Chapter One: Coming Up

NEWT

The Runners were just skidding through the gates when the alarm sounded. Already exhausted, Minho and Ben waved me on and I took that as meaning that they would rest before the bonfire. I didn't know what exactly had happened, but they wore troubled looks on their faces, smudged with dirt and dust. Ben had a slight lilt to his step and Minho walked slower to allow him to catch up. Deciding that I would grill them later on what had gone on in the Maze today, I jogged toward the Box.

Alby and Gally were already there, pulling open the heavy metal trapdoor. The hinges screamed like they always did, having gotten worse throughout the years. The boys gathered eagerly around the Box, some of them shuffling from one foot to the other in anticipation for who the new Greenbean would be. Alby and Gally stared down into the Box, and Alby lifted his head to lock eyes with me instantly.

Something was wrong.

I pushed through the crowd, not unkindly, and came to a halt beside Alby, our trusted leader and my best friend. Alby never raised his voice, never acted without putting as much thought as he could into it beforehand, and never let another Glader suffer in their worry or panic of being stuck in this hell. He was a bit stocky with dark skin and a bald head that usually glistened with sweat from a hard day's work. I guessed that he had been attending to other things than physical labor since he didn't look worn out as he usually did.

"What the hell?" Gally growled, already angry. He was a hot head, and not many of us enjoyed his company because of it. Gally was tall and imposing, muscled with bushy dark eyebrows that made a high arch over his piercing blue eyes. He was not ugly, but definitely not handsome, but maybe that's because I disliked him a bit – and the fact that I preferred females.

I took my first look inside the Box and felt the same panic and confusion that Alby and Gally must have felt. Curled up on the grate that made up the floor of the Box, the same box that all of us boys had come up in over the years, was a girl. I drew in a sharp breath, and realized why I had chosen the word 'girl' specifically to describe her.

She looked so small, though she was not that young. Though her face was covered by her long, pitch black hair, her bodily features suggested seventeen, maybe eighteen at the oldest. But her skin was very pale and her arms were skinny; I imagined I could connect my thumb and forefinger around her forearm with a bit of space left to lose. Her legs were curled against her chest and her feet were bare, which was odd. All of us had come to the Glade fully clothed, but she was missing something rather important considering the wooded areas and sharp sticks hidden in the grasses.

Gally was about to jump down into the Box, which would shake the entire thing and probably terrify this waif of a girl, when Alby's arm shot out in front of him to stop his approach. Gally looked irritated, as he usually did, but he stepped back and watched on as Alby gently lowered himself into the Box. This would be the most gentle welcoming to the Glade they had experienced, considering none of them knew how to deal with the fragility of a female.

Alby first poked her on the shoulder and we all waited, holding our breaths. Some of the boys toward the back of the crowd started to murmur, asking what was happening. They were quickly shushed by the ones who were witnessing the strange site: the first girl. The Glade's only female resident ever. The girl didn't stir and after a few beats of no response, Alby lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his barrel chest. Her hair fell away from her face and I heard Gally's sharp inhale even from where I stood, as well as the gasps of onlookers.

She was beautiful. Though she was pale and looked as though she hadn't eaten or slept well in months, she was the prettiest thing I had ever laid eyes on. She had long black eyelashes to match her inkwell hair, full lips that were a soft pink and thankfully not blue, and a small delicate nose that accented the rest of her delicate little face. That was the perfect word to describe her: delicate. It looked like she was going to break apart at any moment.

"Newt," Alby called me softly and I stepped forward immediately, no longer caught in a trace as I gazed at the girl. He passed her up to me and I held her the same way he had: close to my chest, one arm around her back, and the other arm underneath her knees. She luckily wore pants, though they were loose on her thin body, and a large shirt that was obviously a man's size. She weighed next to nothing and was quite easy to hold.

Alby pulled himself out of the Box and looked to Gally, telling him to unload the supplies that had come up with her. He nodded to me and started to walk toward Homestead, the crowd that had gathered, though still gawking, parting for us both. They all remained mostly silent, though whispers could be heard, as if they didn't want to awaken the fragile little creature and frighten her.

As we walked toward Homestead, still not speaking, I couldn't help but examine her face up close. She had dark circles under her eyes that told me she hadn't slept very much for a very long time, as I had thought when I first laid eyes on her. Her cheeks were a bit more sallow-looking this close, so the assumption that she hadn't been fed very well was also proven true. As I watched her unconscious face and as I followed Alby toward our personal hut, I couldn't help the overwhelming sense of protectiveness I felt. For whatever reason, I knew then that I had to do anything and everything within my power to protect this girl, and to nurture her into a strong person who could be the key to getting everyone out of here.

It was just a feeling, deep inside my chest, but I just knew that she was one of the final keys to escaping this prison. This little bird, with her fragile features and dark hair like wings, was going to save all of us, or whoever was left.

Author's Notes: Thank you for reaching the end of this first chapter! This is something I've been formulating for days, though I don't necessarily have a clear plot yet. I realize that there are tons and tons of fan fictions for The Maze Runner in which a girl is presented to the Glade, and I love the idea so I've taken it and run with it.

To clear one important thing up: this universe of TMR is set in the film's universe, since I haven't gotten very far into the book. The film universe is much easier for me to visualize and manipulate inside my mind while writing, so I will be using main references from that.