Chapter 10

He stopped bandaging Minho's ankle and looked up. He appeared to be almost frozen in fear, as if he had seen a ghost. Alby stooped down and asked, "Greenie, hey, what's wrong?" Clint looked up and muttered, "Clint. I remembered my name. I'm Clint." Alby broke into a smile, it appeared that the Greenie -no. It appeared that Clint's job was meant to be a med-jack. If he had remembered his name while being a med-jack, he should stay a med-jack. Patting Clint on the back, Alby congratulated him, "Congrats Clint, you're our very first med-jack!" Clint beamed from ear-to-ear. He was feeling accepted, which was something that he never thought he would feel when he was inside The Box.

That night, Clint slept well. The feeling of knowing his name was enough to soothe him. The next morning, he awoke and realised Minho had already left for the maze, and Gally and Alby had begun doing their daily activities. This consisted of running around The Glade, both as a way of exercise, and to bring wood to the different parts of it. They also had to tend to the animals and crops. Clint wondered how they could continuously do it for three months without getting the least bit sick of the same boring routine. He decided to ask Alby, who seemed to be the leader of the place.

"Alby, sorry to disturb you, but don't you get bored doing the same thing everyday?"

"Not at all. You see, even though we do the same thing everyday, our minds are always moving around. What should I do next? Will today be any different? Any day now, whoever put us here could just decide to set the creatures out there on us, and we could be dead with the snap of a finger. Yes, physically, we do the same thing. But mentally, it's always different. That's why we all need to play our part. Minho runs, Gally and I take care of things around here. So do you, until one of us gets injured. That's the only rule we have around here, do your part. Besides never hurting another Glader, of course. Come on, I think Gally needs some help with the pigs."

For the next four weeks, Clint played his part in the Glade. Usually, he would assist Alby and Gally with their daily errands. On the rare occasion that one of them got a splinter or were in any way injured, Clint would step in and do what he did best. This was the only time he felt special in the Glade. Other than that, he merely felt like a worker, while Gally and Alby told him what to do. He yearned for other friends, someone else who was normal and did not need to go running everyday or who needed to continuously direct people around. Finally, after four weeks of boredom, Clint was no longer the Greenie.

The grinding of the Box signalled the new Greenie's arrival. Alby, Gally and Clint rushed towards the middle of the Glade, to welcome the newbie. The Greenie was not as skinny as the others, and rather hairy. As the Box rose and his face came into the light, he did not appear panicked at all. He only appeared… confused.

"What am I doing here? Where is this place? Who are you guys?" The Greenie blurted out a long string of questions. Gally and Alby pulled open the metal doors and Gally jumped into the Box. He held out a hand, saying, "Calm down Greenie, it's alright. You're safe here. Come on up." The Greenie took Gally's hand and climbed out of the Box. The same face of awe was repeated on his when he took a look around the Glade. Alby did what he always did with new Greenies, and gave him the tour of the Glade.

As Alby was preparing dinner and the doors were closing for the day, Clint took the chance to talk to the new Greenie. Luckily, he was sitting away from the other Gladers, alone at his hammock.

"Hey Greenie, what you up to?" Clint asked, hoping the Greenie would not ignore him.

"Nothing much, just thinking about stuff. Like my name. Speaking of which, I didn't really catch yours."
"Clint. I'm the med-jack around here."
"Cool cool. So Alby said my name should come to me in a few days right?"

Clint nodded, unsure of how he should respond to that. He had honestly never had a real friendly conversation before. The one's he had with Alby, Gally or Minho were mostly about what he was supposed to do, or where he was supposed to go.

All of a sudden, Clint picked up the smell of smoke in the air. He whirled around to where Alby was preparing dinner and realised the firewood had caught fire. As fast as he could, he rushed over to the campfire. What he did not realise, was that the Greenie was faster. The Greenie practically sprinted to the fire, trying to put it out. He stomped on it several times and the fire went out with a hiss.

"Alby, what were you thinking? That is not how you prepare chicken! You can't just dump it into a pot of boiling water and hope it tastes good! Let me!" The Greenie took over the cooking and before long, he had prepared a meal which looked much better than anything Alby had ever made. As they dug into the Greenie's meal, there could only be one word to describe the way they felt. Impressed. With a firm pat on the back, Minho said, "Hey Greenie, you could be our cook. Seeing as you've made the best meal I've ever had in the 2 months I've been here."

"Same here. Alby's never made any meal that was even close to this! This is the best shuckin meal ever! No offense Alby. You're really good at this, shank," Gally commented between bites. Alby nodded in agreement, saying, "None taken. This is really good, Greenie. Keep making more of this and we'll be really well fed."

The Greenie smiled. His first day in the Glade and he was being praised for something he had done on instinct. He had not even intended to cook, but there was something gnawing at him to pick up the pots and pans and cook a meal for his new friends. That was enough for him to sleep soundly that night.

A week later, and the Greenie was getting worried. Well, he could not really be called a Greenie anymore, considering he had arrived a week ago. However, that was the only thing he could be called. After all, he still had not remembered his name. At first, Alby had said his name would just come a little late. No matter how many times Alby told him this, he was convinced there was something wrong. Even Minho had only taken three days to remember his. Seven was way too many.

In order to 'cook' away his troubles, the Greenie sat in their make shift kitchen. It was simply a table, a campfire setup and a few pots and pans placed haphazardly around. He had decided to prepare an early dinner. Picking up a pan and some meat, he got to work. As he was frying the meat, Gally walked in.

"What's going on, frypan? A little early for dinner don't you think?"

"Nah, I'm just cooking to forget about this whole name thing. I mean, what if I never remember my name? You guys can't just keep calling me Greenie forever. Some new guy's gonna come up in three weeks."
"What if we give you a nickname? How about shank?"

Gally received an odd stare from the Greenie.

"Fine, what about… Hey what about Frypan? How's that, shank? Since you're always cooking… with your frypan…"

The Greenie put the pan down, stopping to think about the name Gally had given him. He liked it. It described who he was and what he did. And it felt like it was...his. A smile broke across his face, he had to tell the others about his new name. Frypan ran towards the Gardens, where Alby and Clint were working.

"Sup shanks! So I was cooking and Gally suggested giving me a nickname. From now on, I am no longer the Greenie. You gotta call me Frypan!"

A/N: I know most of you have been asking when Newt is coming. Don't you worry, child, he's coming in 2 chapters, which means around next Friday! Hang in there, everyone's favourite shank is coming soon ;) Anyway, what do you think? I would be really grateful if you leave a comment/suggestion/general review down below! Thanks! :)