Chapter 10:
Mary sat at the table with all of her other friends, the 'Original Gladers' as Newt had referred to them all as. Newt called a Gathering first thing in the morning before the maze doors opened so they could all decide what to do with Shawn. Mary wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on around her, the voices of her friends were being turned into distant muffling as she thought back to last night and what Shawn could've done to her. She kept replaying the events like a tape.
"Mary!" She heard Nick call at her. Mary's eyes shot toward him, he just sighed. "Have you heard a single thing we've been saying?" He asked.
"Sorry Nick... I zoned out for a second." She looked embarrassed.
"Well we're only here because of you." He explained. Mary cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yes I'm well aware of that, thank you." She shot back at him.
"Okay why don't we all calm down for a second." Alby said, breaking their eye contact. Mary sighed once more. She felt embarrassed again, she didn't mean to speak to Nick like that.
"We were talking about a banishment." Nick said, repeating himself after he'd already said it to the group again.
"I don't know..." Fry began.
"Nick we've only ever just talked about a banishment, we didn't think we'd ever actually have to do one." Winston spoke up.
"Wait, what's a banishment?" Mary asked the group, seeming confused.
"A banishment is when we make someone leave the Glade for good... By pushing them into the maze as the maze doors are closing." Minho explained.
"What!" Mary shouted. "Look I know Shawn did an awful thing-"
"He almost raped you Mar." She didn't think Minho had ever sounded so serious.
"But he didn't." She said, looking directly at Minho sternly. "No one deserves to be put out there. To be thrown out like a piece of trash and become dinner for one of those Grievers!" She shouted, looking at the group. "What if Clint tried to do what Shawn did to me last night? Or Minho or Alby?" She asked.
"They wouldn't-" Nick started but got cut off.
"No but what if they did? Would you banish them?" She asked. Nick looked over at Alby on his right hand side, then over at Minho on his other side.
"Well what do you propose we do then?" He asked. Mary sat there silently. She had no clue what to do but this didn't feel right. After a couple moments of silence he spoke up again softly. "Look I know this isn't something any of us want to do, but Shawn can't be trusted and he broke two of our most important rules here, what's stopping him from breaking another one?" Nick asked.
"There's gotta be something else we can do..." She pleaded. She knew it sounded odd, begging to spare the life of the one who almost raped her... But no one, not even the people who put her here deserved to be Griever bait.
"This is the only option." Nick told her, making it set in stone. Mary looked around the table at each and every one of her friends, her eyes landing on Newt, who wasn't looking back at her, but over at Nick.
"Fine, but don't expect me to be there when it happens." She said before storming out of the Gathering hall.
She ran straight out of the Gathering hall and into the maze. She didn't bring any food, or any knives or any previsions with her. She decided she just needed to be alone and go for a run. She pushed her legs as fast as they could outside the maze walls. As she felt her heart beat synchronize with her breathing, blood pumping fast, she squeezed her eyes shut and felt hot tears streaming down her face. She wanted to leave this place. Desperately. She wanted to live a normal life and not have to wake up everyday and fight to stay alive. She ran as fast as she could, feeling gravel crunching under her feet.
She thought about Shawn. She didn't want him to get banished, but deep down she did feel kind of relived he was going to be out of her hair, he wouldn't ever be a problem again after tonight. She scolded herself for taking even a little joy out of that fact. It didn't feel human. She was starting to feel like she might be the only person in this place with a soul.
Mary tumbled to the ground, tripping over her feet and falling face first into the gravely dirt. She rolled for a few seconds before stopping. She coughed a couple times before she sat up and could see a bit of dust from the gravel forming clouds around her. She winced as she felt another tear fall from her cheek, but when she went to wipe it away she saw the red streak mark on her hand. Realizing she must've cut her face open somewhere she got up and tore a piece of her shirt near the hem and wiped her face with it until the blood was gone. She stood there in the long corridor in the maze, trying to catch her breath. She looked up and down the hall and saw nothing but the huge maze walls surrounding her. She felt the anger inside her coming to a boiling point and let out a long, horrifying scream, trying to let out some steam. After finishing she caught her breath again as she placed the piece of cloth back on her face and limped back to the Glade.
When Mary got back to the Glade, she had her eyes set on the Med-Jack hut and limped over to it, ignoring the looks and questions from passing Gladers. When she got to it, she pushed the door open and collapsed onto the cot next to Gally's sleeping figure.
"Whoa what happened to you?" Clint asked, coming up to her with a bucket of water and a cloth, beginning to clean a couple of her scratches. Mary sighed as she squeezed her eyes shut and winced at the pain of him cleaning her up.
"I fell down in the maze." She stated.
"Looks like you got thrown into the dirt." He joked, hoping she'd laugh he looked up at her but shook his head when he couldn't even see a hint of a smile. "So you're not going to the banishment?"
"Why would I?" She asked.
"Me neither. I'm not for it either." He said, wringing out the cloth. "It's terrible to think he'd get eaten alive out there..." Clint mumbled.
"I don't know how Nick could go through with it... Or any of them. It feels wrong." She said, looking over at him, he nodded. They sat in silence for a second before Mary nodded over at Gally. "He seems to be handling things better." She said. Clint looked over at Gally.
"I gave him another shot of that Griever serum."
"Clint... We need to preserve that stuff." She said, looking back at her friend.
"I know I know. But right after I did he seemed to calm down." Clint explained.
"Well... At least it's working." She agreed. "You have any idea when he'll wake up?" She asked.
"No clue, but the sting is going away more and more. Soon it'll be like yours, just a scar." He told her as he bandaged up her elbow where another cut had been cleaned.
"Thanks." She said, looking down at the bandage. They stopped, looking over at the door as they could hear Shawn screaming from outside and the walls begin to close.
"Well I guess they actually are going through with it..." Clint mumbled, dumping out the water. The rumbling stopped, signalling the doors were now closed and the screaming had stopped.
"Yeah... I guess they did." She mumbled to herself.
Mary was sitting outside after dark, leaning against a log as she poked at the camp fire she made for herself.
"How're you feeling?" She heard Newt say as he walked up to her and took a seat next to her. She didn't look up at him but kept staring straight into the fire. "Love?" He asked after he didn't get a response.
"I don't know." She mumbled, putting down the stick. "I keep replaying the sound of Shawn screaming in my head."
"What we did was necessary." He said, positioning himself so he was looking at Mary. "It was only a matter of time before-"
"He broke more rules or did something else to me I know. Nick gave me the same talk." She said, looking over at him. Newt looked shocked for a moment.
"What happened to your eye?" He asked, now noticing her bruises.
"After the gather I just went for a run to clear my head but I lost focus and fell over." She said, picking up the stick again and poking the fire, giving it more oxygen.
He was silent for a moment, face scrunched up as he was thinking. "Are you mad at me?" He asked, getting confused.
"No I'm not mad I'm just a little shocked that you and everyone else were so eager to get rid of Shawn like that." She explained.
"Well it's not as if anyone was really going to miss him, he was kind of a bully Mary." He told her. She scoffed and got up. "Where are you going?" He asked as he got up to follow her.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing right now!" She felt herself actually laughing she was so mad. Newt stood there, he couldn't ever recall a time where Mary had ever sounded so mad, especially at him. Not even when she accidentally blamed him for her getting stung. "This is not the Newt that I know. The Newt that I know wouldn't even think twice about banishing someone. You're too kind to do that!" She shouted.
"I was only protecting you!" He shouted back. "And I didn't really hear a complaint about it last night!" He said matter-of-factly.
Her mouth fell open. "I was thanking you for saving my life!" She shouted angrily. "Not for taking the life of someone else. What were you expecting when you came over here? Another kiss for what you did? Yeah thanks Newt for getting rid of someone. For pushing them into the maze and getting them eaten by a Griever." She said sarcastically. "Thank you SO much!" Newt stood there for a moment, Mary watched as his chest rose and fell with anger.
"Is that the only reason you kissed me last night?" He asked slowly a little calmer. "You're telling me that was the only reason that happened?" Mary took a second to answer, mouth opening and closing a couple of times.
"That's not what this is about..." She said, feeling her throat choke up and looking anywhere but at Newt.
"Is that the only reason?" He demanded.
"Okay yes, I kissed you because I like you, okay?" She admitted, inside she felt like running for miles in the opposite direction. She didn't think admitting something so small would be so scary to do. "I like how your face scrunches up when you're confused, or how you scratch the back of your head when you get nervous and I like how much you freaking care about me!" She shouted. Newt was silent for a moment, standing frozen as he stared down at Mary before he let out a breath he felt he was holding in for centuries.
"I like you too." He sounded relieved. "That's why I care so much. Because I don't know if I'd ever want to stay in a place like this if you weren't here too." He said as he smiled down at Mary. "I'm not sorry for banishing Shawn. As long as that means you're safer now within these walls. Hell, I would've tossed myself out there if it meant keeping you safe." He said honestly.
"I shouldn't be relieved about what happened to him..." She said finally, scrunching her eyes closed. "But I feel guilty for feeling better now that he's gone. I just wish there was something else we could've done." She told him as she gazed up at him.
"You really like me?" He smiled. Mary scoffed before hitting him on the chest lightly.
"Of course I like you y'dumb shank." She smiled, making Newt chuckle.
"Does that mean it'd be okay if I kissed you again?" He asked. Mary blushed as she nodded. Newt wrapped his arms around her, pulling Mary closer to him as he leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips.
They were quickly interrupted by screams coming from the Med-Jack hut. Newt and Mary jumped away from each other before running over to see what was going on. When they burst into the Med-Jack hut they saw Gally in the corner, holding a crutch up as a weapon. Nick, Alby and Clint were trying to calm him down.
"What's going on?" Mary asked.
"This shank just jumped up out of nowhere and started shouting nonsense!" Clint explained. Gally's eyes landed on Mary.
"You!" Gally snarled, running at her with the crutch before Nick and Newt pulled him away.
"What the hell man?" Mary shouted.
"What's going on with you?" Nick shouted.
"She's working with him!" Gally shouted.
"What's he talking about?" Alby asked.
"She's been sent here by him. It's all because of him she's here!" Gally shouted.
"What did you see?" She asked Gally, taking a step forward.
"You knew what they were going to do to us... Why didn't you stop them? Did you think coming into the maze was going to do anything?" He shouted at her. Mary jumped back, feeling all eyes on her she was at a loss for words.
"I don't know what he's talking about!" She told the others. Gally fell to the ground, black tears falling down his face as he started coughing, he looked at Mary.
"We can get through this together. We promised we'd do this for mom." Gally said as his anger cleared. She remembered the words from her memory. Gally passed out on the floor and all eyes went straight to Mary.