It had only taken them a few days to organise, most people had an aptitude for certain jobs, the farm was up and running after a week.
At first they explored the Maze without fear, anyone could go in and out but most didn't bother.
When George was killed Nick and Ximena made a rule that only runners could go into the Maze. No one dared to break it.
There were eight pairs of runners, one for each section, they were those that seemed to have an aptitude for it. This included Newt and Sonya, they were the best so they were Keepers of the Runners.
Not that it meant all that much before they figured out to map the changes in the wall patterns.
Sonya was waiting for him when he came out of the showers, shaking her head at how long he'd been.
"How long does it take ya to wake up? My hair's nearly dry." She flicked the tail of her braid at him, there was still enough moisture to wet the end of his nose. Newt rubbed it away, smirking at her.
It was the first day they would explore the Maze as fully fledged Runners.
Sonya ran a little ahead of Newt, laughing, calling him to keep up. Her red-blonde braid swung with her movements. They looked more alike than most pairs, white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes. Newt was a year older than her, they had guessed. Her features were more pronounced, brighter hair and eyes, paler skin. A very pretty girl, but thinking of her in any other terms than 'friend' sent revulsion through his entire body. Alby had guessed they could be siblings, sharing the same accent and features, Newt wasn't going to rule it out considering no one had any memories.
The Gladers were all between thirteen and fifteen, and none of them had any memories but their names. Newt hated it, hated the Maze, the Creators who had put them here and stolen their lives. But he hid it behind a smile.
Sonya's smiles were real, and Newt envied her.
They ran until they reached the end of Section Five, the one they had chosen, until it was time to come back. A few Gladers had tried to stay out at night, to see what really changed out there.
They had only found ripped, bloody clothes.
They guessed it had been the Grievers, no one else had been Stung yet. Newt shuddered at the memory. But they had been sent more syringes of the serum. If anyone else ever got stung, he knew they would try it again, nothing else would help.
The thought of the monsters encouraged Newt to speed up a little, falling into step with Sonya, noting down the changes in the walls on a scrap of paper. Every few turns they cut down ivy to mark the way back to the Glade, Minho had come up with it and it was a good idea.
Minho and Miyoko ran Section Seven, and Newt thought they might even be better than him and Sonya before long, he would be happy to surrender the position of Keeper. He was good at being a leader, everyone said, but he didn't like it.
Sonya, of course, was much better, she often worked with Ximena and Harriet. Newt shuddered at the memory of the last time the three of them had teamed up, it had been a terrifying experience.
"You're thinking." Sonya stated, slowing down. "The apocalypse is upon us." She smiled mischievously.
"Nothing important. Race you to the Cliff."
Most of the day continued that way, they didn't come across any Grievers and Newt was glad of it. No one had any ideas as to where the creatures came from, what they were, what they were doing here. A part of Newt hoped they never learnt.
A/N: Well, this is short. For whatever reason I've always found Newt a hard character to write. This is my second chapter about the relationship between Newt and Sonya. There'll be more but for The Maze Runner I wanted to focus on Alby and Harriet.
Next chapter of the main part will be done by Monday.