Prologue
Newt
Stretching, Newt sat up in his bed during the early hours of a new morning.
‘Another morning’ he thought to himself as he rolled out of his semi-comfortable bed and began making his way over to the homestead.
Walking in he saw a table of Gladers he had come to call his friends, sitting at one of the picnic tables eating some of Frypans famous bacon and egg breakfasts.
“Morning you ugly shank,” Minho, leader of the Runners greeted the teen before going back to eating his food.
Newt just nodded before taking a seat next to the leader of the Glade, Alby.
“Having problems waking up this morning Newt?” The boy asked, taking a bite of his bacon.
“You could bloody say that,” Newt rubbed his eyes.
Minho chuckled. “He just did.”
Newt rolled his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.
Minho had always been the one in the Glade to throw around the jokes and everybody had just learn to get used to it.
Pausing for a few moments, Newt finally willed himself to move from his seat and made his way over to Frypan where he grabbed his ration of breakfast and sat back down to eat.
“New Greenie comes up today,” Minho announced.
“Hopefully he’ll be better than the last one sent up. Can actually do something to help around here, you know,” Zart, a hand-help in the Gardens commented.
“He helps. It just takes time to get used to things around here at first Zart,” Alby explained.
“Well, he needs to hurry up because I don’t know how much longer I can handle this child-like behaviour out there,” Zart complained.
Newt just listened in, not saying a word. His mind was too occupied with the topic of the new Greenie to pay much attention on what his friends were chatting about.
Newt had always felt like an outsider in the Glade, ever since the first day he woke up in the box. He hated the place, always has. It didn’t help that his fellow Gladers were always trying to keep an eyes on him ever since he tried to take his own life about a year ago.
He just wished he knew who he was before the Maze. Who his family was. Did he even have a family? These kind of thoughts clouded the boy’s mind everyday.
“Hey, Glade to Newt,” A hand suddenly clicked in front of the blonde teens face.
“You still with us ya shank?” Minho asked from the other side of the table.
“Yeah, I’m still here,” Newt sighed.
“Worried about the new Greenie?” Zart questioned.
Newt let a second sigh escape his lips. “I’m just wonderin’ how many more boys they’re goin’ to send up before we get out of this bloody place.”
“Hopefully not too many. It’s gonna start to get crowded here soon,” Alby tried to lighten the mood.
Newt just nodded, not wanting to speak anymore. He just wanted to get out of this place.
The rest of the day went on as usual. The Runners went out into the giant Maze, surrounding the Glade. All the other Gladers went about their day as normal.
Newt tied another branch to a post set up in the fields as Zart yanked weeds from the floor. This was where the boy spent most of his time since the incident.
“You doing alright over there Newt? You’ve been quiet almost the whole morning,” Zart questioned as he yanked another weed from the ground.
“Yeah, just want to get this done so we can have lunch,” Newt lied.
“I hear ya,” Zart smirked before a loud bell roared through the Glade.
The sound was almost deafening as it wailed through the place. Heads began to turn towards the metal box sitting in the middle of the Glade. It was time.
The box was coming up.
“Took them long enough,” Zart spoke as he pulled himself up from the floor.
Newt sighed before following the boys lead and made his way over to the rest of the Gladers who were already hovering over the box. He just hoped this continuous cycle would be coming to an end.
Getting to the box, another Glader, Gally, helped Newt open the box, giving everyone a better look at what was inside.
However what was inside was something new to the boys. Something they would have to put new laws in place for.
Newt didn’t think twice as he allowed himself to fall into the box.
It was a girl.
“Newt what do you see?” One boy asked.
“It’s a girl,” Newt stated as he looked down at her.
She appeared to be unconscious. Her dirty blonde hair laid spread out across the floor of the cold cage. She had a thin face and small figure. Her mouth was slightly open, her breathing not audible however, making her look as though she was dead. She looked relatively young, 15 or 16 at the oldest. Her lips were quite full, but still looked slightly pale.
“I actually think she’s dead,” Newt announced before bending down to get a better look at the girl.
“Why would they send up a dead Greenie?” Alby questioned more himself than anyone else.
“I don’t know, but we need to do something with her. We can’t just leave her here we need to move her,” Newt suggested.
The girl suddenly jerked awake, gasping for air as she did. She looked around frantically before making an attempt to speak.
“Newt.”
Her eyes then rolled to the back of her head and she was out cold again.
One by one, Gladers started turning their heads towards the second-in-command.
Newt didn’t know what to say or what to do.
‘How does this girl know me?’ He thought as he looked down at the girl.
“Med-jacks, take her to the Homestead. Newt, come with me,” The leader told two boys before turning to Newt.
Little did the boys know, everything was about to change
