I’m a little shocked. Concrete was lined against
the walls and was already hardened. It looks like a big square. A marker reads
15m on each side. Water is slowly filling the pool from a little green hose
extending all the way to the front of the Glade, and out of the wall. I wonder
how far it extends, but another look at the pool sends me feeling nauseous.
A flashback of my sister and I jumping into our pool to evade cranks fills my
mind. I stare at the slowly rising water, and I can almost see my sister in the
pool. Her eyes staring at me with no fear. He minds only wondering what we need
to do next. Suddenly, my breathing starts to falter. I feel dizzy, and it takes
a lot of energy to not topple Thomas. He is saying something, but I can barely
hear it. All I can think about is my sister, and what would have happened if we
had not jumped into a pool just like this one.
“Newt!” Thomas says, and I barely hear it over the sound of my brain buzzing.
“Oh my god- I think he’s having a panic attack.”
Hands are suddenly on me, and I try to swat them away. Voices are filling my
head. I try to scream, but all that comes out is a gasp. Terrified, I fling
myself out of whoever’s arms I was in, and I try to stand up. I regret it as
soon as I do. I feel myself fall. My head slams against the edge of the pool,
and I find myself lost in a dark, wet silence.
***** Wake-Up Call *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt wakes up from the accident, but he's all good. There's a fight
     and cuddles happen.
Chapter Notes
     HAPPY ALMOST-HALLOWEEN! I wanted to update on Halloween, but I
     figured that would be cruel to make you wait longer. Leave a kudos
     and a comment because those make me happy and make my day.
A strange source of light is beaming into my eyes. I slip into consciousness
slowly, but surely. The light above me is the sun apparently. It’s midday. My
head lulls to the side, but I whip up to examine my surroundings. I find myself
in a bed. The ceiling is wooden, except a small portion directly above me is
made of glass. I look around, and it dawns on me that I am in the makeshift
hospital of the Glade.
The bed is in the middle of a small room. It must have already been a medical
room because of all the plus marks, indicating first-aid, scattered across the
room. Chairs are lined up against the right side of the room. There are a few
people in the room. My eyes light up when I see a sleeping Thomas. Next to him,
a sleeping Minho and Chuck.
“Tommy?” I whisper, trying to wake him without waking the others. “Tommy.”
At the second mention of his name, Thomas stirs in the chair. His eyes meet
mine, and a gentle smile appears on his sleepy face. His eyes shut again before
they fly open again. He practically falls out of the chair, before scrambling
to his feet. This alerts everyone else in the room, and the whole place is sent
in chaos. Thomas regains his posture and runs over to me. His arms wrap around
me, and he pulls me into a tight embrace.
“Holy shit,” Thomas says, pulling back after a long hug. “I could have sworn
you slipped into a coma. You really got jacked up.”
“Yeah,” Minho says, giving me a quick hug. “We’re glad to see you’re awake
after you fell into the pool. Smacked your shuck head off the concrete after
throwing yourself off of Tom-boy here. You had a panic attack looking at the
pool.”
“How long was I out?” I ask, hoping it wasn’t a month-long coma.
“You were out for a few days,” Chuck says. “Thomas, Minho, and I have been in
this room the whole time. We skipped work, and sometimes we would even skip
eating. We just wanted you to wake up, and see your friends.”
I try to process all of this information, and my head begins to hurt. My eyes
meet Thomas’, and red rushes to my face. He smiles at me, and I glance at
everyone around the room. I start laughing for no reason, and in a matter of
moments, everyone in the room is laughing. I stop laughing when my head feels
like it’s going to split apart. My hand instantly goes to my forehead to
investigate. My eyes close in pain. When I open my eyes, I am met with 3
concerned faces staring back at me. I try to shake them off.
“It’s just my head,” I say. “Must have been because of me throwing myself onto
concrete walls lately. I better not make a bloody habit of it.”
“Are you alright?” Thomas asks. “We aren’t sure whether or not you have a
concussion. You should take it easy for a day or two.”
“I’m fine,” I say. “I just really want to get out of this bed.”
I slide off of the bed while swatting away 3 sets of hands persistently trying
to help me up. I fumble standing up, but eventually, I get my balance, and I
start to walk. I almost get to the door, but my legs cramp below me. I flinch,
expecting to hit the ground. Instead, a strong pair of arms catches me. It’s
Thomas, and he throws one of my arms around his shoulder to prop me up.
“It’s either that or bridal style,” Thomas says and throws a joking wink at me.
“Get a room!” Chuck shouts, before exiting the room. “I’m going to go see what
Gally is up to. You guys are nasty.”
Thomas looks at me at the same time as I look at him, and we burst into tears
laughing. At one point, Minho says his goodbyes and exits the room too. Thomas
helps me out of the room, and into the daylight. My eyes struggle to adjust to
the scorching sun, but eventually, I don’t have to squint to see.
“I just realized something,” Thomas says. “This is officially your one-week
Gladiversary! We need to celebrate.”
“Do I look in the mood to be celebrating, Tommy?” I spit, at the mention of
loud partying. “I don’t really want to be in front of a lot of people right
now, and my head is really hurting. It shouldn’t even count if I’ve been
unconscious for most of those days.”
“No, no, no,” Thomas says. “It can be just the two of us, Minho, Chuck, Teresa-
and even Gally if you want. It could even be just the two of us. Either way, we
have to celebrate.”
I sigh, and Thomas takes that as a victory. His hands pump the air, and his
overly loud cheers fill the air. We start walking to who-knows-where until the
kitchen comes into view. I see a few Gladers in line and Frypan at the front.
He notices Thomas and I, and a smile springs to his face. He takes off the
chef’s hat from his head, grabs something, and hops over the counter. He
sprints over to us and shoves the plate into my hand.
“We missed you, Newt,” Frypan says. “It was supposed to be get well soon
cupcakes, but then they said you might slip into a coma. Now they are ‘we are
glad that you are feeling better’ cupcakes.”
“Thanks, Frypan,” I say, before sitting down in my usual spot.
Thomas takes a seat right next to me. I glance around the area, and people are
looking at me. My accident must be known by everyone in the Glade. I feel a
little awkward, and I look down at the cupcakes below. I look up, and Thomas
meets my eyes. He gives me a slight smile, and I look back down in order to try
to hide my grin. It doesn’t work.
“If you want you, you can just ask,” I say. “Don’t want bloody puppy eyes
staring at me while I indulge.”
“That’s not why I was staring,” Thomas says.
“Then why were you staring?” I say, teasingly. “Is it because I’m so pretty.”
Thomas laughs, and then scratches his arms awkwardly. I try not to focus too
hard, so I shove a cupcake in his hand. I watch as he puts it in his mouth. His
eyes widen, and his mouth hangs open. I have four more of these, so at least I
know they won’t go to waste.
“These are salted caramel cupcakes,” Thomas says. “I didn’t know we even got
this stuff.”
“You like em?” I ask, holding a cupcake questionably.
“They’re my favorite,” Thomas says. “No, that is not a ploy to get you to feed
me.”
I take a bite of the cupcake, unlike Thomas shoving the whole thing in his
mouth. Sure enough, it is the best thing ever. My mouth instantly explodes with
flavor. Thomas watches me with an ‘I told you so face, and I shut him up with
another cupcake. Eventually, we run out of cupcakes. Instead of doing something
productive, we play paper football with ripped pieces of Thomas’ plate. He’s
kicking my ass.
“That’s game,” Thomas says, flicking the piece of the plate through the goal I
make with my hands. “3-1 is the final score.”
“I bet I could smoke you at soccer,” I say. “It’s the British in me.”
“Bloody wanker,” Thomas says, poorly mimicking my accent. “Pip pip cheerio, and
all that good stuff.”
I stare at him, mortified until he starts laughing and pounding the table with
his fist. A dull ache in my head makes me feel a bit tired. I stand up in order
to shake the newfound dizzy feeling. Thomas is on his feet immediately.
“Are you ok?” Thomas asks, in a worried voice. “Do you need water or anything.
Tea? Unless that British part of you is turned off at the moment.”
“I think I just need to take a walk,” I say.
“I’ll come with you,” Thomas says, instantly. “Don’t need you passing out in
the middle of the Glade. I should really come.”
I want to say no, but Thomas has his pleading eyes locked and loaded. There is
no way that I am getting out of this. Eventually, my defenses fall, and I find
myself walking side by side with the persistent brunette. A victorious smile is
plastered on his goofy, adorable, beautiful face. The sight of the Glade walls
catches my attention before I can stare.
I run my hands against the part stone, part wood walls. I let my hand drag
across the wall until I reach a special part of the wall. I haven’t been here
since Thomas took me here to carve my name with the other Gladers. Somehow,
standing in front of all of the names on the wall makes me feel more of a part
of the Glade. I start scanning through the names before my eyes land on a
familiar name. It almost brings tears to my eyes.
“Alby,” I say, almost in a whisper, but Thomas’ eyes immediately fall on me.
“He was a good man,” Thomas says. “Hey, this is going to sound off topic.”
“We weren’t really on a topic, to begin with,” I say. “Proceed.”
“What happened at the pool?” Thomas asks. “Did something happen, or do you
normally have panic attacks.”
“It’s nothing really,” I say. “My sister and I jumped into our pool evading
cranks. I had a nightmare about it, so looking at the pool made me remember
her, and how we got separated.”
“How’d you two get separated?” Thomas asks, eyes burning with curiosity. “Is
she-”
“No,” I say. “She isn’t dead as far as I know. We were trying to flag a train
on our railroad down. She made it, but I didn’t. This golden necklace fell off
of her in the escape.”
I gesture to the chain around my neck. To my surprise, Thomas laces his fingers
around the necklace and gets really close to me. His eyes fall onto the
necklace, and I can feel his hot breath on my face. My breath hitches and
Thomas’ eyes dart to my eyes, to my lips, and then to my eyes again. I clear my
throat, and I turn to the wall of names, trying to hide the obvious red in my
cheeks.
“I’m sorry for your sister,” Thomas says, probably trying to clear the air. “I
bet she’s still alive, and I bet she is looking for you.”
“Let’s just change the subject,” I say. “No sense telling me things I gave up
believing years ago.”
Thomas stands and looks at me in silence. I turn in a random direction, and I
start walking. Thomas trails behind me without a word. The moment between us is
officially over. Memories of Thomas following Teresa to bed drift into mind,
and I almost stop in my place. Just when I was forgetting about it too. It’s
just a reminder that I can’t have Thomas and that Thomas doesn’t want me. I
suddenly feel awkward having Thomas near me.
“It’s getting a little late,” I say, gesturing to the sky. “The sun is starting
to set.”
“Oh!” Thomas says, with a grin on his face. “You want to go to my secret place
in one of the watchtowers again?”
“No,” I say. “I think I’m going to go sack out.”
“It’s kind of early to go to sleep,” Thomas says, not missing a beat. “I think
you and I should go do something.”
“We’ve been doing things since I woke up,” I say, getting a little irritated.
“I feel a little dizzy, and I probably need sleep to get better.”
“You do know that we’ve watched you sleep for days, right?” Thomas says. “I’ve
waited for you to wake up because I wanted to see you. Now you’re pouting,
upset, and I have no idea why.”
It makes me a moment to process all of what Thomas is trying to tell me. I
should be a little creeped out that Thomas waits for me to wake up in the
morning, but I’m quite touched. I feel my heart start beating faster and
faster, but reality comes back to me. Thomas is somebody else’s, and it's wrong
of me to try to get him to feel things for me. It wouldn’t be right for me to
do that to Teresa. As much as I loathe the sight of her, she deserves happiness
too.
“Who says I’m upset?” I shout. “I just really need some sleep, Tommy. I’m a bit
irritable because I’m not feeling very well.”
I try to walk a little faster, but Thomas picks up his pace too. His gaze burns
into the back of my head, and I suddenly regret getting out of the hospital
bed. I just need to get to my tree, and then he can’t follow me. I suddenly
spring into a run, and I bolt for the tree in which I sleep in. Thomas falters
but starts running after me. My head starts to pound, and I almost trip over my
own foot. I look back, and Thomas is on my tail. I turn around, and I trip over
a tree root. I fly through the air, and I land on the ground with a thud.
“Fuck,” I say when Thomas finally catches me. “You really need to give me some
space.”
Thomas helps me up to my feet. His hair is messed up from running, and I get
the urge to just fix it with my hands. His eyes are shining like he’s about to
cry. Nothing but a genuinely concerned look is on his face, and I start to feel
bad. I can tell this boy cares about me, but probably not in the way that I
care about him. Thomas holds a tight grip on my arm, and I know that I am
probably going to end up at the mercy of Thomas.
“Not when you’re upset and sick,” Thomas says. “I don’t know if you’re upset
because of your sister, or because of something I did. Either way, you
shouldn’t sleep alone tonight.”
It’s because of this sentence that I find myself in my tree, with Thomas next
to me, trying to find room to stretch. Thomas has me in a bear-hug grip, and
I’m desperate to roll to my side. The hole in the tree was barely big enough to
fit me, let alone two people. Eventually, I manage to break his grasp, and I
lay on my side.
Even asleep, Thomas doesn’t miss a beat. I feel an arm snake around my waist,
and Thomas’ body pressed against my back. His hot breaths hit the back of my
neck, and it sends shivers down my spine. I don’t know how I am going to fall
asleep tonight. Eventually, I do by reminding myself that Thomas doesn’t want
me. No matter how much he seems to care about me, he doesn’t care about me the
way I want him to care about me. It works. I fall asleep with a tear running
down my face.
***** Goodbye Glade *****
Chapter Summary
     The Glade gets attacked by cranks, and now the home that Newt was
     getting used to is now being taken away from him. Who will survive
     this deadly chapter?
Chapter Notes
     Hey hey hey, sorry I'm almost late. I'm not late though teehee. I got
     depression, so I've been feeling down and sick lately. Leave a kudos
     and comment. Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter.
I wake up to something very peaceful.The sound of a bell ringing fills my ears.
I close my eyes once again, and I listen to the gentle rings. Suddenly, the
weight beside me shifts. I look over to see Thomas sitting up with a yawn. He
too hears the gentle rings, but he has a much different expression on his face.
“Shit.” Thomas says, looking over frantically to see where I am. “We need to
get to the Homestead.”
I’m too tired to argue. I’ve been in the Glade long enough to understand the
names of all the places. The Homestead is basically town hall. It’s also the
living quarters for some of the higher ranking Gladers. I take my time
collecting myself, but Thomas hops down the several feet high tree, and hits
the ground with a thump.
“Hurry up!” Thomas screams at me. “We might not have much time!”
I’m confused to say the least, but I too hop down the tree. Thomas catches me,
and he breaks into a full sprint. This catches me by surprise, but I follow him
with ease. We run through the forest part of the Glade, and we eventually make
it out into the clearing where the Homestead is located. I feel something
tackle me from behind.
“Tommy!” I say, as I hit the ground. “Shit!”
I raise my two feet up to my stomach, and I push the crank off of my body. It
soars through the air, before hitting the ground with a stomach-churning crack.
Thomas runs over to me, and raises me to the ground. His gaze lies on me for a
second more before we start running to the Homestead.
“They got in.” Thomas says, when we see the Homestead. “We’re being attacked by
cranks.”
“That doesn’t sound very nice.” I say. “I can take on a couple of cranks
myself.”
Thomas gives me a look as if telling me that this isn’t what I think it is. I
roll my eyes, and I set my sights for the building a few feet away from us.
Thomas tries to open the door, but it’s locked. In the distance, I see a crank
charging for Thomas. I run up, and I tackle it to the ground. Realizing I don’t
have my pack full of weapons, I regret my decision. An idea pops in my head,
and I put my hands on it’s head. The crank struggles to get free, but a quick
tug of my hands, I snap it’s neck.
“Newt!” Thomas says. “The door is open!”
I look over my shoulder to see Thomas and Minho standing in the open entrance
of the Homestead. Minho throws something at me, but I duck. Behind me, a crank
falls on it’s knees, and then to the ground. I look at Minho, and he smirks at
me. I get back on my feet, and I run for the door. As soon as I get in, the
door is closed behind me.
I scan the room. Around twenty Gladers sit on the floor with knives in their
hands. A few go with the few chairs spread out across the room. I make out
Teresa, Chuck, and Zart from the people who I know. I don’t see any sign
of Gally.Teresa makes her over to me, and hands me a small knife. It’s my small
knife from my house. Nostalgia fills me, but someone interrupts my thoughts.
“What are we going to do, Thomas?” Minho asks. “Cranks are running around
everywhere. Where were you anyways? You’re usually up and about with Teresa.”
“Newt wasn’t feeling well, so I spent the night with him.” Thomas says, looking
at a pouting Teresa. “If we manage to live through this, I promise I’ll make it
up to you.”
I vomit in my mouth a little, and it goes unnoticed to everyone except Minho.
He looks at me, then looks at Teresa, then looks at me again. This time, he has
a suggestive grin on his face. Great, now I feel like running around with the
cranks for a bit. The moment doesn’t get better when I hear screaming in the
distance.
“Great.” Chuck says. “I’m only twelve. I don’t want to die yet.”
“You won’t die.” I reply. “I’ll die first.”
“Second.” Minho says. “I won’t let you die either. Greenies need protecting.”
“Third.” Thomas says playfully. “Can’t rely on you to save anyone’s ass,
Minho.”
“Can we crack jokes later?” Teresa says. “We have issues to take care of. Like
500, man-eating, monster problems.”
I look around at the group of people around me. We all have weapons, but how
many of us actually have experience with them. I know that I have experience
with my knife, but I don’t expect Chuck to be as skilled with it as me.
Fighting the horde may not be the brightest option. I mentally put it as a last
resort.
“What if we ambush them?” Frypan asks, making his appearance known. “We could
just charge them from the Homestead. They are cranks, so they won’t be able to
expect something like this.”
“That’s a terrible idea.” Minho says, not even trying to hide his dislike for
Frypan’s idea. “That is a definite way to get some, many, most, or even all of
us killed. We are trying to find a way to get all of us out of here.”
Minho and Frypan get into an argument about the best way to get everyone out of
the Glade alive. I usually get out of crank situations by outsmarting them, but
there are far too many of us to pull stunts like that. I look over to Thomas,
who catches my eye. He shoots me a comforting smile, but that isn’t exactly
what I am looking for. I walk a little to my left until I am next to Thomas.
“Thanks for the smile,” I say. “But I was hoping to know what your plan is. I
don’t have any ideas besides taking a chance and fighting these bastards.”
“I think we should fight them too,” Thomas starts. “But a lot of people here
have barely even used a knife before. We really should have practiced for this
sort of situation.”
Maybe Thomas is right. We should have trained for a predicament like this. If
we would have, maybe we wouldn’t be sitting here, wondering what to do next,
deciding which plan will result in the least amount of casualties. I’m not
really scared, but more sad that some faces in this room I will most likely
never see again. The chances of everyone making it out alive are slim to none.
Which faces will I never see again is the issue.
I look around, and my eyes land on Chuck. He’s the youngest looking member of
the Glade, so he needs to be protected the most. He looks around the homestead,
until his eyes finally land on me. He gives me a nervous look, and I gesture
for him to come over. He obliges. Now I stand in front of the small, chubby,
brown-haired boy, unsure of what to say.
“No matter what happens,” I say. “We’re going to get you out of here
alive, Chuckie. I promise. You’re the youngest out of all of us, so you have
more of a life to live. If anyone is going to die today, it sure as hell isn’t
going to be you. Do you understand?”
I feel Thomas’ gaze burning into the side of my head. At some point, the
fighting stopped, and most of the people in the Homestead is staring at me. I
suddenly feel self-conscious, but Chuck nods nevertheless.
“Greenbean.” Zart says. “If you weren’t a part of us before, you sure as hell
are now.”
A few whoops and claps come from some of the Gladers, but it quickly dies out
when someone reminds them that cranks are attracted to sound. As if on cue,
gurgling screams emit from outside of the Homestead, and it sends shivers down
my spine. I certainly start to feel nervous now. Thomas leaves my side, and
takes his place next to Teresa. Sadness starts consuming me, and I realize that
Chuck’s eyes are still on me.
“Don’t worry.” Chuck says. “We’ll be getting out of here alive. That means
Thomas too, so you can still have something to pin after.”
Red rushes to my face, and my jaw drops. My eyes advert from the kid’s face, to
Thomas’, then to any potential eavesdroppers, and then back onto Chuck. A
newfound smiles appears on the kid’s face, and I regret everything up until
now. I am so flustered, that I almost miss the shining light at the corner of
my eye. My head snaps to the source of the light, and I choke on my spit. On
the wall of the Homestead, a single fire dances on the wall.
“Fire!” Minho screams, and everyone starts panicking. “Everyone get out of the
Homestead, and head for the Glade exit. If anything tries to get in your way…
fight!”
A few people make it to the door before Chuck and I do. Chuck is practically
glued to my side. When the door flies open, cranks are waiting for us, as if
they understood everything that Minho said. One second of silence falls. I
swear that I would be able to hear a pin drop in this moment, and before I know
it, it’s over.
Screams and the sound of bodies falling fill the air, and I don’t even realize
I’m outside until Chuck and I burst into to running at full speed. I take
Chuck’s hand in mind to make sure that I don’t lose him in the fray. I scan the
Glade for Thomas, but I lose sight of him. Smoke fills my nose, and I turn
around for a quick second. The whole Homestead is engulfed in flames. Part of
the forest is on fire, and some of the buildings ignite before my very eyes. I
turn around, and I keep running.
A crank runs toward me, in the direction I am running. I pull out my knife, and
I bury it into the crank’s chest, and a swing of my leg sends it flying into
the air. A crank tries to come at me from my right, but I swing my arm, and I
knife cuts the side of it’s head. With a scream, the figure falls limp, and
hits the ground with a stomach-churning sound.
Before I know it, the grip on my hand gets torn off. I whirl around, and Chuck
is barely holding back a crank. He tries to stab it with a piece of glass, but
the crank swipes it away from his hands. I charge the crank before it realizes
that I’m still there, and I tackle it to the ground. I punch it once twice, and
I stab it in the head. I make quick work getting off of the crank, and Chuck
and I trek to the other side of the Glade.
Horrible screams piece my air, but also shouts of victory do. I focus my
attention to the Glade gates, and I see that  few people make it to the end of
the Glade. Chuck and I are about halfway there, but we’re still kicking.
Somewhere in the crowd of victorious Glader, I spot Thomas and Teresa. Minho is
almost at the end, along with Zart and Frypan. The Gladers I do not see at all
are Clint, and Jeff. What luck that the Glade doctors are dead. I suddenly
realize that Gally is also nowhere to be seen.
As if on cue, I hear Gally shout. My eyes trail up the Glade walls, and I
see Gally shouting for the cranks to come at him. He sits up on a watchtower as
a ton of cranks climb up the support beams in a desperate attempt to get to
him. One eventually does, but Gally whacks it off of the tower, sending it
plummeting to the ground.
I focus my attention back onto where I am going. I look straight ahead to see a
crank run directly in front of me. My grasp on Chuck is broken, and I am
sent flying into the air. My foot must have caught the crank too because both
the crank and I are on the ground in a dazed state. My leg feels as if I
fell from a cliff. I pray to God that it isn’t broken.
“Run Chuck!” I shout, as Chuck comes to my aid. “Leave me you shank, just get
out of here!”
“I can’t!” Chuck says. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Then go get some help.” I says, knowing that nobody will arrive in time to
save me. “Go bring Thomas back.”
He nods his head, and makes it to the end of the Glade. I start crawling my way
there, but I don’t make it very far before the crank I toppled finds me again.
It drops like a stone directly on top of me, and the wind instantly leaves me.
I cry out in pain, but I slam my knife into it’s chest. I decide that I am
dying on my own terms, or I am taking out as many of these bloody bastards as I
can. Either way, shit is going down, and it’s going down now.
I manage to stand up on the one leg that doesn’t feel broken. A crank comes at
me from behind, but it’s like I sense it. I hop to my left, and I swing my
knife into it’s back. With a scream, it falls to the ground. Another one tries
tackling me, but I dive to my left. On my knees, I get to the creature, and I
stab it into the side.
“Newt!” Thomas screams, but I ignore him. “Newt! I’m coming!”
I know that I’ll be dead by the time he gets here. Six cranks notice my
existence, and they all charge at me at once. I am by no means that
last Glader still running for the exit, but nobody cares enough to stop to aid
me. They all seem to concerned about saving their own skin. I guess if I would
have done that, maybe I wouldn’t be in the situation that I am in now. I don’t
want regret to be the last thing that I think about. I don’t regret getting
Chuck out of the Glade, and I hope that my life goes unwasted. If this is going
to be my last moments, I want to think of something hopeful.
Six hungry cranks run full speed at me. I grab my sister’s necklace because
it’s the last thing I want to feel if I am not going to feel anything anymore.
I want my last thoughts to be of my sister. Out of the corner of my eye, I see
something. Gally is running toward me, with a giant wooden pole in his hand. I
turn to the horde just as a crank sweeps me off of my feet. Pain shoots through
me, but my hand is still quicker than the crank. I dive my knife into the ribs
of the crank upon impact. When I hit the ground, I see more cranks right on my
tail.
“Newt!” Thomas yells, but this time, he is much closer to me.
I feel two very strong arms pick me up, but I can no longer stand on my leg.
Another pair of arms pick me up by my legs. Out of shock, I kick forward. Minho
shouts, but has my legs. I feel bad, but my head feels too dizzy to make out an
apology. I manage to mumble out random slurred words to get Minho’s attention.
“I forgive you shank.” Minho grumbles between breaths. “No worries.”
Eventually, we reach the gates of the Glade. Behind Minho, I catch a quick
glimpse of the place that I call home. All buildings are now on fire, and the
forest is smoldering. I see the tree that I sleep in, and it’s a mess too.
Bodies litter the ground, and I want to puke. It occurs to me that we may not
be returning to the Glade anytime soon.
“Stay with me, Newt.” I hear Thomas say. “It’s going to be ok.”
“I know, Tommy.” I reply, turning slightly to meet his worried gaze. “I know.”
All the remaining Gladers stand outside the walls of their once-called home,
wondering where to go next. I am sat against the Glade wall close to the
entrance, and Thomas checks my leg. He deems it not to be broken, but badly
sprained. I’m lucky that my foot isn’t broken, but I might have a limp for a
while.
“Oh my god!” I suddenly scream, alerting Thomas and Minho, who are right by my
side. “Where’s Chuck?!”
“I’m right here, clumsy liar.” Chuck says, appearing from a few people behind
Minho. “You lied to me to get me out of the Glade. You said to bring back
Thomas, and you knew you’d be dead by then if Gally hadn’t stepped in to save
you.”
A pang of guilt hits me like a brick, but I refuse to apologize to Chuck
because I know he would have died if I hadn’t lied to him. As much as I hate
him being mad at me, him being dead is a lot worse. Gally suddenly pops into my
mind too, and I look around for him. I come up short.
“I didn’t want to break my promise.” I say, to Chuck, but then I look at
Thomas. “Tommy, where’s Gally?”
Thomas looks at me, then looks at Minho. I look at Minho, but he only shakes
his head. I look at Thomas, but he only stares at the ground. Gally is dead.
The realisation almost makes me cry. A few tears slip down my cheeks when I
figure out that he would be alive now if he hadn’t saved me. It’s my fault that
Gally is dead.
“It isn’t your fault.” Thomas says. “Gally was tough, but he knew the risks of
saving you. He chose to risk his life to save you. I take back everything I’ve
ever said about him.”
“I don’t.” Minho says. “He was an asshole up until he saved Newt. For that, I
will always be grateful.”
Thomas and Minho start laughing, and I shock myself by joining in. Some
other Gladers start joining in, but I don’t think they know what they are
laughing at. I think they are just relieved to be able to laugh after a tragedy
like this, or they are desperate to find some happiness. However small it may
be. Right in front of me, I spot Teresa staring at me. I smile, and I wave to
her. She runs over, and gives me a hug.
“Thank goodness you are alive!” Teresa yells, and I slightly believe her. “If I
was in that situation, I probably would have rolled over and died, but you
didn’t. Complete respect from me, man.”
“You should have seen him!” Thomas says, a bit too loudly. “Even after the
crank that hurt his foot took him down, Newt still continued to fight. He took
like three cranks down before I even got there. All of them, he took down with
one foot. Can you even believe that?!”
I smile, and start laughing at Thomas’ fangirl ranting. Somewhere in the middle
of his ranting, his arm snakes around my neck. I look around and Minho, Chuck,
Teresa, and Thomas are all smiling. For some reason, it makes me feel better to
know that they care so much about me. Somehow, even after all of this, they
give me hope that, one day, the world may return to normal again. 
***** Bestie Blessings *****
Chapter Summary
     After the raid on the Glade, the Gladers try and find a new place to
     call their home.
Chapter Notes
     Heeheehee. I love this. Leave a kudos and a comment because you know
     you love it too.
A question hangs around the group of twenty or so remaining Gladers like a
poisonous musk looming in the skies. We march our way through the city with
weapons in our hands and defeat in our hearts. We lost a ton of people today,
and it was all because of the cranks lighting the Homestead on fire. How did
they do that anyway? How did they know catching the place on fire would drive
us out? The questions remain a mystery.
Thomas walks by my side, which is a surprise to me. I want to be angry at him
for leaving me back in the Glade, but I can’t find it in my heart to. I know if
it were Thomas as Teresa, I wouldn’t leave either. Now, I have Minho’s
shoulders as a support while I hobble through this vast wasteland.
Rubble brushes past my feet with almost every step. The smell of rotting flesh,
which I have unfortunately grown accustomed to, leaves my nose burning and
demanding fresh air. Unfortunately, this is not the place I am going to get it.
I mentally add to the list of things that I am not going to find here which
includes: Hope, happiness, clean clothes, food, and water. The last two are the
worst because I did not eat breakfast, nor did I eat very much the previous
day. My stomach grumbles at the thought of food.
“Here,” Minho says, slipping something in my pocket. “It’s some weird protein
bar of some sort. I’m pretty sure it was in your bookbag back in the Glade. We
went through your bag your first day here to make sure you weren’t hiding a
bomb or anything. Though, you had quite a lot of guns for comfort.”
“That’s why I couldn’t find it,” I say, laughing. “Thank’s for the food, but
also you’re a bloody bastard for going through my things. Completely
understandable though…”
We go silent for a little while as we pass through the last set of houses,
before finding ourselves on a highway. It’s official. We have no idea where we
are going. The street is littered with wrecked cars, toppled street lamps, and
rusted signs. Oddly, corpses aren’t spread across the highway like they are in
the city. It’s as if they got up, and walked away.
“I can’t believe we are leaving the Glade,” Chuck says when he slows his pace
to talk to me. “I didn’t expect to give it up.”
“I’m not surprised,” I reply, earning a confused look from Chuck. “Think I can
take cranks down on one foot?”
“Well, I sure as hell know you can!” Chuck yells, a little too loud for
comfort. “Gosh, Newt. I saw you take them down with a hurt foot. You can’t play
all innocent British boy on me.”
Thomas turns to us, and Chuck retreats a few feet behind me. Minho shifts a
little, and I feel like I am weighing him down. I go to move his arm, but he
refuses to. Eventually, he reluctantly lets go, and I try to hop on my own. I
fail miserably, but Thomas catches me before I hit the ground. The next thing I
know, Thomas snakes an arm around my waist, and I am pressed against him. Red
ruses to my face as we continue to walk.
“You ok?” Thomas whispers to me. “You must hate being hurt.”
“I suppose.” I say. “It’s not the pain that’s bad, but it’s the dependency I
now have to have on people like you and Minho. I can’t walk without someone
helping me, and it sucks.”
“I guess I never thought of it like that,” Thomas says.
“What?” I ask, not really sure what he means by that.
“Nothing,” Thomas replies, sheepishly. “I guess I’ve just been thinking about
you, and how you’re feeling miserable. I just wished I could take your pain
away, but I never considered that pain wasn’t what was bothering you. Now I
wish I could make it better.”
“You’re already taking the pain away, Tommy,” I say, giggling a little. “You’re
helping me walk. That takes the physical pain away. You’re also talking to me
and making me feel better. You don’t have to pity me though because I hate
that. That’s the whole reason this foot is making me miserable.”
Thomas catches my eye, and he nods understanding. I feel the grip on my waist
squeeze a bit, and then releases. Did Thomas just hug me? My chest tightens,
and my heart starts beating so hard that I think Thomas can actually hear it. I
try to distract myself by looking around at anything. All I see is road, cars,
and mess. I wonder where the cranks and the corpses are. The chances of
everyone being alive on this street is very unlikely.
“Gas station!” I shout, and everyone’s heads pop up. “Look!”
The Gladers bolt down the highway, and I feel bad for keeping Thomas behind. He
looks anxious to get to where the Gladers are, but his grasp on me remains. I
try to wiggle out, but Thomas pulls me back in with a wag of his finger.
“We’ll get there,” Thomas says, in a calmer voice than I believe he feels.
“There’s no rush.”
“Bloody let go of me,” I reply, trying to bite his hand. “I know you want to
get there as fast as I do.”
“Then you struggling will only slow us down.” Thomas reasons, and I stop. “See?
We’ll be there in no time.”
We do eventually arrive at the gas station, and the Gladers are almost all
inside. Thomas and I hobble in, and cool air hits my face. I look to my right,
and there is food everywhere. Beef jerky, candy, Klondike bars, and everything
else. I look to my left, and there are drinks everywhere. Soda, slushies, and
every other sugary substance known to man. Thomas gets distracted, and I
instantly bite down on his arm. I fall to the ground, and I squirm over to get
something.
“Ouch!” Thomas yelps, looking down at me. “You could have asked me to walk over
to the jerky section.”
Thomas bends down, and lifts me back up, which surprises me. I bit him, and he
still decides to help me out. I regret biting him a little. We walk up and down
the aisles, putting things we want in a bag. I look behind me, and Zart is
pretending to be the cashier. I laugh as Minho hits Zart in the head with his
bag of goodies.
“Oww, Minho!” Zart yells. “What the hell is in that thing?!”
Thomas rolls his eyes, and I almost bury my head in his shoulder to prevent
laughing. Thomas directs us to a machine that isn’t hooked up anymore. I hit it
with my fist, and lottery tickets fall through the opening. The grip around me
tightens, and I look up to see Thomas frozen in horror. I look in front of me,
and I regret it instantly. A corpse is on the lottery machine. The head is
pressed against the glass that currently protects us, and a bloody trail leads
to the floor. I fling myself backward, bringing both Thomas and I to the
ground.
“The shuck?” Teresa asks, coming out of the aisle to our right. “What’s wrong
with you two- holy shit!”
Teresa notices the lottery machine in the background and goes pale as a sheet.
She pulls out a butcher knife, one from Frypan’s kitchen, and readies it in her
hand. Nothing happens though. The body doesn’t move, and neither does Teresa.
She keeps the weapon in her hand and walks away.
“Remind me never to scare Teresa,” Thomas says, smiling at me, and I feel his
hot breath against my face. “We should get up now.”
We do, but Thomas has to help me up. I miss Thomas’ face being so close to
mine, and I consider getting startled again. My mind short-circuits when I see
a bag of goldfish. I start tossing and turning in Thomas’ arms to reach the big
bag at the bottom. I do not bite though… even though I am getting really close
to it. Eventually, Thomas catches on and gets me in arms-reach of the bag.
“Yes!” I shout, putting it in our bag. “God, I love goldfish. I am so glad we
have food now.”
“And we can get more now!” Thomas shouts, dragging us to a display case.
“Seeds!”
There is, indeed, melon and pumpkin seeds in the case. Minho runs over, and the
three of us break the glass. Why someone put seeds in a display case is beyond
me, but I am glad they did. Those seeds just saved our lives.  We can start
farming again. We can farm when we find a place to start a new life.
“Why don’t we just stay here?” I ask, getting Thomas’ attention. “There’s food,
water, shelter, and no cranks as far as I can see.”
“We should stay for a night or two,” Thomas says. “I just don’t feel like
starting a new civilization in a gas station. That isn’t fancy at all.”
“We should take what we can get,” Minho says. “For now, we should take what we
can get.”
I leave it to them to argue about whether or not we should live in the gas
station. I can survive practically anywhere, or I wouldn’t have survived the
last four years of my life. I’ve been in a better state now, than at least 3 of
those years. I pull off of Thomas’ arm, and he doesn’t even realize it. I keep
myself up by hanging onto the aisles. Someone appears by my side, and I expect
it to be Thomas.
“Caught me,” I say, but it isn’t to Thomas. “Teresa?”
“Hey,” Teresa says, holding a crutch in her hand. “I found this behind the
register. I thought you might need it.”
“Desperately,” I say, reaching for it, only to have Teresa pull it back.
“Can we talk?” She asks. “I’ll give it to you if you say yes. I just really
want to know something.”
“Sure, Teresa,” I say, a little agitated that she doesn’t feel like she can
talk to me without an incentive of some sort. “Can I start by just saying that
you can talk to me anytime you want. You don’t need to hold the crutch over my
head to do so.”
“Oh?” Teresa says, looking at the crutch with an apologetic look on her face.
“Sorry, I just need to have a really serious discussion.”
She hands the crutch to me, and I instantly let go of the aisle. I struggle at
first, but Teresa helps me adjust to walking on the crutch. I start to think
that there really isn’t anything to hate about her. I hear Thomas laugh a few
aisles away, and then I am reminded, once again, that Thomas belongs to someone
else. I look at Teresa, who seems to be contemplating what to do next.
“Do you like Thomas?” She asks, and I feel as if my whole world starts
shattering in front of me. “Be honest please.”
“I- uh..” I stutter. “Of course I don’t like Thomas...”
“Please!” Teresa snorts, laughing at me. “You’re a terrible liar! Look, I just
want to make sure you’re a nice guy for Tom.”
I stare at her in complete and utter horror. I check the surrounding area to
make sure that Thomas isn’t eavesdropping. Teresa laughs even harder and pats
me on the back. I stare at her, wondering what must be going through her head.
My mind just feels completely frozen, and I have no idea what to do.
“But- but aren’t you two…?” I say, hoping I don’t have to complete my sentence.
“Like.. aren’t you two a thing?”
“Thomas and I?” Teresa asks, eyes wild with disbelief. “Oh my gosh! You think
Thomas and I are a couple? No! We’ve been best friends since we were babies.
Our moms were best friends too! Thomas is like a brother to me, Newt. Gosh, you
must have hated me, thinking that I was in the way of you and Thomas.”
Guilt hits me like a truck, and I suddenly feel a deep care for Teresa. Thomas
and Teresa are not a couple, and I hated Teresa for no reason. Now, in some
random gas station, I realize that Thomas and I could happen. A big smile
appears on my face, and I give Teresa the biggest hug I can possibly muster.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t hate you per say. I just didn’t like that
I couldn’t have Thomas. I thought his heart belonged to you, and I guess I just
misjudged you.”
“Well I think Thomas must really really like you, Newt,” Teresa says. “Thomas
and I have always slept in the corner of the Glade. The night he spent with
you, I knew you were special to him.”
Special to him. I am special to him. I am special to Thomas. Thomas thinks I’m
special. I want to jump up and down and throw something because I cannot
contain my happiness. Teresa looks at me like I’m an explosion waiting to
happen, and smiling. I look around for Thomas, but he’s on the other side of
the store.
“Oh. My. God!” I scream. “Yes! Thank you, Teresa, you have no idea how much I
like Tommy! I am just really bloody ecstatic!”
“You’re welcome,” Teresa says, patting herself on the back. “I give you my
bestie blessings to make as many babies with Tom as you want.”
My face switches to many different expressions, and Teresa breaks down
laughing. I decide that I really really like Teresa now, and I start laughing
too. I will definitely take her up on her offer, but now the question remains.
What do I do now? Do I ask Thomas if he likes me back? Do I wait for the right
moment?
I look at the spot across the room where Thomas was. He isn’t there anymore. I
scan the room again for the brunette, and I don’t stop until I see him. He is
talking to Zart, who is laughing at what Thomas must have said. I want to go
over and talk to him. I give Teresa one more hug before going over to talk to
Thomas. Before I do, I absentmindedly start playing with the chain around my
neck. That is until I realize that it’s not there.
I check the store for the golden necklace that belonged to my sister. I start
peering up and down each aisle. Teresa helps my search but comes up empty. I
check over by the lottery machine. There it is, on the ground where I fell on
top of Thomas. I put it around my neck, and I lace my fingers around it.
Laughing, I look up and I go dead silent. The corpse is no longer in the
machine.
***** Our New Home? *****
Chapter Summary
     One more member of the Gladers fall, and a new home is found. Is it
     safe, and major Newtmas moment this chapter.
Chapter Notes
     Ouch, even I can't keep up with this anymore. I didn't post so that
     way I could post one today, one tomorrow, and then another one on
     Saturday or Sunday. I also got a little-distracted dealing with
     problems at school. Turns out, my crush is homophobic and loathes the
     sight of me now... I guess that's the way life goes, but life also
     goes on.
“Everyone stay quiet!” I yell, but nobody is listening. “There’s a crank on the
loose!”
My eyes dart around the room for the missing creature. The only sounds that I
hear are the laughs from nearby Gladers. Teresa takes notice in my demeanor,
and her eyes fall on the place where the crank used to be. She goes pale as a
sheet and takes the knife out of her pocket. I expect to get attacked at any
moment, but a realization leads me to turn my head to Teresa. Horror fills my
mind.
“Aren’t they attracted to sound?” I say, getting an ‘and your point is?’ look
from Teresa. “Doesn’t that mean they will attack them, not us? If the crank
isn’t coming toward us, then it must be moving toward-”
I’m cut off by a Glader screaming. It takes me a moment to realize that it’s
Thomas’ screaming. My head whips toward his direction. I see Zart on the
ground, a crank on top of him, and a knife in its skull. Teresa and I run
toward them, but one look at Zart, and I know that he’s a goner. Blood pools
around his body at an alarming rate, and gasps like a fish out of water.
“Kill me!” Zart screams. “Kill me before I become one of them.”
Thomas looks at me and then looks at a terrified Chuck. He points his head in
Chuck’s direction, and I think I know what he means. I run over on one foot,
dropping my crutch, and I shield his eyes from seeing the situation that’s
about to unfold. I look over to Thomas, and he has a knife poised in his hand.
He looks at Zart, unsure, but Zart nods his head. Thomas hands Zart the knife.
“I’m sorry you guys have to see me go like this,” Zart whispers, and buries a
knife right into his own heart.
My breath gets caught in my throat. Zart lays unconscious on the floor, with a
crank right on top of him. Thomas holds another knife in his hand. This time,
he looks ready to use it. Zart’s eyes fly open, only this time, it isn’t him
anymore. Instead, it’s a monster inside him. The crank Zart thrashes on the
ground for moments, but Thomas does not hesitate to plunge the knife into
Zart’s face. With a gasp, Zart goes limp once more.
Instead of uncovering Chuck’s eyes, I direct him outside of the gas station. I
feel wet against my hands, and I uncover the boy’s eyes. Chuck turns around and
looks at me. His face is red, and his eyes are puffy. Tears stream down his
cheeks, though Chuck tries to remain calm. I press himself up against the side
of the building and falls to the ground. He plants his chest two his knees and
uses his arms to cover his face. Cries fill the air around me. I sit down next
to him, and I throw my arm around his back.
“It’s ok,” I say, trying to calm the boy. “Everything is going to be ok. I
promised you that I’m going to get you out alive, yeah? Well, the same thing
goes for this bloody situation too.”
“What’s the point of living when everyone I love is dying all around me?” Chuck
says, making my jaw hit the floor. “How can anyone stand living anymore?”
I want to comfort Chuck, and tell him little lies to keep him going. I open my
mouth, but I can’t seem to find words to say. I can’t believe such a mature and
bold statement came from the broken down kid in front of my eyes. The sound of
feet hitting the parking lot beside me gets my attention.
“Newt?!” Thomas screams. “Chuck?! Oh crap! They’ve disappeared!”
“We’re over here,” I say, and Thomas pokes his head around the corner. “God,
you’re such a bloody moron.”
“Nice to see you alive and well,” Thomas says, lightly punching me in the
shoulder. “How’s the Chuckling doing?”
I laugh, but only a whine emits from the crying boy next to me. Thomas sighs,
before sitting in front of Chuck. Thomas takes his hands and grabs the sides of
Chuck’s exposed neck. Thomas moves his hands a little, and Chuck is thrown into
a laughing fit. I smile as Thomas continues to tickle the poor thing.
“St-stop!” Chuck gasps. “You kn- know! Haha! I hate that!”
Thomas stops, and Chuck sits back up. He stops crying and smiles at Thomas.
More footsteps are heard, and Chuck runs over to the group of concerned
Gladers. Thomas looks at me. A grin is plastered on the beautiful brunette’s
face. I scowl at him, nevertheless. Thomas holds his two hands out to me.
“You seem to be mad,” Thomas tells me. “I bet you’re ticklish somewhere.”
My jaw drops to the ground, and Thomas roars in laughter. His hands move toward
me anyway. I swat at him, but he breaks through my hands. The next thing I
know, I am thrown into a laughing fit. I can barely open my eyes, but I can
tell Thomas is laughing almost as hard as me. The sound of someone clearing
their throat makes me jump up off of the ground. Thomas doesn’t seem to be
fazed at all. I look in the direction that the sound came from, and I sigh when
it turns out to be Minho.
“Get a room,” Minho says. “I see you guys cheered Chuck up. We’ve all decided
to not stay here, so get your bags and let’s go.”
I look over to Thomas, and he notices that I need help walking. He runs to my
side, and I throw an arm around his shoulder. I start walking, but he stops. I
look at him, but he sweeps me off of my feet. I think he’s tripping me, but
then he catches me in his arms. Then he carries me bridal style into the gas
station.
“I gotcha, Newt,” Thomas says. “Jesus. You need to eat a hamburger. You’re very
light.”
“Good.” I spit. “I can get used to this anyways.”
I try not to look at the two bodies. We make our way to our bag, and we lift it
off of the ground. Then we exit the gas station, where a few Gladers are still
waiting for us to catch up. Eventually, Thomas lets me walk beside him, instead
of carrying me. I kind of miss being held so close to him, but I have a feeling
that it probably won’t be the last time.
“Where are we going?” I ask Thomas, who I catch staring at me. “I mean- this
highway cannot last bloody forever, right?”
“I don’t know where we’re going,” Thomas says, in a solemn tone. “I never
expected to lose the Glade. How in hell were we supposed to fight fifty
cranks?! On top of that, we lost a lot of people. You almost died!”
I start feeling bad for Thomas because he, along with all the other Gladers,
lost the Glade. Their home is gone, and now we are just wondering a random
street. Maybe we’ll find somewhere better than the Glade, or maybe we’ll just
get eaten by cranks. Either way, the Glade is gone, and now we need to find a
new place to live.
I yawn, and I realize that it’s getting pretty late. The sun is setting behind
the line of trees behind me. I look over to Thomas, and he looks exhausted as
well. We can only sleep if we find a safe place to lay though. They have to
find a safe place. I see three climbable trees right next to me. I’m the last
person anyone needs to worry about at this point.
“I want to collapse right here,” Thomas complains.
“Well, you’ve been doing the walking of one and a half persons,” I say. “By
helping me.
“Don’t mention it,” Thomas says. “I care about you too much to leave you
hanging.”
I have to turn my head away in order to hide the blush on my face. Thomas
lightly laughs and taps my arm. I think he pulls me in closer, but I’m not
completely sure. It makes butterflies float around in my stomach nevertheless.
“You think I can walk?” I ask, not really sure whether or not I want to try
walking on my own. “I think I can walk a little.”
“I’m beginning to like this though,” Thomas mutters, but slowly releases his
grip on me. “Be careful, Newt.”
I progressively start walking on my own. It slightly hurts, but not enough to
fall or lose my balance. I take step after step, and I feel like a baby taking
its first steps. Once I start walking on my own though, I feel as though I’ve
just climbed a mountain. Thomas runs over to me and gives me a hug.
“Congrats.” He says. “You can officially walk again.”
“I think I might have a bloody limp for a while,” I reply.
We continue to walk with the other Gladers. A few people notice me walking, and
they congratulate me. Thomas trails a little behind me, but we still walk next
to each other. For some reason, he just doesn’t seem set on talking to anyone
but me. I don’t mind. In fact, I really enjoy Thomas’ company. I can talk to
him all day if I want to. I think I have been talking to him for a big portion
of it anyways.
“I see a couple of houses!” Minho shouts. “We can stay in those!”
Thomas and I smile at each other, and all the Gladers start stampeding to the
collection of small houses. They are up a tiny hill, but I think that I am
capable of reaching the top. It doesn’t matter anyway. Thomas presses his hands
against my back and helps me up the hill anyway. The gesture does not go
unnoticed by Chuck, who smiles suggestively at us. I glare at him. He laughs
before entering a tiny, tan house. It looks like we’re splitting up.
“How many people do you think can fit in one house?” Thomas asks. “I know you,
me, Teresa, Minho, and Chuck will probably end up in a house together.”
“We have to clear them of cranks, first,” I mention, and Thomas groans. “I know
that you probably don’t feel like it, but we have to.”
At the end of the day, all the houses are crank-free. The Gladers distribute
themselves between each house. I am in a house with Thomas, Teresa, Minho,
Chuck, and Frypan settle in a worn down, light blue house. The color is faded
and barely hints at what it originally looked like. We walk into the house, and
it tells a different story. The living room, kitchen, and dining room are all
mostly intact. Thomas helps me up a flight of rickety, old, wooden stairs. We
find ourselves choosing between three bedrooms.
“If you want to share one with me…” Thomas asks me, and I suddenly feel
anxious. “I wouldn’t mind.”
“Sure, Tommy,” I say, and Teresa winks at me from another bedroom. “Better than
sleeping alone in a tree… by a little.”
“By a lot since it’s going to be with me,” Thomas says, with a playful wink.
“You bloody wish.” I retort as I enter the room closest to the bathroom. “I
like this one. Come check it out.”
Thomas enters the room, and I feel like I’m living for a second time. There’s
only one bed, so Thomas and I will have to share. The walls are a faded tan.
The ceiling is a light grey color that reminds me of smoke. Everything just
seems to be perfect about the room. I feel super excited that I am sharing it
with Thomas. I look over to Thomas, who doesn’t seem to be looking at the room
but looking at me. I suddenly feel like I need to get something off of my
chest.
“Can we talk?” I ask. “It’s kind of important because I just feel like I need
to tell you before this room thing is permanent.”
“If you kick in your sleep, I really don’t mind,” Thomas says, laughing. “You
can tell me anything you want. I won’t judge.”
I’m going to tell Thomas that I like him. This is a make or break situation for
me. My heart is beating a million beats a second. Thomas notices my nervous
demeanor and places his hands on my shoulders. I have a suspicion that me might
like me back, but I am not certain of it. If he doesn’t, then I guess my life
is going to be awkward. I only have to tell him because this place is starting
a new life. This room is where I’m going to be waking up every single day,
hopefully for the rest of my life. I want to wake up to someone who I know
likes me back, and wants to spend every morning waking up to me. This is the
reason I sit Thomas down on our only bed, and I shake nervously.
“I like you,” I say, biting the bullet, and hoping that Thomas feels the same.
“I’m only telling you because I feel like this place is where we’re going to be
spending a lot of time at. If I’m going to wake up every morning to someone, I
want to know that they are looking forward to seeing my face too. I’ve liked
you the day you rescued me from cranks. If you don’t feel the same, I truly
understand, but I just need to know.”
“I- um,” Thomas says, clearly not knowing how to respond to me. “I’m uh…
straight. I- I think. I never liked a… guy before- so I think I’m straight. I’m
sorry Newt.”
“It’s alright, Thomas.” I say, pretending to be ok. “I just can’t share a room
with you, ya know.”
Thomas doesn’t respond and doesn’t go after me when I leave the room. Teresa
notices my fake smile but decides not to ask about it. I suddenly feel out of
place here, like Thomas was the one person that made me fit. I take note of a
pit in my stomach, and I suddenly feel the urge to cry. I leave the house
altogether, and I look for a nice tree to sleep in.
I wander across the yards of all the houses until I come across a climbable
looking tree. I make my way up it, and I stop when I find the perfect spot to
lay. It’s where all the main trunks of the tree dip down and form a nest-sort
of hole. I don’t even need to squeeze in. It’s spacious, and an easy spot to
get to.
I feel the remaining ounce of strength in me crumble, and I break down in
silent tears. I feel naive to think that someone like Thomas can love a person
like me. With the sun setting behind me, I fall asleep to the sweet sound of
nothingness. I remember spending most of my nights like this back before I was
welcomed into the Glade, and I feel as if I was better off alone.
***** Brenda *****
Chapter Summary
     The morning after is terrible and the angst begins.
Chapter Notes
     I got distracted yesterday, so I posted today.
The next morning hits me like a crank. I wake up surrounding by unfamiliar
surroundings, and my slowly opening eyes snap to attention. I look around
panicky, but the memories of the night before flood my mind. I feel like
absolute garbage as I climb out of my tree, and descend to the ground below.
There are five houses in all, and all around the same size as each other. All
of them are different colors, but the colors are so faded that they are barely
noticeable. They are all evenly spaced out in a line, and all on the same side.
A few Gladers walk around the surrounding area. It must not be time to wake up,
but I cannot imagine that many Gladers got to sleep well because of the day
before. After all, this is our first official day in our newfound home.
“Newt?” A feminine voice calls out behind me, and I turn around to see Teresa
looking at me with sorrowful eyes. “I imagine you told Thomas that you liked
him yesterday. He came to me crying, and whining that he hurt your feelings.
He’s really afraid that you’re never going to talk to him again.”
“Well the plan was to avoid him for a little while.” I reply, full of honesty.
“I feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life, and I feel like I don’t
even belong here anymore.”
“Don’t ever say that, Newt.” Teresa says, almost like a warning. “You will
always belong here, with us. Once a Glader, always a Glader. It may feel a
little awkward right now, but trust me, I still think Thomas will come around.
He just doesn’t realize what he feels for you.”
Teresa continues to walk by my side, filling me in on everything that needs to
be done around the place. Apparently a lot of Gladers are out gathering sticks,
rocks, and anything we can use to build barriers to keep the cranks out. It’s
all in a pile located in the yard of the middle house. It turns out that there
are around five inhabitable houses in our little neighborhood. A concrete
walkway connects each house to each other. My house, well used-to-be house is
one of the smaller houses compared to the rest of them.
“Are you coming back to the house?” Teresa asks, as we pick up sticks to throw
into the pile a few yards away. “You don’t have to, but I think you should. If
you have somewhere else to sleep, then it’s fine. I just wouldn’t want you
sleeping outside on the ground.”
“I sleep in that tree over there.” I say, pointing to the tree just standing
out of the forest line that is dangerously close to our living area. “It makes
me feel nostalgic. I slept in a tree before I became a Glader, so it makes me
feel remember who I used to be before I met you guys.”
“How did you even get in that?” Teresa says, pointing to the leg I hurt. “Don’t
you feel anymore pain?”
“It’s still bruised, but not like it used to be.” I reply, noticing how
surprisingly well it healed. “I guess it knows that if he doesn’t heal fast,
then it could put me in real danger. I’m really grateful that it doesn’t hurt
anymore.”
I pick up a big stick, and I set it on the pile in my hands. Teresa adds two
more before we make our way back to our new home. Once we set our sticks onto
the pile, we go to get some rocks. We’re just leaving the huge pile of sticks,
when a voice booms.
“This place is officially known as the Gladerhood!” Minho’s booming voice
shouts, as he places a sloppily made sign in the middle of our one-road
village. “Let it be known that us teens have been through the world’s worst
wringer, but we made it out alive when so many other people did not. For that,
we have the Glade to thank and ourselves to thank.”
Teresa and I walk over to where Minho is hammering a sign that reads
‘Gladerhood’ into the middle of our home. A small group of Gladers form around
him as he does so, and I spot Thomas instantly. He turns around, and our eyes
meet for the first time after the incident. I suddenly feel really embarrassed
and out of place, so I turn my attention back to Minho.
“Let our new life begin today.” Minho beams. “We are the Gladers, and we are
getting out of this hole the world has dug for us alive. Today, we mark this
day as the beginning of the rest of our lives. We shall defend this land to our
very last breath. We got lucky to have found materials to rebuild our
civilization, and we cannot lose it again. This second chance maybe our last
one, so we need to make it count.”
When Minho finishes, the whole place goes silent. Then all at once, everyone
begins cheering. I even begin cheering with Teresa, as if I’ve been with them
forever. Teresa looks at me, and gives me an ‘I told you so’ smile. I feel like
I am back to being part of the group again, but I allow a little part of myself
miss being all alone. Though the feeling is just masking the fact that I can no
longer go over to Thomas like I would have, and cheer with him. Things just
can’t be like that anymore because I know how he really feels about me. I know
that he can never feel for me the way that I want him to. I’m just going to
have to live with that.
“I think Minho just became the unofficial leader of the new Glade.” I tell
Teresa, who nods in response.
“It was sort of like that back in the original Glade.” Teresa says. “Let’s not
talk about the old Glade. I know I brought it up, but I think we should just
start fresh in this new place. Make new beginnings you know?”
“I agree a hundred percent.” I say. “Let me start off by just saying that I’m
really glad we’re friends now. It makes me feel good to have someone like you
after what happened last night.”
“Anytime, Newt.” Teresa responds, with a grin. “After all, someone has to be
there for you too. Just like someone has to be here for everyone in the Glade.
That way, nobody will feel like they’re alone.”
Her words strike me like a knife, and I get the urge to go and talk to Thomas.
Maybe I can straighten- smoothen things out with him. I scan the area for
Thomas, but I don’t see him anywhere. I tell Teresa that I will see her later,
and I go to look for the brunette that left my heart broken into pieces. I
start off by checking around the surrounding area. No sign of Thomas. I look
over by the house he sleeps in. No sign of Thomas. Eventually my searching
becomes more frantic, and I begin to fear that he is in danger, or something
bad has happened. I run past a tree, and I run into somebody.
“Ouch- Newt!” Thomas says, unsure of what to do. “Uh. I thought I hurt you- I
mean hi.. Uh can we talk? I just really want to talk to you. I tried to look
for you last night, but you were nowhere to be seen. When I saw you this
morning I was so relieved that you didn’t run away.”
Thomas takes my hand to lead me somewhere to talk, but I tense up at the touch
of his hand. Realizing what he is doing, Thomas drops my hand with a sad
expression. He looks at me, opens his mouth to speak, but then continues
walking. I suddenly am anxious for what he is about to tell me. He gestures for
me to go inside the house we were in the previous night, but I hesitate. Thomas
notices, but I go in anyways.
“I’m sorry about the whole hand thing.” Thomas says. “I guess I’m so used to
holding it, I just forgot that you probably don’t want me to. Well I get that
you do, but probably not when we aren’t… never mind. Gosh, I don’t even know
what to say. I thought I had all the words lined up in my head, but now I just
can’t seem to talk.”
“I’m sorry.” I say, taking the lead on this conversation. “I shouldn’t have
left you, but I don’t know how I could have stayed. I’m not going to lie to
you. I was definitely considering leaving, but something just compelled me to
stay. A friend told me that once I’m a Glader, I’m always a Glader.”
“Damn good that.” Thomas tells me. “You will always be a Glader, whether or not
you feel like you are. I just wish things could go back to when we were so
close, but now I feel like there’s this distance between us, and now I’m afraid
it will always be there. I like to spend time with you, talk to you, and I even
like holding your hand. I just don’t know what I feel anymore.”
My heart screams to reach out and hug him, but I stop myself when I realize
what I am doing. Thomas notices my internal struggle and sighs. Maybe he is
right. Maybe there is a barrier between us now that can never let us go back to
the way things used to be. I cannot help but feel as if it is all my fault that
we are in the situation we are in right now.
“I- I guess you’re right.” I say, after a long period of silence. “There is
this space between us, and I guess I’m the one who put it there. I don’t know
if we can go back to the way things were. Now I just regret getting so close to
you, and now I feel like this.”
“I’m so sorry, Newt.” Thomas says, his voice hoarse, as if he’s trying to hold
back tears.
“Me too.” I say, trying not to cry in front of Thomas. “I should go before I
bloody break down in front of you.”
“I guess that’s the worst part.” Thomas says. “You can’t feel things in front
of me anymore. You even called me Thomas yesterday…”
Without thinking, I open the door, and I leave the house as soon as possible.
It isn’t because of what he is saying, but out of fear that I will end up
sobbing in his arms. It’s just a last minute effort to salvage what shred of
dignity I have left. I don’t look back when I run into the forest as fast as I
can. I go as fast as my feet can possibly carry me, until I drop to my knees.
My hands go to my head, and I just start sobbing. Unable to control my shaky
breaths, I just let them all out. I don’t care who can hear me, I just need one
minute to just break down. Once I start uncontrollably crying, I cannot seem to
stop myself.
“Who are you?” A female voice asks me, and I whip my head up to see a girl
around my age. “What’s the matter? Why are you crying?”
I do a double take on the girl, but a piece of me still isn’t convinced that
she is real. She wears torn up jeans, a tattered tan shirt, worn out looking
shoes, and a brown pack is strapped to her back. She has tan skin, short black
hair, and piercing brown eyes. On her jeans, a knife is tucked into one of the
loops. I feel uncomfortable, but then I remember.
“Hey!” I shout. “You’re real! Do you have any other survivors that you know
of?”
“Just my father.” The girl says. “My name is Brenda. Jorge is my father. Our
camp was invaded by cranks a few days ago, and I haven’t found any survivors
from my group besides him. He’s hurt, and we have nowhere to go.”
“Good thing I know a place.” I say. “We were attacked too, and now we’re here.
We always look for survivors, so I’m sure you and your father will be
welcomed.”
“He’s sick.” Brenda tells me. “I don’t think it would be safe for me to bring
him to you guys. He keeps telling me to kill him, so I took away anything he
might use to harm himself.”
“Then we need to get you to the Gladerhood as soon as possible, get you looked
at, and then get your father looked at.” I reply. “Come with me.”
As Brenda and I run through the new Glade, something inside me churns. I found
a survivor. I found someone to bring into the Glade, and become a part of us.
My heart swells with pride. Minho catches sight of me, and his jaw drops when
he notices that I’m not alone. Minho runs over to me, and starts rambling.
“You run into the woods, and you bring back a girl!” Minho exclaims. “Boy do I
need to reconnect with nature. “Hello there. What’s your name? Did you come
here alone?”
I lose interest in the conversation because I know her name, and if she came
here alone. My eyes wander around the Gladerhood, and I realize that this girl
is going to have to make this place her home too. This is the first time that I
get to actually welcome someone into our group. My smile widens, but then I
catch sight of Thomas, who is staring at the girl as if she is the cure to the
virus plaguing our world. My mind screams at me that this girl is bad news, but
I know that it is only jealousy talking. Teresa comes over among a few other
Gladers to look at the new girl. She looks at the girl, then looks at Thomas,
then looks at me.
“Shit.” I hear her mutter.
It dawns on me that there is still another person out there that needs to be
brought in for some medical attention. Are we even capable of giving Brenda’s
father some medical attention. I assume that he has either been bitten or
scratched really deep. The thought of another adult turning into a crank scares
me, but it seems like it’s the case. I walk over to Teresa, who gives me a
wounded look.
“Looks like I’m going to lose these boys’ attention.” Teresa says. “I guess we
both have some competition.”
I know she is joking, but deep down inside I feel incredibly afraid. I feel
afraid that Thomas is going to get closer to this girl. I can’t help but stare
at her, and then then look at him. This must be the saddest I have ever felt in
my life. I know I am being absolutely crazy, but, with my luck, I think that
things are going to get much worse for me.
“I hate her.” Teresa says. “I already despise her.”
“How can you say that?” I say, looking at her in shock. “She seems kind of
nice.”
I watch as Thomas walks over to her, introduces himself to her, and they engage
in a really long conversation. I feel my heart crumble to ashes every single
time he laughs at what she says, or she laughs at what he says. Somewhere in
the conversation, Thomas lightly punches her in the arm, and it sends fire
coursing through my body.
“You’re right.” I say, in a bitter mood. “I hate her.”
***** Aris *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt meets a boy named Aris who is new to the Glade, and a situation
     happens that will change Newt's perspective of Thomas.
Chapter Notes
     Sorry for the long wait before I updated again. So there's this guy
     named Isaiah, and he kind of broke my heart, and I recently was
     diagnosed with depression. It's been a struggle lately, dealing with
     both heartbreak and the effects of it in my everyday life let alone
     my fanfiction life. I'm sure you guys don't care about my excuses, so
     here's the chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Filled with angst. Leave a
     kudos and a comment because those make me really happy. Also, Merry
     Christmas. My gift to you is that I am still continuing this work.
A few days after Brenda first comes to the Glade, I cannot help but think that
I should have left her in the forest. Thomas and Brenda are getting closer by
the day, and I absolutely cannot stand her. When she laughs, I want to kill
her. When they talk, I want to kill her. When she so much as breathes, I want
to kill her. Teresa is slowly replacing the Thomas in my life though. I do not
like Teresa like that, but she’s always there for me nowadays, and I can’t help
but regret every single second that I wasted hating her. Maybe the same thing
will happen with Brenda, and I will end up being her friend too.
“Did you hear that Minho found another survivor yesterday?” Teresa asks me,
four days after Brenda is welcomed into the Gladerhood. “His name is Aris. I
think he’s kind of cute.”
Teresa and I are working on building a wall around the entire area, along with
many other Gladers. It’s going extremely well. We used all the stones to make a
stone outline stretching around our living area. We finished the stone outline
yesterday, and now we are trying to use sticks to expand it upwards. It’s going
well for some people, but for me, I just cannot seem to get my sticks to stay
in place.
“I should talk to him,” I say, trying to get my mind off of this stressful
wall. “I bet he’s a nice guy and all. I just really want to die right now
because this wall is really hard to build!”
“Relax, Newt,” Teresa says. “We’re only at like four feet. Wait until we get to
like twenty or forty feet high. That’s when you can start complaining… don’t
worry. It gets easier. I’m just shocked I have to build another one.”
I laugh, but it’s cut off when someone bumps into me, sending what little I
could accomplish falling to the ground. I look in the direction I was hit, and
I see a boy that I have yet to meet. The boy has short, dirty blonde hair that
falls into slight bangs on his forehead. His mouth is slightly parted,
revealing the tiniest gap between his front teeth. An awkward smile is
plastered on his face while he asks if I’m ok.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” He asks. “I’m so sorry. I’m new here. My name is
Aris.”
“My name is Newt,” I reply. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m perfectly
alright.”
“Are you sure?” Aris asks. “I’m just so clumsy, I swear.”
“It’s alright mate,” I say, desperately trying to keep the slightly attractive
boy down. “You can make it up to me by helping me with this bloody wall.”
“Y- you’re British!” Aris practically screams. “Oh my gosh, I love British
accents. You have absolutely no idea!”
I smile as the boy continues to coo at me. At one point, I start laughing as he
messily tries to fix the part of the wall he messed up. We go to patch the same
part at once, and our hands touch. His face goes red, and I feel mine going
slightly pink. Maybe this boy isn’t going to be so bad. He isn’t Thomas, but
maybe that’s a good thing. I look over to see if I can see Thomas, and I regret
finding him. He’s glued to that Brenda girl like this wood is glued to my hand.
Aris messily pours some liquid that holds the wood together.
“You have no idea how good it feels to laugh again,” Aris tells me. “I used to
live with a ton of survivors, but the cranks broke into our village. I haven’t
seen any survivors since.”
“That’s the third local attack,” I say, absentmindedly gluing more of the wall
together. “Do you think more cranks are being attracted here?”
The boy doesn’t answer me. I feel like I am saying something that he’s
thinking, so we just continue on the wall in silence. Occasionally we brush our
hands or shoulders together, and it sends shivers through my body. I make it a
point sometimes to brush our hands together just to see his reaction. His face
goes a little pink and then fades back to his natural pale color.
“Glad to see you remember I exist,” Teresa mutters on the other side of the
wall. “You meet a boy, and then you forget about me. Show some manners, Newt.”
Aris looks at her as if he was caught stealing. I laugh, placing my hand on his
shoulder. He looks at me, then at her, and then smiles. I think he finally gets
that she’s joking, so we get back to work on the project at hand. Speaking of
hands, mine starts getting sore, so I ask Teresa if we get breaks.
“Does lunch count as a break?” She asks, and I nod my head. “Then yeah, some
Gladers are grabbing some grub as we speak.”
Teresa hops over the wall, and Aris follows us as we run over to Frypan. When
we ask when lunch is, he tells us that nothing is made. I remember that I have
food from the gas station, but it’s in Thomas’ room. The three of us journey
over to the house that both Teresa and Thomas sleep in, and she opens the door
for us to go inside. We travel up the stairs, and I try to open Thomas’ door.
It’s locked. I knock instead.
“Get the door, Tommy.” A female voice rings out, and I can feel my heart tear
in half.
“Hello?” Thomas says, and cracks open the door. “Newt!”
Thomas doesn’t have a shirt, and the rest of him is concealed by the door.
Teresa gasps, I feel a tear streak down my face, and Aris has a confused look
on his face. Thomas looks at the three of us, and then his gaze falls onto me.
My mouth goes dry, and my hand skyrockets to my face to wipe the lone tear.
“I just- um… wanted to get the food we got at the gas station.” I choke out.
“It looks like you’re a little busy at the moment, so I think I will eat
later.”
“Nice one, Thomas.” Teresa spits at him, as I run out of the house as fast as I
can. “Just fantastic.”
I know that Thomas would eventually find someone, but it never occurred to me
how I would feel about it. Seeing Thomas like that broke my heart into a
million pieces. She used my nickname. Mynickname. That bitch, I should gut her
for that! As soon as I get out of the house, I start running. I don’t know
where I am going, but I am going somewhere other than here. I don’t stop when I
pass the walls. I just keep going. I run and I run until my bag leg starts
hurting. Then I slow down, and I just stop. I feel so hurt that I don’t think
even crying can describe how I feel. Instead, I don’t. I don’t feel sadness,
but I feel something on a much worse level. I can’t even cry because I don’t
even know where to begin. I can’t see straight, and my vision starts to get
blurry.
“Newt!” Aris yells. “Newt, a crank!”
I snap into focus just as one takes me out from behind. I hold my arm up
against the cranks neck, preventing it from biting me. I feel its claws scrape
against my clothing, and I think that this is the end for me. My arm starts
hurting, and it frantically claws at my shirt to reveal some skin. The weight
of the crank gets thrown off of me. I look up, and Aris is hitting it with a
giant stick. Eventually, the crank stops moving, and Aris runs over to inspect
me.
“Do you just run into the woods like this all the time?” He asks- no screams,
as he makes sure that I’m not hurt. “How stupid was that?! You almost got
killed!”
“I know,” I say, and Aris takes a step back in surprise. “That boy you saw, I
like him. He doesn’t like me. I don’t know why I’m telling you, but I don’t
want you to think I’m just some loon that runs into the forest for a joy ride.
Seeing him with that girl just kind of sent me over the edge, and I didn’t know
how to handle it.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Aris mutters. “I liked this one guy named
Steven. He fell in love with a girl named Sonya. Every time I so much as looked
at them, I would always feel like I lost him. It doesn’t get easier either.”
I give him the tiniest of smiles, and he helps me up. Together, we return to
the Glade, and it’s way past lunchtime. My stomach hurts, but so does my heart.
Aris follows me, and I find Teresa later on. Instead of saying anything, she
extends her arms for me to hug her. I do, and I feel like crying all over
again. This is when I realize that Aris and Teresa are my best friends. These
are the two people that I know I can trust. I trust Aris with my life because
he sure saved it earlier. I look at him, and I smile. I know that I can get
through this whole Thomas situation.
“Are you going to be ok?” Teresa asks, and I nod my head.
She puts her arm around my shoulder, and Aris does the same. I feel kind of
happy, knowing that I have two really good friends by my side. I catch Aris’
eyes, and he goes red. I smile at him, and he returns a shy, awkward one back.
Maybe things are going to be okay after all.
“With you two by my side?” I ask. “Absolutely.”
“I totally forgot about my food,” Teresa says, handing Aris and I each a bag of
jerky. “A woman has got to eat you know.”
“Thanks, T,” I reply, already eating the jerky. “I forgot how much I love this
stuff. Probably one of the last bags on Earth too.”
As I eat, Teresa converses with Aris about what his life used to be like. I
cannot stop thinking about the girl he keeps mentioning- Sonya. My sister’s
name is Sonya, but I know in my heart that she is most likely dead. The way
Aris describes her (“She even looks a little like you, Newt.”) makes me feel
like she could be my sister. If she is, then did she make it out of the crank
attack Aris talks about when he mentions his old friends.
“Did Sonya ever talk about having a brother?” I ask, feeding into my curiosity…
and the jerky that Teresa gave me.
“Yeah,” Aris says, eyeing me suspiciously. “She said that she got separated
from him a long time ago. Something about her making it onto a train, but he
didn’t.”
I choke on a piece of jerky, and both Teresa and Aris beat on my back. It
eventually goes down, but I am certain that the Sonya that Aris is talking
about is my Sonya. My baby sister. The one that I lost, and tried to find. Now
the question is where is she, and is she alive?
“Where did you used to live before coming here?” I ask Aris, in a subtle way.
“Just trying to get a picture in my head.”
“Not very far from here actually,” Aris admits. “I think maybe twenty miles or
so north, and you are bound to see one of our structures.”
We finish our meal, of sorts, in awkward silence. Teresa keeps eyes me, and
Aris continues to chow down nonchalantly. When I finish, I get up, and I start
walking around the place. I engage into mindless chit-chat with random Gladers.
My thoughts race from Sonya to Thomas to Brenda and back to Sonya. I have so
many thoughts rushing to my head, and so little emotions to describe them.
There aren’t enough feelings and worst to explain how I feel right now. Is it
possible to feel overwhelming joy that my sister could be alive and feel the
most bitter sadness that Thomas is moving on with his life without me?
I start walking around the unfinished wall, and I think back to the one in our
old Glade. I wonder what is happening to it right now. Are cranks still there?
Did someone else find it, and inhabit it? Will we be able to thrive somewhere
that isn’t the Glade? I have way too many questions, but there just isn’t a way
to solve all of them. I round a corner, and I almost run into somebody. I look
up, and Thomas is staring at me, with a completely shocked expression. My mouth
hangs open, and I just stand there.
“Hey.” He says to me, apparently trying to break some ice.
“You were right about the barrier between us,” I reply, putting as much acid
into my voice as possible. “I may have put it up, but you made it so much
bigger. If you ever look at me and think that I’m the one who caused us to
drift apart, just remember the part you played as well.”
I walk away from Thomas, who stands there with his jaw hanging open now. I
classify it as a win in my book, and I feel satisfied for the night. I go over
to Aris, who is wandering the Gladerhood, wondering what to do. He looks at me,
and his eyes light up at the sight of me. I smile at him, and I start talking
to him.
“Did they find you a place to sleep yet?” I ask the boy, who is fumbling with
his hands while we talk.
“No,” Aris replies. “I guess I’ll just sleep on the ground.
“I sleep in a tree.” I retort. “Beat that.”
“I’d love to sleep in a tree,” Aris says, daring me to make my next move. “Can
I?”
“Sleep with me?” I ask.
Aris’ eyes narrow, and his face gets really flustered. I start laughing, and it
only adds to the embarrassment on Aris’ face. Eventually, I calm down, but pink
is still evident on his face. I don’t think he’s going to speak to me, so him
suddenly talking actually startles me.
“N- not like that!” Aris replies, getting flustered. “I meant is there room up
there for two?”
“I can make some,” I reply, with a grin on my face.
Eventually, Aris and I end up climbing up the tree I slept in last night. Turns
out, there’s perfect room for two. I let Aris sleep on a branch shaped like a
chair just a little above me, but somehow, we manage to end up falling asleep
snuggled up together. It’s almost perfect, except Aris isn’t Thomas. I’m still
deciding whether or not it’s a good thing or a bad thing.
***** Celebrating With Style *****
Chapter Summary
     There is the one week Gladerhood anniversary. Newt and Thomas get
     into an argument.
Chapter Notes
     Remember that funny moment where I said I was getting my shit
     together and start updating on time? Haha, yeah well I'm a liar. My
     sincerest thank you to those who took the time to say they're sorry
     about the dumb shit going on in my life. I wish I could say it's
     getting better but it isn't. Isaiah is just an asshole, and honestly,
     I'm so sick of being depressed over his stupid shit. It's hard to
     edit this stuff because I wrote this long before I met Isaiah, and
     it's just scarily accurate to what is actually going on in my life,
     so it makes me sad when I read it and all. Leave a kudos and a
     comment because those make my day, and inspire me to continue on with
     this story. Like I'm actually shook going through these chapters and
     realizing how I relate so much to Newt lol, and it just sucks. Have a
     blessed day, and I hope everyone had a great holidays/New Years.
It’s the one week anniversary of our Gladerhood. Much is still to be done, but
Minho says we should all take a day of relaxation and rehabilitation. I, along
with multiple other Gladers, ignore the whole ‘relaxation’ bit. In the last few
days, I’ve managed to build a small farm near my tree. Since my tree is close
to the southeast corner, I decided to build it at the corner. It’s one yard
away from the sides of the wall, and around five yards away from my tree. I can
expand it if I want to, but it’s big enough for now.
Aris and I have been getting much closer too, over the last few days. He helps
me a lot in the garden with weeding, plowing, and watering. I don’t have much
growing in the farm, but I do have a lot growing between Aris and I. All he
seems to want to do is help me out, and I never stop him from doing so. It’s
gone from my farm to our farm in the matter of a day.
We’ve collected wood, and we are now we are trying to make a wooden outline
around the garden. There isn’t much of a purpose to it, but it looks really
nice. We cut the leftover wood into stakes, and now I have a grapevine growing.
Aris looks over at me, as we are currently weeding the garden, with an
exhausted expression.
“You know I love helping and all, but we should really take a rest,” Aris says.
“Mostly everyone is celebrating right now. I know you don’t want to run into
Thomas and the girl, but I bet Teresa would love it if we joined her.”
“I’m not going to argue with you, Aris,” I say. “You can join her if you’d
like, but I’m staying here.
“No, you’re not,” Aris says, with an evil gleam in his eye. “You’re coming with
me.”
I want to argue a little longer, but his smaller hand wraps around mine, and he
starts pulling me over to where a large group of Gladers is located. My brain
takes the time to consider whether Aris’ touch is bad or not, and I cannot seem
to focus on him dragging me along. My brain is to blame when he manages to lead
me to a giant Glader party that Minho is throwing behind one of the houses in
the Gladerhood. I curse Aris a couple of times, but then my eyes catch Teresa.
She notices us, and her face quickly brightens up as she runs over to us.
“Guys!” Teresa says, giving us a hug as if we haven’t seen her in a long time.
“Glad Aris managed to get you to come. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the
garden. You two should have came a while ago.”
“Yeah, I dragged him here surprisingly easy,” Aris says, with a proud smirk.
“It was as if his mind was somewhere else, and he just didn’t notice he was
coming until he got here.”
Teresa and Aris start laughing, and I just try to hide the red slowly creeping
into my cheeks. Teresa leads us closer to the crowd, and I really just want to
run away from here. I hate being in large, noisy groups when there are monsters
in the world that are attracted to sound. Call me crazy, but I think this is a
terrible idea.
“I’d like to say something,” Minho shouts, trying to calm the place down.
“Starting tomorrow, we will be accepting tryouts to become a runner. Everyone
that was a runner back in the Glade have to retest. I don’t know why, but I
feel like it, so you will have to deal with it. We’re going to start our jobs
again like it used to be. Old guards will have to choose another job until we
set up a guard post or something.”
“Way to kill the mood,” Aris whispers to me. “Talking about working when we’re
supposed to be having fun. What a real party animal he is.”
I start laughing, and I lightly punch his arm. Aris’ face goes red, and he
turns away from me. Teresa starts conversing with other Gladers and
progressively fades from my line of vision. Someone else appears in it, and my
smile drops to the ground. Aris and I stare as Thomas approaches us.
“You and I need to talk,” Thomas says, staring me directly in the eye. “Again.”
“Sorry, but I really would not like to talk to you,” I say, grasping my hands
together to avoid clenching my fists. “Every time I do, I run into the woods,
and I break down sobbing. I really want to avoid that, seeing as this is a day
to celebrate. Good talk though.”
I feel really guilty for talking to Thomas they way I do, but I just cannot
help the burning anger that Thomas is having sex with someone that isn’t me. I
feel my heart shattering into pieces as I turn around to walk away from Thomas,
which seems to be becoming a bad habit. I meet Aris’ eyes, and they are filled
with so much sadness and pity, I want to vomit. A hand grasps my arm, and I
realize that it isn’t Aris. I turn around to see Thomas looking at me with
needy, puppy-dog eyes.
“Please just talk to me,” Thomas says. “I don’t know what to do to get us back
to the way things used to be.”
“You couldn’t have given me a week grace period, Thomas?” I spit. “You must
have known I was trying to move on, but then you just hop in bed with Brenda.
How could you possibly think that wouldn’t hurt me? I get that you shouldn’t
pause your life for me, but you could have given me a chance to breathe! I just
wasn’t prepared to see you with someone else, and I just wasn’t prepared to see
you with someone that isn’t me. Excuse me if it hurts, but I don’t care. I have
the right to feel however I want to feel. You don’t have to have me in your
life the way I want to be, but I can sure cut you out of mine as well.”
I regret freaking out like that because a few Gladers are looking at me, and
red instantly rushes to my cheeks. It’s even worse when I realize that Minho is
one of those people, and I want to cry again. For some reason, I don’t. I pull
out of Thomas’ grasp, which is easy because he’s in a state of shock. His eyes
have this level of sadness I didn’t think a human was capable of having. Aris’
eyes never leave me. I put my arm around his shoulder, and we walk away,
leaving a few stunned Gladers, an even more shocked Minho, and a Thomas that I
don’t care about anymore. I just want to get out.
Teresa notices us leaving, breaks from the crowd of Gladers, and runs to us.
Thomas, clearly stunned by her move, follows her. Minho, wanting to get caught
up on everything that’s happening, follows Thomas. By the time I get to my tree
with Aris, Teresa catches up with me. Behind her, Thomas and Minho look at us,
specifically me.
“You’re siding with him?” Thomas asks Teresa, clearly offended by his friend’s
action.
“Of course, you slinthead!” Teresa screams. “Why wouldn’t I cheer one of my
best friends up when my other best friend breaks his heart?”
“Maybe my heart is broken too!” Thomas screams, and my mind wants to run over
and comfort him.
“You’re making that clear!” Teresa spits, sarcastically. “By hopping into bed
with Brenda, a day or so after you freaking meet her! What the hell was that
about! It just seems like you  want  to hurt Newt.”
“That was such a low blow, Teresa.” Thomas says, pain in his eyes.”
“No,” Teresa says, about to give the final swing, ending this conversation.
“What you did with Brenda was a low-blow. She probably did that to you too!”
If I wasn’t in so much shock, I probably would be laughing right now. Teresa is
smoking Thomas’ ass in the argument, but I cannot help but think that this is
all my fault. Aris starts rubbing my arm apologetically, and I don’t even stop
him. At this point, I just need a hug. I want some comforting, but at the same
time, I don’t want anyone near me right now. I just want to be alone, but I
also don’t want to feel as much pain in my heart as I am feeling right now.
“Newt,” Teresa calls me into battle. “Care to share your feelings in this
conversation?”
“I’ve made my feelings abundantly clear,” I say, wishing this whole day would
end. “That’s what started this whole mess in the first place. If you want
honesty from me, I honestly wish I didn’t like Thomas. I wish I still didn’t
like Thomas, but I do. I can’t help that. Thomas, you make me want to cry. All
of you do in a way. I just wish I never came to the Glade at this point. Maybe
I wouldn’t be feeling the immense pain that I do now. If there was anywhere for
me to go, I would leave.”
When those last few words leave my mouth, it’s like everyone’s breath at the
same time leaves their bodies. Mine included in that bunch. Tears start rolling
down my cheeks, and Aris gives me a huge hug. Minho runs over to hug me, as
well as Teresa. Thomas makes a move too, but Teresa shouts something at him
that I don’t hear. I think my brain blocks it out to prevent me any more
sadness, so instead, Thomas stands there knowing that there’s nothing he can
do.
“I’m sorry I make you feel this way,” Thomas mutters and walks away.
“I’m going to vomit,” I say, and Minho’s the only one who stops hugging me.
“We don’t care if you vomit,” Teresa says, squeezing harder. “You need
comforting, and we’re here for you.”
“I’ll hug ya, you shank, but you better not throw up on me,” Minho says,
rejoining the group hug. “If you do, I’ll feed ya to the cranks.”
We break the hug after a while. Minho desperately wants to know what the hell
this whole thing was about. Teresa and I work together on telling Minho
everything, and Aris just listens in. By the time we finish, Minho is up to
speed on everything. He apologizes to me, and I just shrug it off like I’m not
in the worst emotional pain I’ve ever felt in my life. Maybe second worst.
Losing my sister is pretty hard to top. Losing Thomas though, it’s a close
second.
“Well this is a really shucked up situation,” Minho says, processing all the
information that we give him. “I cannot believe Thomas doesn’t like you. Even I
thought he was head over heels for you.”
“Didn’t everyone?” Teresa asks, rhetorically. “Even after all of this, I still
think he likes you, Newt. He just doesn’t treat anyone the same way he treats
you.”
“I just wish he liked me the way I like him,” I mutter, tears threatening to
spill from my eyes. “It just sucks knowing that he doesn’t like me like that
and that there’s nothing I can do to change his mind.”
Teresa is at a loss for words, and that says a lot. Aris remains silent, but
likely strokes my arm with his hand. I feel like if I had not lost Thomas
before, I certainly lost him now. It’s so hard to live with the fact that
Thomas will never like me. It’s like if you knew the world would never heal
again, would you still try and fix it?
“I’m going to go talk to Thomas,” Minho says, unsure of whether or not he wants
to leave. “I don’t know what I’m going to say, but I think once I get him
started, he’s going to be doing most of the talking. I’ll get back to you
shanks later.”
“I should go too,” Teresa says, looking at me. “I’m going to spy on Minho, and
make sure he doesn’t say anything stupid or out of line.”
She walks away, leaving Aris and I alone. He looks at me but doesn’t say
anything. I start to think to myself about everything. By everything, I mean
just Sonya and Thomas. Sonya could be alive. If she’s alive, then I need to
find her, right. After the four or so years that I’ve been alone, I allow
myself to feel some hope that Sonya is alive.
“Aris,” I say, getting his attention.
“Yeah?” Aris asks, his mind probably racing with possibilities of what I’m
about to ask.
“Do you think you could take me to find my sister?” I ask, and his eyes widen.
“If there’s even the slightest chance that she is alive, then I need to go and
find her.”
“Yeah,” Aris replies. “I can take you to our old campsite. “What if she’s found
some other settlement? What if there are more surviving members of my old camp,
and she’s leading them again?”
“Then we’re leaving the Gladerhood.” I reply, sure that I’m leaving one way or
another.
***** Goodbye Gladerhood *****
Chapter Summary
     Aris and Newt leave the Gladerhood, but a few inconveniences get in
     the way beforehand.
Chapter Notes
     Alrighty, this is the first on-time update I believe for a while. No,
     that does not mean that everything is okay. Isaiah has made no
     attempts to make anything better between us. Hell, Friday I cried so
     hard that I started to get pains in my heart. It was like my heart
     literally hurt to beat, and I thought I was going to have to call the
     hospital. Life lesson: don't fall in love, and if you do, don't fall
     in love with an asshole that doesn't care about your feelings.
     Anyways, I hope you enjoy this sad chapter. It's probably one of the
     saddest things I have ever written for the saddest moment in my
     entire life. Leave a kudos and a comment since those make my day. I
     love you guys and thank you to those who keep asking if I'm okay. I'm
     fine.
Aris and I wait until the next day before we decide that going to find my
sister is the smartest approach. Aris and I pack lightly. Nothing is in our
bags except food, water, and a knife. Aris and I exchange glances as we pack,
not daring to make a sound. It’s really early in the morning, and nobody is
awake. We don’t want to wake them up because it could endanger our mission.
“You sure about this?” Aris asks, knowing that we’re probably going to end up
going anyways. “I know you might be making this decision because you’re upset.”
“I’m sure this is the right decision,” I reply, ignoring the internal conflict
inside my mind. “I need to at least try and find my sister.”
We walk around the Gladerhood, and I start noticing a few things. The wall is
getting higher, for starters. Eventually, this wall is going to be really big.
Aris and I aren’t going to be here to see it, but I imagine that this place is
going to be amazing. I look at my garden. I wonder if it’s going to die while
I’m gone. Will anybody notice that I’m missing? What if they send search
parties for Aris and I? Should we tell Teresa what we are doing, so that they
aren’t worried about us? I toss that thought out of my head completely. I
cannot have the slightest chance of someone ruining my plan. I need to find my
sister, and nobody is going to screw it up for me.
I look at the tree that I sleep in, and I cannot help but think of the reason
that I sleep in the tree. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t told
Thomas that I like him. Would we be sleeping in the same bed together right
now, instead of Aris and I preparing to leave this place behind? Would I even
be friends with Aris if Thomas didn’t break my heart? I look over to Aris, and
I can’t help, but feel bad for him. This is supposed to be his home too, and he
is willing to throw it all away because of my emotional decision making, and
the very unlikely chance that my sister is actually alive. Why is he even
coming with me? Nobody in their right mind would do the things that Aris is
doing for me.
I look over at the dirty blonde boy. He catches my eye and gives me a
reassuring smile. I suddenly feel a lot more comfortable that I am leaving with
him. I don’t know if I would be able to do it without him. Perhaps he realizes
this too, and that’s the reason he is coming with me, instead of staying in a
safe place like the Gladerhood. I smile back at him, and I brush our shoulders
together. He starts giggling like a child, and we eventually realize that it is
going to be light soon, so we need to get moving.
Aris and I start walking over to the northern wall of the Glade. Aris’ old camp
is north from here. All we have to do is walk fifteen to twenty miles, and then
we can start looking for my sister. If I get there, and there is nothing to
find, then I’ll keep looking. I need to either find her dead body or her
herself. I won’t even entertain the thought of going back to the Gladerhood
until I do just that. Aris and I eventually do reach the northern wall, but we
hear someone approach us.
“What are you guys doing up?” A voice calls from behind me. “What are you two
doing?”
Aris and I turn around, pale in the face, to see Thomas walking over to us. In
the distance, Teresa is also walking around. She notices us too, and runs over.
We are so caught. I look at Thomas, then Teresa, and then Aris. I’m trying to
think of an excuse why I’m up so early, wearing a backpack full of supplies. I
come up short.
“Would you believe me if I say I’m going bear hunting?” I ask, and Thomas
shakes his head.
“Are you two leaving?” Teresa asks, frantic. “Why?”
“Is it because of me?” Thomas asks, and I don’t know what to say. “Please tell
me you aren’t leaving. I know we’re going through a tough time, but we’ll be
friends again eventually. This isn’t something you need to run away from.”
Thomas and Teresa start babbling on at me about why I should stay, and it dawns
on me that I might not have been thinking about coming back either way. That
the part of me that doesn’t believe my sister is alive just wants to leave the
Glade period. I realize why I want to leave the Glade, and it isn’t because I
don’t belong.
“Yes,” I say, earning a surprised look from everyone, including Aris, who
probably thought I was going to come up with an excuse.
“Why?” Thomas asks, sadness consuming him. “Is it because of me?”
“Also yes,” I reply, honestly. “Also, because of me. You want the truth,
everyone? I am really just mad at you because I can’t stand seeing you with
someone that isn’t me. Call me selfish, but I don’t think I can stay here
without being with you. I know that you don’t want to be with me, so I can’t
sit back, and watch you move on with someone else. I can’t lose your heart to
another one, Tommy. I can’t watch you start a life with someone that isn’t me.
To think that you and Brenda have a future together, and we don’t, is the worst
thought that I can think. This is the reason I can’t stay. I can’t watch you
grow old with someone else. I can’t watch you  love  somebody else because
damnit Thomas, I love you!”
Once again, everyone looks at me with shocked faces. Thomas’ jaw looks like it
wants to marry the ground, and I can no longer stop tears from running down my
cheeks. Teresa has her hands on her head as if she can barely comprehend the
words I just uttered. Teresa, in the end, breaks the awkward silence lingering
in the air.
“I’m coming with you,” Teresa says, and Thomas turns to her, sadness written
across his face. “You can’t say no. I’ll eat dirt if there isn’t enough food,
you two are not going without me.”
“We can wait for you to get supplies,” Aris says, and Teresa nods. “Just don’t
wake anyone else in the Gladerhood up.”
Teresa runs behind one of the five houses, leaving Thomas standing in
disbelief. I start to pity Thomas because I understand his confusion. All he is
guilty of is falling in love with Brenda, and I’m treating him like he has
committed murder. I start feeling guilty about leaving, but my mind is made up.
I walk over to Thomas, and I pull him into a tight embrace. Thomas’ last
defenses break, and he’s a sobbing wreck in my arms.
“P-please.” Thomas cries. “D- don’t go. We c-can make this right.”
“I have to,” I say, holding him in my arms. “I just have t- to go. You have no
idea how much this hurts me. This kind of sadness is way too much for my brain
to comprehend right now. I’m just afraid it will all come crashing down on me
at once. I can’t be around for you to see me like this. Progressively getting
sadder and sadder each day, knowing that I’ll never feel relief. You don’t love
me, Tommy. As selfish stupid as it sounds, I just can’t watch you spend your
life with someone else. I’m not doing this to hurt you. You have to understand
that.”
Thomas cries in my shirt, and I too, feel tears falling. Aris watches us, tears
running down his face too. It’s just too much sadness, and I suddenly feel too
weak to leave. I know that if Teresa doesn’t come back soon, I won’t be able to
say goodbye to Thomas, the boy that I love. Yes, I admit it. I love Thomas. I’m
too in love with him for my own good, so I have to leave before I can’t go on
without him anymore.
“P-please, Newt please.” Thomas sobs. “I don’t want this. I don’t want you
gone! You can’t just leave.”
Teresa comes back, and I feel a weight on my chest. I look at Teresa, knowing
that if I let Thomas continue, I’m eventually going to lose this argument.
Teresa yanks us apart, and Thomas falls to the ground. He sits, and watches us,
knees curled to his chest, knowing that I’m leaving. Knowing that there is
nothing that he can do about it.
“Newt,” Thomas says. “Come back one day. It’s already hard enough watching you
suffer day by day seeing me with someone else. It’s even harder letting you go.
It’s going to be insufferable knowing that you’re never coming back. Tell me
that you’ll at least come back, one day, even to visit. I’m desperate, ok?”
“I will.” I lie. “I’ll visit you, someday.”
“Promise?” Thomas asks, eyes filling with so much hope that it pains me to even
look at him.
I know that at this point I am willing to tell him anything that I need to tell
him in order for him to let us leave without alerting any of the other Gladers.
Thomas is standing right in front of me, his eyes red, tears streaming down his
face, and snot dripping out of his nose. It hollows me out to see him like
this, but I know in my mind that this is the best thing for me to do. I have to
find my sister, and it is just time for Aris, Teresa, and I to leave the
Gladerhood.
“I promise.” I lie right through my teeth. “We have to go now.”
Aris leads the way, Teresa stands with him, and I fall a little behind, trying
to savor every second I am still in the Gladerhood. Thomas runs over to me and
pulls me into one last hug. I sink into it, trying to take in as much of Thomas
as I can. I do this because I know that this is the last time I will ever see
him, even if he thinks that it isn’t. He lets go of me and places a kiss on my
forehead. I turn away, tears sliding down my cheek, and dripping to the ground
from my chin. Thomas starts wiping them away as they come.
“I love you, Thomas,” I say, before suddenly running away from him because if I
didn’t at that moment, I never would have left.
Teresa and Aris wait for me to catch up, and we boost each other over the wall.
I am the last to go over, so Aris lays on the top, and extends his hand for me
to take it. I do, and he lifts me on top of the wall. We jump off together, and
we start walking toward the forest in front of us. I take one last, long look
at the Glade. It gets smaller and smaller as I get farther and farther away.
Eventually, it disappears completely. What remaining strong part of me crumbles
to dust, and I start crying. Teresa and Aris fall back to comfort me, and I
stagger in my steps.
“We can go back,” Teresa says, knowing that we really aren’t. “Do you want to
go back?”
“No,” I say, slowly shaking off the tears. “Let’s go find my sister. Then we’ll
decide what to do from there.”
Leaving the Gladerhood is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Now
that I’m gone from it, it’s getting much easier to keep putting distance
between it. Only because at the same time, I’m also putting distance between me
and where Thomas is going to live his life without me. I know that it must not
be easy for Thomas right now, but he will be happy that I’m gone later. I’ll be
happy that I’m gone later. I feel bad for lying to him, but maybe that spark of
hope I gave him will last him a lifetime. Hopefully, he will forget about me,
and he will forget the promise that I made him, not intending to keep. After
all, when you love someone like how I love Thomas, you have to let that person
be happy. You have to let that person live their life, even if they don’t want
you to be in it.
***** Finding Sonya: Part 1 *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt, Aris, and Teresa are on their journey to hopefully find Newt's
     sister Sonya.
Chapter Notes
     I'm a few days late because I've been spending most of my free time
     locked away in my room in the dark with my head in my knees sobbing.
     Don't worry, once I get my antidepressants, hopefully, I will be able
     to keep updating on time. This is just really hard to actually edit
     anymore because it is so alike my own heartbreak that it gets to be
     too much just reading it. I wrote most of this work before I even met
     Isaiah, so the fact that this storyline is identical to what I'm
     going though scares me. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.
     Give it a kudos, and drop a comment because they make my day. Love
     you guys so much, and I'm so surprised this hit 1000 hits.
Being surrounded by forest again fills me with this sense of independency and
pride. It reminds me of back before the Glade, when I used to survive on my
own. In the short few weeks at the Glade and Gladerhood, so much about me has
changed. To think of who I used to be before the Glade is like remembering a
stranger. Now, I am moving on from the Glade with Aris and Teresa by my side.
Now I am in search of my sister, and I have high hopes that I just might find
her, after being separated for so long now.
Aris, Teresa, and I walk through the deep forest. We try to stay clear of tall
grass, berries that cannot be deemed poisonous or nonpoisonous, and cranks of
any kind. We’ve only run into one crank since leaving the Gladerhood, and it
almost killed Aris. To think that Aris came so close to death like that really
scares me. At least we are even from when he saved me.
Now we are just strolling through the forest silently. Nobody speaks because
there isn’t much to talk about. The plan is simple. We need to get to Aris’ old
camp, find my sister dead or alive, and then we decide what to do from there.
There are many possibilities we can do when we find her. It just depends
whether or not we find her alive or dead. If she’s alive, what we do depends on
whether or not she has found another place to live. If she’s dead, we either
try to find more survivors from Aris’ camp, or we simply head back to the
Glade. We can live on our own either way and simply not return to the Glade at
all.
“Do you think your sister could be alive?” Aris asks, walking right beside me.
“I know we wouldn’t be out here if you didn’t at least believe it slightly. I’m
just wondering what you think we’re going to find out there.”
“I just want to either find her alive or find her body,” I say. “She could even
be a crank. If she is, then I guess we will have to-”
“Let’s not think about killing your sister, Newt,” Teresa says, solemnly. “I
get sibling rivalry and everything, but let’s make sure you still have a
sibling to compete with.”
I get that Teresa is trying to joke around to break the ice. Minho would be
able to do that without even opening his mouth. I don’t laugh, but I am sent
into a fit of laughter when Aris trips over a tree root. He starts laughing
too, face down on the ground but is ok nevertheless. We help him up, and we
continue our way down the forest.
I should have taken boredom into consideration when deciding to leave the
Gladerhood. I’m so bored right now, that I might just pick a fight with a crank
to have something to do. All Teresa, Aris, and I are doing is walking. Teresa
tries to play eye-spy with Aris, but it gets boring after a while. We walk in
tense silence, but then something cracks behind us, sending us all in alert.
Knives are in all of our hands, ready for a crank assault. It doesn’t come
though.
I pick up a rock off of the ground, and I throw it at a nearby tree. It hits
the tree with a loud sound, and a crank comes tearing through some tall grass
and runs at the tree. It runs into the tree to be more exact and falls limp to
the ground. Teresa is hysterical at that because cranks can be incredibly
stupid sometimes. It doesn’t help them that they are attracted to sound because
then it can be used to take them down.
“Well, that was something.” Teresa sighs, and continues walking ahead. “Glad to
see at least something happen in this boring old forest. I’ve never seen a
duller place in my life.”
“The Gladerhood isn’t that much more interesting,” Aris mentions, and I wince
at the mention of my old home. “I mean- all we did was work. Build this, grow
that. It gets kind of tedious. We got one day where we didn’t have to work to
the bone. My first day was even filled with work.”
“You wouldn’t have met such amazing friends like Teresa and I if you had not
been working so hard,” I say, trying to look on the bright side. “So working
got you somewhere.”
“Got me seven miles deep in the forest.” Aris groans. “I think it’s seven miles
so far. It feels like seven.”
“It feels like a hundred and one,” Teresa complains. “I’d say nine miles.”
Aris and Teresa start getting into a heated argument about how far we are. I’m
shocked we’re even seven miles away from the Gladerhood. We’ve been walking
since a little before the light of dawn, and now the sun is almost directly
overhead. I assume we’ve been walking for a good four hours or so. I begin to
wonder how Aris even got around the same area of the Gladerhood in the first
place.
“I can’t believe you walked here,” I tell Aris. “We’ve been walking for so long
now, and I just can’t imagine you just stumbling upon us.”
“Well first of all, we’ve been walking for like two hours,” Aris says, and I
look up at the sky. “The sun is just barely peeking out of the clouds.”
Looks like I’m hallucinating. After all, someone is bound to go insane after
walking in the forest for a long time. I try to keep my mind occupied by doing
what I used to do back when I traveled alone. I start picking up as many rocks
as I can, just random rocks off of the ground, and I put them in my pocket.
Teresa eyes me but doesn’t ask about it. Whenever my pockets are full, I take
them out one at a time, and I start throwing them at trees. It gets harder as I
try to hit trees that are farther away, but it helps me in case there are
cranks around.
Aris looks at what I am doing and decides to do the same thing. Teresa
shrugs and decides to try anything that might stop her from being bored.
Eventually, my ears are filled with endless bangs bouncing tree to tree. It
even turns into a competition when Teresa says she can hit more trees than
Aris. We even end up breaking into full speed running, hitting every single
tree in sight.
“What are we doing with our lives?” I ask, laughing “We are seriously bored. I
need something to happen. Anything at all. Please.”
Nothing happens. That’s the problem. Nothing is happening, and it’s supposed to
be the apocalypse. You would think there would be more cranks, but we are
pretty deep in the forest. Humanity barely touched this place before the
apocalypse, let alone when there are very few humans left. I bet even the crank
population is going down. Maybe if they all starve to death, then the world can
become ok again.
“I think I see something,” Aris says when the game is well over. “It’s a
river.”
We start running straight ahead, and we come across a river going straight
north. It couldn’t possibly be in a better location because we’re traveling
north. In case we ever need to come back to the Gladerhood, this will be a
great placemark. We decide to travel beside it because it’s one direction we
don’t need to defend cranks from, and unlimited water as long as we can make a
fire. I can make a fire. If I couldn’t, then I would have been dead a long time
ago.
“I wish this river could be more interesting,” Aris complains. “Oh wait a
minute! Our camp was built by a river, but I don’t recognize this part of it.
We must be on the same river, but it’s farther up!”
“You’re just remembering that?” I ask, staring in disbelief. “I get you haven’t
been there in a while, but you would think after living there for some time,
you would get familiar with the geography.”
Aris ignores me, but we do pick up our pace when we get to the river. I have
never felt more excited in my entire life. I can already picture my sister’s
little face staring at me once again. She probably isn’t young looking anymore.
Will I remember what she looks like? Will she even recognize me? What do I even
say to someone I haven’t seen in years, and in the apocalypse? I imagine
different scenarios playing out, but I cannot help but smile at the possibility
of seeing my sister again. My mood darkens when I recognize the fact that she
might be dead, or I might have to fight the crank version of her.
How can I kill my own sister if she is a crank? I tell myself that it would be
a mercy act, but at the back of my mind, I cannot help but think that it would
still be murder. If my sister is a crank, I can’t keep her alive either. That
would be cruel. I don’t notice that I’m trailing behind until Aris notices that
I’m a few yards back. He slows down and lets me catch up. I thank him, and we
continue on our way.
“How long can this river possibly extend?” Teresa asks, in a miserable tone. “I
seriously cannot take one more second of nothingness.”
She gets her wish. Three cranks hop out from behind a forest at full speed and
run straight at her. Aris and I run up to each side of her, and we all stab at
each crank. I take down the one that I decide to kill, and I help Aris kill
his. By the time we’re done killing it, Teresa’s crank is dead too. Is it just
me, or are these creatures getting harder to kill? Aris’ crank tried to grab
Aris’ knife as if he knew what it was.
The attention attracts five more cranks, and I take on two at a time. One
rushes faster than the other, and bolts straight at me. I move out of the way,
sending it flying into the river. I stab the other one in the heart, and it
falls to the ground. Teresa takes a crank down, and Aris desperately tries to
fight two at the same time. I run over and stab on in the side of the skull.
Aris stabs the other one in the chest and pushes it into the river. The cranks
grab Aris’ arm, sending him flying into the air with the crank. I grab onto
Aris’ hand, and they both dangle off of a small drop into the river. Aris kicks
the crank with his foot, sending it falling into the river below. I’ve never
seen a crank able to think like that. Aris’ shocked expression tells me the
same thing. I pull him back up on the ground, and he thanks me.
“I’ve never seen cranks do that,” Aris says, out of breath. “It’s like they are
getting smarter.”
“I don’t understand how they would be,” Teresa says, relieved to see Aris is
ok. “They don’t have brains, and they don’t think.”
It baffles me how the crank was able to react to Aris shoving him off of the
edge the way it did. First, it seems to know that it’s supposed to not let me
stab it, and now it knows how to take someone out with it? Cranks, as far as I
knew, only knew how to kill, even if it meant hurting itself in the process. It
seems as though the cranks are starting to react better, and recognize if
something is going to kill it.
“We need to keep moving,” Teresa says. “Aris’ camp isn’t going to find itself.”
We don’t move much farther when Aris starts talking about how certain rocks
look familiar, and how he thinks he has seen the same river-bend before. It
isn’t until we go up one more hill before Teresa stops dead in her tracks. Aris
stops next to her, and I stop right next to Aris. I smile, and we all start
cheering at the sight in front of us.
Small buildings in the distance grab all of our attention, and I get the urge
to just scream. I’m so happy that we are finally here, that I forget everything
in the moment, and I start running toward it. Teresa and Aris follow me, and we
arrive at a metal gate. The metal bars have a thin coat of black paint, and I
push it open. When I do, I catch the attention of several cranks looming in the
area. Teresa, Aris, and I start attacking them.
“This is so much harder now that I think they know what they are doing,” Aris
says, slashing at three cranks. “God, they are more annoying now, than they
ever were.”
I battle around six cranks before I am able to help Aris with his few. Teresa
takes down four cranks, and a fifth one charges at her from behind. She swings
her arm back, stabbing it in the neck. Blood spurts all over her shirt, my
side, and the ground. It falls onto the floor, and she lets out a victorious
laugh. Aris and I kill his cranks, and we venture into the camp. I have no idea
what is in store, but I am glad that Aris and Teresa are by my side for the
ride.
***** Finding Sonya: Part 2 *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt, Aris, and Teresa are fighting cranks inside Aris' old camp.
Chapter Notes
     Life's still shit. Might be leaving my school because I can't take it
     anymore. Here's another chapter. Leave a kudos and comment because I
     like them.
Aris’ old camp is one and a half times bigger than the Glade. It’s about two
times bigger than the Gladerhood. There are around twelves man-made structures.
Most look like housing units, but there are also a few other things. One
building has an outside part. In it, targets are strung loosely on ropes. It’s
probably an archery range.
All the buildings are worn down and tattered looking. Aris looks at the
buildings, wearing a face of utter despair. I bet this place was once amazing
looking. Too bad cranks have to ruin everything. Cranks? Cranks are crawling
all over the place. I see many of them. There has to be around twenty in the
front part of the camp.
“This used to be my home!” Aris screams, stabbing a crank. “You cranks took
everything from me!”
Aris basically flips out and starts killing cranks left and right. I have a
vendetta against these creatures as well. My sister, the Glade, and all the
people these things have killed. They have no reason to live, so why let them.
All they do is bring pain, misery, and suffering to anyone and everyone. It
would be a favor to the world if they all would just die already.
“They’re coming in at all sides.” Teresa says, to both Aris and I. “Get ready!”
As soon as she says that, a crank runs into my side, and knocks me to the
ground. I stab it in the forehead, and three more cranks come charging at me. I
trip one, stab another, and punch one all at the same time. One is dead, so I
kill the crank dazed from my punch. I look down, and the crank I tripped tries
swiping at my leg with its claws. I stab it in the head, and it goes limp. Five
more come at me, and I don’t know if I can take them on. Next thing I know,
more and more join the pile, and we are surrounded by them.
“Fuck this,” Teresa says and pulls out a gun. “Stole this from Minho. I think
this is from your old stuff.”
She points it and starts shooting at the mob. Cranks fall to the ground dead.
Teresa is a really good shot. She only misses one, and it hits somewhere in the
forest. A clicking sound comes from the gun, and Teresa is quick to reload it.
Aris and I start stabbing at any cranks that Teresa does not shoot. One almost
bites me from behind, but Teresa shoots it right between the eyes. I suddenly
really wish I bought a gun. The sound attracts many more cranks, and we have to
get out of here somehow.
“Should we start attacking in one direction?” Aris asks. “I don’t think this is
a fight we can win.”
“Yes,” Teresa says. “I only have like three rounds after this. Make it quick.”
Aris starts attacking cranks near the gate. Teresa starts shooting, covering
Aris and I. The pathway is made with speed, and Teresa runs toward the gate.
Now all three of us are at the gate, killing and shooting cranks. Aris reaches
the gate first and opens it for us to go through. We pile out of the camp with
no luck finding my sister. It’s time to search the woods.
“If we get out of this alive,” Teresa says, slipping through the gate. “I sure
as hell am going to start living life to the fullest. No more wasting time for
me. Nope. We are lucky to be alive.”
“We aren’t out of the woods yet,” I say, pointing to at least fifteen cranks a
few yards away from us.
Teresa shoots down around six of them by the time Aris and I reach them. Knives
in hand, we take cranks down one by one. Aris almost gets bitten, but I bury my
knife into its skull before it can reach. Aris throws me a glance, before
attacking cranks again. He goes to stab one, but the crank catches the knife in
its hand. Aris is so stunned, the crank manages to disarm him. The crank looks
at the knife, and four cranks go over to see the object. The crank stabs one of
his fellow cranks and then jumps in a gleeful manner.
 “Son of a bitch!” Aris screams. “It- it disarmed me!”
Teresa winks and takes aim. A loud bang sends the armed crank to the ground.
The rest of the cranks pile on top of the crank in hopes of getting the sharp
knife. I mentally note that cranks are definitely changing, but I’ll worry
about it later. The top priority is killing the rest of these cranks and
getting out of here.
Teresa shoots down a few more cranks, and I stab the remaining ones diving for
the knife. Aris and I are covered in blood splatters, and I’m exhausted. I look
around, trying to find a safe place to hide while keeping a close distance to
Aris’ camp. We still have unfinished business here. I spot two climbable trees
on the western side of the camp. They are right on the forest line, so I can
keep an eye on the Glade.
“See those trees?” I yell to Aris and Teresa, who both spot the trees I am
talking about. “We need to climb them, and regroup.”
I lead the way, with Aris behind me, and Teresa covering the back. Gunshots
ring out, and I kill at least four cranks on the way there. I start losing
count after I get rushed by three at once. Aris starts grabbing at their necks
to snap them, seeing as he lost his weapon. I violently stab at them. Together,
we kill them and make it to the tree.
Aris makes quick work up the tree on the left, making quick work getting to a
high branch. Teresa and I both climb up the left tree, and we settle on
branches just below Aris. Each of them has room for us to lay on, but we need
something to strap ourselves in. I look up, and Aris is taking off his shirt.
“What in the bloody hell are you doing?” I shout, and I watch as he uses the
sleeves to wrap himself around the branch. “That’s an amazing idea! You’re
bloody brilliant!”
Teresa and I do the same thing. Teresa hesitates at first but realizes that
Aris and I aren’t completely ‘straight’, so she eventually does. No, she isn’t
naked. She has a braw. I catch Aris’ lingering gaze, not on Teresa, but on me.
His face turns pink, and he turns away. I feel a bit of red rushing to my
cheeks, but I cannot think about it now. We have more important issues at hand.
“What are we going to do?” Teresa says, talking to me. “I can keep shooting,
but I’m going to run out of bullets eventually. “I have a knife too, and that
reminds me. I have a knife for you Aris. I packed more than one. I have a spare
for you too, Newt. I have about four knives in this backpack.”
“Give me my spare,” I reply, intending to use both. “Two knives are better than
one.”
Teresa hands me mine, and I stick it in my backpack with my other one. Aris
gets his knife too and puts it in his backpack. I suddenly have hope that we
are going to be walking out of this alive. After all, we are all armed again.
Hopefully, we don’t have to deal with cranks disarming us again. I’ll have to
be extra cautious about it.
“We should just jump down, and start attacking,” Aris says, smiling at his
blade. “I like this knife. It’s longer than my old one, and Newt has been using
a kitchen knife.”
“Don’t pick this fight,” I reply, looking at my knife. “I’ve had this knife
since the day I lost my sister. I’ve gotten out of so many sticky situations
with this thing, and I’d be dead without it.”
Aris looks down at the ground and doesn’t reply. I feel bad for making him feel
bad. Aris makes eye-contact, and I give him a wide grin. He smiles back at me,
and everything is silently forgiven. I let myself take in a little bit of Aris’
body. He has a slight abs forming, but aren’t like defined. It’s natural like
he doesn’t work out trying to get them. It’s probably just because of
everything he’s done since the apocalypse began. I shake myself back to
reality, and I try not to stare too long.
“I agree with Aris,” I say, after some time. “We should fight them. Let’s kill
as many of these bastards as we can. The more we kill, the less in the world to
worry about.”
Aris smiles at me, and Teresa nods fiercely. We untie ourselves, and slowly
descend the tree. Teresa puts her shirt on in process. I struggle to put it on,
and I end up tying it around my waist. I don’t notice, but Aris’ face turns
unmistakably red. I’m too busy trying not to fall out of the tree, to the
cranks below. I count around six. I stop at a branch just above them, I open my
backpack, and I take out both of my knives. Two knives are better than one.
Teresa is the first one to drop to the ground. She has a knife in one hand, and
a knife in the other. Gunshots fill the air, accompanied by screams of dying
cranks. I drop to the ground second, and I start slashing two cranks at once.
Aris drops to the ground last and starts cutting cranks as best as he can.
We take out as much as we can, but the cranks just keep coming. Eventually, we
start moving toward the forest, trying to evade the cranks. Teresa shoots at
them as we move. Aris and I stab cranks left and right. We fight through the
mob, and we make our way into the forest. They will probably follow us, but we
can use the forest to our advantage.
Teresa, Aris, and I hide behind trees, close to each other. Cranks run past us,
and we kill them as they come. Since the cranks don’t know we’re there, it’s
much easier to kill them. The element of surprise plays well in our favor.
Teresa pops out of her tree and starts shooting at the cranks, blowing our
cover. She takes out a ton of cranks though.
We use this to our advantage because all the cranks are coming after her. Aris
and I start stabbing at all of the cranks, not caring, at this point, if we are
seen or not. They don’t notice us, as they are too busy with Teresa shooting at
them. We’re on a role, stabbing tons and tons of cranks as they come. I
mentally curse myself when a crank grabs one of my knives.
I swipe at the crank, but I miss. The crank swipes at me, but I manage to dodge
it too. I use my small knife to try and kill the crank that is using the knife
Teresa gave me. It charges at me, swinging the knife back and forth, and I feel
something cut my leg. I dive my knife into the crank’s heart, and it falls to
the ground. I pick up my knife, and I inspect my wound. It isn’t deep enough to
endanger me. It’s barely deep enough to bleed.
Teresa runs over to me and inspects my wound. She determines it to be ok and
runs away quickly to divert the cranks. I take my shirt off of my waist, and I
tie it around my leg. I look over to Aris, who looks at me with a concerned
look. A crank walks right in my line of vision and lunges itself at Aris, who
takes it down with ease. He smirks at me, and I return it.
“How many are left?” I ask Teresa, who takes a minute to reload the gun. “A
lot? A little?”
“Let’s just say I’m not shocked Aris’ camp was destroyed,” Teresa says, firing
the gun. “These little bitches won’t give it a rest.”
Gunshots ring through the air, and I turn over to Teresa. She’s still loading
her gun. Panic settles in me, and I pale at the thought that a crank might be
able to use a gun. Teresa looks up, looks back at her gun, and then her head
snaps forward. Her eyes wide in shock. I peer around the tree that I’m hiding
behind. I gasp at what I see. Aris drops to the floor, his hand covering his
mouth. Cranks lay in a neat path. All of them are dead. One twitches, and a
lone gunshot rings through the air. It goes limp as well.
Aris, Teresa, and I watch as figures appear out of nowhere. They are all
painted so much like the tree, that they perfectly blend in. One girl comes out
of the ground and shakes off bits of dirt on her. All of us stand, utterly
speechless until one of the girls walk up to us. She raises to guns in the air,
shows them to us, and then sets them on the ground. I believe this is a sign
that she is friendly, and someone we shouldn’t be afraid of. Teresa does the
same thing with her gun. Aris and I put our knives in our backpacks.
The girl that came out of the ground walks over to us. She shakes the dirt out
of her blonde hair and walks a little closer to me. She looks at Aris in
complete disbelief. I look over to Aris, and his face is so happy, that I’m
sure I’ve never seen anyone look so happy in my entire life. He runs over to
her, and they embrace each other. Then the rest of the camo people run over and
join in on the hug. The girl notices me, and she throws herself off of Aris.
She stumbles over her own foot running so fast to me. She stops directly in
front of me, and I can see her brown eyes frantically identifying me. Tears
stream down her face, and she throws herself into my arms. Then I get this
warm, familiar feeling. I know who this girl is, and my face fills with delight
and closure. I tremble in her grasp. This girl is Sonya, my sister.
***** Finding Sonya Part 3 *****
Chapter Summary
     Newt has found Sonya, but what happened to her throughout the years
     they were apart.
Chapter Notes
     I've been on antidepressants for a month now, and it's been a huge
     emotional rollercoaster, so that's why I haven't been updating.
     Life's been real fucked up, but I finally am starting to feel better.
     I've gotten into screenwriting, so watch out Hollywood. I'm too lazy
     to actually write a whole movie lol. Enjoy this chapter. Leave a
     kudos and a comment because ya'll are precious.
For the first time in four years, I finally see my sister again. I finally get
to hold her in my arms and hug her again. Sonya and I stand there in each
other’s embrace for what seems like an eternity. I cannot believe how much is
different about her. Sonya’s hair is slightly darker than I remember, her eyes
have this hint of grey to them that wasn’t there before, and she is much much
stronger than before.
I wonder who these people are that Sonya is with. Does she live somewhere safe?
If she does, am I going to stay with her? There are so many questions on my
mind, that I cannot help, but ramble on about so many things. I doubt she can
keep up with me, as I am talking really fast. For the moment, Sonya and I are
the only two people in the world. Brother and sister reunited, once again, at
the end of the world.
“Where have you been?” Sonya asks, curiosity written on her face. “I hopped off
of the train as soon as the conductor let me go. After that, I went back to the
house, and you weren’t there.”
“I’ve been following the train tracks,” I reply. “I assumed if I just looked
where you might have stopped, I’d be able to find you. Gosh, I bet you’ve been
through hell. I can’t even tell you the horrors I’ve seen.”
“I can’t believe it,” Sonya says, frowning. “If I would have just parked my ass
on that bloody train, you would have found me years ago. Damn it, Newt. It’s
all my fault that we’ve been separated for so long.”
I can say the same thing to her. For years, I’ve blamed myself for not being
able to find my sister. Day after day I looked, and I searched for her. I gave
up when I thought she was dead. I should have kept looking for her. I should
have kept looking. Knowing that Sonya feels just as responsible as I do breaks
my heart.
“Who are these people?” I ask, gesturing to the well-camouflaged people, now
out of their hiding spots. “How do they blend in so well?”
“After our camp got attacked, we had to blend in to survive,” Sonya says,
tearing up at the memories. “We train for stuff like this. We know how to
disappear, and we know how to mask our scent.”
As if to demonstrate, she gestures to a girl with black hair. The girl leans up
against one of the trees close-by, and she disappears. Teresa gasps when the
black-haired girl moves and becomes visible. She’d been painted to blend in
perfectly with that specific spot. I stand in amazement, and Sonya gives me a
pleased look.
“Well done Harriet,” Sonya says, to the black-haired girl. “This is what we do.
This is how we survive. Why try to fight cranks when we can simply evade them,
and wait them out. They have to starve eventually, right. They see us as food,
so we don’t let them see us at all.”
Teresa walks over to some of the other people, who seem to be all girls. The
only boy that seems to be part of their group is Aris. Speaking of Aris, he’s
also engaged in a conversation with two other girls. I’ve never seen so many
girls in one place, and I think back to the Gladerhood, which mostly consisted
of boys. There are Teresa and Brenda, but then there are around twenty other
boys.
“Sonya,” I say, getting her attention fixated on me. “This is really
fascinating. Do you have a new base since you’ve lost this one, or are you
solely relying on your camo?”
“We’ve been hiding in the trees,” Sonya says, taking in the view of the forest.
“I’ve been sleeping in trees even when we found this place. Not a day goes by
where I don’t rest in one of nature’s sleeping bags.”
“So have I, actually,” I reply, excited that we have that in common, for some
odd reason. “I just don’t feel good being cooped up in some house or bunker.
It’s like sleeping on hope. Sleeping on something that lets you know the Earth
is still kicking.”
Sonya giggles and I have never felt more content in my life. It feels so good
to have my sister back, that I could just scream in joy. For some reason, I
pull her into a hug, just to acknowledge the fact that she  is  here. The
little girl I lost, years ago, is now standing next to me. She’s transformed
into a young woman, and I feel just so blessed to see her now.
“I’m so glad to have you back,” Sonya says, squeezing me tighter. “I’ve felt so
alone these past years, and now I finally feel like I’m complete again. You’ve
filled this gap in my heart, left in me so long ago.”
I feel a tear run down my cheek when Sonya says that. I feel saddened that
she’s changed so much over the course of four years. The little, fragile,
delicate sister I once knew somehow morphed into this brave, artistic, crank-
killing girl. I need to get to know her again. Is her favorite color the same?
What about her favorite move? Favorite activity? All these changes in her that
I see makes me wish I would have been there to see her grow into the person she
is now.
“I can smell you thinking,” Sonya says, sarcastically. “Don’t hurt yourself,
please. Talk to me. I am your sister, after all.”
“I just cannot believe how much you’ve changed,” I whisper, with a kiss on her
head. “You’ve grown into such a young lady, and I fear I don’t know you
anymore. I don’t want to sound like a grandma that hasn’t seen you in a week,
but I’m serious. You’ve grown so much, and your looks have changed so very
much.”
“Thank you, ya bloody dork,” Sonya says, thickening her accent. “At least I
still got an accent, ya? That’s the one thing these cranks have not taken from
me. Sometimes, I say those same things to myself whenever I look at my own
reflection. I always think about the things that lead me up to now, and the
person that I’ve become.”
My sister is such a deep, and insightful person. I cannot help but smile, and
we do break our hug eventually. I look at her painted friends, and I smile.
They smile back at me, and some even wave. I can’t imagine what the Gladers
would think, looking at these people. My thoughts go to Thomas, now. I want to
shake the thoughts away, but I can’t seem to push them at the back of my mind.
His crying, pleading face on the day that I left. That image burns inside of my
head and makes me wonder where I would be now if I had stayed.
“You’re thinking again,” Sonya says, smiling at me. “I have a question of my
own. Are Aris and Teresa it, or do you know of any other survivors? Would be
nice to have some males around, if you know what I mean.”
My jaw drops, and not because of the very mature comment at the end. Though,
holy crap, my sister is already thinking of having sex with boys. A father
switch flicks inside me, and I yearn to kill anyone who touches my sister. I
glare at Aris, who catches my gaze. He only returns a, way too cheeky, smile at
me.
“I know a few more survivors,” I say. “Except I left them to come find you.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember the way back, so we are just going to have to
figure things out from here.”
“Yes we do, what are you talking about?” Aris asks, in a way too ignorant
manner. “Remember? The river? Fifteen to twenty miles south? How can you not
remember?”
“Aris, stuff it!” I snap at him, and he whimpers. “Anyways, nope. I do not
remember the way back, so we will just have to forget they ever existed, and
move on with our lives.”
“Aww,” Sonya says, fake pouting. “Are you avoiding someone?”
That question burns at the back of my throat, and tears suddenly threaten to
spill. I choke, and I take a step back. Do I answer her question? Can I even
answer it for myself? Sonya gives me a saddened look, and I regret saying that
I do know more survivors. If she wants to go back to the Glade, that means I
have to confront Thomas again. How can I ever do that again? I told him I’d
visit, but I think even he knew that I was lying.
“Yes,” I say, suddenly not feeling cheerful. “I don’t want to talk about him,
so let’s just drop the subject.”
“It’s a boy!” Sonya exclaims, suddenly very ecstatic. “Oh, my gosh, Newt!
You’re in love, and you didn’t tell me as soon as we started talking? How dare
you! I want to meet him, and make sure that he is good enough to be your
husband.”
I start laughing, but I am crying on the inside. She cannot meet Thomas because
I just can’t have these two worlds collide. If they become friends, then I’d be
forced to spend time with Thomas. I don’t even want to go back to the
Gladerhood, but I am losing this battle, and I am losing it very quickly.
“He’s not my husband,” I say, saddened by the truthfulness of it. “He’s a
straight mate.”
“Aww.” She says, putting her arm around me. “Did my poor brother get his heart
broken? That’s why you don’t want to go back to them! This boy broke your
heart, and he’s back there. I swear to God, I am going to kill him. Take me to
them, and point him out. I’ll put a bullet right between his eyes. Nobody hurts
the people I love.”
I pale a little at Sonya’s intensity, but I do like her fire. The image of her
putting a gun to Thomas’ head doesn’t seem very pleasant either. If she does it
when Thomas and Brenda are going at it, then maybe she can get two birds with
one bullet. I smile at my dark sense of humor, and then Sonya’s laughing
distracts me. My sister is so awesome, and I can’t express how glad I am to
finally have her back in my life.
“As lovely as that statement is,” I start, sarcastically. “I’m not going back.
You heard Aris, you know where to go. If you want to chase after him, then be
my guest.”
“Ok,” Sonya says. “Tell me his name, and I will bring you his head.”
“Stop it,” I say, lightly punching her on the shoulder. “I’m not joking.”
Sonya’s face contorts into a half laugh and half pout. Teresa comes over and
stands close to us. I can tell Teresa is a little awkward being around all of
these strangers. I guess it isn’t nice of me, ignoring Teresa. If she hadn’t
come, Aris and I would have definitely died. I drag Teresa over to Sonya, and I
introduce them.
“Sup,” Teresa says, in an awkward tone. “I’m Teresa. I’m the badass, who Newt
used to hate, and now we are best friends. We’ve saved each others’ asses many
times. “
“I’m Sonya,” Sonya replies, shaking Teresa’s hand. “I’m Newt’s badass sister.
I’m the leader of this group, and we blend in with the shadows.”
Teresa and Sonya engage in a really deep conversation, and it gives me a whole
new respect for my sister. She’s not only a badass but also accepting of my
friend. I can’t ask for anything better, except for her to change her mind
about wanting us to return to the Gladerhood. Sonya and Teresa continue their
conversation, and I head out to search for Aris. I find him leaning against the
village gate, alone.
“Hey,” Aris says, smiling at me. “You’ve found your sister.”
“Yeah,” I say, smiling back at the boy. “I see you’ve found your people too.”
“I like you, Newt,” Aris says, red in his face. “I know that’s off topic, but I
just can’t hide it anymore. I like you, and I know that you love Thomas. I just
wish I could help you move on, ya know. If we aren’t going back, then can we at
least have a future together?”
“I like you too Aris,” I say, feeling weird feelings in my stomach. “I just
don’t think now is a good time for me to be in a relationship. I feel like I’m
just starting to get over Thomas, and I need to keep my head level for a few
days or so. I really like you Aris, but I love Thomas. Just give me some time
to move on, yeah?
“Completely understandable,” Aris says. “It’s getting late, so I’m going to go
climb a tree.”
Aris walks by but stops right in front of me. I meet his gaze, and then he
looks down onto the ground. He gets closer to me and places a soft kiss on my
lips. He then disappears and leaves me with a tingling sensation. I’m so
completely, and utterly shucked.
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