Summary:
It was a regular day in the glade, so it would be safe to say that it would end as such. But why is Minho getting a sense that something is coming and he doesn't know how it will effect everyone? What's this got to do with Newt?
Hey everyone, this idea just popped into my head and I wanted to try and write it. So, here it is. This takes place before Thomas arrived at the maze. Reviews would be great. If you have any suggestions for anything else that I should write or if you want me to continue this, then just tell me. For now, it will be a one-shot.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the maze runner series. If only I did...
Minho's POV
It was a normal day in the glade. I could see everyone getting their breakfast before setting off to do their designated job. After I got my meal, which consisted of a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon from our one of a kind chef, Frypan, I went to the runner's hut in order to get my pack and meet with the rest of the runners before we went into the maze for the day.
When I arrived at the hut, I could see the familiar faces of Newt, Ben, and all of the other runners who were waiting for me to give them the section of the maze that they would have to run through for today.
I quickly grabbed my gear and then turned to my fellow runners. I scanned each of their faces and stopped at Newt's. He was looking very determined today and it gave me a sense of foreboding, yet I tried not to think about it. He was probably just determined to find an exit to this maze, like the rest of us, in order to get back to our homes; assuming we have any.
"Alright everyone, grab your gear and then meet me over at the map to hear today's game plan."
"Okay, Newt, you take section 1, Ben, take section 2..." I said as I listed off everyone's sections for today until I reached the last section; "I'll take the last section for today, yeah?" I questioned the guys as they nodded in agreement.
"Everybody head out and remember to map out what you've found when you return," I ordered and then ran through the grasslands of the glade and into the maze toward my section without turning back.
The eighth section didn't change much since the last time I saw it. I've been running for a couple of hours now, yet I haven't broken a sweat due to the countless times I have done this before. I am almost halfway done with running my section for the day and then, as the keeper of the runners, I will have to check on everyone else's progress. We don't need a repeat of the Aaron incident... No, I mustn't think about that, Alby said it was forbidden to speak of it. He's told me it wasn't my fault, but I know I screwed up that day.
I reached a safe corner in the maze and decided to take a quick lunch break and grabbed two ham sandwiches and a water bottle out of my pack; then I let my thoughts run wild. Of course, they slipped straight toward the subject I've been avoiding; the Aaron incident.
After that incident I told myself that I would do whatever it takes to keep my runners safe. I won't allow myself to break that vow. I don't know what I would do if another runner was hurt and I could've done something to prevent it. Somehow my thoughts wandered to how Newt was acting the past week. To most it would seem like Newt was being his usual self, but I knew him better than the others.
At the bonfire, a couple of days ago, he would fake a smile at every joke that was made and seemed to be deep in thought throughout most of the night. Alby and I got very concerned, but we decided to confront him later- just in case it was a phase that would be gone in the next couple of days. It didn't. I'm planning on talking to Alby about it when I finish mapping out my section and I need to start doing that in a couple of hours in order to have enough time to check on the progress of my runners. Although, knowing Newt, he has probably already started on his; the fast shank.
I stood up off of the stone floor. Then I put the remains of my lunch in my pack and then set off to finish the exploration of sector eight. After an hour I ran to each of my runners sections, and called their name, so that I knew they would be okay. When all of them reassured that they were fine, I ran back to finish my section. When I finished running section eight, I decided that I was done for today, and I started to run back to the glade to record my findings.
I swiftly ran through the many twists and turns that lead to the glade as I pulled all of my markers off the walls and into my pack. When I got back to the glade, I noticed that I was the first runner to be back. Ha, beat that Newt! I can already see the shank rolling his eyes at me when I tease him about it later.
I grabbed a sheet of paper and proceeded to record all of the new tunnels that I found today and waited for the rest of the guys to show , each of my runners returned from their exploring and went to record what they saw on their run.
"Go get dinner and rest up for tomorrow guys, I'll do the progress report today, but don't expect me to do it alone tomorrow too; I don't need you guys to start slacking off on the job," I joked to them after each of them finished their maps.
A couple of them chuckled while the more serious guys just rolled their eyes. I snorted and then decided to flip the latter off; this only caused them to reciprocate with a smirk. Then all of them walked off toward their friends so that they could hang out for the rest of the afternoon. It was then that I noticed that Newt still hadn't done his sheet, which is concerning because his is almost always the first one done. Not to mention the problem that the maze was going to close in less than two hours.
At this discovery I sprinted around the glade, searching for for the familiar silhouette of Alby in order to see if he had seen Newt around the glade. I hoped that Newt merely forgot to fill out his map due to him being interrupted by another glader in need of help; this has been done before since he is the second in command within the glade.I spotted Alby by the the infirmary.
"Alby!" I shouted with urgency as I sprinted to where he was standing. His head snapped toward the sound of my voice and he raced to meet me when he saw my frantic expression. Before I said anything, I paused to gulp in some fresh air to calm my nerves.
"Slim it, Minho! What's the problem?! I don't have all day and by the look on your klunk face, you don't either." He demanded as he looked around the glade for any dangers present, and when he saw nothing he looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you see Newt come back from the maze?" I paused to regain my breath, again, and then explained, "He hasn't turned in a completed map for today and the maze closes in an hour and a half."
"No, the last I saw him was when he entered the maze; right after you did. Now GO! Go into the maze and find him," Alby ordered me to which I turned and ran across the green grassy field of the glade until I reached the doors of the maze.
I only paused for a moment to look at the vine covered walls and then sprinted toward sector one; the part of the maze where I told Newt he would search for the day. It was lucky of me to have put him in the closest sector to the entrance of the maze, on today of all days, considering I've got less than an hour to find him and bring him back to the glade.
Did a griever get him? No, that's impossible. Those shucking things only come out at night. I hope we don't come across one of those horrendous creatures because no one has seen one and lived to tell the tale.
After searching most of sector one, I heard a cry of pain from a distance. I ran toward the noise and upon reaching it I came upon the sight of a dirty Newt with his clothes rumpled and a look of severe pain on his face. He was sitting on the cold stone floor in a fetal position and he seemed to be cradling his ankle. With closer inspection, I could see that the ankle he was holding was bent at an odd angle and that it was starting to turn purple and blue.
"Newt! What in klunk happened to you?"
He clenched his teeth and spit out,"Go away, Minho." He paused and then continued, "Save yourself; I don't need, nor want, your help"
"No can do, shuck face." I said, swiftly walking over to him in order to help him off the stony floor. "And like you could help yourself at this point! You couldn't even stand if you tried, slinthead; quit your whining and let me help you out of this place." I stated calmly, for once.
As I got closer I could hear him chuckle bitterly to himself. "I'm not buggin' going with you. I can't take this anymore! Going day after day running this bloody maze and all to come up with nothing. Let's face it Minho, we're never going to get out of this shucking place. We've searched the whole maze for the past two years and haven't found an exit. Does this place even have an exit? And what's the point of getting out of here anyway- to get home? That's a load of klunk! How do we know that we even have a home out there!"
I was a bit surprised at his speech. What happened to our calm and rational second in command? Was this what has been passing through his mind the whole week? Looking down at my watch I saw that we had a half an hour until the doors closed.
"Newt... we can talk about that later, but we need to get back to the glade and, until we get there, I don't want to hear your arguments! You're coming with me, even if I have to drag you there, kicking and screaming, shuckhead."
Without waiting for a response, I slung him over my shoulder and ran as fast as I could, with his added weight, toward the glade. As I picked him up, I heard him let out a cry of pain. I hate that I'm hurting his broken ankle while I am running like this, but if we don't make it back before the door closes, then we'll have to deal with something worse than a broken leg.
As soon as what I had done registered in Newts mind, he started squirming out of my hold, which slowed me immensely. With every twist and turn of his body, Newt's ankle would hit my body or one of the maze walls; which made him whimper and groan in pain into my ear. It was going to take us about twenty minutes to reach the glade at my normal speed, but with the way he was trying to get away from me, we would be lucky to make it there in time. He needs to stop squirming or his ankle is going to get worse than it already is. I'm not very good at manipulating people, especially Newt since he can see right through it, but I'll have to try. We need to make it back.
"Newt! Do you want me to get trapped in here with you? Would you do that to someone who's like a brother to you?" I questioned, hoping to distract him enough so that I could speed up.
Thankfully, this caused him to stop squirming and to lay frozen over my shoulder. Looking down, I could see his ankle swelling up even more than it was previously. I quickened my pace and navigated the dark twisted path of the maze until I saw the doors up ahead. The sight up ahead made my veins fill with adrenaline, causing me to run faster than I had ever had before during my time as a runner.
What made the sight alarming was that the doors were halfway closed and had a crowd of gladers on the other side, beckoning me to hurry up before they closed. Using the last of my stored energy, I bolted through the very narrow space between the doors and into the glade. I vaguely heard someone cry out before I collapsed in a sweaty heap.
After a couple of minutes of panting on the ground, I became aware of someone shaking my shoulder. When I looked up I could see Newt sprawled on top of me and upon seeing him I called to Jeff, the med-jack, "Hurry and get Newt to the infirmary, he's severely broken his ankle."
After they pulled him off of me, and then started carrying him over to the infirmary, I hauled my self off the ground and grabbed Alby so that I could explain to him what happened when I found Newt. I lead him over to the dead heads so that no one could overhear us and then started telling what occurred.
"I was running through section one, searching for Newt, and quickly found him after I heard him scream in pain. When I arrived at Newt's location, I saw that his ankle was broken. After trying to help him up, he told me that he didn't want my help in escaping the maze and told me to leave him. Afterward we got into an argument, but I knocked some sense into him- well, I think and hope that I did. When I noticed the time, I ended up grabbing him and making a run for it. He struggled to break out of my hold, so I had to manipulate him into cooperating. The rest of the time spent in there was making the journey through the maze as quick as possible. What I don't understand is how Newt broke his ankle?" I stated ending my tale in confusion.
Alby stood with a look of concentration on his face as he looked out into the woods after I finished speaking. After a minute he spoke up," Do you think his foot got trapped on a vine? I mean, he runs really shucking fast and if his ankle were to get tangled in a vine then it could do some serious damage due to his momentum."
I pondered his idea and remembered how dirty Newt appeared with dustand vine all over him. Alby's explanation could've worked, but why was the vine all over him and not just on his ankle? I thought about the determination I saw in his eyes as I told him his section this morning, which seemed like an eternity ago. At the time, I though it was the determination to find an exit, but was it? But what else could've caused him to be determined? I thought about all of the encounters that I had with Newt in the past week.
He was distant with everyone; like his mind was in the clouds while his body was in the glade. He would laugh at the jokes at the bonfires, but they were empty. He would sit alone at meals and just stare into space, picking at his food. Looking back, Newt seemed to be very sullen and depressed. But why? My thoughts started to racing by quick enough that I could barely grasp them when I reached a bitter conclusion.
Alby's stance showed his impatience as he waited for me to finish thinking in silence. It didn't help that my facial expression changed from curiosity to shock to horror in the time span of a couple minutes.
"Alby, Do you think it's possible that Newt did this to himself on purpose? I mean, all week he has been acting weird and when I saw him in the maze today, there was dust and vines all over him- not just on his ankle." I said as my stomach started twisting into knots of worry.
Before I even finished my sentence, I could see Alby's face go from shock to anger in under a minute. I knew that I was on the right track and I had a feeling that Alby agreed with me- even if he is in denial right now. But this is the only thing that makes sense right now. We'll truly know what happened when we talk to Newt, but that will only happen when he starts healing.
"Are you saying that Newt broke his ankle on purpose?! Minho! Where in this shucking glade have gotten such a klunk idea from?! Newt knows that if he's broken his ankle, he won't be able to do his job. You know that Newt is always there when someone is in need of help. That's one of the main reasons I made him second in command." He yelled as he started to pace in front of me with a scowl on his face.
"Hey! Just hear me out. Both of us know that Newt has been acting strange all week, right?" I said and continued after he nodded,"He seemed to be a bit depressed all week and when I tried to help him up in the maze, he told me to leave him there. That, right there, was him saying that he wanted me to leave him there to die by the hands, err- whatever they are, of the grievers. That has to show you that he is depressed if not suicidal right now!" I said as calmly as I could at a time like this as I ran a nervous hand through my hair.
"Alright, I agree with you. It's just that, I hate that I knew that something was wrong, yet I didn't do anything about it. Newt's our brother and the most loyal guy I know, and when I had the chance to help him in return, I failed." Alby replied with a grim look on his face as he finally stopped pacing.
"Alby... you know that this is not your fault. All of us have shucked up, so don't put the blame on your shoulders alone. The best thing we can do for him is to stick by his side and let him know that all of us care about his well-being," I told him and added,"We're going to throw him into the slammer if he doesn't stop moping around the rest of the gladers, yeah?
This earned a weak grin as he slapped my back in agreement.
"Yeah, we'll be there for him and I think it's time we have that chat with Newt when he gets better. Although, I don't think it would be a good idea to let him continue with being a runner because we don't need him to do another stunt like this. Think he'd make a good Track-Hoe or maybe a Builder?"
"Yeah, like I would even let him get within ten feet of the maze after what he tried to do to himself. Although, I seriously hope I am wrong with my assessment. I think he couldn't hurt himself easily if he was a Track-Hoe, so I'd go with that; although, if he was a Builder, he might be able to keep Gally in line," I started snickering as I thought out loud.
"Well, I think we've discussed everything important. Oh, we'll have to call a gathering to let the others know what has happened and to inform them of Newt's new position. Tomorrow, we talk to Newt to hear what's been going through that slinthead's mind to cause him to try to hurt himself." Alby ordered and turned away to walk back to the glade, checking to see how everyone is doing.
After a couple minutes of silence, I made my way to the infirmary. I saw a beetle blade scuttle past my shoe as I walked through the tall grass near my destination. I know Alby said that Newt needed to rest, but I need to know if he will be okay.
When I made it to the entrance, Jeff glanced up at me, quickly making his way over to lead me to Newt.
"Right this way, Minho." He said, leading me to a room on the second floor and continued, "We managed to get the swelling down and reset his fractured ankle, but the fracture he has is pretty severe. We might have been able heal it more if we had better equipment, but unfortunately we don't. Newt will still be able to walk, but he's going to have a limp for a long time, if not his whole life."
I could only listen on in a numb haze as his words registered into my brain. Newt will now walk with a limp for the rest of his life. If only I noticed this earlier. I swiftly walked over to Newt's bed and saw that he was in a peaceful sleep. He definitely needs it, though, due to the dark circles under his eyes. I could only watch on as his face would occasionally turn to a grimace of pain. I'm not sure how long I stood there just standing and watching the guy who was a brother to me.
I feel guilty for what happened to Newt. I feel like I could've stopped this, just like I could've stopped the Aaron incident if I had paid more attention. But I can't change the past, as much as I would've liked to, so I can only look forward and think of ways to help Newt. I promise that I will return Newt to his original self; the only difference would be his limp. The limp that would not be seen as a weakness, but as how much stronger he has gotten by pushing passed this obstacle in his life. This is the one vow that I will not allow myself to break.
"Get better soon, Newt." I pleaded silently as I turned to leave the room. I know that we were put in this place for a reason. We're just waiting for the right thing to happen and I'm going to make sure that Newt understands this too. This way, we'll be prepared for when it does happen. Until tomorrow, I thought to myself as I allowed myself to glance back at the sleeping face of my brother, one last time, as I left the infirmary.
Sooooo... How'd I do? Sorry if the characters were out of character. I haven't read many maze runner fanfics, so I don't know each character's personalities very well. It was difficult to write something where a person has a different personality than mine. But I had to say that I had fun writing it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and if you have questions, you would like me to continue, or you have some suggestions then just tell me in a review. Or PM me. Until next time...