Newt

Gally

The next boy to come up had the strangest name Newt had ever heard.

"Gally?" he asked incredulously, raising his eyebrows at the boy. "Your name is actually Gally?" He didn't wan to be rude, but the name was rather strange. Although that was a tad hypocritical since Newt had an odd name himself.

"Yeah, so what? Is something wrong with my name?" The boy didn't seem mad as much as scared. He had just come out of The Box with no memories of his life, so that was to be expected.

"You name's as smelly as klunk, Gally. You sure you're not remembering it wrong? Get hit a little too hard on the way up?" Minho grinned and sent Newt a look, as if he wanted to share in some hysterical joke. Newt just rolled his eyes.

"Your names are weird too. His name is Alby," he said, pointing to the oldest. "And what the hell is a Newt? What are you, some kind of lizard?" Newt had the feeling he wouldn't get along quite well with this particular little ray of bloody sunshine.

"First off, Newt's are amphibians, you dumb shank. Second, Alby could be short for Albert or something. What's Gally short for? Art Gallery?" Newt was happy Minho was defending him, but this was going too far. The poor bastard just got out of the bloody Box. It was traumatizing enough without being insulted by complete strangers.

"Alright enough. Gally, come with me, I'll show you around." He smiled warmly at the young boy, who silently thanked him with a look of relief. Newt led him away from the group who all groaned and sent him a chorus of remarks like "Thanks Mom," or "Pansy-lovin' shuck," the latter obviously from Minho.

"Sorry about that. I shouldn't have insulted your name. Who am I to talk, right?" he said with a chuckle. Gally shrugged, eyes glued to the ground.

"It's okay. It's a stupid name anyways." Newt wanted to say something comforting, but he wasn't really good at being nice yet. He was working on it.

"So what is this place?" Gally asked after a moment of silence. He was different, Newt noticed. Curious. Most boys would have klunked their pants and cried for their mums by now. Gally seemed shaken, but he was walking and asking questions. That was different.

"This is called The Glade. We live here, work here, sleep here and survive here. We grow our own food, build our own houses and survive together. Order is the most important thing. I need you to understand that. We don't tolerate troublemakers here. We cant. No fighting. No killing. No running off. Think you can handle that, Greenie?"

Gally looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but he forced his mouth shut and nodded instead. Newt was intrigued by him. How did he manage to beat the hopelessness with curiosity?

Gally stared out at The Glade with wide eyes. He seemed to be taking everything in. Newt prepared himself for the usual questions. Being second in command meant he dealt with Greenies often. He was used to their sad statements and impossible questions. Why did this happen to me? When can I go home? Where's my momma? Instead, Gally completely surprised him.

"What's out there?" He pointed to the maze. Newt didn't know how to respond. No one else had asked that question. No one had been brave enough to even try. He forced himself to shove the shock aside.

"You don't want to know."

"Yes, I do." Gally replied forcefully, the fear seeming to completely disappear. Newt didn't understand this kid at all.

"Alright then, Greenie. If you really want to know, follow me." Newt knew this was a mistake. He tried to stop himself, but something about Gally was different and he knew that he couldn't follow normal protocol.

"Where are we going?" Gally asked.

"To see a friend," he responded. He didn't speak another word until they approached the person Newt had mentioned, the only one that could truly answer Gally's questions.

"Gally, meet Minho, Keeper of the Runners."