Liar [Maze Runner Fanfiction]

two

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." - L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz

~

"Why am here?"

Newt raised his eyebrows, amused. "Cutting right to the chase, Greenbean? The answer is, I don't know. That's what we've been trying to solve for the past two years."

"Hey! Who said Newt would get her? I called dibs!" called a boy from the back of the crowd, laughingly.

He ignored the comment, "I'd lay off the questions until tomorrow, if I were you. You'll get all your answers on the tour."

He turned toward the dark-skinned boy, "Alby?"

Alby strode up to Elizabeth, giving her a quick once-over. "Girl, huh?" he muttered almost to himself, "now that's something new."

As if noticing the other boys for the first time, he snapped his head up, and shouted, "back to work, slintheads! It's not anything you haven't seen before!"

Slintheads? Greenie? Thousands of questions bubbled in Elizabeth's mind, begging to be answered. She swallowed them down, however, remembering Newt's advice.

"So, any idea why you're the first girl to come here? Do you remember anything from your past life?" The words tumbled out of Alby's mouth, rushed and desperate-sounding.

She laughed nervously, "shouldn't I be the one doing the asking? And no, I don't remember anything. The only thing I know is that my name is Elizabeth and I woke up in a strange place. Good enough?"

Alby rolled his eyes. "That's what every single one says. Somehow I find that hard to believe."

She shook her head. "I swear, I-I don't even know where I am! Why are we surrounded by walls? Where are all the other girls? And what the hell is a shuck?"

Alby rolled his eyes again, much to Elizabeth's frustration. Newt, however, seemed amused.

"Like I said, Greenie, no questions until the tour."

"What tour?"

"No questions!" he repeated in a singsong voice.

Elizabeth huffed, fingers drumming impatiently at her sides. She couldn't just stand there; she needed to move, to be productive.

'To get out of here,' she thought.

"Show the Greenie where she'll be sleeping. I have to go check on Graham," Alby announced, exchanging meaningful looks with Newt.

"He'll be fine?" the blonde boy asked, concerned. His tone seemed like he was convincing himself, rather than asking a question.

"Think he will, he's almost done Changing," Alby answered quietly. With that, he walked off, leaving Elizabeth with Newt and more questions than ever.

They stared as he walked off, an awkward silence hanging between them.

"So...?" she trailed off, sneaking a small glance at Newt. The worried expression he was wearing slipped off, and he shook his head as if to clear his mind.

"Right, the Homestead." He set out at a brisk walk across the Glade, Elizabeth struggling to match his long strides.

"Why Greenie?" she asked, despite Newt's advice about asking questions. They were halfway across the Glade, and she her breaths started to become uneven.

'I'm in terrible shape,' she thought.

"You're new," he explained, his voice even. He seemed completely relaxed. "You better get used to it, it'll be your nickname for the month." He didn't elaborate further.

They passed a group of boys who were measuring and sawing wooden planks, then laying them aside in a wheelbarrow. When they saw her, they catcalled and made comments.

"Want to share my bed tonight, Greenie?"

"I'll show you to the showers!"

Elizabeth, appalled, could only yell a furious, "screw off!" and quicken her pace. Beside her, Newt looked on with the same amused expression as before.

"This," Newt signalled at a building with a hand, "is the Homestead." It was a sprawling, run-down construction, made of wooden planks that were haphazardly nailed together. Smaller structures were attached in a seemingly random order to a main, sturdier building.

He lead her to one of the newer sections of the Homestead. With a swift motion, he flicked open the latch and nudged open the door.

Pale light filtered from a small window, the dust motes dancing in the sunlight. A bed sat at the corner of the room, covered with a pillow and a thin blanket, beside it was a low shelf, which Elizabeth assumed it acted as both a bedside table and closet.

The room smelled like dust and wood chips. Old, but not unpleasant.

"Welcome to your humble sleeping quarters," he announced, his accent more pronounced than ever. "You better feel bloody lucky, this section is reserved for the Keepers. Didn't think you'd want to sleep near those shanks," he added, referring to those boys they've met on their way to the Homestead.

"Thank you." Elizabeth was oddly touched; it was one of the first acts of kindness she'd been shown since she'd arrived here.

"My room is right next to yours," he continued rather awkwardly, "so if one of those shuck-faces come bothering you, I'll know."

She could only nod.

Newt peered out the window, staring at the Maze walls and the shadows underneath them. "Better get some dinner, and then some sleep, Greenie. You've got a long day ahead of you."