A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt) UNDER EDITING/REWRITE

Chepter 4

Uploaded: March 5th 2018
Edited: October 26th 2019

Edited: 2-12-24

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Cally

"So," I started after swallowing some of the now cold bacon the Cooks had made for breakfast. "The people that were at the Gathering are the Keepers. Those are the leaders of every job there is. Except for Alby, who's basically the leader and then there's you, the right hand man." I repeated after Newt trying to understand everything the guy had told me about the Glade and the hierarchy of it all. Which turned out to be a lot.
     "The Keepers are Minho, from the Runners, they go into the maze to find a way out. There's Zart from the Track-hoes, who produce most of the food. Gally is from the Builders, who make stuff. Clint from the Med-Jacks, who are basically your doctors. There's that guy Winston who wanted to banish me, he's the Keeper of the Slicers who take care of the animals and kill them..." I stopped talking to think. Newt, who sat in front of me at a pick nick table just outside of the Homestead, didn't look up, too focused on his meal. When he noticed my silence, he gestured me to go on.
     I led out a tired sigh. "Sorry dude, can't remember the rest. Too many names." So many names... 
     "It's a start." Newt answered with a shrug, seeming content with the amount of information I did recall so far.
     "Ow! Wait," I proclaimed, remembering yet another name. "Frypan, Keeper of the Cooks."
     "Yep." The blond boy confirmed. "He's nice. Just doesn't like it when people mess around in his kitchen."
      I nodded in response, unable to speak through the food in my mouth. Listening to the sounds of the Glade. The wind rustling the leaves of the big tree that stood by the Homestead, people walking around, talking with their friends and doing their jobs, a goat bleated somewhere far behind us making me jump a little, dropping my fork.
     This did make Newt look up at me, "You okay, Shank?" 
     "Yeah, yeah." I shook my head, picking up my fork. "I'm fine. Just not used to... animal noises, I guess" I had heard a goat before, but then again, we lived in a big city near the sea, not a lot of goats around.
     Newt looked me up and down, considering his next words for a moment before sending me a half smile. "It's okay if ya're a bit on edge, or need some time, ya know. Most of us are sittin' in a corner cryin' our eyes out the first few days."
     The guy's words made me realize I hadn't been responding very appropriately to it all. It shouldn't be so easy for someone to get dropped in a giant Maze with a bunch of strangers and no memories. But on the other side, this was all just a dream, I didn't need to overthink it. So eventually I just settled for avoiding the topic.
     "Nah, it's okay. Better keep going, crying won't get me anywhere."
     Newt seemed to approve of my reaction, leaning back in his seat. "Smart. And I thought girls would cry more, apparently not."
     I shrugged at the stereotype, not feeling like starting that discussion. "Well, I don't know. Never been a guy before."
     Silence followed while both of us just ate our meal, sometimes a guy would come by and greet Newt, they would talk for a moment, sometimes they would say something to me, but not more then a 'hello' or 'how are you', barely though. Most just looked at me as if they had never seen a girl before... Which would make sense with Teresa being the first and only girl to ever show up in here. 
     "Hey Newt, I was wondering," I started when it was just the two of us again, remembering something Alby mentioned. "During the Gathering, Alby talked about sirens and some kinda box. What's that about? What box?"
     "Oh yeah." Newt swallowed some food, gesturing with his head to a spot in the distance, "The box. It's in the middle of the Glade. It's hole in the ground and once a month, the Sirens go off, the Box come up and we get another poor bugger thrown in our laps." He seemed to reconsider for a moment, "Except for today. Sirens haven't gone off when they're supposed to."
     I glanced over my shoulder into the direction Newt had pointed out, not really seeing anything out of the ordinary. "Oh, okay, weird." When I looked back at Newt, he seemed to be examining me again with a spark of curiosity in his eyes.
    "What?" 
     Newt leaned back again, waving it off. "Guess we'll see if keepin' ya around was the right decision if no Greenie shows up all day." 
     "Wow, Jeez, thanks." I rolled my eyes, huffing when I leaned my head on my hand, pushing some of my breakfast around on my plate. Not really having any interest in the rest of what he had to say.
     Newt's eyes grew bigger as he apparently realized what he had said. Quickly he continued, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that if no other Newbie comes up than you are- Ya know, the official Newbie." I shot Newt a glare as he stumbled over his words. "I meant that, that would mean ya are meant to be here, that's all." I pursed my lips, finding more interest in my plate again.
     Newt cleared his throat. "Anyway, the Creators also send up supplies through the Box once a week. Mostly food and clothes. We can drop a note in it with a request for things, too. Won't always get it, but sometimes we do."
     "Ever tried going down the hole?" For a moment, I thought my questions were starting to annoy the tall boy, but he seemed relieved enough that I'd dropped his earlier comment and moved on with him to the next topic to really care.
     "Yep," he led the p plop. "When ya stay in the box, it won't go down. When it's down and you try goin' down with a rope, well, the only person who tried got cut in half by something."
     I dropped my fork again when I really heard his words. "Cut in half? How do you know? Shouldn't he have fallen down?"
     "He did. At least his bottom half did. The rest was bound to the rope. When he got pulled back up- well, it ain't pretty." Newt shuddered at the memory.
     "What did you do to the body?" Maybe not the best question to ask, but my curiosity got the better of me.
     "We buried him, of course, he's in the graveyard. The casket's upside is made from glass to remind other Shanks not to do it again."
     It took me a moment to process the new information and put it in order with everything else. "So, let me get this straight." I pointed towards the giant open stone door closest to us. "A giant maze with killer monster things or whatever in it." I mentioned to the forest. "Robot lizards that will cut your hand off."
     "Actually," The Glade's second in command corrected me. "Those are everywhere, not just the Deadheads."
     I blinked slowly, "Of  fucking course they are." Moving on I gestured into the general direction I guessed Newt had meant before. "A hole in the ground that will cut you in half if you try climbing down." For some fucking reason, Newt laughed as I continued. "Anything else I should know about before it kills me or cuts of a limb?" Half of me was joking, but the other half really wanted to know.
     Newt didn't even consider the possibility that my question was rhetorical and seemed to think about his answer for a moment. "There's a Cliff in the Maze, Alby threatens to throw people off it sometimes... There are a lot of sharp things in the Blood house and kitchen that could probably kill ya. Think that's about it."
     "Did Alby ever throw someone down that cliff?" I asked, looking at the guy in front of me through slitted eyes.
     Newt shook his head, "No, 'course not. On the rare occasion some Shanks goes bloody nuts and does something awful to some other Shank we Banish 'em."
     "Yeah, that again." I said through a deep sigh, starting get really fed up with all of this information being thrown at my head. "What does Banishing mean?"
     "You'll get put inside the Maze at night when the doors close. No one ever survived out there at night."
     The realization that they had almost done that to me made me stop for a moment. "You guys... you were gonna do that to me, simply for existing?"
     For the first time in this conversation Newt completely forgot about his breakfast and looked at me with a mixture of concern and regret in his eyes. "Hold on, Cals, it's not that bloody simple. Winston's response was out of line, definitely. But from our perspective ya showed up out if buggin' nowhere. For all we know ya could be send by the Creators."
     "But you said we all are send here by them? Whoever the fuck they are."
     "Yeah, which is why I, and I'm sure most of us, would never have agreed to Banish you."
     I frowned, thinking about what he'd said. "So theoretically, if another... Newbie, shows up later today, what will happen to me?"
     "Nothin'." He said reassuringly. "You're one of us now."
     "So no one is gonna throw me out into that death trap out there?"
     "Promise." Newt answered, but apparently he noticed the doubt I had in his words, because after a moment of me looking at him without responding, he placed his elbow on the table, sticking out his pink to me. I couldn't help but laugh, I had tried that method as a joke before, but oh well.
     Still laughing, I placed my elbow on on table and hooked my pink with his. "Okay, Newton, I believe you."
     "Good." He responded with a smile as we let go.
     "So, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" I asked Newt, changing the subject after we both had finished our meal.
     "We, not much. I am going into the Maze, do my job. You, on the other hand," He waved it off, "do what you want. Explore a bit or somethin'. Tomorrow, you'll start with trying out one of the jobs. You'll try another one every day, one job mostly sticks."
     "Wait." I interrupted Newt before he could walk off. "Does that mean that I've got to kill one of those animals? Can't I just skip the Slicer thing?"
     "Don't be a sissy. Ya can do it." He responded through, a hint of amusement in his voice.
     "Just because I can, doesn't mean I will."
     "Suite yourself." Was the last thing Newt said to me with a shrug before going off into the Maze. I watched him go for a moment, feeling a bit more out of place now the one person I felt some sort of calm around had left. Eventually I just got up and started walking around and before I knew it I found myself back inside the Deadheads.
     The forest looked pretty decent. The trees at the edges were mostly dead, but the further I went, the greener the trees became. I listened to the birds and the insects. The air seemed lighter and a bit more humid, but because of all the leaves, also a bit darker then the rest of the Glade. Taking a deep breath I felt the calm of nature wash over me.
     After some time wondering around the small green space I reached what couldn't be anything else but the Graveyard. If I was being honest, it all looked really sloppy. The crosses seemed to be have made in a hurry, just like everything else. Even the names in the crosses seemed to be scribbled so quickly they were barely readable.
     I slowly made my way between the graves, taking in all the details I could while wondering what kind of person they would've been. I knew they didn't really exist, but still. Why not make up stories while I'm here. Not like I've got something better to do.
     There didn't seem to be a specific order for the final resting places of the many boys. It looked like they started out in one, neatly set out row, but when more of them started to need a grave, the others didn't seem to care that much anymore.
     My attention got drawn to the last grave, the coffin had been placed above ground, unlike all the other ones. The casket only half as long as the others and covered in a layer of dust and fallen leaves. At first, my brain didn't process what it saw through the dirty glass, but when it finally clicked I let out a horrified gasp, the taste of disgust filling my mouth.
     The last coffin's lit was made out of glass. Covered in dust and leaves, sure, but the inside was still clearly visible. A body. But only the upper half. It's flesh mostly rotten away, partly eaten by maggots and worms that had been able to pry their way through the cracks and holes of the wood. 
     "Enjoying the few, Greenie?" A let out a startled yelp, jerking myself around to face the voice that had appeared out of nowhere.
     Alby. I physically relaxed realizing who it was. "Oh, yes. Now I can scratch seeing the upper half of a rotting corpse off my bucket list." My voice a mixture of sarcasm and disgust. "Now the only three things still remaining are seeing the bottom half of a rotting corps, having a tea party in Atlantis, and being stuck inside a giant Maze surrounded by monsters- Oh, wait, right, I forgot. Only two things left."
     Alby laughed, it was a strange sight on his face. I hadn't seen him laugh since the beginning of my dream. So, of course, I couldn't let it go unnoticed. "Oh my God. Alby, there's something on your face. Right there... you should get it off before it hurts you."
     "Slim it, Shank. Or do you wanne get tossed of the Cliff?"
     I ignored Alby's thread. "What does Shank even mean? It sounds ridiculous."
     "You'll get used to it, Greenie." The leader of the Glade waved it away, deciding to focus on something else instead. "Enjoyed the tour?"
     "It was interesting. Newt seems a nice person." I answered honestly, not thinking too much about it.
     "Yeah, I thought so. Lunch is in a few minutes. Are you coming?"
     "All those guys in one room?" The memory of how the boys had stared at me when walking through the main room of the Homestead before fresh on my mind. "No thanks, I'll pass. Not that hungry anyway."
     "Ya sure? You'll have to eat at some point." Looking at me for a moment longer he seemed to realize something. "I'll make sure you won't have to worry about those Slintheads bugging you. You're a Glader now, if they try something they got me to answer to."
     Slowly I nodded my head, considering my options. "Thanks Alby. But I'll be fine. If anyone tries something, I'll make them regret it myself."
     Alby seemed pleased with my words. "Greenie's got some fire, I see. Good. You'll need it in here. I'm heading back to the Homestead, are ya coming? Or do you wanne stay with the corpses?"
     Another glance down at the glass coffin made me quickly change my mind. "Fine, I'll come. Not like I've got something better to do." I quickly followed it up with, not wanting to seem like I was scared to be left alone here.
     The broad boy only nodded in response before walking away, not even looking behind to see if I followed. Which I did.
     "Interested in a specific job already?" Alby started making conversation.
     "Well, I know a thing or two about medical stuff, pretty sure it won't be of that much use, though. Newt said being a Runner could suit me, but I don't know about that. Sounds dangerous-"
     The Glade's leader shrugged. "It is."
     "-I wouldn't mind taking care of the animals," I continued, "but I won't be able to kill them."
     "You like the animals?" Alby seemed a bit taken aback by this. He probably didn't expect a girl to like the dirty and mud covered creatures. Who knew that even guys who don't remember anything from modern society still had stereotypes? 
     "Yes, the pigs are really cute."
     "The pigs?" Alby questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Not even Bark? But the pigs. That's a surprise."
     "Who's Bark?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows, trying to remember that part of the tour. 
     "The dog."
     My heart made a little jump of excitement, all the confusion from before gone. "There's a dog?"
     The leader of the Gladers raised another eyebrow at me. "Yeah..."
     "Where can I find this dog? No wait, is it a nice dog?"
     "He's mostly at the Blood house." The guy answered, scratching his chin. "I guess he's nice... Have been here as long as I can remember, haven't really paid much attention to him."
     "This place just got ten times better." I mumbled to myself, forgetting Alby could hear me. He, again, shot me a weird look, making me feel a little uncomfortable. "What? Dogs make everything better."
     "Ah-hu, sure thing, Newbie."
     The moment we walked out of the forest, I waved goodbye to Alby and made my way to the Bloodhouse. A bit of relieve washed over me when I did not spot the red hair of the Slicer's Keeper around the building. Seeing the guy was a bit too keen on throwing me out to fend for myself did not sit right with me.
     After only a short period of time, I gave up looking. The building wasn't that big, but I didn't know my way around and the smell of death that filled the air didn't really create a very welcoming atmosphere. I didn't even know anything about the dog except his name, so instead I made my way back to the pigs. The cute one with the white spots from during the tour had left her spot against the fence and instead seemed to be content digging holes in the mud. 
     I leaned against the fence, resting my head on my folded arms, watching the pigs walking around, enjoying their day with not a worry in the world. Probably not even aware they were being kept to be slaughtered eventually. 
     Then, from between the pigs, something got my attention. Sticking out from one of the holes in the mud, was a tail. But not thin curly tail as the pigs had, but one a little thicker and longer, covered in shiny brown fur, happily sweeping from left to right. 
     "Bark?" I wondered out loud. In response, the tail stopped moving. "Bark, over here." I tried again and this time the dog's butt went down and got replaced by the head of an adorable brown Labrador. "Hello there!" I continued, the pitch in my voice automatically shooting up.
    Bark's eyes now fully focused on me. "Hey!" the dog barked one time and came rushing at me.  The animal inspected me thoroughly before deciding I apparently was alright and letting me pet her. Eagerly I sat down on the ground and petted the dog, only to quickly realize Bark wasn't a he at all as Alby had stated, but a she. 
     "Ohh you are the cutest girl!" I stated, softly rubbing her face between my hands. Bark, in return tried to lick my face, succeeding without any effort. I laughed before whiping my face with my sleeve. "This dream might not be so bad after all.

~.~.~