Just keep running

Thomas

Grace's POV

"Over there, we got the Builders"

Newt pointed to the group of boys who were huddled around a small table filled with half empty plates.

"Very good with their hands, but-", He tapped his forehead, "Not a lot going on upstairs"

I softly slapped his shoulder. He just looked at me, eyebrows raised in defense and a 'Don't blame me, you know I'm right' expression on his face.

Tilting my head, I mouthed a silent "Come on now"

He was right after all, but these guys were the ones who had pulled up most of the buildings, providing the rest of us with shelter.

I wouldn't want to mess with them or else they'd might force me to lay beneath the open sky while it's raining.

"Good fight you had there, Gracie!", A boy with lots of bandages around his hands and acne freckling over his face waved at us.

"That's Winston. He's the keeper of the Slicers. The ones who take care of the animals.", I explained after a short nod at the boy, "He's in a fight with puberty and losing"

"Oh, so you're allowed to make jokes but I'm not?", next to me, Newt faked an indignated expression. 

"Absolutely", I twisted my face into a worried frown, "Because you're suffering from a severe case of 'Dad-joke-ism'. We don't know if you can make it"

Ducking my head and laughing at my own dumb humor, I skipped forward a few steps to escape the blond boy's attempt of pushing me.

Now demonstratively walking next to the new Greenie, who had to play the role of a human shield, Newt scoffed and shook his head in disbelief.

"You see what I have to deal with here?"

He mocked my expression before turning towards the Greenie again, nodding to another group of Gladers and explaining what their tasks were.

Newt had insisted on showing the new boy the rest of the Glade, once my little fight with Gally was over.

If you could call that a proper fight and not just two children gnawing at each other and one of them eventually winning through sheer luck. Almost like Chihuahuas.

But no matter how amusing the thought of tiny rat-dogs was, my thoughts kept spinning back to what Gally said.

"Seems like you've been subsiding" 

I knew he was just messing around and didn't really mean it. Not like I wasn't constantly bullying him about random things. 

Because if you didn't annoy your friends, were you ever really close?

Yet I've still felt something sting in my chest when he'd said it.
He was somewhat right after all. I hadn't been strong enough to pull Ben back up by myself. 

What if Minho hadn't been there in time? I could be dead too.

Usually, when we told the other boys about our days in the Maze, we'd make sure to tell them as normal as possible. Make it funny, so that the others won't worry too much. 

But now, after Gally had mentioned it, I could feel a harsh shiver going down my spine, like somebody had suddenly dropped a bucket of icy cold water over my head.

"Hey... you okay?"

The soft voice made me snap back to reality. Newt was looking at me, a small, worried frown on his face. 

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'm fine. Just zoned out at the thought of something ridiculous.", I shook off the stinging feeling and smiled reassuringly. 

When he raised his eyebrows in a matter of 'are you sure?', I nodded rapidly.