Every Heart a Maze | Newt & Thomas

Chapter 2

   Alby had already been there when Newt had entered the room, crouched over the twisted, pale figure writhing in agony, chest bare and hideous. Ben's condition was worse than it had been yesterday. That was normal, Newt reminded himself, it always got worse before it got better. Still, he would never get used to the sight of his friends during the Changing. Especially the rigid cords of sickly green veins, webbed across the boy's body and limbs, like ropes under his skin, made Newt uncomfortable. Purplish bruises covered the kid, red hives, bloody scratches. His bloodshot eyes bulged, darting back and forth.

   "I'm trying to calm him down. Sent Jeff and Clint to get more of the numbing herbs," Alby said as he poured a yellow-green paste into Ben. The boy tried to wriggle out of it, but was held to the bed by ropes.

   "Gally and a few others are hanging out downstairs, should I send them away?" Newt asked, unsure of what to do.

   "Nah, I know. Gally wanted to talk with me 'bout something earlier, but then Ben started screaming like crazy. That's probably why he's loitering around. Wants to catch me later." Alby reached for a damp cloth to wipe Ben's forehead with. "The Greenbean's alright?'"

   "Told him to find Chuck... What did Gally wanna talk to you about?"

   "Don't know, but knowing Gally it's -" Alby was interrupted when the door to the Homestead opened below and some shuffling and sniggering could be heard. Ben reacted to the noises downstairs, managed to free one of his veined hands from the ropes and screamed. Newt jumped forward, holding him down, while Alby bent over the boy to tie him up again. Then Alby grabbed the paste, pushing its remains between the boy's lips, taking advantage of Ben's mouth being opened wide while screaming.

   "Hey, look, it's the Greenbean," Gally's voice unmistakable sounded from the first floor. "This shank probably klunked his pants hearing old Benny baby scream like a girl. Need a new nappy, shuck-face?"

   Through the thin wooden walls of the Homestead, every word spoken was quite audible. Newt tried to ignore it, concentrating on the task at hand, fumbling with the rope, when someone downstairs seemingly approached the stairs.

   "Hold on there, Greenie. Newbies aren't allowed to see someone who's been ... taken. Newt and Alby won't allow it."

   "What's your problem?" the Greenie asked, apparently not much intimidated by Gally, which was... quite impressive, Newt had to give him that. "I don't even know where I am. All I want is some help."

   "Listen to me, Greenbean," Gally continued, voice full of antipathy. "I've seen you before. Something's fishy about you showing up here, and I'm gonna find out what."

   A surge of heat pulsed through Newt's veins. Hearing Gally say he'd seen the Greenie before sent shivers down his spine. Was that what Gally had wanted to talk to Alby about? What did it all mean? Involuntarily Newt looked up meeting Alby's gaze, who now, that Ben had calmed down a little, attentively overheard the conversation happening below.

   "I've never seen you before in my life. I have no idea who you are, and I couldn't care less," the Greenie spat, and Newt fervently hoped that Gally would pull himself together, not slapping that stupid shank right in his lovin' face.

   "I've ... seen you, shank. Not too many in these parts can say they've been stung," Gally went on, ignoring the underlying provocation. "I have. I know what Ben is going through right now. I've been there. And I saw you during the Changing. And I bet your first meal from Frypan that Ben'll say he's seen ya, too."

   Newt looked at the boy who was lying on the bed between Alby and him, frowning. His eyelids were closed, but the eyeballs underneath were still darting back and forth, moving incessantly. Ben's whole body jerked and his lips trembled as he fought the unconsciousness. Newt couldn't imagine what the boy was going through, whether it was purely physical pain, or if what he saw during the Changing was importuning him. It was true that those who had been stung by the Grievers and survived the process of the Changing were getting some of their memories back, or at least something they thought to be memories. Immediately after the Changing these visions of a time before the Glade were most present, afterwards they soon subsided and there only remained shadows of them. Not that Newt had any practical knowledge to talk of here, he himself had been spared this experience so far. Still, he could hardly imagine that Gally had retained such a precise memory that he could clearly identify the Greenie. And yet, Newt couldn't deny that strange feeling of familiarity, that had overcome him seeing that new boy.