Sacrifice

Chapter One

One Year Ago

Newt was the first to reach the Box. As he stood waiting he could still hear the gears shifting as the Box continued its journey to the Glade, carrying the monthly supplies and a new boy, who  now was, no doubt, awake and scared out of his mind. 

 Newt could still remember waking up in the Box as if it were yesterday. Waking up in darkness, having no recollection of his past. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy. He just hoped that this greenie wasn't as young as the last one. 

By now most of the boys had gathered around the Box. The only ones absent were Alby, Minho and the other Runners. Normally the Box came up around lunchtime, and Alby would be here to greet the newbie, but it was late this month. Minho and the Runners were back and had to report their findings for the day with Alby, so Newt was in charge of the greetings. 

As the Box clicked into place, Newt spotted Gally move to stand close to it,  no doubt wanting to size up the newbie as quickly as possible. He helped Newt open the lid. They saw the barrels and crates containing the supplies, as they expected. 

They hadn't expected the newbie to have long hair. 

 "What the-?" Gally started. 

 The person inside the Box retreated behind one of the barrels. 

"Newt, Gally, what is it?" Frypan asked, seeing his two friends' startled expressions. 

"It's a girl." Gally announced. 

Now all the boys were pushing and shoving, trying to get a look. 

"I call dibs!" someone shouted. 

"No fair." another protested. 

"Is she cute?" 

"Wait...how old is she?" 

"Slim it!" Newt snapped. 

The Gladers all calmed down, or they at least stopped trying to trample each other. As Newt climbed into the Box, he could still hear some excited snickers but chose to ignore them. Carefully, he approached the barrel the girl was hiding behind. 

"Hello." he said gently. Newt was used to handling scared newbies, had coaxed plenty into coming out of the Box when they didn't want to, but this felt very different. 

The girl peeked her head out from behind the barrel to get a look at Newt. Her face was semi-covered by her long, curly blonde hair, but Newt could still make out her wide, terrified green eyes. 

"Hi," he said. "I'm really sorry we startled you. My name's Newt." 

Newt held out his hand, which he meant as a greeting. She didn't take it; didn't even speak. The only indication she gave to having heard Newt's words was the thoughtful look in her eyes. She was assessing him, trying to figure out if he was trustworthy. Her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. Newt took that as a good sign, she must have decided that he wasn't an immediate threat. Then they heard loud snickering from above, and the girl tensed again. 

"Hey, don't worry about them." Newt assured. "They're just being a bunch of klunk-heads. They'll get over themselves in a bit." 

The girl looked back up and then down, struggling to decide what to do next. 

"Listen, I know you're scared." Newt said. "Right now, you feel lost, terrified, and you feel like you're all alone. You feel like no one can possibly help you, or even understand." 

The girl's eyes widened in surprise. How had he guessed? 

"We've all been through this." Newt continued. "It's gonna be hard, but things won't get better if you stay down here."