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

Chapter 5

Edited: 08-12-24

~.~.~ 

Newt

After another whole day out in the Maze I ran through the South door back into the Glade. Just like every day I went straight into the map room, now the memories were still fresh on my mind. I drew the maps of today and compared them with the ones from previous days and weeks, but of course, everything from today matched up perfectly with all the others. Nothing changed. Nothing ever bloody changes. 
     Head hanging low, I left the Map Room. Maybe it was the purple hair or the matching jumper, or maybe it was the fact that she ran around the Pen's being chased by Bark, but my eyes almost immediately managed to find Cally. Making me realize that, in fact, something had changed inside the Glade. There was a girl now. The first one to ever walk between the four walls of the Glade. And what was she doing? Playing with the bloody dog.
     I couldn't stop the smile that tugged on my lips when I saw Bark catching up to Cally, jumping against her legs and knocking her back against the ground. I sucked in a sharp breath, imagining that fall must have hurt, but if it did she didn't seem to mind. She just laughed, petting the dog, who stood half on her chest while sniffing her and giving little licks.
     I stretched my back, rolling my shoulders to relax the muscles a little after having to run my section faster then normal. The tour hadn't taken too long, but still, every second counted inside that Shuck place and walking around the Glade first had taken a lot of my time.
     I hadn't minded when Alby tasked me with giving the Greenie the tour, quite the opposite, I was trilled to see what this girl that had caused such a bugging commotion with her arrival would be like.  But besides from the way she ended up here and her usage of strange words and phrases here and there, she appeared to be just another Greenie. Although she seemed to be adjusting to it all quite a lot faster then some other Gladers and I did wonder if her claims of being in a bugging dream before had been part of her trying to trick us, or if she actually believed that... If so, she's gonna have a bloody rude awakening sooner then later.
     "Staring is impolite, you know." I looked up to see Minho standing beside me, covered in sweat, his dark hair stick to his face and neck. "I wouldn't let Alby notice. He'd throw you off the Cliff."
     "I wasn't staring. Just thinkin'."
      "Yeah, right, dude." Minho answered with a snicker and a roll of his eyes. "And I smell like a field of roses on a summer day."
     I mimicked Minho and rolled my eyes back at him. "Don't tell me you aren't bloody curious about her. How she got here? Why she got send here? I mean, why a girl? And why now?"
    "And why did they dye her hair like that?" Minho added through a thoughtful sign, observing the face framing strings of hair that were a dark purple instead of the natural brown of the rest of her long hair. 
     I snorted, "Minho, Keeper of the Runners, Shanks, askin' the real bloody questions." 
     Minho shrugged. "Don't you think its weird? Sure, all the other things too, how she got here and all of that clunk, but why would they put that much bugging effort in how the Shank looks? What's the shuck point?"
     "Maybe there is no point."
     My friend looked at me with one raised eyebrow, not needing more to make clear that he judged me for my ignorance. "Really, Slinthead? When have we ever known the Creators to do something without a bugging reason? There must be one, no matter if the Shank knows it herself or not." 
     I let my eyes fall back on Cally, she had given up on standing back up and just lay there, Bark laying half on top of her while she stroked her fur. "Can't say you're wrong there."
     "Do you believe what she said during the Gathering?" Minho continued, crossing his arms over his chest. "About not knowing how she got here and hearing our names while hiding?"
     I had to think about my answer for a moment, until eventually saying "I do." and finding myself meaning those words. "From what I've seen so far she thinks quick on her feet, maybe one of us would've made up a similar story if we had randomly woken' up in a field instead of the Box with no memories and strangers surrounding you."
     "Honestly, if Gally was the first face I'd seen after waking up I'd also have tried to get the shuck out of here." 
     I barked a laugh, "See? I think she's harmless. And I know you think so too, or you wouldn't have voted on keepin' her around."
     My friend shrugged, moving his hands from across his chest to his sides. "Maybe I'm just done with only seeing all of your ugly shuck faces all the time."
     "Mmhmm," I did not believe a word that came out of his mouth right now. "Or maybe ya're just as interested in her as the rest of us."
     Again, Minho shrugged, seeming done with the conversation. "Believe what you want, but I am starving. So are you gonna ask her to join us or what?"
     I shook my head, letting out a deep sign as I dropped the subject as well. "Lets go."
     Cally didn't immediately notice our approach as she just lay there on her back in the grass, hair spread out around her face, staring at the slowly darkening sky, dog still by her side. But when our shadows fell over her and we entered her field of vision she shot up into a sitting position, one arm still resting on Bark.
     Her eyes switched from me to Minho and back, then she hesitantly send us a short smile, "Hey... Done running around the Maze?"
     "For today." Minho answered, stretching his arms behind his head. I took a step away from him when the smell from his armpits hit me, I think It also reached the Greenie, seeing her face crunch up for a short moment before quickly smoothing out her expression again. Not that Minho seemed to care in the slightest about his body odour. "You done messing around with the dog?"
     Cally's eyes softened when she looked back at Bark, scratching the animal behind her ears. "I'll never be done with that."
     "Well, suit yourself, Greenie." Minho said with a shrug, "We were gonna ask you to join us for dinner. But we understand this is way more important." Normally Minho always enjoyed messing around with the Newbies, which included a lot of sarcastic comments and insults being thrown around. It definitely never included inviting Greenie's to eat dinner with us. Confirming to me that he absolutely was, in fact, interested in finding out more about the girl.
     "The sarcasm is strong with this one." The Greenie stated, slight amusement sounding through. "It was Minho, right?"
     "The one and only." 
     "Well," Cally pushed herself up from the ground, dusting her hands on her pants. "I would be honored to join you, thank you for your oh so gracious invite, Keeper Minho." Cals seemed to have no problem with matching Minho's level of sarcasm, topping it all off with a little bow that somehow felt degrading. Not to Minho, however.
     "As you should be, peasant."
     An amused scoff came from Cally. "From Newbie to Peasant already? Wow, I am really rushing down that ladder. Must be a new record." 
     "Keep it up and you might go down in Glade history, Newbie." 
     "Are you Shanks done?" I interrupted before Cally could say whatever it was she had breathed in for. I didn't know the Greenie very well just yet but if she was as similar to Minho as I got the feeling she might be, this could go on for bloody ages. "Or can we actually go get somethin' to eat?"
     "Yeah, yeah, Shank," Minho waved it off, starting his way towards the Homestead, Cally and me following. "Don't get your panties in a twist."
     As we made our way to the building, I noticed Bark, who normally wouldn't go too far from the Bloodhouse following us. Or, more precisely, following the Newbie. "I see you've made a new friend, Greenie." I found myself slightly amused at how she had managed that so quickly.
     Cally looked at me, not immediately understanding what I'd meant, until she followed my line of sight, now also looking at Bark. She smiled. "Yeah, I guess so. We're the only girls, so we're gonna need each other. Right girl?" Bark just looked up at her with her tongue out of her mouth, happily trotting along. 
     Cally looked back up at me, "She agrees."
     "Well, Newt, she already lost it." My friend started, leaning into me as if he had meant to whisper all that instead of announcing it to the entire Glade. "Talking to animals. She's jacked up, man. We should put her in the Slammer before it's too late."
     I rolled my eyes at him, pushing him a little away from me, which only made him laugh to himself.
     "Ha. Ha." Cally mimicked, "you're so funny Minho, ever thought to quit the Runner gig and just becoming a comedian instead?" I chuckled at her comment. Minho, however just gave her a bit of a side eye before making a show of inhaling deeply through his nose as if he smelled something horrible.
     "Is that?" He leaned towards Cally, taking another big sniff and following it up by pulling a disgusted face and covering his nose. "Ya stink like dog Greenie, go take a bath."
     Cally scoffed, sweeping her hair to the other side of her head when looking back at Minho. "Yeah, because you smell like a field of roses." Sarcasm was dripping of her words, but Minho just smirked, bumping me with his elbow.
     "Told ya I did."
     The moment we walked into the dining room the relaxed posture Cally had while joking with Minho fell away as more and more of the Gladers stopped what they were doing and brought their focus to her. Even I started to feel uncomfortable with the amount of looks and whispers thrown around, I could only imagine how she bloody felt. They're so immature. I thought. Can't they just act like they've got some kind of self control?
     "I call dips!" One of them shouted from within the group and despite the confident words she had spoken during the tour about defending herself, I could see fear flash over her face. Disgusted by whoever had made the comment I breathed in to shoot an insult back, only for Alby to beat me to it.
     "Anyone who touches the girl I'll personally throw of the Cliff!" Our leader shouted over the sounds of the other Gladers, silencing them. "Seriously, Harold, you're only embarrassing yourself." A wave of laughter went through the room while I could see Harold's face turn red in embarrassment.
     "Serve's him right, Bloody Slinthead," I mumbled under my breath.  Happy Alby nipped it in the but immediately, we can't have that kind of klunk being thrown around. Tolerate it ones and watch it escalate until we've got a whole new bugging problem on our hands. 
     "Sorry, what was that?" Cally seemed to have noticed my mumbling.
     "Oh, nothing." I brushed it off, but something in the way she looked at me from the corner of her eyes, a smirk tugging on her lips, made me feel like she heard me better than I had intended.      After getting our dinner, existing of tomato soup and bread, from Frypan and the other Cooks, we approached the table where Alby sat with Clint and Jeff. The three looked up from their non-existing conversation and send us all some kind of greeting before we sat down.
     "So ya're not skipping dinner, Greenie?" Alby asked her from across the table.
     Cally swallowed a piece of the bread before answering. "Well, one can only go so long without food before getting hungry."
     "Didn't ya eat lunch, Greenie?" I asked, shooting her a questioning look. "Why not?"
     Cally just shrugged, seemingly not caring at all. "Wasn't hungry."
     "Don't think you'll be skipping it tomorrow." Jeff chimed in. "Just heard from Alby that you'll be starting with the Cooks. You'll be working with so much food that you'll get hungry even if you just ate." After a second of the Newbie taking him in a little better, the Med-Jack seemed to realize something. "Oh, I'm Jeff, by the way." Jeff held out his hand for Cally to shake, which she did, returning his smile.
     "Nice to meet you. I'm Callidora, or Cally, or whatever."
     "And I'm Clint." The Shank sitting beside Jeff chimed in, also shaking the girl's hand.
     "Ah, Clint, of course. Keeper of the... Med-Jacks, right?" 
     Clint's smile brightened a little as she recognized him. "Good that right. We're the Med-jacks," He continued, loosely gesturing to Jeff. "So if you ever need some medical assistance, we'll be happy to help out."
     "I appreciate that, thanks." Was all the Newbie answered before turning her attention back to her plate, seeming uninterested in speaking any more.
     The rest of the time Minho and Alby talked about the Maze while I chimed in from time to time, Clint and Jeff were busy arguing about how much Grieve Serum they still had left and Cally, well, she just ate. Not saying anything. Now and then, she would look down at Bark, who lay by her feet, big brown eyes staring at the girl whenever her attention did not get dragged to some random sound or smell.
     "You hungry?" Cally asked the dog, who seemed to understand at least some of it, because she started to wag her tail. Slowly at first, but increasingly faster when she noticed the small piece of bread Cally had in her hand coming closer. Bark carefully took it from between her fingers and started chewed on it with a lot of enthusiasm.
     "You shouldn't spoil that dog so much, Greenbean. Or it's never gonna leave ya alone."
     Cally looked up at me, seeming to consider if my words had been a joke or not, then a little smirk grew on her face. "That's exactly what I'm hoping for, Scamander."
     "Scamander?" I questioned with amusement, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
     "Pretty sure the Slinthead means Salamander." Minho chimed in, earning a bit of a glare from the Greenie.
     "What? No. Scamander." She started as if Minho was stupid for even suggesting it. "As in..." Cally trailed of, seeming to try and recall something, but couldn't. Eventually she let out an annoyed huff, leaning her head on her hand, staring down at the dog again. "Scamander, salamander, tomato, tomato. Whatever."
     "No, wait, hold up," I continued, a slightly teasing tone in my voice mixed in with curiosity. "What does Scamander mean? Is it French too?" She had used a French phrase before, maybe she knows more? There had been Shanks that knew different languages before, one even knew sign language. But she just shook her head.
     "No... it's... no, never mind."
     "Com'n, ya said it, what does it mean?"
     Cally rolled her eyes at me, starting to look a little more annoyed then I'd intended for her to get. In response I just gave her an absurdly big smile, hoping she would give in and tell me, and it looked like it was working. A small smile appeared on her face, but as soon as it had, it disappeared again.
     "I'd love to tell you, but I don't know. It's like I remember the word, or maybe name? But I don't know why or what it means. It's fucking annoying." My mood sank a bit realizing all I'd done was rubbing in that she doesn't remember anything. I remember what it had been like those first few confusing weeks we wondered around the Glade, disorientated and scared. "But I guess that's life now, right?" Cally finished, sending me a sad smile. I didn't know how to react and ended up deciding to just send her a half smile back. 
     When Cally turned her attention back to her food, ending our conversation, a bit of relieve came over me. That was too bugging awkward. The relieve only lasted until my eyes met Minho, who exchanged a way too amused look with Alby, both Slintheads grinning like crazy... I wasn't going to live this down any time soon...