The First One- newt x reader

34~ Ben

--next day, y/n's POV--

I remember that last night I fell asleep in Newt's arm at the deadheads, and he must have carried me back because when I woke up we were together in our hut- he's such a sweetie. We went to breakfast normally and I sat with Minho, Newt, and Thomas. I don't think I would get over the similarity that I could see between him and my bestfriend but I was just gonna have to deal with it. In a way I was thankful that he reminded me of her because it would bring me closer to yet another wonderful person. Minho was especially nice to me today- he was always lovely to me (and me only) but today something was different.

--switch to Minho's POV--

We were at breakfast and I sat with Y/n, Newt, and the newbie- Thomas. I knew exactly why y/n was at Ruby's grave again last night... Thomas reminded her of her, which made her miss her even more than she still did. I only knew this because, I felt it too. I could see that he was curious, and so was Ruby. He seemed brave, and she was one of the bravest people I had ever met. He also seemed to be making friends and connections already, and my bet was that he would protect them with his life- another thing she would do.

I can see she's sadder than usual, so I'm gonna be even nicer than I usually am to her. She's like my sister so I am always pretty good to her- well, I try my best- but she needs someone more than usual right now so I'm gonna show her that I'm here. And of course, I am the best person to talk to anyway.

--switch back to y/n's POV--

After breakfast, Thomas had been assigned to do some gardening with Newt and I but he got annoying. He may make me think of Ruby, but damn is that kid a pain in the back side. I could sense he was a curious one but he just asks questions on top of questions on top of more questions! Newt could see I was getting annoyed at him so sent the boy off to dig up some fertilizer for us. I was thankful for that temporary escape from the sea of questions and already tried escape ideas that were just pouring out of his mouth. We carried on working since we had quite a lot to get through and plant today- this day was gonna be exhausting!

--

After a little while, we were all startled. Blaring cries for help were coming closer and closer with each second. Whoever these cries were coming from, they were obviously running- running from what? Many of us all went in the direction the shrieks were coming from, to see what the commotion was- some boys with spades in their hands for protection from whatever was coming.

A boy sprinted out into the clearing, and we realised that something was chasing him. I should really say 'someone' instead of 'something' but... they didn't look human. The way it ran was zombie-like, it had white pasty skin, there was sweat dripping from its hair that I could still see from how far away I was standing, and it just carried itself like a monster! As they got closer, we realised it was one of the Gladers... it was Ben.

Ben was one of my good friends... right now he didn't look like himself. What is he doing? He's gonna get himself shucking banished if he harms that boy! This isn't like him... Ben's sweet. He looks like a monster. We need to stop him. There were so many thoughts racing through my head that I felt it spinning. I just stood in shock watching it play out.

Ben then grabbed onto Thomas' ankle, bringing him down. Thomas screamed for more help as he tried to scuttle forward out of Ben's reach. Newt took his spade and hit Ben in the head with it, maybe that will knock some sense into him.

Other boys quickly ran over after the hit, then they tried to pin him down. Ben was wriggling under their arms but they managed to get a good enough grip on him so he couldn't escape. Boys were crowding around the incident now, looking both scared and confused. "he just attacked me." explained Thomas, still reaching for breath.

Alby quietly emerged from the group surrounding him, and stared at his friend on the floor before him. They shared a look that I felt had a deeper hidden meaning behind it and Ben started crying, "No no I didn't mean it." Alby ordered for someone to lift Ben's shirt- I didn't exactly know why but the pieces started to fit together in my head just before the shirt was lifted.

Zombie-like, pale, sick, monstrous... oh no he couldn't have been-

His shirt was then peeled off of his sweaty body, revealing the truth. He had been stung by a griever. Oh no not Ben... wait, I didn't think grievers came out during the day. He wasn't like that this morning so, he had to have been stung in the middle of the day. That's odd.

"Take him to the pit." ordered Alby.

I watched him as he got dragged away. Ben was one of my close friends and I knew exactly what had to happen to him... He had to be banished.