The Rebel •Newt TMR• HIATUS

21: The Key

I had woken up from my nap only minutes ago to find out that Thomas and Minho had rounded up a small group to head back to the Maze to find the dead Griever. Since Zart was locked up, thank shuck, I decided to join the group. Newt was hesitant on letting me go at first, not wanting to leave my side after earlier. But after some persuading and flirting I managed to convince him.

Synching the straps on my pack, I follow Minho to the meeting area in the Deadheads. Thomas was stood by a pile of sticks, rubbing his palms together impatiently. Minho gestured to the guys and I, who came up beside him.

"Will this be enough?" The group consisted of Winston, Frypan, Minho, Thomas and myself. Thomas' brown eyes scanned over us, nodding in approval.

"Okay. Let's go." We headed off, running into the Maze. Minho, Thomas and I led the group to the dead Griever that was squished between the walls. My nose crinkled at the smell of the goo that had oozed out of the metallic body. Frypan and Winston took a small step backwards, never having seen a Griever before.

"Hey, there's something in there!" Thomas indicated.

"What, besides a Griever pancake?" Frypan commented.

Has Frypan ever seen a pancake?

Minho stepped forward, reaching out the the spaces above the dead Griever. He slipped his hand through the gap and felt around, making disgusted faces at us. Suddenly the creature screeched loudly, sending Minho flying backwards into me. I grabbed his biceps and helped him balance. Everyone was yelling in surprise until the machine settled down.

"I thought you said it was dead!" Frypan complained.

"Okay come on, let's pull it out." Thomas said, ignoring Frypan's comment. "Alright, ready? On three." We all grabbed a hold of the metal legs. "One. Two. Three!" The boys grunted loudly as we tugged the creature out. It made a gross wet sound as the body broke in half which made me cringe. We all fell backwards, the wind knocked out of us.

"You okay Fry?" Thomas questions as the boys help him up.

"Yeah, thanks brother." Frypan replied. Minho crept forward, scooping up some sort of metal device that was covered in guts. It had a flashing red dot and was emitting an annoying beeping noise. I huffed.

What's more annoying, Gally's voice or the beeping noise?

Minho wiped off the goop from the device and swatted his hand to get the guts off. We all stared at the device in wonder as the Runner turned the machine over.

"Interesting." The Asian Glader mumbled.

"Okay, whatever it is, can we take this stuff back up to the Glade? Because I don't want to meet this guy's friends." Frypan stated with a tone laced with fear.

"He's right, it's late. Come on." Thomas nudged me out of my distracted state, pulling me along. We reached the Glade with plenty of time to spare.

———

"Yeah, we found this. It was inside a Griever." Thomas informed. Newt stood before us, tracing the WICKED letters on the device. I was stood next to Minho with my arms crossed.

"These are the same letters we get in our supplies." Newt said, glancing at me. "You have your memories. What do you know about these?" I grasped Newt's hand, trailing my fingertip against his palm to indicate letters.

"I remember that they're scientists, looking for a cure for a virus called the Flare. We're somehow useful in their research. Teresa is one of them. They are bad people, Newt."

My gray eyes flicker up to his, noticing that our faces were extremely close. The boy blushed, leaning away from me.

"So, whoever they are, obviously made the Grievers." Thomas suggested and I nodded in agreement, biting my lip. I didn't want him to know he was one of them. "This is the first real clue, the first anything, you've found in three years, right Minho?"

"Right." Minho confirmed. Thomas turned to Newt.

"Newt, we gotta go back out there! Who knows where this might lead us."

"You see what he's trying to do right?" Gally began, causing me to roll my eyes.  "First he breaks the rules, and then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally. The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together. Why are we now questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me." The tall Glader looks at Newt. "This Shank needs to be punished."

My hand slowly raises up and covered Gally's mouth, stopping him from speaking. The Glader furrows his brows and glares at me. If looks could kill, I'd be dead where I stand. Not because he's intimidating, not at all, just because his face hurts my eyes. My eyes pierced his with an even harsher look There's a brief silence as we all stare at Newt, waiting for his opinion

"You're right." My mouth gapped open, "Thomas broke the rules. One night in the pit with no food." I retracted my palm from Gally's face and shook my head at the boys, giving Thomas an apologetic look.

"Oh come on, Newt! One night in the pit– you think that's going to stop him from going into the Maze?" Gally complained, receiving a threatening glare from yours truly.

"No." Newt replied. "And we can't just have non-Runners running into the Maze whenever they want. So let's make this official." I raise a brow at the blonde boy, who sent me a heart-throbbing smirk before turning to Thomas. "Starting tomorrow. You're a Runner." I internally groaned.

It's already horrendous trying to deal with Minho, and now I probably have to babysit Thomas?

"Wow." Gally scoffed, spinning on his heels. Fry tried to stop him but the tall Glader simply shoved his hand away and kept walking. Sighing, I glanced at the others before signalling that I'd check on him. We were somewhat friends after all.

I found Gally sitting in the Homestead in his hammock, his arm draped over his eyes. Quietly, I lowered myself onto my hammock that was across the room. Not being able to talk made consoling impossible at this point.

"You didn't have to follow me, Tori." The boy muttered, a hint of annoyance seeping from his words. I propped myself up on my elbows, staring at Gally, who was now sitting up in his hammock. I shrugged. The Builder rolled his eyes, resting his chin on his knees. "C-can you tell me about your brother?" I sighed, tapping my mouth. "Shit, right. Sorry." He apologized, realizing the barrier that held me back. "How about we go find you a new notebook, huh?" I nodded eagerly. And with that, we headed out of the Homestead.

Outside, we found Chuck, who was upset to hear that I had lost the original notepad that he had found me. The chubby boy began rummaging through the supplies that had come up with Teresa.

"Aha!" Chuck cheered, holding up a tattered notebook. He handed it to me gently and I flicked through it, noticing that some of the pages already contained writing. Gally and Chuck watched as I flipped to a page with a torn section, my fingertips grazing over the missing area. A hint of pain and anger washed over me as I closed the notebook.

This is Teresa's book.