Evidently, I have a hard time with waiting to usher these chapters out to you. I think from now on, I'll post them as soon as I have them done, which means even after this update you should have chapter five out closely following!
Part of the reason I wanted to do another update so quickly was because I was beyond thrilled about everyone's responses to the previous three segments. You're all stunning; I just wanted to thank you so much for reading and reviewing as much as you have been. It only fuels my already flaming passion for this story! Please keep reviewing, reading, favoriting..all of that, and be honest with the reviews! If there's something you want to see happen or have questions about, I would love for you all to let me know. But without further adieu, I'll get on to responding to the current reviews up until this point!
Breg; Thank you so much! Team Newt is certainly getting some love :)
mormongirl33; Thank you, darling! Charly's just at the beginning of her character arc, so I'm with you and hope that she does develop into someone with a stronger voice to match that strong personality! As for your last point, I think you'll take a liking to this chapter, then :)
Guest; Thanks, I hope you keep reading!
Niclo121212; Yay for more Newtly! Thank you :)
julesjumper; YOU are lovely: you, who has reviewed every chapter thus far! I'm so happy you're enjoying it, and I'll second you on the Chewt thing. Not cute. I hope you enjoy this update :)
Descending (Sara); Thank you! It's always so nerve wracking to put a a character out there and hope he or she is likable and, more importantly, believable, so I'm glad you're a fan. And Surprise! Early update :)
lyra-lou; Charly is essentially a more feminine spelling of Charlie, and perhaps more commonly known as a nickname for many "Charlotte"'s. Spoilers? Maybe. And you are absolutely correct! This is taking place after about a year in the Glade, and although I don't recall if we know when Gally got stung, this is taking place before that event. I thought he was a great character (in terms of the role he played and what he stood for, not exactly the nicest chap, was he?), and I just wanted to give him a fuller backstory.
Sam0728; Thank you for reading! I don't think I can say much about whether or not Newt will be telling Thomas about Charly, but I can say that we won't be doing any skipping time! Everything will be happening pretty linearly. Thanks for reading, hope you like the update ;)
AliceInNeverland95; Thank you! I think they're pretty compatible myself, at least, they banter well together :) I get where you're coming from - you're not alone in your thoughts about Gally. There are plenty of people who dislike his character.
Zstar1; Thank you so much! I'm so excited about all of the shipping. Ship away, you lovely readers, ship away.
themadgears; What a sweet thing for you to say, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the way the characters are constructed :)
Katerina-Evasivi; Our lone Team Gally supporter! I asked because, while I was writing that chapter, I genuinely considered creating something between them...so we'll see how that turns out ;)
Something Like Me; Ahhh my first review was yours, so I'd like to take a moment and thank you for that :) I hope you continue reading and enjoy the rest!
Like I said, you guys are incredible. Now enough of me, let's get to the good stuff.
It was a long walk to the Homestead, their silence only interrupted by Newt's occasional bursts of discomfort and Charly's apology as she nearly pitched him into the doorframe, burdened by his tall stature. Through hastened breath he directed her upstairs into a small room where the two med-jacks stood, wrapping clean bandages around the runner's wound as he lay listlessly on a table. They looked up as Newt slumped into a chair, bracing himself by gripping each armrest until his knuckles were white.
"What happened in there?" inquired one of the boys as he fastened the bandages with a metal prong.
"Grievers," Newt sputtered. "Stan ran back, told us George was stung, but the time we got to him the Griever had already…he was gone. Shuck thing was waitin' for us though, got Stan as he tried to reach in for George and got me as I pulled Stan away. Bloody grievers, in broad daylight."
"Grievers?" Charly whispered to no one in particular, but her question went unnoticed as the med-jacks continued to fix up Stan. Newt growled in pain again, locking out his elbows as he pushed at the wooden armrests with a grimace across his face. Charly frowned.
"Come on, let me look at it."
"It'll heal over."
"You're even more stubborn than I am. They're deep, Newt." Charly glared down at him as he nodded reluctantly. She walked over to the table where Stan now lay, his expression peaceful and body wiped of blood and dirt. His tourniquet was removed and a blanket had been placed gently over him.
"May I?" she asked, gesturing to a large bucket of water that sat at the head of the table. The blonde med-jack nodded, bending to grab it and gingerly handing it her way. Charly smiled appreciatively.
"Well done. Earlier, I mean." The boy took a glance down at Stan before shooting her an approving grin. "I"m Clint." Charly shoved the bucket under one arm so she could shake his outstretched hand with the other.
"Charly."
"How'd you know what to do?" the other boy asked sheepishly. He was certainly younger than Clint, sporting buzzed, dark hair.
"Dunno," Charly shrugged as she hoisted the bucket back into her grip. "Instinct, I suppose?"
"Better instinct than Jeff or Clint, I might add."
Alby stood in the doorway, arms crossed eyes fixed almost menacingly on Clint who then promptly began to wet a washcloth to dab away at Stan's forehead. Alby huffed then turned to Charly, who stood frozen clutching the bucket of water.
"I say we name you a med-jack. Whad'ya say, keeper?" Charly's fingers clamped around the bucket even tighter as Clint looked up.
"I don't see any reason why we shouldn't."
"Good that." Alby gave Charly a curt nod before heading back down the steps just as quickly as he had arrived. It was a few moments before anyone else spoke.
"Thanks," murmured Charly hesitantly, suddenly very aware of the commanding air that seemed to fall upon the room from Alby's presence. However, her words were greeted with a nervous smile from Jeff.
"You deserve it, greenie." Clint nodded showing his approval, and Charly felt the warmth flow back into her like a fire lit from within. The two stood and stepped out of the room, and Charly couldn't help but beam.
"Not to be a burden or anything, but slowly dying over here," Newt called, voice laced with sarcasm.
"Right!" Charly exclaimed as she hurried back to Newt, water sloshing from side to side in her haste. She eased the bucket to the floor as she knelt down beside the chair, examining the deep gashes across Newt's back. trying her best not to pull a face that looked just as uneasy as she felt, Charly hesitantly reached forward and took the ripped fabric in her hands. It was matted with dried blood, and as she gently pulled it away from Newt's skin, his hands quickly gripped the sides of the chair, gritting his teeth.
"Christ, Charly. Be bloody careful, will you?" His words were stern, but voice still somehow laden with a distinctively cheeky undertone. She smirked as she carefully lay the fabric of his shirt back down.
"What, so I have to prod you with medical instruments for you to finally say my name?"
"Don't get used to it," he huffed with a coy smile.
Dipping a clean cloth into the bucket of cool water, Charly pried the tears in the fabric open wider. She bit her lip and pressed the damp cloth to Newt's skin. He jolted forward but quickly regained composure, shakily settling back down onto the wooden chair, eyes closed. She moved the cloth down the wound, every so often interrupted by Newt's quiet gasps or small flinches. Charly halted, sighing and looking closer at his injuries. This wouldn't do.
"I, err…if you could just…" Her voice trailed off quietly as she tugged lightly at the hem of Newt's tattered white shirt.
"Right, yeah. Gimme a mo'."
Newt crossed his arms and reached down, lifting his shirt slowly to his chest before grimacing as his wounded skin stretched. Charly reached forward, taking his shirt back and pushing it over his head as Newt grabbed it from her. He let the shirt fall to the ground and tousled his already messy hair before cautiously straightening back up. Again, she took the cloth to Newt's back and small goosebumps began to appear across his toned shoulders.
"Well," said Charly, tossing the dirty cloth to the ground and swiping a clean one from the cabinet beside her. "Good news is that there's no dirt or anything, the cuts are pretty clean."
"Yeah, that's fantastic news," Newt drawled.
"At least you've still got your hand, mind you."
"Mhmm, good that."
Charly unfolded the clean cloth and patted it across his back softly. Her eyes traveled across his back, scrutinizing the cuts before she was ready to bandage them, then let her fingertips graze lightly across his skin. Newts shoulders rose slowly, chest swelling before he exhaled sharply out of his mouth, his breath catching slightly. Charly's fingers recoiled quickly, as if his skin had suddenly burned her.
"Sorry," she sputtered. "Did I hurt you?"
"No," he chuckled in return, turning to face her wearing his normal smirk. He leaned forward and let his elbow rest on either knee, clasping his hands together with fingers intertwined. Charly gave him a grin too, but couldn't help shake the feeling of her hands against his back. Part of her hoped to forget the feeling altogether, but the other and perhaps more strong-willed side hoped that the electricity wasn't a one-sided affair.
She let her smile fall as she swung her feet sideways, shifting her back to the cabinet and closing her eyes. It was only this morning that she and Newt had been together at the fence of the cow pen. To Charly, it felt like an entirely different day.
"Is this how it is..how it's going to be? Every day?" Her voice was quiet. She wasn't even sure if she was asking Newt anymore. Silence resonated in the small loft and Newt's smile faded as well.
"Dunno, it's hard to say." There was a solemn tone in his voice, one she hadn't heard before. "We could be in here for five more weeks, five more years. Could be bloody dead tomorrow."
"I don't want to be dead tomorrow." The childish words came out of Charly's mouth before she could stop them, but Newt didn't laugh.
"You won't be dead tomorrow, Charly."
"You can't say that."
"Yes I can."
"Let's be realistic here."
Newt turned to her, eyebrows raised in a half exasperated, half amused expression. "You're not going to be dead tomorrow because I won't let you be dead tomorrow. Got that, greenie?"
Charly held out a hand, pinky extended. She looked around the room impatiently as Newt rolled his eyes, reluctantly wrapping his pinky around hers, shaking it for effect.
"Greenie," she scoffed as she pulled her hand back indignantly. The floorboards creaked as she stood to dust the dirt off her leggings.
"I'll need to take a look at that tomorrow, by the way," she noted over her shoulder before sliding the tie out of her hair and running a hand quickly through it. "It doesn't look to bad now, but it could get worse."
"If you wanted to spend more time with me, you could have just asked!" Newt taunted from his chair.
"Oh, don't flatter yourself," she laughed, turning on a hell to face him. "And put on a shirt." She picked up the tunic from the floor and balled it up, tossing it to him. But Newt just let the fabric hit his face and fall to to ground, that stupid smile still plastered to his face as Charly nipped down the stairs.
For the rest of the day, time passed slowly. When people weren't emerging with missing limbs from the maze, duties normally consisted of the boys pushing each other around or napping in the shade of the Deadheads. There were two others who worked alongside Jeff and Clint; Tim, a lanky boy sporting a long mop of brown hair, and Stephen, a boy an inch or two taller than Charly with a broad, muscular torso and jet black hair. It seemed like after this morning's incident, the amount of respect she commanded had increased tenfold. Instead of staring at her scathingly from afar, they had invited Charly to sit with them as they talked about anything and everything, from potential ground plans for a second indoor sleeping area to why Stephen's hair wouldn't lay flat.
Charly lay on the soft earth, head propped up against a log that Jeff and Tim were sat on, animatedly arguing over what Frypan would surely be serving for dinner tonight. The conversation was pushed out of Charly's head, however, by the same three sentences that haunted her dreams. The words etched on the note she still carried with her. She contemplated telling them, almost opening her mouth to do so but caught herself last minute. She had just started to get along with the gladers. She had found her niche, just like Newt assured her she would. But Charly couldn't help think that her true purpose lay elsewhere.
"Right, Charly?"
Tim's words snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Huh?" she said dully. Tim laughed.
"It'll be green beans and stew, won't it?"
"Uhh, sure Tim," she yawned, sitting upright and rubbing her eyes.
"Great help you are," Tim shrugged, offering her a hand as she stood up. "Let's go, food's ready."
A golden glow cast over the Glade as she and the boys ambled over to the Homestead, and what seemed to ominous and unforgiving a place yesterday now felt familiar. This set Charly at ease.
Just as she was feeling relaxed, a pair of large hands curved around her waist from behind and tickled her. She jumped and squealed as her flailing arms made contact with a muscular arm.
"Calm your buggin' head!" Gally laughed from behind her, rubbing his arm where Charly had unintentionally slapped him. "Haven't seen you all day and that's how you greet me?"
Charly smiled, relieved. "Sorry, bit jumpy. Today's been interesting."
"So I heard," said Gally, beaming and clapping both hands on her shoulders, causing Charly's knees to buckle a bit under the force. "Newest shucking med-jack, eh?"
"Sure, forget the part where I had to fashion a tourniquet out of my sleeve to save someone and their disembodied limb."
"Well that's not exactly a fun topic, is it? Never got the chance to tell you, that was pretty shucking impressive, by the way. Shut all of them up, for sure." He had gestured to the group of boys that stood in line a few feet in front of them and Charly recognized one of them immediately. Jack, one of the track-hoes who had mouthed off to her on the first day.
"Alby seemed pretty impressed too," Gally said, now speaking in hushed tones. "Doesn't happen too often. Most people go through keeper training and get placed in whatever role they jack up the least at. I can't remember the last time someone was assigned a role before they finished keeper training."
"It was weird to me too, don't get me wrong," Charly added, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't know why, I just knew what to do. You don't think it was because of something in my past, do you? Before all of this?"
Gally's eyes traveled to the ceiling, lips pursing in thought briefly before he nodded. "Could be. We all get these urges sometimes. Things we know we like, or know we're good at. Things that feel natural. It's kind of weird thinking they're from a time in our lives we don't remember. Kind of nice at the same time. Makes us feel like we're not goin' too crazy in here."
"Like it's all not too far away?"
"Like it's all not too far away."
The two, now carrying plates laden with food, grabbed a table and sat. Charly didn't hesitate to dig in, and was done within five minutes at the most. Gally, who still was attempting to cut into a baked potato with the side of his fork, looked up at her from across the table.
"So greenie, how have you been?"
Charly looked confused. "Fine, I guess? I mean I'm a little tired, but…"
"No, not that," interrupted Gally curtly, taking another bite of food. "I mean…how are you dealing with all of this. With the Glade?"
Charly nodded. "Best as I can, I guess. Seems like everyone's warming up to the idea of having me around."
"Like Newt?"
"Like what?"
"Nothing." Gally smirked down at his food. Charly stood up and leaned both her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hands.
"Didn't sound like nothing," she cooed as Gally struggled not to laugh. He set down his silverware cautiously and stood, backing away with his hands up.
"Seems like I'm about done here," he smiled, quickening his pace as he slid between gladers and out the door. Charly grinned, shaking her head before tearing after him through the crowd.
"Damnit Gally!" she shouted with a laugh as she caught up to him, strolling towards the clearing.
"You know exactly what I said back there," he chided. "You just want to hear me say it again."
"I just - you are impossible," Charly sighed. "This isn't the time nor place for any of that, it's not happening."
"Might want to tell him that, then," he smirked. Charly pushed him aside playfully before collapsing onto the ground in a heap of blankets.
"I don't want to do anything right now. Nothing, aside from get out of here."
Thunk. Charly immediately sat up and pulled her hand back. She had felt something land next to her, something round, soft. She reached around on the ground, searching in the twilight. It was a flower.
Large and round, the petals were still closed, the stem neatly cut off at an angle leaving it only two or three inches long. The closed petals were smooth and white, what looked to soon be a tulip bud. Gally raised his eyebrows and smiled, walking backwards and nodding to something behind her before turning around back towards the Homestead.
Newt sauntered over to where Charly sat - a little stiffly, but carrying the same amount of confidence.
"So, is this an attempt at winning my affection after my life-saving efforts earlier today?" She twisted the stem between her thumb and forefinger, peering at the perfectly curved petals, unopened and pure.
"It's whatever you want it to be," he said flashing her a coquettish smile before sitting down next to her. He did so gingerly, as if every small movement caused him pain. Charly grimaced.
"How is it?"
"My back? Fine, bloody hurts sometimes but, for the most part, we're all fine. No sense in complainin' about it."
Charly laid back down, fixing her gaze on the starless sky above them.
"Why'd you pick the flower?" she asked softly.
"Hmm?"
"The flower. It hadn't bloomed yet. Why did you pick it?"
Newt scoffed. "Flowers don't grow here hardly ever. Too dry, we try to use our water where we need it the most, you know, animals and growing food and such."
"So you cut it off?" Charly asked indignantly, knitting her brows together and turning to Newt.
"It wasn't going to survive," Newt shrugged simply, leaning cautiously back on one elbow. "Figured I'd get the bloody thing now when it was nice lookin', instead of when it was already too far gone. It has another day in it or so, I'd say."
She chuckled, causing Newt to look down at her with a puzzled grin across his face.
"What are you on about?"
"Everything has a meaning for you. The flower, why we're in here…everything."
He paused to think. "Well, if it didn't, everything would be pretty bloody useless. I'd like to think it's not."
Charly pulled at some of the grass beneath her, breathing in a deep breath of crisp air. Silence fell again, but she liked it. It was a good silence, a comfortable silence
"What do you think you'd be doing, you know, if you weren't stuck in here?" Charly let the thought flow freely from her mind.
"Dunno," shrugged Newt. "I don't think I'm still the person the 'ole creators shoved in here a year ago. It changes 'ya, bein' here. But if I had the choice?" He stroked his chiseled jaw, lost in thought.
"A dad."
Charly quickly stifled her giggles with her hand as Newt turned to her with a tight-lipped glare.
"Well not now, clearly! I'm only shucking seventeen or so," he explained defensively, but the corners of his mouth threatened to form into a grin. "'Ya know, one day, it could be nice. When you're in here you've kinda got no choice, you've gotta be like a family when we don't really know what that means. I like the idea of havin' a family."
He sat up gingerly and ran both his hands roughly through his hair, pushing the strands off his forehead.
"That sounded stupid out loud."
"No…no it didn't," Charly said softly, and she meant it. She thought the idea sounded nice. It was true. None of them had any idea what being a family meant nor what it felt like; the closest thing they had, and might ever have, was each other.
"It's not a stupid idea," she repeated again looking up at Newt. His face was slightly vacant as he stared off into the darkening sky. Charly found it suddenly very overwhelming to imagine the boy before the Glade. Somewhere off with his family; parents, siblings, maybe even pets. His hair clean cut and skin free from the dirt and nicks and scars. Clothes devoid of rips and tears, freshly washed and warm. With no reservations, she reached her hand and gently took hold of Newt's. His hand was much larger than her own, the skin roughened by carrying logs and gripping shovel handles. He didn't startle, but instead gripped her hand back tightly, dropping his head to smirk at the ground.
The two sat like that for a while. Immersed in the silence, hands loosely intertwined. Charly closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, sighing into a smile. Maybe they didn't have to leave. Maybe they could stay here in the Glade forever. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
"Charly?"
"Mhmm?"
"You like books."
"Yes…" she said, voice trailing of in confusion.
"What kind?"
She strained her mind. "Maybe…fiction books. I like a good adventure."
He chuckled, slipping his hand out out of her grasp and warily rising to his feet. "Well, if it's adventure you want, you're in the bloody right place for that." He bent and swiped the flower out of Charly's hand, to which she feigned a pout.
"Night, greenie." And with that, he strode off into the darkness, twiddling the tulip between his fingers. Not once did the words etched on the note cross Charly's mind that night.
And there we have it. Next chapter should come out soon, so keep your eyes peeled. This chapter was a bit more fluffy than the previous ones, which is always good fun, but I can promise you things are about to change pretty abruptly. I had to get some more Newtly in ;)
