A Battle With Hope (Newtmas)

Chapter 8

An eerie silence settled over the group, as the Glader's waited anxiously by the maze doors. Chuck was the one who broke the silence. 'They'll be back any second now, they're gonna make it!' he said trying to sound confident, his voice wavering and giving away his true emotions. Newt gave the younger boy a small, sad smile. He felt a warm hand grasp his shoulder firmly, turning briefly, to see Thomas standing next to him.
'Maybe they'll make it through the night!' Thomas said, naively. Newt couldn't help but scoff.

'Listen here Tommy.' He said gravely. 'No one, ever makes it through a night in the maze. If you don't make it back before the doors close. That's it, you're gone. Sometimes, the runners find the bodies of those Gladers who never made it back before the doors closed, other times, they vanish without a tra....'
Newt was cut off by the sound none of the Glader's wanted to hear, a deafening, grinding noise as the doors to the maze began to slowly close. Newt felt his heart drop. He hung his head sadly, turning away hoping that none of the other boys would see his eyes, quickly filling with tears. 'Wait!' Chuck screamed, mayhem erupted, the crowd of boys yelling and pointing. Newt spun quickly around, peering through the slowly closing maze doors, trying to see what Chuck was pointing at. Squinting into the darkness, Newt could make out a figure, stumbling towards them. Newt gasped upon making out the shape. An exhausted Minho made his way slowly towards them, panic etched across his face, carrying something in his arms... Alby. 'Hurry!' 'Run Minho, run!' the boys screamed. The doors were almost closed, Minho edged closer. Newt closed his eyes, knowing he wasn't going to make it. 'Thomas, no!' Newt's eyes flew open at the sound of Chuck's scream, just in time to see the maze doors closing on Minho, Alby and... Thomas.

The doors closed with a large boom, shaking the Glade. Silence once again settled over the crowd. The Gladers stood, shell-shocked. Chuck stood, tears streaming down his face. He turned to face Newt.
'It'll be okay. Maybe they'll make it!' Newt's anger boiled over. He ran forward to the now closed maze door, and punched the stone with all his might, feeling the bones in his hand shatter on impact. He screamed, a mix of pain and fury.
'They're gone Chuck.' He said, dropping his voice to whisper 'They're gone...' And with that, he turned away from the door, ignoring his fellow Gladers, nursing his injured hand and storming off towards the gardens. 

By the time dinner time came around, Newt's hand was swollen twice the size, already bruising quickly. Newt sat, grim faced by the bonfire, none of the boys daring to speak to him. Gone was the usual joking and silly banter, instead the boys ate quietly, talking softly amongst themselves. Newt was grateful for the silence. He took the evening to mourn his friends. He knew this time it was different. While the Gladers were not new to the deaths of their friends, never had Newt lost one of his best friends, let alone two and a Greenie he was quickly beginning to care about. He swiped angrily at a tear on his cheek. He was the leader now, he couldn't waste time mourning about his friends any longer. This was the life inside the Glade, it was rough, painful and hopeless and Newt had to get used to it. He also knew he had to step up to the roll of leader, filling Alby's shoes, and it was going to be tough. Especially with Glader's like Gally around. 

Newt finished his dinner, helping himself to some of Gally's homemade liquor. After drinking enough that a dull, hollow feeling replaced the pain and anguish inside his chest, Newt stumbled his way to the gardens to rest. Before he could make it all the way, he was stopped by Chuck. 'They're going to make it Newt' his whispered, 'I know they'll make it.' Newt sighed at the boys naive belief, pushing roughly past him, not in the mood to speak. 'They will make it!' Chuck screamed at Newt's disappearing back, 'I'll be waiting at the maze doors tomorrow morning, come and see! They'll be there!' Newt shook his head and continued on his way, laying down in his favourite patch of soft, green grass and closing his eyes tight, holding on to a silent hope that when he woke up tomorrow, this would all be a dream. 

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Newt woke up later than usual, stretching and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. For a moment he forgot the horrors of the day before, but then it all came crashing back to him-he had lost his best friend's to the maze. Newt began to breathe deeply, the pain in his chest almost too much to bear, not to mention the throbbing pain pounding in his injured hand. After a few minutes of wallowing, Newt finally got his emotions together and stood up. As he had awoken later than usual, he was surprised not to see anyone mulling around the gardens as he walked through the vast, leafy greenery on his way to the homestead for some breakfast. As soon as he left the gardens, Newt knew the reason he hadn't seen anyone so far this morning. He gazed across the Glade, noticing the large group of Gladers, almost all of them, standing around the now-closed maze doors. Newt sighed and began to storm his way over to them. As the new leader, it was his job to get everyone back to their jobs. He knew their waiting was pointless, no one had ever survived a night in the maze. On his way over, Newt passed Gally sitting by the remnants of last night's fire. Gally scowled as Newt walked passed, muttering under his breath 'bloody waste of time, no one's going to be on the other side of those doors'. Newt glared back at Gally and continued on his way to the group. As he approached the group, he noticed the silence and the tension that hung in the air. Not a single Glader was speaking, all standing their, as if anxiously awaiting the opening of the maze doors. 

Newt made his way to the front of the crowd, not at all surprised to find the familiar, curly haired boy standing there, front and centre. 'Chuck. I told you, it's not worth it.' He shook his head at the younger boy, then turned to the rest of the crowd. 'Okay shanks, you all know the drill. No one survives a night in the maze, as much as we want them to, so let's just get back to w-' Newt's speech was cut off by the familiar scraping sound of the stone doors being slowly dragged apart. The whole crowd gasped and began to peer anxiously into the widening abyss.