Chapter 2

The loud humming sound echoed across the land, stirring Thomas from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes gently, and sat up – feeling the tiredness seeping back in already. He looked over and saw an empty space where Brenda had been lying next to him.

"She must be up already then" he said to himself, and began to pull himself to his feet.

The loud humming was coming from the clearing in the center – where Frypan had begun to cook breakfast for himself and the other Gladers scattered around everywhere.

Frypan put himself in charge of cooking almost immediately after they reached the clearing – whilst Minho lead the other Gladers to explore where they had ended up.

Fields surrounded them, miles and miles of perfectly green land – as well as meadows bright and yellow sticking out on the horizon like a sore thumb. They however, were situated on top of a large hill, which over looked the vast greenery around them. In the middle of the hill, there was a clearing, where the Gladers would gather for meals and socializing. In the very center of the clearing there was a circle of carefully placed logs – with a bright, glowing campfire in the middle.

On the right however, stood tall, leafy trees. They stretched high into the sky, some of them reaching thirty or forty meters. Trees then continued to stretch back behind them to the point where it could only be described as a forest. A dense one too – it was impossible to see through it to the greenery on the other side.

The hill itself had to be a couple of acres big at least, given how much was on it. All of this was discovered within the first few days, Minho had sent several search groups out to see what they could find. The search fiasco had stopped when it started to become apparent that they were in the middle of nowhere. Although, a number of animals had been found roaming the hills – so they were soon herded together. The Gladers had begun to set up a similar routine to that in the Maze. They had the perfect land for a farm.

Frypan saw Thomas approaching and gave him a brief nod, before returning back to whatever he was cooking. Food was plentiful, provided by the trees in the forest and from the animals, which scattered the field around them. Water was in great source too – a natural mineral stream ran down from some point in the woods, and continued over the fields into the horizon. They were very well set up. They had plenty of food, water, land, peace – they could finally start their lives properly.

Just without Teresa.

Thomas sighed and sat down next to Gally. The flame danced in his pupils as he added more logs to the fire. It had been cold everyday since they arrived in the unknown location. Thomas could only hope it was a season thing.

"What's bringing you down shuck-face" he asked, his eyes still on the fire. He briefly glanced over to look at Thomas – noticing he had his head buried in his hands.

"You know, I'm sure you and that Brenda girl could really hit it off" he said in a mocking tone.

"Well slinthead, I'd have to know where she is first". Thomas spat.

Everyone began to gather for breakfast soon after Thomas had sat down. Aris had sat down hand in hand with a girl called Ashleigh from Group B.. Aris had managed to hook up with her only weeks after they had arrived, and they had stayed together since. They seemed to want everyone to know about it, hugging and kissing in front of everyone all the time – as well as never letting go of one another.

Thomas hated watching it.

He still longed for that with someone.

Once everyone had settled, Thomas walked over to Jorge – hoping he had seen Brenda. "Oi Jorge, you seen Brenda anywhere? I can't seem to find her" he asked inquisitively. Whilst asking – he scanned his eyes across the group hoping to catch her beautiful chocolate eyes in his sight.

Nothing.

"Well, even if I had seen her. I'm sure it would only be when she's cuddling up with you" he sneered.

Jorge hadn't been friendly with him recently. Thomas wondered whether he had feelings for Brenda, and felt jealousy towards him because they were spending so much time together. Though even If he did – he was in no mood to show it.

Thomas decided to sit down by himself after that, nibbling on his buttery toast. Minho was standing in the center, just in front of the burning campfire – just like he did every morning. Sonya was next to him, her hand linking in with his. They had managed to form a relationship too.

But something didn't seem right this time…

He wasn't smiling.

"Everyone slim it!" he shouted – instantly sending everyone into silence.

He didn't speak then – until someone called out "What's up with you?".

"Earlier this morning we found Brenda deep in the forest…and she's been stung by a Griever"