Silence

Chapter 8

"Welcome to the Glade" Alby said, opening his arms and pointing around us. "This place will be your new home". "Who are you?" The boy Minho held down asked. "I'm Alby. I've been here the longest so the others has chosen me as their leader. That is why I'm the one talking".

"Who are the others" One of the boys tied on the ground asked. "Minho in blue shirt, Newt in orange and Gally being the one who ties you up. The girl to my left is Emily. She came after me and is therefore second in command. She can't talk, so don't be surprised if she doesn't answer your questions".

"We communicate through lipreading and chalkboards" Minho said, noticing the question being formed. "Does that mean she can't hear us as well?" Asked the bleeding boy. "Your nose should be answer enough" Newt said through his teeth. "Just wondering" The boy said, his focus shifting back to Alby.

"In this place, we have three rules. Rule number one never hurt another Glader, we have to trust each other". "What's a Glader?" Asked the boy with the frying pan. "We are and so are you" Gally answered his question. "Rule number two" Alby continued, "Everyone does their part. I won't be tolerating any slackers". Alby paused. "And rule number three, the most important rule of all. Never, and I repeat never, go outside the Glade". "Who are you to stop us?" One of the tied up boys said. Alby walked over to him and crouched down in front of him. "I'm your leader".

Some of the boys still didn't want to work together with us, so as Newt and Minho stood watch, Gally, Alby and I prepared a few cells. This way the new ones wouldn't run into the maze as the doors closed. As the cells were done we went over to collect the newbies. The two runners went into one cell, the fighters seperated in two group. The last kid with the frying pan got his own cell. "Sorry" I mouthed at him, knowing none of them deserves this. "It's alright" He said from the other side of the door. I smiled and walked towards the others, we needed to decide what to do.

"Right" Alby said from across the bench. We had gone to sit down by the kitchen, Alby and Minho on one side, Gally, Newt and I on the other. "What do we do?". "I say we leave them to the things in the maze" Gally said. "They got sent here just as we all did, we can't let them just.. die" Newt said, defending the greenies. "We need to keep them at bay, they need to respect us and follow the rules around here" Minho said. I got an idea and wrote it down on my board, show them the window.

*******

As the sun began to fade Gally and Minho prepared for the bonfire. Just like when we had gotten into the Glade, they got a fire. It was a time for celebration after all. Alby, Newt and I walked over to the cells. "Listen up" Newt said, gaining the attention from the greenies. "We're gonna let you out. Don't try to run, Em is the fastest runner here and will get you in no time" Alby said as Newt and I opened the cells. "This way" He said and walked towards the wall. "Fire's that way" one pointed out. "We know" Newt said, walking behind the others in case they tried to escape again.

We reached the covered window and positioned the new boys in front of it. Alby and Newt stood on each side of them as I headed for the window. "You sure you wanna do this?" Alby asked as I remembered the last time we had removed the ivy. I nodded towards him and removed the ivy covering the cold glass. The stone corridors seemed empty, but I knew better. I could see movement and the creature appeared. It didn't seem to see us, but the shouts from the greenies told me that they could see it. "What is that?!" The shouts blurred into one until Alby's voice cut through. "Slim it" He demanded and the shouts died out.

"This thing is the reason no one is allowed outside the Glade". "Then why are the walls open during the day?" One of the boys asked. "We don't know where the creatures hide. The only thing we know is that these things appear during the night" Newt answered. The creature inside the maze spotted us and lunged its body onto the glass. The boys backed away and I closed my eyes as I let the ivy fall. Newt walked up to me and placed an arm over my shoulders. "Let's go back. There's a fire waiting" He said.

As the bonfire died out, all of the boys had remembered their names. The runners Minho had taken care of where Clint and Jeff. The boy stumbling over Newt before was Zart. The boys trying to fight Gally and Alby where named Winston, Nick and George, the last one being the one I had punched in the face. The boy in the kitchen was named Siggy, but because if the incident with the frying pan, Minho insisted we call him Frypan. I don't know if it was the nicknames doing or not, but Frypan had volunteered to make us breakfast.

Gally and George seemed in need of letting anger out, so Alby arranged for an organised wrestling match between the two. Minho and Newt sat on a log on the other side of the dying fire, me sitting on the ground with Newt on my left and Minho on my right. "You think George's gonna get another nosebleed?" Minho asked and took a mouth full of Gally's homemade drink. "Pretty sure" Newt chuckled and took the drink from Minho, taking a sip before handing it to me.

I took a sip of the drink and shuddered. It wasn't good, but it was something. Minho reached for the drink again and drowned the rest of it. "Long day tomorrow" he said as he rose from the log and headed towards the hammocks. We hadn't had time to unpack the Box because of the new arrivals, so we had decided for them to be sleeping on bundled up clothes by our hammocks. "Time to sleep?" Newt leaned forward to look me in the eyes. I turned my head and nodded, I felt exhausted.

Newt rose from the log and reached out his hands. I took them in mine and he pulled me up from the ground. He then placed an arm around my shoulders and we started to follow Minho. I don't know what had happened during the day, but Newt had changed. He didn't seem unsure in my presence anymore and he had returned to his old self. I smiled to myself, I liked that.

As we got to the hammocks, Newt lifted me into my hammock. I laughed at his gesture, a silent but still present laugh. Newt smiled at me. "I wish I could hear your laugh" He said. I smiled and squeezed his hand, telling him that I knew. "How come they get to sleep comfortably?" Nick's voice broke our moment. Newt closed his eyes to show his annoyance and I laughed in my silent way again. He let go of my hand and walked out to Alby and the greenies.

"Your attention went to escaping rather than unloading the Box and fixing your hammock" Alby said to the boys. "Tomorrow we will take care of everything, until then you sleep here". He pointed at the beds we had arranged for them. Five boys sat down onto the beds, but Nick and George remained standing. "I won't sleep there" George said. I stood up from my hammock and went over to the group. Without looking at the new boys I started to collect the clothes on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked, yanking the clothing pieces out of my grasp. "If you won't sleep there, why should we keep our clothes on the ground?" Alby said as he and Newt followed my lead. "Okay, okay. We'll sleep on the ground" Nick said in defeat. I placed back the pieces of clothing I had collected and waved a "goodnight" to the boys. Everyone but George returned it. As I got back to the hammocks, Minho's snores filled the silence. I sat down onto my hammock and let my legs dangle.

Newt arrived after a while and sat down onto his hammock facing me. "Finally got them settled" He said with a tired smile. I yawned in response and removed my sweater. "Goodnight love" Newt said before laying down in his hammock. I leaned over and squeezed his shoulder in response before laying down in my own bed. My eyes looked up and through the branches of the trees I could see the stars. This was gonna be a long and interesting month.