Blank Spaces (A Maze Runner fanfic)

Chapter 6 (Alice's POV)

It takes me a bit to stop crying. When I finally stop I lay back and take a deep breath. "You hungry?" Newt says. I nod. He smirks. "Good, I am too."

"Maybe she could sit next to me," Gally says,"or closer," he adds. I'm hit by a wave of disgust.

"No thanks. I'll be sitting between Newt and Lizzy. Across from Chuck," I say.

"And Thomas," Newt adds. I'm not really sure who that is, but if Newt trusts him, I trust him. I nod. Gally grimaces and walks out of the room. "Follow me," Newt says,"we'll catch up with you guys in just a minute." He leads me out of the Homestead over to a hut near the edge of the woods I didn't notice before. He walks in and what he does next surprises me. He strips his quarter sleeve, hooded, shirt off himself and tosses it to me. I catch it easily, but almost don't due to his current state in front of me. He doesn't have big muscles, but they're defined extremely. This shows his strength. He's fit enough but still healthy, giving him a six pack with no ribs showing. Not to mention how defined his hip bones were. He has the perfect body. Perfect. I suddenly realize I've been staring at him. He looks at me, smirks, and shakes his head. "Put the bloody shirt on," he says. I'm also taken by surprise by this. None the less, I pull the shirt over my head. It had a light smell of sweat and cologne. Then I notice the small bottle of blue liquid in the corner. Probably partially the source of the scent on the tan shirt. He's slightly taller than me, so the shirt doesn't show much of my shorts. Just the bottoms. He pulls a brown tank top on over himself and I un-tense. I bite the inside of my lip.

"Thanks," I say.

"No problem," he says, clearing his throat,"It looks, um, good on you." He rubs the back of his neck and runs his fingers through his hair. Two things that always are attractive. I blush.

"Thanks," I say, holding back a laugh. I can only dull it to an audible snicker.

"You laughing at me, shank," he says. I shake my head sarcastically.

"Oh I think it was."

"Pssshhh no." With this he walks over to me, pushing me against the wall and leaning so close I can smell his breath. It smells of the mint plants he loves. His hands are on either side of me.

"Was it you?" he says with a smile.

"Maybe," I say. He gives me a devilish smile ands pulls a full on tickle attack on me. I scream for him to stop. When he finally does I fall to the ground laughing so hard I'm crying. He picks me up and sets me on my feet.

"Let's go get breakfast," he says. He leads me outside the hut. We arrive at where they eat and get some of Frypan's food. We sit in the exact order promised and I catch my first glimpse of Thomas. He's cute, sure, but he's noting compared to Newt. The first thing people notice isn't actually the food, but the shirt I'm now wearing. Minho is the first to tease.

"Is that Newt's shirt?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," I say looking at my feet. The group chuckles.

"Did ya do anything else in that cabin?" Minho says, looking directly at Newt. This time it's him to blush. He showed affection in that cabin.

"Nothing too over the top," he says. Several ooooohs come from several people, including my sister. I give her a sharp elbow in the ribs and hear her make a sound of slight pain. She fake pouts and gets another elbow. Then she just laughs. The interesting conversation ends with Newt telling what happened, but leaving out the part where I couldn't get over his body. We also get introduced to Thomas. He's also the first one to ask a question I've almost forgot people don't know the answer the answer to.

"So, how did you and Lizzy become friends?" Thomas asks. I internally face palm.

"I keep forgetting to tell people, we're sisters," I say. Looks of disbelief are spread across the table.

"And you remember that?" Newt asks. I nod. "Bloody hell, greenie, you're absolutely full of surprises aren't you?" Newt says. I laugh and nod. Soon we finish and it's time for the tour. Newt introduces us to Alby, the black guy who was there when Lizzy ran on the first day, saying he would give us the tour. We had just started at The Box when a movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned to see Minho and Thomas running through the large stone doors. They had backpacks on and knives on their waists. Again I wondered, why do they need protection? Why do we need protection? I decided to ask.

"Alby, what's out there? What are they doing?" I ask

"We'll get to that," he says quickly, and goes back to the box. "This here's The Box. Once a month, we get a Newbie like you two. Never failed until you two. Once a week, we get supplies. Ingredients for food, clothes, suggestions," he points to a box on the side of a shed,"which are given there, and not much else. We take care of almost everything." I nod, uninterested. "We don't know jack about The Box, ya here? Not where it comes from, who controls it, nothin. The shanks who put us all here don't tell us nothin. We have all this electricity and everything we need, but ain't got no idea how we get it. S'no questions bout that," he concludes. Have they ever tried send someone back. As if reading her mind, Alby says,"We've tried everything. Put a shank down in there and The Box won't budge." He clears his throat and continues,"Glade's cut into four different sections," he says. When he continues, he points a different direction every time,"Gardens, Blood House, Homestead, Deadheads. Got that?" I give a look of confusion. Alby sighs and points to the northeast corner again. "Gardens-where we grow all the crops. Water's pumped through the ground blah blah blah. Never rains here." He points to the southeast corner, which just looks like one big farm. "Blood House, raise and slaughter the animals." He points at the Homestead, where we stayed our first night. "Homestead, living quarters. Pretty big since we keep addin to it with the wood and klunk they send us." All questions possible are passing through my mind, making it feel as if my brain will burst. Last, he pointed to the forest. "Deadheads, you're pretty familiar with that place, Lizzy." She blushes. "Graveyard's back there though. Hopefully you haven't come across that without warning of what it was." She shakes her head. He clears his throat and continues. "You'll spend the next to weeks workin a day a piece with each of the Keepers, till we know what you're best at. Slopper, Bricknick, Bagger, Track-hoe. Somethin will come through. Always has."