Chapter 10: Green Bean
Everyone in the Glade was shot awake by the alarm. A deafening blaring, echoing across the Glade and into the Maze. Roz sprung up onto her feet, looking around wildly.
"What the shuck is that?!" she screeched. She looked towards the Doors, fearing something was going to come out of it. All around, boys were panicking, yelling at each other and trying to find the source of the noise. Alby made his way over to the centre of the Glade, trying, and failing, to calm everyone down.
"Maybe we're getting out of here?" Minho suggested. Roz stared at him, not knowing if she wanted to think the same thing.
"I dunno I don't like the sound of this," Newt replied, raising his voice so he could be heard.
"It's a blaring alarm why would anyone like the sound of it?!" Roz shrieked. Newt placed a hand on her arm, trying to calm her down. She pulled away, running towards Max and pulling him down so she could speak into his ear. Newt watched as they split, motioning to the other Baggers to try and keep the peace. The Gladers had begun congregating around Alby, and the Baggers set about the pushing them back, keeping the crowd from breaking into chaos. Newt shot Minho a look before trotting off towards the crowd, pushing through. Roz attempted to stop him, so caught up in pushing everyone back, before she looked up and saw his face, and then let him pass. When he reached Alby, he saw he was staring at the Box.
"Sounds like something's coming up," Alby said. Newt looked at him, bewildered, before listening closely. True to Alby's word, under the sound of the alarm, the rattling of the Box could be heard.
"Why the alarm then?" Newt asked. Alby looked at him, concerned, and shrugged,
"Could be something dangerous," he suggested. Newt breathed in heavily, before turning.
"Roz!" he yelled. She looked at him, an eyebrow raised, "get everyone back! Something's coming up in the Box! We don't know if it's dangerous!"
Roz gave him a nod, before turning back to the crowd. "You heard the boy!" she shouted, her voice even louder than Newt's, ringing clear even above the crowd and the alarm, "get the shuck back! Way back! Oi! Gally sort ya shuck builders out! Runners! Keep an eye on the Doors! C'mon boys. Get. The. Hell. Back!"
Roz finally managed to disperse the boys somewhat, but they still clustered together, standing on their toes so they could keep looking at the Box.
And then the alarm stopped.
Roz turned and looked at Alby and Newt, as they realised the Box had stopped moving as well. The boys started buzzing amongst themselves, and Max pushed back a few of them. Alby and Newt glanced at each other, and Alby nodded. Roz fell into a protective stance as they pulled the doors to the Box open. Silence fell upon the Glade as they stared down, surprised.
"What is it?" Roz asked, still curled in on herself. Newt looked back at them.
"It's a person…" he answered. Roz blinked and, slowly, straightened up. She walked forward, and looked over Newt's shoulder. Indeed, a boy was curled up in the corner of the Box. He was small, about thirteen, with sweat drenched black hair and brown skin. He was shaking, his eyes flicking between the three of the wildly, his breathing laboured.
Slowly, Newt lowered himself, crouching at the edge of the Box. The boy whimpered, curling into himself even more. "Hello?" Newt said, his voice so soft only Roz, Alby and the boy could hear it, "where did you come from?"
The boy stared up, and he swallowed. Any answer he might have given came out in a choked sob, and he shook violently. Newt glanced up helplessly, before back down. "We need to know where you came from," Newt said, still soft, but this time with a stern edge.
"I-I-I…" the boy stuttered out, "I don't remember!" Then he went back to sobbing. Roz looked at Alby as Newt stood up, brushing off his hands.
"A new boy with no memory," he murmured, "from the Creators?"
"Must be," Roz answered. Behind them, the Gladers were still buzzing.
"He'll remember his name," Alby said. Newt nodded, and crouched down again. "Roz, get everyone back to routine. If they ask, just say a new boy was sent up, nothing else."
"We don't know anything else," Roz rolled her eyes. But she nudged Newt with her foot in goodbye, and returned to the Gladers, attempting to restore order.
About twenty minutes later, she'd managed to get everyone to either breakfast, or to their jobs. She assigned her Baggers to patrol the Glade, stopping anyone from approaching Alby and Newt. Roz herself stood around the Builders, arms crossed, watching Gally chopped wood.
"So an alarm sounds," Gally said, "scaring the klunk out of us all," he paused to swing, "and a new kid comes up in the box," he grabbed a piece of wood and took another swing, "who, like us," another swing, "doesn't remember anything."
"Mmm," Roz replied, watching as Gally's axe swung up, split the wood with a crack, as the two halves were thrown onto the pile, and another replaced it. "Newt's trying to coax him out softly, I think," she added, glancing to where Newt was still crouched by the Box, his lips moving as he murmured softly. Gally snorted.
"Shoulda just hauled him out into the open," he said. Another crack and another split log. Roz laughed, shaking her head.
"The kids sobbing into his knees, Gally, I don't think throwing him out into the open would've helped anything."
Gally shrugged, "Guess that's why I'm not in charge of 'coaxing' the newbie out the Box." Roz laughed again, humming in agreement, when movement caught in the corner of her eye.
"Oi! Jeff! Where'd you think you're going?" she called. Jeff stopped walking, turned, and rolled his eyes.
"To see if this kid needs any medical attention," he said. Roz glanced at Alby, who caught her eye and nodding. She sighed, and waved Jeff off, and then caught another kid trying to follow him.
"You, however!" she pointed, "back to work!" Gally looked up and saw the kid was one of his Builders, and shot him a glare that sent the kid scurrying away. "Nosy bastards," Roz muttered. Gally laughed to himself, going back to splitting logs.
After a while, Alby caught her eye again, waving her over, so she bid goodbye to Gally and left. Jeff was talking to Alby, and Newt was still at the edge of the Box, murmuring.
"Jack, this is Roz," Newt said, as she arrived, "She's the Keeper of the Baggers."
"B-Baggers?" The new kid, Jack, seemed to have calmed down a lot. He'd stopped crying, his face now dry and red, and wasn't curled as tightly as before.
"Ah," Newt hesitated, "she keeps the peace."
"Can you get the kid some breakfast?" Alby asked, "Something extra fatty and stodgy."
Roz crossed her arms, popping out her hip, "you sure that's a good idea?" she asked, "Kid looks like he's about to throw up."
"He needs to get food in him," Jeff said. Roz shrugged and nodded, making her way over to the kitchen. She got the Newbie's breakfast off of Frypan, and then snagged a couple bacon sandwiches from the side. She pursed her lips in a mock kiss when he yelled at her, and giggled as she left. She dropped the breakfast off at the Box, loitered for a second to hear Newt finally convincing Jack to leave after he'd eaten, and then took the stolen bacon sandwiches over to Gally, handing him one and then eating her own.
"Find anything out?" Gally asked, dropping his axe and falling onto the floor next to Roz.
"Not sure I'm meant to tell ya," she answered, through a mouthful of food.
"Ah, c'mon," he nudged her. Roz rolled her eyes and shrugged, swallowing.
"Ain't much to say. His name's Jack. He don't remember nothing, just like us when we arrived. He ain't crying now and Newt's managed to get him to come out after he's eaten."
Jack ventured out of the Box a while later, cowering away from all the stares the Gladers gave him. Newt sent them all scowls, making them return to their work. Newt and Alby led Jack into the Med-jack hut, pointing at various parts of the Glade as they walked. Alby left some time later, heading over to the Homestead.
At lunch, Newt bought Jack into the kitchen, and, after picking up a plate of food each, sat down next to Roz. She looked up, and nodded. "How's it going?" she asked. Jack shrugged, digging about his beans on toast with a fork. Newt sighed.
"C'mon Green Bean, if you wanna fit in here you need to bloody talk."
Jack swallowed, and looked up at Roz. "It's going fine," he said in a small voice. Newt grimaced.
"Green Bean?" she asked. Newt shrugged, stuffing a forkful in his mouth.
"So how're you fitting into everyday Glader life?" Roz asked. Jack shrugged. Newt looked at him expectantly, and Jack looked up again.
"Newt said to… I don't remember what I'm good at so… he said to work around a bit? And then see where I work best."
Newt rolled his eyes, shooting Roz a withering glance. Roz raised an eyebrow and he sighed. "He'll be knocking about with the Baggers in a couple days. See how he fairs at hauling Gally across the Glade." Roz snorted, and, seeing that what Newt said was apparently funny, Jack tried to crack a smile. Tried being the operative word.
They ate in silence for a while, until Jack, with about a quarter of his beans on toast left, pushed the plate away and mumbled that he was going back to the Med-jack hut. Newt frowned, watching him leave, but didn't follow. When Jack was out of sight, his eyes went to the Maze.
"How far do you reckon I could get this afternoon?" he asked. Roz looked up, confused, and followed his eyes. Then she rolled her own.
"Not very," she replied, "not to anywhere where it starts changing. Have a break today, Newt. Please."
Newt rolled his shoulders back, "I feel restless. By this time I'm usually out of breath and ready to collapse, have a half hour break, and then get back to it. It's weird, not being out there."
"It's nice having you here," Roz said. Newt frowned at her.
"I know you don't like it out there-"
"That's an understatement."
"-But you know we need to run it. We need to find a way out."
Roz sighed. "I know," she replied, and then looked back outside. "You said you were gonna send Green Bean around different jobs."
Newt shook his head, "Not with the Runners. I'm gonna talk to Minho later. But I'm not gonna take any Newbies until they've proven they can handle it."
"…You think we're gonna get more? Newbies, I mean?" Roz asked. Newt sighed, and shrugged.
"Maybe," he replied, "it would make sense. It would keep our numbers up, especially if we can be killed here."
Roz frowned, looking down at her now empty plate. Finally, she looked back up. "C'mon," she said, standing up, "You can help me with some patrolling."
They wandered around the Glade in silence, keeping an eye on everyone and making sure they were doing their jobs. Newt's eyes kept straying back to the Doors. He seemed jittery. Clenching his fists, stretching his neck, rolling his shoulders. As they wandered towards to woods, although it had recently become known as the Deadheads, he caught Roz glaring at him after he looked at the maze again.
"I know you hate it in there," he said, echoing his earlier statement. Roz rolled her eyes.
"Again, I say, that's an understatement." She turned to walk along the edge of the Deadheads, but Newt kept going, into the trees. Roz stopped, tilting her head to the side, before following him.
"I do too," Newt muttered. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, his shoulders were hunched, his face dropped towards the ground and his feet scuffed the dirt. Roz frowned at him.
"Then why do you go out there?" she asked, her voice soft, "every day?"
"Because I need to!" Newt exclaimed. He whirled around, facing Roz, his eyes hard and his mouth set harshly. Roz stopped walking, facing him, and raised an eyebrow. Newt sighed, and his face softened. "I need to." He repeated, "It's our only bloody way out. It's got to be. And I need to find it."
Roz stepped forward. Twigs snapped under her feet and the trees were silent above them. She caught a Beetle-Blade hopping away in the corner of her eye. Slowly, she placed her hands on Newt's arms, curling her fingers around them softly and watching his face. "We have other Runners, Newt."
Newt shook his head, and didn't meet her eyes. "I hate it out there," he muttered, "Every day, for the past month, I've been out there and it's just grey walls and ivy and shadows and being scared Grievers are gonna roll around the corner. But… I need to go out there, Roz," he finally looked at her, "I can run. Not all of us can. Not all of us could survive out there. I can. So long as I can I need to be out there…"
Roz stood there in silence, her thumbs brushing along Newt's arms. They both stood there, breathing, frowning, staring at each other. Eventually, Roz nodded sadly. "I know," she whispered. She slid her arms down, over Newt's elbows, down his forearms, to his hands. She took them loosely. "I know."
Well, I don't really have much to say here, apart that from now time skips between chapters will be getting longer. Instead of just a day or two between chapters, it'll start skipping a couple weeks. Gotta move things along y'know? Thank you to ScarletWitch662 and fiercetiger333 for reviewing :) As always. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so drop us a review :) x