[the maze runner] [book 1 of the survivors trilogy]
Rae was the first. Being the only girl in the maze for so long has made her build her walls up high around her heart in hopes that she and the rest of the Gladers can escape. But Newt wants a way i...
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BONFIRE
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Rae walked off with Newt to the Garden. Newt immediately got to work, trimming some of the tomato plants as Rae leaned against the wooden pergola, watching him.
"Don't you have some work to do?" Newt asked the girl. Not defensively, but curiously.
"This is my work."
"What? Checking me out?"
Rae scoffed at Newt's comment, shaking her head. He was a good person, one of the nicest people in the Glade, but she had to admit, his flirting was not the best. "No, making sure you're doing your work, which it seems like you're doing, so I'm just gonna go."
"It's so lonely in the Garden."
"You want to help me set up for the bonfire then?"
Newt threw down the clippers as Rae chuckled at her best friend. "Were you waiting for me to ask that? Jeez, come on."
Rae and Newt headed into the deadheads in search of firewood. Any dry wood would have been fine, sticks, twigs, but what they needed most were larger branches. The two decided to stick together even though they knew that splitting up would be faster.
They didn't talk to one another as they collected the wood. They didn't need to speak. When you're best friends with someone for three years, the silence isn't awkward. It's normal. After half an hour, the two manage to collect 12 large branches, perfect for the skeleton of the bonfire, as well as many smaller twigs and dried leaves.
~~~
Rae and a couple of other Gladers grabbed lit torches, throwing them into the pile of wood in the middle of the circle. The wood lit up and the flames danced as it illuminated everyone's faces with an orange glow. The crowd cheered and whooped as the fire became brighter and the flames rose higher.
The Greenie didn't know who to talk to, so he sat on a log, watching the Gladers dance and wrestle.
"Hell of a first day, Greenie," said a voice, and Newt sat down next to him with a skewer of meat in his hand. "Here. Put some hair on your chest." Newt held up a jar of murky brown liquid. The Greenie didn't want to take it, but he needed to make some friends, so he took a big swing from it, only to start coughing as the disgusting juice traveled down his esophagus.
"Oh, my God! What is that?" he groaned.
The liquid still burned in his throat as Newt took the jar back. "I don't even know. It's Gally's recipe. It's a trade secret."
The Greenie turned around to look at Gally who was wrestling with another Glader in a pit made out of sand. The newbie just wanted to wipe that smug smile off of his face. "Yeah, well, he's still an asshole."
