Silver Lining (Newtmas)

7 - Rebel

It was late afternoon when a screeching ringing sound rebounded off the walls of the Glade. I was done for the day, quite horrified by and done with rearing animals, and was settling down to one of Frypan's famous stews when my ears positively burst from the sound.

Warily, I followed the other Gladers towards the middle of the Glade, where the metal box (the Box, they called it. So original.) I had been sent up in lay. Squeezing into the crowd of boys, I found Newt standing at the front of the crowd, with a troubled expression on his face.

"What's wrong? What's that sound?" I asked, out of breath from all the shoving and squeezing.

"It's the box, it's coming up," he replied, still staring at the Box. I peered at it, and indeed, the metal frames seemed to be rattling form some movement inside the chute. But still, I didn't get what was so special about it.

"So? You guys didn't look so surprised when I came up yesterday," I said, speaking to him over the shocked chatter of Gladers behind me.

"Exactly. It's only supposed to come once a bloody month."

"Well, maybe it made a mistake," I shrugged, "no big deal."

"Tommy." He turned to look at me. "It's been like that for the past three years. Always once a month, always the same day, same time. Never different. But this time, it's coming up two days in a row. Something's bloody up."

Just then, the Box came to a stop right below the metal grills. A few boys helped to open the cover, and Newt jumped inside. From the dim light, I couldn't quite make out what or who was inside the Box, only a vague shape laying crumpled at the corner of the Box.

Newt looked up with a look of puzzlement. "It's a girl."

As soon as he said that, chatter broke out across the crowd.

"A girl?"

"I call dibs!"

"No, me first!"

I shook my head, disgusted at their responses. I squinted at the girl curiously. She almost seemed... Familiar. Like I had seen her somewhere before, but I couldn't quite put my finger on where.

"And she has something in her hand," Newt's voice rang out, quieting down the Gladers. He bent down and took a piece of crumpled paper out from the girl's hand, smoothing it out and reading it.

"She's the last one, ever." He paused for a moment, his brows furrowing. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

A few minutes of debating followed, and Newt ordered the medjacks to bring the girl into the Homestead to check on her since she was in a coma. Newt followed them, and I followed him, though no one seemed to notice me until I entered the Homestead. The medjacks and Newt went upstairs without disturbance, but I was stopped by a few boys. I looked up at them, and I recognised one of them. Gally.

I took a deep breath. Though nothing much had gone on between the two of us, I could sense he was not a good person to mess with, or be around in general. The only people who could stand up to him were probably Alby, Newt and Minho, the keeper of the runners. He glared at me, and for a moment I wished Newt was here.

I tried to go past him and up the stairs; I wanted to see how the girl was, but Gally just blocked my way. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, his voice menacing and ridiculing.

"I'm just going to find Newt," I said. For some reason, I didn't want to mention the girl.

Just then, I heard a blood curdling scream echo through the Homestead, one I had heard only vaguely during the day. "What's that?" I asked in a small voice, wincing from the high pitched screech.