A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 67

Cally's pov

Shortly after Minho and I got all the boxes inside the secret storage and we had put fake once in boxes back in the Map-room, all the Gladers were gathered inside the Homestead. All doors closed, and the windows barricaded with pieces of wood. Alby, Newt, Minho, and the other Keepers had been distributing everyone throughout all the rooms. It was really necessary since most of the Gladers normally slept outside, and there barely was enough room for everyone inside of the Homestead.
     I had been staying close to Ezra the entire time, not wanting to lose my brother in the crowd of boys. Only at the moment, there wasn't really a chance for that. Ezra and I were in one of the smaller rooms upstairs, together with Alby, Newt, Minho, and Thomas. We were discussing the same thing we had been before Teresa woke up from her coma. Only this time, Ezra was with us, in case he ended up remembering something. Which I strongly doubted, I was the only one from the two of us who actually had seen some of the movies. Anyway, it didn't really matter that much right now.
     At the moment, I was sitting on the ground, Bark was lying on my leg with her head. It had taken some effort, but I had been able to convince Alby to let her stay inside with the rest of us.
     Alby and Newt were sitting on the only bed in the room, while Thomas, Ezra, and Minho were sitting in chairs.  I hadn't even tried to sit on one, I just sat down on the ground the moment I had entered the room.
     Newt was talking right now, but I wasn't paying attention, too lost in my own thoughts, petting Bark's head while she just looked at me.
     "Alby?" Newt said, "Are you gonna pitch in?"
     I looked up at Alby. His eyes still sunken into his long face. He looked awful. The moment Newt had addressed him, it seemed like he was pulled out of his own head, looking at him in surprise as if he only now realized he wasn't alone in the room.
     "Huh? Oh, yeah. Good that. But you've seen what happens at night. Just because Greenie the freaking superboy made it doesn't mean the rest of us can."
     I rolled my eyes, Alby really had to stop acting like a jealous seven year old. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who got annoyed by Alby's behavior. Thomas was getting pretty tense as well, just like Ezra, who was leaning back in his chair, balancing on the two back legs of the wooden thing, messing with the shark-tooth necklace between his fingers.
     "I'm with Thomas and Newt," Minho spoke up. "We gotta quit boohooing and feeling sorry for ourselves." 
     "Agreed," Ezra said, lazily sticking his hand in the air to show his support.
     Minho nodded at Ezra's reaction before leaning forward in his chair, rubbing his hands together. "Tomorrow morning, first thing, you guys can assign teams to study the Maps full-time while the Runners go out. We'll pack our stuff shuck-full so we can stay out there a few days."
    "What?" Alby and I asked in unison. Alby's voice finally showing some kind of emotion, "what do you mean, days?"
     Minho sighed at our reaction. "I mean, days." He continued, "with open doors and no sunset, there's no point in coming back here, anyway. Time to stay out there and see if anything opens up when the walls move. If they still move."
     I nodded, understanding what he meant. It would be stupid to stay in here and do nothing while we now had the perfect opportunity to actually stay out there. Only Alby didn't seem convinced, "No way." He said, "we've got the Homestead to hide in, and if that ain't workin', the Map Room and the Slammer. We can't freaking ask people to go out there and die, Minho! Who would volunteer for that?"
     Without hesitation, Minho spoke up again. "Me. And Thomas." We looked over at Thomas, who nodded to show he agreed.
     "I will go as well," I said. Thinking back at my time in the Maze, true, it was scary, and the idea of running into another Griever was even more terrifying, but if it had to be done, I would do it.
     "No fucking way," Ezra spoke up, letting the chair he was sitting in fall back on it's other two legs so he could look at me. "I'm not letting you go back into Pan's murder Labyrinth."
     I glared up at my brother, "why not? I may not be as fast as I was before and my condition has gone down hill a little, but I can still do it."
     Ezra just shook his head furiously, "didn't you hear what I just said, sister? Murder was in the fucking name! Newt, help me out here." After my brother addressed Newt, he looked between the two of us for a moment. I expected him to agree with Ezra, but he surprised me.
     "She's right, it needs to be bloody done. I will go too if I have to and I'm sure all the Runners'll do it."
     Alby let out a harsh laugh, "with your bum leg?"
     I glared daggers at Alby, but Newt just frowned and looked down at the ground. "Well, I don't feel good askin' Gladers to do something if I'm not bloody willing to do it myself." I felt sorry for him, I knew he would do it if he could. And if that wasn't bad enough, his leg was a constant reminder to his darkest days.
     Alby didn't seem to care about how his words effected his friend, he just scooted back on the bed, putting his feet under him. "Whatever. Do what you want."
     This comment seemed to be too much for Newt. "Do what I want?" He asked, standing up from the bed. "What's wrong with you, man? Are ya tellin' me we have a choice? Should we just sit around on our butts and wait to be snuffed by the Grievers?" I wanted to speak up, show that I agreed with Newt, but I didn't want to come between the two at the moment. Newt's words didn't seem to bother Alby in the slightest.
     "Well, it sounds better than running to them."
     Newt sat back down, "Alby. You need to start talkin' reason."
     Newt's words finally seemed to have some effect on our leader. Because Alby took a deep breath, looking all of us in the eyes for a short moment before he opened his mouth again. "You guys know I'm all screwed up. Seriously, I'm... sorry. I shouldn't be the stupid leader anymore."
     My eyes grew wide, I hadn't expected Alby to say something like that.
     "Oh bloody-" Newt started, but Alby interrupted him.
     "No!" He shouted, his posture showing that he was feeling defeated. "That's not what I meant. Listen to me. I ain't saying we should switch or any of that klunk. I'm just saying.... I think I need to let you guys make the decisions. I don't trust myself. So... yeah, I'll do whatever."
     All of us were quiet for a moment. Letting Alby's words sink in.
     Newt was the one who broke the silence, "um... okay." He said it slow, sounding a bit unsure, but he continued a bit more self assured. "We'll make it work, I promise. You'll see."
     Alby lay back on the bed, muttering a "yeah." Another moment of silence filled the room. I had brought my attention back to Bark, who of course had no idea what was going on.
     "Hey, tell you what," Alby spoke up again as he sat back up straight. This time with a weird hint of excitement in his voice, "put me in charge of the Maps. I'll freaking work every Glader to the bone studying those things." 
     "Works for me," Minho spoke up. I just looked from Bark to Minho, to Ezra. We both didn't really know what to say, it wasn't our place to decide on those things, we just were there because we remembered things.
     "Ya know," Alby continued. "It was really stupid for us to sleep in here tonight. We should've been out in the Map Room, working."
     Minho shrugged, "probably right." I frowned, looking up at Minho. What did he mean by that? The maps aren't even in the Map Room. We moved them. I knew we weren't supposed to tell the others, I suppose that includes Alby, but still. It was a stupid idea even if the Maps were still in the Map Room.
     "Well... I'll go. Right now."
     Newt immediately shook his head, "forget that, Alby. Already heard the bloody Grievers moaning out there. It can wait 'till tomorrow."
     Alby leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees before answering. "Hey, you shucks are the ones giving me all the pep talks. Don't start whining when I actually listen." 
    "Who said anything about a pep talk?" Ezra started, "I didn't give ya a pep talk, quite the opposite, I'm giving you a down talk! Listen up, If you go out there right now, the chance of you getting ripped to shreds by monsters is almost a 100%. But if ya stay right here, between the safety of those beautiful walls, there's only a 50% change you'll get brutally murdered."
     Alby completely ignored my brother's words. "I gotta do this," he said while standing up. "Be the old me. I need something to dive into." With those words, Alby started moving towards the door.
     "You can't be serious," Newt said, "you can't go out there now!" 
     "Newt's right, Alby." I spoke up, "it's too dangerous." It didn't matter what we said, Alby's mind was made up.
     "I'm going, and that's that." He said while he took his ring of keys and rattled them, mocking us. "See you shucks in the morning." After those words, Alby left the room.
     Ezra threw his hands up in frustration, "that motherfucker has lost it." He mumbled.
     I stood up from my spot on the ground, making Bark stand up as well. "Shouldn't we try to stop him?" I asked no one in particular.
     "What do you think we were doing?" Minho said, standing up as well.
     "Besides," Newt chimed in. "What can we do? Jump the Shank? Knock him out, take the keys and bloody bind him to a chair?"
     I sighed, "yeah, okay. I just... never mind." I wanted Alby to stay, be inside with the rest of us. I know it's stupid, because somewhere I knew those wooden walls aren't really a lot of protection to the metal pins of the Grievers. But somewhere I just wanted everyone to be here, with me, so if something happens I could do something about it.
     "Don't worry 'bout Alby, Cals." Newt said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "let's just worry about our own skin for tonight."
     I sighed, glaring up at him, "thanks, Newton. That really made me feel a lot better." The sarcasm was clear in my voice, and everyone noticed it. Newt only frowned, letting his hand fall off my shoulder.
     "Let's get back to the other shucks," Minho stated, being the first to walk out of the room, followed by Thomas and Ezra.
     Newt wanted to walk out as well, but I bumped my shoulder against his arm. He looked at me, still frowning and now rubbing the spot where I had bumped into him, "what?" I didn't say anything as I stuck out my tongue at him, walking past him. Only when I passed him, Newt bumped his elbow into my side. I stumbled to the side, letting out a yelp. Once I was recovered I playfully glared at him, and in return, Newt smiled at me. I rolled my eyes while shaking my head, but I couldn't help the small smile that also came om my face before we both exited the small room, followed by Bark.