Disclaimer: I do not own The Maze Runner Trilogy. All characters belong to James Dashner except my OC, Tara.
—Chapter 1—
Tara
She opens her eyes to see nothing but darkness, are her eyes open at all? She feels cold metal with her hands, a dozen questions popping in her mind. Suddenly the room starts moving, the squeal of metal echoing through the air. With a start and the sound of chains rattling, the speed forces her to sit down, she feels the wall and sits with her back to it. She could only remember one thing.
My name is Tara.
Her last name? No idea. The lack of information was irritating, she ran her hands through what seemed to be locks of wavy hair, well, that was all she could tell in this infuriating place. Absorbed in her thoughts, Tara did not notice that the room had lurched to a stop. A crack appeared at the top, letting thin rays of sunlight to enter. Thank God, guess I'm not staying here for the rest of my life after all.
Standing up, she heard grunts and the squeal of metal as the door opened. The sunlight was blinding and instinctively Tara shut her eyes and looked to the ground.
Oh Great. She thought. First chance I get to leave this place and I can't even look at the sun.
Challenging herself, she looked up, though she still had to squint. Two heads appeared, first a guy with dark skin and a scowl.
Great first impression bro.Tara thought, clearly annoyed by the guy's manner. Shrugging inside her head (yes, that does happen, now get on with reading) she took to studying the guy. He couldn't have been older than 16, and from all she could tell, which wasn't much, she should have been around that age as well. The other guy standing next to Scowl Dude-which she decided to call the dark skinned guy, was a blonde boy, about 16 as well, his eyes were wide with shock at first, then he seemed to calm down and glanced at Scowl Dude with a puzzled expression.
"A girl?" he asked with what seemed like a heavy British accent. Where the heck did she remember that from?
Scowl Dude just shrugged and crossed his arms.
"Hey, the girl has ears you know!" she exclaimed. Tara was so busy studying The Brit- which was what she decided to call the blonde guy, and Scowl Dude that she didn't notice the chorus of shouts coming from all directions above her.
"What is it?" asked a guy, well, the voice belonged to a guy.
"Hurry up with it, I don't want to be the Greenie any longer." said another one.
Greenie? Hell, I can't stay here if they speak in some alien language.
"All right all of you, shut your shuck mouths and let Newt do the talking!" ordered Scowl Dude, everyone quieted down at once, Tara figured he must be the leader.
Great, now I'm stuck in a place full of weirdos speaking an alien language with Scowl Dude as the leader.
"It's a girl." The Brit said, who Tara decided must be Newt.
Instantly the silence was broken and the crowd,well maybe not crowd, but as far as Tara knew, crowd, burst into conversation.
"She hot?" Asked someone, still a guy.
"Where's she gonna sleep tonight? We got extra beds in our room!" exclaimed someone else.
Have these guys never seen a girl in their life? She thought.
"I said shut your shuck faces and as soon as she comes out, you shanks go straight back to work, you hear me!" boomed Scowl Dude. Tara made a mental note never to get on this guy's bad side. The Brit, or Newt, reached inside the room and helped Tara out. "Name's Newt." he said, holding his hand out, Tara shook it and replied "Tara."
She looked at the guy properly, his blonde hair was tousled and he had chocolate brown eyes. He had a wide and welcoming smile and was somewhat good looking. Tara came to the conclusion that he was second-in-command and took to studying the rest of the group. She was right, it was a crowd, a crowd of about thirty boys, all ranging from 15 to 16 years of age, and not a single girl.
No wonder they were going crazy.
"Where am I?" muttered Tara, she didn't expect that Newt guy to hear her, but he did, and it was worth it.
"This" he said, spreading his arms "is The Glade, now I'm going to give you a quick tour of this place and I'll probably sort out all your questions through my explanation so keep shut and listen closely, got it Greenie?" he asked with a smile.
"Greenie?" Tara asked, it was probably stupid, since she had so many more important questions to ask, but if she was going to be called 'Greenie' she should at least know what it means.
"Yeah, heh" Newt said, scratching the back of his neck "it's what we call the newbies around here." A dozen more questions popped into Tara's mind and she opened her mouth to speak, but Newt held up his palms clearly gesturing for her to stop. "The Tour will answer a lot of your questions, just keep shut and listen closely." he said.
Tara nodded and hung onto every word he said during the Tour. He showed her places like The Deadheads, which was a creepy graveyard.
Why do these people need a graveyard? They're all so young.
The thought of it creeped her out. Newt showed her Homestead, which was where they slept, it was a big wooden building which was sloppily built, but the structure was somehow sturdy. He showed her The Blood-house, which made Tara pinch her nose and want to gag, Newt for some reason found this very funny, Tara did not. He took her to The Kitchens and The Map Room and The Weapons Depot and last but not least, that depressing dark room where she came from, apparently it was called 'The Box' and it seemed a much suited name to her taste.
So to sum it all up, they were living in an encampment in the middle of a horrible maze, which they are not supposed to go in by all means, at night the doors of the maze closes, which Tara would not believe and Newt said she'll see in a few hours, The Box delivered resources every week and new people every month. The Gladers- which was what they called themselves are desperately looking for a way out, everyone has their own job to do and one of the main rules was "Do your part". Oh, and Tara also found out that Scowl Dude's real name was Alby. She was also the only girl sent by "The Creators" who were the people who sent them there and they watch them through beetle shaped cameras called "Beetle Blades". Surprise surprise!
"So we thought The Creators would only send boys because the last two were boys, and the people I arrived with, which was about thirty of these bloody shanks, were boys as well, but i guess we'll get some girls." Newt continued as they headed towards the Kitchen to have lunch, he couldn't have been more wrong. They picked up lunch from this hairy dude called Frypan and sat at a table with a muscly asian guy who introduced himself as Minho.
"So you're the chic Greenie right?" he asked, pointing his fork at Tara.
"I'm new, I'm a girl and my name is Tara." she replied pushing his fork away with her knife.
"Okay okay, whatever you say Greenie." he said, letting his fork clatter on his plate and raising his palms as an act of surrender. Groaning, Tara went back to eating her food as Newt and Minho laughed. "Saw a shuck Griever today ya know." Minho said to Newt in a hushed voice, his face went from sarcastic to dead serious.
"Yeah well since since you and me know what it's like, let's keep it a secret." Newt whispered back, Tara decided to pretend she didn't hear a single word they said but her mind was already swimming with questions.
What's a Griever? They must be really scary to have made Minho's face look that way. How does Newt know about them?
Why is it a secret?
What's shuck?
As she pondered these questions she was suddenly snapped put of her daze by Newt.
"Tara!" he said, much too loudly considering that he was sitting right next to her, he was waving his hands in front of her eyes while she caught a glance of Minho sneakily trying to take the remaining pieces of meat on Tara's plate.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, yanking her plate from his reach. Laughing, he said "See Newt, that's how you do it." Tara's face flushed, but then she calmed herself down and continued to eat her lunch. Minho left saying he needed to go to the Map Room and she was left alone, once again, with Newt. They finished their lunch in peace and took the plates back to the Kitchen.
"So, you're gonna have to start training for your job from tomorrow morning, first time's the best ya know." he said with a wink and then chuckled to himself.
This can't be good. Tara thought "Let me guess, we start with the Blood House?" she asked, hoping she was wrong.
"You got that right Greenie." he said with a wide grin. Tara instantly felt like puking all the food she had just eaten. Her eyes widened and she pursed her lips, she must have looked hilarious because Newt burst out laughing and said,
"You should look at your face! Priceless!"
"I'll take that as a compliment" she muttered back.
"Okay okay" Newt said as he gathered himself "You can hang around me today since I don't have much to do, and neither do you." Tara simply nodded and they walked side by side, shoulders brushing. As they walked she got a lot of glances and whistles pointed her way.
"Now shut your bloody mouths before I tell Alby to stick ya in the Slammer!" Newt commanded.
"Well you're the shuck guy who gets the luck of hangin around the chic!" shouted a guy from the other direction, he must have had a lot of guts to say that judging from the threats Newt was giving. Tara turned to look at Newt and saw that he was blushing. Stifling a laugh, Tara continued to walk with him.
"We should get your name carved on the wall first, it's a sort of tradition, but it was Minho's idea as a small act of rebellion, to show the bloody Creators that they sent us here, and we're a shucking family now, and they can't take that away." he said as he showed her the wall, Tara thought it was a beautiful thing, to be a family, to be one. Newt handed her a sharp knife and found a spot next to Newt's name, written in somewhat neat handwriting. She wanted hers to be deep but petite, so she took her time, 15 minutes passed and she finished.
"Well that's a bloody long time to write 4 letters." he said with a smirk, he was leaning against the wall, his hair messy but somehow, don't know how, it. Looked. Good.
"Yeah I wanted it to be neat." she said. Then they walked together towards the Gardens.
"Ah, here we are, the bloody Garden, this is where the Track Hoes work but I think I told ya that before, now we'll meet Zart, he's the shuck Keeper and he's a nice guy." said Newt after a long and awkward silence.
Nice guy. Tara thought. If you can call Minho a nice guy, you can call anyone a nice guy.
Though it turned out that Zart was actually 'a nice guy'. Tara was relieved to know that there was someone in The Glade other than Newt you was 'nice'. Tara and Newt spent the rest of the time picking vegetables and plants, Tara knew this was not the job for her, but it was better than slicing animals.
By the time they were done the sun was already sinking, Newt glanced at the sky and pulled Tara by the hand.
"C'mon, you gotta see this." he said, pulling her as they ran.
They arrived in front of the two huge doors which seemed like they had sat there for centuries, they couldn't possibly move, could they?
"Now don't tell me-" her words were cut short by a loud grinding sound, Tara watched, half shocked, half mesmerized as the wall slowly closed, trapping them in The Glade. Newt still hadn't let go of her.
"Believe me now?" he said, she gulped and nodded slowly, he let go of her hand when he saw Alby approaching. The scowl still plastered on his face.
"Get her a bed after she finishes eating." he grunts, then walks away.
"Well he's a very sunny person." Tara said, Newt glanced at her, sighed and then said, "He wasn't always like this ya know, but this bloody maze, it gets on everyone's nerves, and all that pressure..." he trailed off, Tara nodded as if acknowledging that she understood.
"Well come on then, better get some dinner, Minho can't wait to see you again." he said with a wink. Tara groaned and reluctantly followed Newt to the Kitchen. They took their food and walked to a table where Minho was sitting, grinning widely.
"What're you so happy for?" Newt asked as he slid next to Tara.
"Nothing, nothing at all, just thinking about the other ways to annoy the Greenie." he said, Tara knew better than to groan this time, she simply smiled and ate.
"Gee I didn't know I was this hungry until I finally ate." she said, trying her best to conceal her smile. This time it was Minho's turn to groan, and Tara laughed, knowing that she had won. Minho grumbled about bloody smart girls throughout the rest of the meal while Newt and Tara laughed. The thought of The Blood-house disgusted her, so she pushed it away, hoping it wouldn't be as bad as she imagined it to be. After dinner Newt took her to a room full of other boys with sleeping bags in Homestead, he said she should trust those boys and they would keep her safe from harm, no matter how much she insisted she wanted to sleep outside he resisted, groaning she snuggled in a corner and pretended to fall asleep hoping that Newt would leave soon, but he didn't go until he was sure she was fast asleep, which she was not. As soon as Newt left Tara rolled up her sleeping bag and headed outside, she looked at the dark night sky dotted with stars and constellations, and for the first time since she went there, she felt at home.
—Author's Notes—
So this is my first fanfiction and I myself expect it to be really bad. I practically took up writing fanfics to get my mind off Newt's death since I was resorting to depression, and well I still see his face everywhere I look and I am so not ready for The Death Cure movie, but hey, fanfiction is really helping. I would also like to tell you that not all ideas are my own and that I cannot take full credit for this.
Have fun reading this and tell me if you don't like anything.
See ya in the next chapter Pansycakes.
