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

Chapter 18

Edited: 01/06/25

A/N:
From this point on I will be writing this story in 3rd person! 
One day I will go back... again... to change the other chapters to 3rd person, but that won't be any time soon.

Enjoy and have a good day/night/whatever it is!
~ Purple Dragon

~.~.~

The next morning when Cally made her first attempt at getting up, she felt almost all her muscles protest. Being chased by that Griever the day before really proved to have taken its toll on the girl. Although, all of that barely compared to the horrible thing that'd happened after she'd crashed into Newt and Brandon.
     Somewhere during the mess of arms and legs Cally had heard something break, but hadn't given it a second thought after realizing no one had broken any bones and clearly having some other priorities at the time. Until she'd opened her bag later that evening in her room and found her phone, broken in half. She'd stared at the two halves in complete disbelief. Saw the distorted reflection of her face in the splintered screens, and choked down a sob.
     That phone had been the only thing that really made her feel connected to her home. Sure she couldn't call or text or go online. Most of the time she just had it turned off. Except for those silent moments in the middle of the night, where she would open her phone just to see her siblings' faces smiling back at her. She couldn't believe she'd been stupid enough to break the one thing that let her see the faces of her loved ones... A big part of her didn't know what to do without it... still doesn't. The other part of her only felt extra motivated to get the fuck out of this place so she didn't need a phone to see her friends and family.
     Even so, her protesting muscles would not be ignored. Trying not to move too stiffly Cally calmly did the things she usually rushed. Trying to feel out her body and get an idea at how much she was going to suffer out in the Maze all day.
     Things did not look very promising.
     A few knocks on her door got followed by Newt's voice. "Cally? Ar' ya awake?"
     Cally pulled a black tank top over her head while she called back a 'come in!' Puling her hair out from under the shirt as she turned to her friend. The moment Newt had opened the door properly, Bark walked up to him to say hi, tail wagging a little faster when he greeted her back with a few pets on her head.
     "What's up, Newton?"
     "Just wanted to check on ya. Make sure you were awake." The dog walked back to her spot on the sleeping bag ones Newt turned his attention from her to her human companion. "Ya're running with Minho today, just so you know."
     Cally nodded, continuing to brush the knots out of her hair. "good that."
     "If you're up for it, of course."
     "Why wouldn't I be up for it?" The question got accompanied by a confused glance his way.
     "Well, after yesterday nobody would blame ya if you needed some time."
     "Oh." Cally dropped her brush on her bed without a care, starting to braid her hair back. She hadn't really considered the possibility that her encounter would earn her a day off. And now the opportunity presented itself before her she realized that even if her muscles protested, she really did not want to wait around in the Glade. She had an exit to find. "No, I'm alright. I mean, my legs are a bit sour, but that's not gonna stop me."
     In her mirror Cally could see Newt's reflection looking at her with a bit of a frown on his face, clearly considering his next words. "Are ya sure? You seemed a bit shaken yesterday-"
     "Newt." The young woman interrupted him, turning to him at the same time as she made the last twist in her hair tie at the bottom of her braid. She breathed in to continue, only to realize she didn't want a random passer by to hear her words and closed the door to her room. Leaning against it while she spoke in a bit of a softer voice, just in case. "It's been weeks, and I still don't remember anything useful about the way out of here. Maybe it's because I'm running in the wrong sections or maybe it's something else, but either way I am not going to miss a day in the Maze because of what happened. If anything, that Griever chasing me just made me more determined to get the fuck back home."
     A bit of unease stirred inside of Cally as she couldn't exactly read the expression on Newt's face, hoping she hadn't said something wrong. He had helped her calm down the day before and that wasn't the first time he'd done so. Even now he'd come to see if she would be alright going back into the Maze. Not really knowing what else to do Cally cleared her throat, leaning back a little more to create a bit more space between them. "So... thank you, for you know, wanting to look after me and all that, but you don't need to, I'll be fine."
     A short silence in which Newt just looked at her, then he  glanced down, letting out an amused huff, shaking his head. "Well then, ready for another day running around that bugging Maze or what?"
     Soon after, the two found themselves in the main room of the Homestead, breakfast in hand, taking a seat at a table where Minho already sat devouring his food.
     "Mornin' Minho." Newt greeted him first, getting him to glance up at us.
     "Hey Newt, Newbie."
     At hearing the nickname, Cally's head snapped towards Minho with an annoyed glare. "Uhh, newsflash, Pretty boy. Brandon is the Newbie, so stop calling me that."
     The glare had little to no effect on her Keeper as Minho just smirked at her, entirely unfazed. "That shank is the Greenie, but you are still a Newbie. So slim it and eat."
     The girl looked over at Newt, trying to silently check with him if that's true, only to realize Newt, unlike Jenny, could not read her expressions flawlessly so she signed and switched to verbal communication. "Is that true, is that a thing?"
     "Afraid so, Newbie." The teasing undertone did not go unnoticed.
     "Great." Cally leaned her head on her hand, mumbling half to herself, half to the people around her. "Stupid nickname. I hate this fucking place."
     "Good morning guys and gall!" As if Cally's morning hadn't been bad enough already, Ben decided to join their table. After the campfire party Ben had fortunately left Cally alone most of the time, but still, the girl felt relieved that the Runner decided to take a seat beside his Keeper and not squeeze himself on the bench with her and Newt.
     "So, Cally," the boy started, either unaware or uninterested in the previous topic of conversation. "Heard you had a close call with a Griever yesterday, and that on your first solo run. Tough luck."
     "You could say that." The girl answered before taking a bite, not sure what else to say on the matter.
      "Hold up," All traces of jokes and sarcasm had disappeared from Minho's voice. "What happened yesterday?"
     "A Griever chased me all the way back to the Glade." Cally answered with her mouth still half full, not liking Minho's tone of voice at all.
     "Ya should've seen it." Newt chimed in, "Thought it would enter for a bloody second when it just stood there, staring." The guys shivered at the memory, "Buggin' disturbing."
     "What?" Cally turned to Newt now her mouth was empty again. "You said they never enter the Glade."
     "They don't."
     "Then why did you think it was gonna enter?"
     Newt breathed in to answer, only for Minho to interrupt, shushing him before turning fully to Cally. "Never mind that. Why didn't you tell me? That's the kind of klunk you're supposed to tell me."
     Cally shrugged, not sure what the big deal was and not sure how to handle this serious Minho.      "Well, I just did."
     "You should have told me yesterday."
     "Calm down, man." Ben decided to join in again. "Honestly I'm surprised you hadn't heard it already. The news spread like fire last night. I mean, how couldn't it with a Griever at our front door, kinda hard to miss."
     Minho just rolled his eyes, "Slim it, Ben, nobody asked you."
     Too tired to care much about the whole thing and very done with the energy the conversation had already taken Cally also rolled her eyes, handing some food under the table to Bark. "Come on, Pretty boy. So I didn't tell you last night. What's the big deal?"
     "What's the big deal?" There it was! Cally felt a lot more at ease now Minho mocked her words instead of the seriousness from before. "This is why you're a Newbie- You need to tell me so we can keep track of when Grievers are where. How else are we ever gonna find a pattern?"
     "Well, nobody told me that." The girl answered with a shrug, not entirely convinced there even was a pattern to discover in the creatures' behavior. "On that note- why did no one tell me Grievers can climb the freaking walls? Maybe that's something you should tell someone who goes in there, you know, in case one tries to drop on them."
     "I've never seen one climb a wall before." Ben mused. "Didn't know they did that."
     "Do I really have to tell you Slintheads everything? Of course they can climb walls! What did you think those pointy legs were for? Embroidering?" Yep, Minho definitely had gone back to normal.
     "Knitting, actually." Cally answered through an annoyed sign, really not looking forward to having to spend her day one on one with Minho inside the Maze if this was going to be the guy's general mood.
     For a moment, Minho stared at her in disbelieve, then his eyes turned to slits. "Alright then, if you're so bugging smart, you don't have a problem telling me exactly where and at what time you saw that Griever?"
     "I wrote it down on the map from yesterday. You can look it up if you need to know so badly." Cally's patience now completely gone. "You know, the more I learn about those creatures the more questions I have. I mean, why so many legs? And why do they need those flashy lights? It's not like it's dark out here. Maybe they're blind and they use some sort of heat vision through those lights to navigate. It would explain why they kept pointing those lights at me before pursuing."
     Looking up at the three sets of staring eyes at her, Cally realized she had started to ramble. "What? Don't you guys think about that stuff? Like... don't get me wrong, Grievers are terrifying, but also kind of interesting, right?" Judging by the raised eyebrows and exchanged looks, the boys did not seem to agree.
     "Did ya bash your head against the ground too hard?" A hint of concern sounded through Newt's half joking question.
     "No?" She knew shutting up probably would be the best thing to do before they would trow her into the Slammer for having completely lost her mind, unfortunately she rarely listened to her own advise. "You can't tell me none of you have any interest in how Grievers work? They're some kind of giant slug cyborg creatures. Definitely created by those developers. But why Giants slugs? Why the pin legs? Why do they need to spin when they walk? Seriously, aren't you guys even a little curious to the hows and whys?"
     "No, not really." Minho ended up breaking the silence that followed with a side eye and raised eyebrow.
     "Seems like ya're the only one interested in Grievers here, Calls."
     The girl shrugged, waving all of it away as she turned back to her breakfast. "Whatever."
     Shortly after, Cally and Minho stood in front of the entrance to the Maze. The guy's mood seemed to have improved after having a whole meal while processing the news from the Griever attack the day before. And as they stood there stretching, he spoke up a bit more gentle then before. "You sure you're ready to get back out there? Can't have you freezing up out there if we encounter another one of those ugly ducklings."
     Snickering at the guy's comment, Cally nodded her head. "Even though it was one ridiculously ugly duckling, it was just one of them. And I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen again, so I better get used to it."
     Unlike Newt, Minho just took my word for it. "Okay then, you ready?"
     Cally nodded, "Alons-Y."