Chapter 11:

All eyes in the room went to Mary as they all stood in silence. "That..." Her voice shook so she paused herself. Her mouth hung open as she tried to find words, but there was no way of explaining what just happened. "I don't know what he was talking about." She said. After Gally had passed out the entire room went silent. It wasn't a lie, she didn't really know what he was talking about, but the feeling in her gut made her think it was about her and by the looks of everyone's faces, so did they. She wanted nothing more than for someone to break the silence, but it didn't happen. They just looked from Gally to her.

"Why did he look at you?" Nick asked, finally breaking the silence.

"How should I know?" She asked. Nick looked back down to Gally.

"And what did he mean by 'Mom'?" Clint asked.

"Get him back on the bed, and restrain his arms and legs. We don't want that happening again." Nick ordered. Alby and Clint began picking him up and putting him on the bed. He paused and looked back at Mary. "He seems to be handling it a lot worse than you did." He spat at her.

"Excuse me? What, do you think I was faking it or something?" She asked as she walked right up to him and stared him down.

"That's not what I was saying but now that you mention it-"

"Does this look fake to you?" She lifted her shirt to show him the scar on her stomach.

"She didn't fake it Nick. I was there, I saw her get stung." Newt interjected, pushing the two apart but their gazes never left each other. "For all we know it could affect everyone differently. Not enough people have been stung for us to even know what it does."

"I didn't mean she was fakin' it. I was just saying she seemed to handle it better." Nick explained, still angry. "You said it yourself Newt, she seemed different after she woke up. Like she's been hiding something from us. For all we know this could be some other Mary we don't know!" He shouted.

"Okay now that's ridiculous!" She shouted back at him.

"Guys, the entire Glade is asleep. Let's keep it that way." Alby said, trying to calm the two of them down.

"I don't want to start taking chances like this." Nick started up again after a moment of silence. "I just want what's best for the Glade."

"Me too." Mary spoke up.

Nick nodded. "Okay, then one night in the Slammer." His face was unreadable.

"What?" She asked, not sure if he was directing the order at her.

"Just enough time to have a Gathering and sort this out. I just want to talk to the others and ask them what they think of whatever is going on." Nick explained.

"Last time I checked Nick, I was one of those Original Gladers. I've been up here with you guys since day one. Don't I get a say in all of this?" She asked, looking around the room. They all looked at Nick or at the ground. "Fine. If that's what you think is best, I'll go." She finally agreed, not wanting them to think of her as some sort of monster. Nick nodded again and left the Med-Jack hut. Mary followed him, much to Newt's protest, but went with Nick anyway. She understood what Nick was saying, she knew he put the Glade before himself. He just wanted to make sure everyone within the walls were safe, and if a night or two in the Slammer would make him feel better then she didn't mind it at all. Nick opened the door to the cell and held it open for Mary. She walked inside and he shut the door behind her.

"It's just for one day." Nick said as he locked the door. Mary wrapped her hands around the bars, looking at him as he fixed up the lock. He walked back towards the door. Before he left he looked back at her. "Thank you." With that Nick closed the door behind him.

Mary slumped down against the wall and fell to the ground, pulling her legs up against her chest and leaning her head back. It was dark in the Slammer, she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. The only light came from a small window in the middle of the left wall near the top where she could see the moon. That was the many small things she loved about the Glade. The moon. It wasn't a crescent, or half sized. It was always a full, bright moon and it always gleamed brighter than she could ever remember.

Mary woke up to the sound of Gladers shouting outside as they were working. Asking each other to get more fertilizer or more tools for the builders. She sat up to rub her eyes and groaned. She forgot for a moment where she was but the dirt covered ground reminded her about the previous night. The ground was rougher than the grass outside. Sleeping on the ground reminded her of their first night in the Glade.

"Rise and Shine!" Newt said as he burst through the door with a plate in his hands. He unlocked the cell with one hand and slipped inside.

"Morning..." She yawned.

"Morning love."

"Are you supposed to be in here?" She asked, raising a brow.

"What are they going to do, throw me in the Slammer?" He smirked as he sat down against the wall, Mary moved to sit beside him. "I got Fry to cook you up something extra special today. At least someone else believes you're innocent." He handed the plate of bacon and eggs to her and she dug in.

"I didn't do anything wrong." She mumbled in between bites.

"I know." He said as he looked at her as she ate.

"What was Nick talking about last night, you guys thought I was different when I woke up?" She asked. Newt looked away from her and down at his hands.

"You just seemed off. Don't worry I didn't think you were brainwashed or anything." He shrugged. "It was kind of just something I could feel, you walked around with a thought on your mind." He explained. Mary looked down at her empty plate. She definitely felt different, but she didn't know she was showing it so clearly. Newt seemed to notice her long silence and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's goin' on with you?" He asked in a whisper.

She sighed, not quite sure what to say. She didn't want to say the wrong thing and have him thinking the same thing Nick was. "I just had a strange dream. It was nothing, I'll get over it. It's been eating at me since I woke up but I'll learn to deal wit it." She looked away from him and over at the window she peered through the previous night. The sound of the Gladers working outside seemed to be drowned out by the loud silence that now swept over the room. "Any news from the Gathering?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

Newt shrugged, "The rest of the Gladers don't see you as a threat, they never have Mary. After everyone spoke their mind Nick seemed to calm down about everything. He'll be over here soon to let you out." He explained, now looking over at the bars of the cell she was in.

"What did you say?" She asked, worried for a moment he may have said something different from everyone else at the Gathering, but Newt just shrugged.

"I said what I thought was true, that there was no way you could be a threat to any of us... Except Gally when he wakes up. I know he can push people's buttons." That last part made Mary chuckle.

"I'd only give that slint head what he deserves." She teased.

"And besides, I couldn't abandon my girlfriend when she's sitting in the Slammer all alone." He mentioned, hesitantly.

"Your girlfriend?" She repeated. Newt looked her in the eye for a moment, as if trying to read her mind or comprehend what she just said, then his cheeks went red.

"Sorry, was that not the right word?" He chuckled nervously. "After last night I just thought..." He stopped, not quite sure what to say. "I meant what I said when I told you I liked you."

"I like you too, you already knew that." She smiled, assuring him. Newt smiled, leaning into place a soft kiss on Mary's lips. It was quick, yet soft and sweet. It hadn't taken Newt long to fall for her, he'd fallen hard. When he pulled back Mary's smile grew even wider and she snickered. "What ever happened to that rule where you ain't allowed to touch me, shank?"

"To hell with that rule, I've been finding it too hard to follow anyway." He chuckled back. "I'm getting too used to this."

"Me too." She whispered. Just as Newt was about to dip his head down to meet hers again, the door burst open and the two flew apart.

"Well today's your lucky day Mar." Nick announced as he strolled into the room. He stopped when he saw Newt. "What're you doing in here Newt?"

"He was bringing me breakfast." Mary said as she stood up and walked out of the cell with the plate and pushed it into Nick's hands. "You forgot to feed me, shank." She said, trying to sound threatening but Nick just laughed and took the plate. "Why is today my lucky day?" She asked.

Nick's smile disappeared and looked at Newt, who nodded. "I'm sorry for puttin' you in here. I-"

"Didn't want to take any chances. I know Nick. I realized last night that if I was you I'd do whatever I could do to protect these guys too, don't apologize. You did your job." She wanted Nick to know she wasn't mad. Yeah sure, she was annoyed she had to sleep in the slammer but it was over and done with now and she never had to go back in there.

Nick nodded. "But that ain't why it's your lucky day." He smirked. Mary looked at him confused. "The walls are already open, which means the runners already went out today. You get a day off."

Mary hummed happily. "The least you could do for makin' me sleep in there." She said as the three of them walked out of the Slammer and back outside.

"Why aren't you in the maze?" Mary asked as her and Newt were walking through the deadheads.

"Day off." He just said. Mary knew that today wasn't his scheduled day off. She smirked knowing he probably traded days with one of the other boys so he could be here after she got out of the Slammer.

"Guess I forgot that was today." She said, hoping Newt could hear the sarcasm in her voice.

"Frankly I don't think it would matter if today was my day to run anyway. It's not like the maze is going to change from it's usual pattern any time soon." He mumbled.

Mary looked back at him as she stopped walking, moving a piece of hair back behind her ear. "You can't think like that." She told him. "That's just what these Creators want us to think. Watch, I bet the moment we all start giving up they're going to open up an exit." She explained as she continued to walk.

"Then why don't we just stop mapping it?"

"Because that would be giving up, and I don't want to give up. I want to get out of here." She groaned. "Get my memories back or make new ones if I have to."

"Is it really that bad here?" He asked.

"It's got a few perks." She smiled at him.

They got to the edge of the deadheads and Mary saw the door to the map room open. Her and Newt walked towards it and went inside. When they did, they saw pieces of paper, some with maps drawn on them, some crumpled up in corners piled on top of each other. Minho was sitting at a table sketching out a map with a very solid and focused look on his face. It almost looked determined.

"Minho, what's up?" She asked. Minho looked up from his map and eyed the two.

"How was the day off you two?" He snarled. Mary and Newt looked at each other anxiously.

"We didn't do much, how was the maze, anything new today?" Newt asked.

"What do you think dude?" He said, grabbing his map and crumpling it up, tossing it past Mary onto the floor. Mary looked down at it and picked it up and uncrumpled it. The map drawn on it was rushed and wrong. She'd run that section in the maze enough times to know what it was supposed to look like. There were parts where he crossed out the wrong turn or where he thought a wall was when there wasn't. She looked back at Minho who had his hands covering his face, elbows on the table. She looked at Newt, thinking back to what they had just talked about in the deadheads. This was beginning to worry her. Were people giving up already? Mary cleared her throat and walked up to Minho.

"Hey man, look at me." She ordered, staring him down in front of the table. Minho moved his hands away from his face slowly. "Get a grip. No one said this was going to be easy, did they?" She asked.

"No one told us anything!" Minho argued.

"This is exactly what they want us to do guys!" She shouted at both of them. Newt crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "They want us to give up and stop trying. Whyare we giving in? We're better than this. We are not going to let the Creators decide our future. We decide what we do, together." She preached. They boys looked at each other.

"She's right." Newt spoke up first.

"Yeah I know she's friggin' right..." Minho said, smiling a little bit. "But it doesn't help when two of my best runners decide to take a little vacation when things are getting tough." He shot daggers at both of them.

Mary smiled. "Well you don't have to worry about that because I'll be back up and running tomorrow morning. We both will." Mary told him. She placed the map he threw away back in front of him. She walked to the door and turned to look at him and pointed at the map. "Fix it. I know you know what to draw." Mary left the map room and Newt turned back to look at Minho. He grabbed a new piece of paper and sat back down to draw the map right. Newt walked over to him and sat down across the table from him.

"Was it that hard out there today?" Newt asked. Minho looked up at him and snickered.

"Don't think I've ran that much in my life." He exaggerated. "Why did you want today off anyway?" He asked curiously.

Newt grimaced. "I wasn't feeling so great this morning." He lied.

"uh-huh. Had nothing to do with wanting to be there when your girlfriend got out of the Slammer?" He joked.

Newt rolled his eyes at Minho and shook his head. "No I just wasn't feeling well man."

"Okay sure, we'll go with that." Minho seemed to drop the subject, but spoke up after a couple moments of silence. "Just so you know dude, if you don't make a move soon, someone else probably will."

Don't forget to review guys! Let me know what you think so far!