𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓻𝓾𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓻𝓸𝓴𝓮𝓷 - [EDITING]

Chapter Nine - Addy

"Addy. Addy!"

I'm shaken awake. Out of reflex, I throw a fist at the attacker.

"Argh!" Tommy cries as my punch hits him right in the eye. "Chill! It's just me!"

I gasp and sit up as I realize what I've done. "I'm so sorry, Tommy!" I giggle. "I didn't know it was you! Reflex, I swear!"

"Gosh, Addy. What sort of reflex is that?" Tommy complains, rubbing his face.

I shrug sheepishly. "Never wake a girl."

"Newt was smart to make me come get you," my brother mutters.

"Newt?" I inhale sharply out of instinct.

"Yeah..." Tommy trails off, eyeing me suspiciously. "He's showing us something, remember?"

"Oh." I'm disappointed that that's the only reason he came. "Right."

Tommy shrugs my strange behavior off. "He figured it'd be more appropriate to come get you since we're siblings. When did you tell him that?"

"Last night." I glance outside, rubbing sleep from my eyes. "What time is it?"

"Too early." Tommy leads me outside to where Newt, sure enough, is waiting.

"Get used to it," Newt says, overhearing my question. My face flushes. "Only let you sleep in yesterday to be nice. Wake-up is bright an early so you'll have to get used to it. Let's go." Newt breaks into a run, it's surprisingly steady considering his limp. Thomas and I match his pace. I'm surprised to find it easy to keep up with them. I shouldn't be able to run so effortlessly, but my body falls into a rhythm immediately. I wonder if I ran in my old life. Sure feels like it.

Newt stops at the West Wall and Thomas, being himself, immediately starts asking questions. "What are those?" He refers to blinking red lights on the wall's face.

"When you bloody need to know, you'll know, Greenie." Newt seems just as irritated to be up so early as I feel.

Surprising me, and evidently himself, Thomas blurts, "Well, it's kind of stupid to send me to a place where nothing makes sense and not answer my questions. Shank." The word sounds as out of place and unfamiliar in his mouth as it is in mine.

Newt chuckles. "I like you, Greenie."

I smile into the night. Tommy and Newt are so important in my life. I'm glad they're getting along. I blush, realizing what I just thought. Newt can't be important in my life. I barely know him. I shake my head at myself, grateful for the cover of darkness.

Several minutes pass with nothing but Thomas' impatient comments and questions, but finally an eerie light shines through the window.

"This," Newt says. "This is why you should never go out into the Maze."

A huge, blubbery creature seethes along the corridor. Silver spikes protrude from it's moist body. It climbs the wall and throws it's disgusting body at the window. Thomas shrieks and we both fall backwards. I stumble into Newt and he drops the ivy he held back to help me up. I blush and mutter my thanks, angry at myself for getting flustered like this at such a serious moment.

"Now you know what bloody lurks in the Maze," Newt says seriously. "You've been sent to the Glade and we'll be expecting you to survive and help us solve the buggin' Maze and find our way home."

---

Newt plops down at one of the various picnic tables at breakfast and Thomas and I follow him like scared puppies. Most of the boys are still asleep, but after what I'd seen, I didn't bother to try. The table is quiet aside from the occasional scrape of fork against plate as I shove my food around, lost in thought. Why would someone send a bunch of teenagers to a place so dangerous? What did we do to deserve this?