Every Heart a Maze | Newt & Thomas

Chapter 5

   A couple of hours later, the doors having reopened, rumbling and grumbling and shaking the ground until they were completely disappeared into the walls again, and the Runners having left bolting into the Maze at full speed, Newt and Thomas sat together with Chuck at a worn, tilted picnic table outside the Homestead.

Thomas's mind was elsewhere, poking half-heartedly with his fork at the eggs and bacon on his plate, he obviously didn't want to talk to anyone. Not even to Chuck, who ate silently next to them. The poor guy had exhausted himself trying to start a conversation with Thomas, who'd simply refused to respond. But Newt wasn't worried by the boys behavior. He kept glancing over at him, but Thomas didn't notice. The boy was finally acting normal for once. Or rather, appropriate to the situation. He had a lot to deal with and would find himself again soon enough, Newt was sure of that. He had seen it many times over the past years.

Spotting Alby, Newt internally groaned. His friend was walking their direction, brisk step and a wide grin in his face. Newt returned the grin with a scowl, still being upset about his friend's failed attempt of a conversation this morning.

Alby tapped Thomas' shoulder, jarring him from his thoughts, standing behind him with folded arms, as he looked down at the boy. "Ain't you lookin' fresh?" he said. "Did ya get to have a nice little walk this morning?"

Thomas jumped up, looking at Alby challengingly, "Yeah, I did. Made me want to learn more about this place though."

Alby nodded. "Me and you, shank. The Tour begins now." He started to move but then stopped, holding up a finger. "No questions till the end, you get me? Ain't got time to jaw with you all day."

"But..." Alby's eyebrows shot up, cutting Thomas off, who, however, composed himself quickly, ignoring the older boy's stern gaze as he continued speaking. "But tell me everything – I wanna know everything."

"I'll tell ya what I wanna tell ya, Greenie. Let's go."

"Can I come?" Chuck asked, hopefully looking at Alby, who reached down and tweaked the boy's ear.

"Ow!" Chuck shrieked.

"Ain't you got a job, slinthead?" Alby asked him. Newt recalled wanting to speak to Alby about this, to suggest assigning the boy to Frypan. "Lot's of sloppin' to do?"

Chuck rolled his eyes, then looked at Thomas. "Have fun."

"Yeah, both of you," Newt said, looking at Alby. He secretly hoped the Greenie would make the next half of an hour hell for Alby. Just go ahead, keep asking your bloody questions, he thought gleefully.

"I'll try," said Thomas and grimaced.

"I don't," Alby added. "This is no shucking amusement park. Ain't nothin' funny about anything I'm going to show ya."

Alby left for the Box and Thomas followed him, leaving the other two boys and an untouched breakfast behind.

"This here's the Box. Once a month, we get a Newbie like you, never fails. Once a week, we get supplies, clothes, some food. Don't need a lot – pretty much run ourselves in the Glade," they heard Alby say as he started the Tour. "We don't know jack about the Box, you get me? Where it came from, how it gets here, who's in charge. The shanks that sent us here ain't told us nothin'. We got all the electricity we need, grow and raise most of our food, get clothes and such. Tried to send a slinthead Greenie back in the Box one time – thing wouldn't move till we took him out." Alby kept talking, never bothering to turn and look at Thomas. He knew the boy was hot on his heels. "Glade's cut into four sections." He held up his fingers as he counted off the next four words. "Gardens, Blood House, Homestead, Deadheads. You got that?"

As they walked further away, heading towards the Gardens, Newt couldn't listen to Alby any longer. But naturally he knew how the Tour would continue. After the Gardens, Alby would lead Thomas to the Blood House, where they raised and slaughtered the animals. Thomas already knew the Homestead, so they wouldn't bother with that for long. Then the Deadheads. Alby would probably show him the Graveyard back in the thicker woods. Always happy to take the opportunity to elucidate the seriousness of the situation to the Newbies.

"Do you think he's still eating that?" Chuck asked, pointing to the full plate that Thomas had carelessly left behind.

It took Newt a moment to understand what Chuck was getting at. "You can have it. I'll make sure Frypan has a little somethin' ready for Tommy. He'll eat later, when he's all tired from gardening," he assured the boy who instantly pulled the plate in front of him.

"You think Thomas will be any good at gardening?" Chuck asked, as he happily started to scoop up the bacon and eggs.

"Probably not," Newt said.

"He certainly won't be a Slopper like me," Chuck thought aloud, a little wistfulness in his voice. "Maybe he would suit the Builders?" Newt thought about it for a moment. Gally would certainly be pleased to have Thomas assigned a Builder. As their Keeper, the Greenie would then have to report to him, which, however, might not be the best constellation. It was not just a question of who was best at what, but also of who worked most effectively in which group. Maybe a Bricknick would be a better fit then, they'd similar responsibilities to the Builders, but were mainly tasked with repairing structures. Those two professions required manual dexterity though, which of course the Greenie would first have to prove. The boy's impatience clearly spoke against both of them. But what job should Thomas do instead? The boy was clearly intelligent, annoyingly so, but his keenness to understand everything, the way he was questioning things... it was too bad they didn't need scientist in the Glade. Briefly, Newt pictured the brown-haired boy in a white lab coat, some goofy goggles on his face, test tube in hand. It somehow suited him -

Suddenly a terrible pain shot through him, for a split second Newt thought the inside of his head was being ripped apart by the pain, his vision going black. And then it was over again.

As he blinked in confusion, Chuck went on talking as if he hadn't noticed anything weird at all. Newt tried to reconstruct his thoughts, backtracking to what had triggered this reaction. But he couldn't, it was as if the last few seconds had been wiped out.

"- Runner." Chuck looked at Newt as if expecting some kind of reaction, but Newt hadn't been listening.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, frowning.

"I said, I could see Thomas becoming a Runner. He told me himself last night how much he wanted to be a Runner," Chuck repeated.

No, he bloody didn't, Newt thought, groaning inside. "Did he so?" he said aloud, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, he said he wanted to be one of those guys that go out there inside the Maze. I want to be a Runner, those were his words."

Newt inhaled sharply. That bloody Slinthead of a Greenie; hadn't he told him to explicitly not run around yappin' about how he wanted to be a buggin' Runner so bad. Well, Chuck was far too good-natured to take Thomas' ambitions the wrong way, but not everyone here would react like that. Newt rather not wanted to imagine how Gally, or worst of all Alby, would deal with hearing about the Greenie's buggin' idea of becoming a Runner. He let his eyes wander to the two boys, still busy with the Tour, standing under the South Door; the two walls bracketing the exit towered above them. The thick slabs of gray stone were cracked and covered in ivy, somehow looking ancient.

"I of course told him he was a piece of Klunk that should go to sleep... but then he said..."

"What did he say?" Newt inquired when the boy didn't continue.

"Oh, not that important," Chuck sheepishly replied, looking the other way.

"Chuckie, ya better tell me now, what else did Thomas say?" He was aware that he was being unfair to the boy, Chuck couldn't know why Newt's tone had suddenly become so demanding. Newt didn't know himself where this sudden urge had come from. Why it mattered so much to him what Thomas had said."Well..." Chuck said hesitantly, "he said something like... he had a feeling he's been here before. But that's not possible, is it?"

Not knowing what to say, Newt remained silent. The Greenie kept raising questions and Newt knew it should make him suspicious, but instead he had to admit that he got more and more intrigued with him. He was bloody shucked.