AN: Yay for 5000 views. S/o to all y'all reading this. U the real mvps.
"Maria wake up." Newt nudged the sleeping girl next to him.
"Ugh go back to bed Newt." Maria whined, her voice was groggy and tired. She turned over in bed so she was facing away from Newt.
"Come on Maria don't make me do this." Newt warned, repeating the same words that Maria had told him a few days ago.
Maria scoffed, "What are you gonna do? Give me a hickey?" Maria quickly picked up what Newt was doing and stopped him in his tracks. She laughed at how predictable he was.
Newt squinted at the back of Maria's head. He was obviously going to need to try some other tactics. After a moment of thought, Newt decided that the quickest way to get Maria up was by force. He snaked his arm around Maria's waist and pulled her in close to him.
"Newt stop it. I'm still asleep." She yawned, but she certainly didn't struggle against Newt's grip.
"Well than good luck sleeping through this." Newt smirked. He stood up and scooped Maria off of the bed, lifting her completely in his arms. Shaking off her surprise, she quickly braced herself by wrapping her arms around Newt's neck for support, while Newt held her bridal style. Maria tried to retain her annoyed face for as long as possible before she broke out in a smile.
"You are so shucking annoying sometimes. Put me down"
"Hmmm, I don't think so."
Sleeping next to Newt had made that night somewhat more bearable. Twice Maria was jolted awake with nightmares of Len lurking in shadowy corners, and of Ben screaming from beyond the walls. But every time Maria woke up hyperventilating, Newt was there, offering a protective arm to wrap around Maria.
"Morning Love." Newt said with a cheeky grin, leaning his head down to place a kiss on Maria's forehead.
"Morning Newtie!" Maria she giggled before turning her face expressionless, "But seriously put me down."
"Ok, ok fine." Newt carefully placed Maria down so she could get dressed for the day. Maria rummaged through her backpack of clothes to find something to wear, but her selection was pretty limited. One pair of shorts, a skirt, one pair of jeans, one pair of leggings, two tank tops (minus the one Len ripped), three shirts and one sweatshirt. And only one pair of shoes, her combat boots. It wasn't like there was anybody around the Glade that would judge her for repeating outfits, but could you blame the girl for wanting a few more options. She ended up just wearing a tank top and jeans, an outfit she had worn many times prior.
Her stomach rumbled. Maria had literally not eaten anything for 24 hours and was just now realizing how hungry she was.
"Newt if I don't get something to eat in the next five minutes, I'm going to pass out." Maria whined.
"Well we wouldn't want our only med-jack passing out on us now would we?" Newt said before throwing on shirt and making his way to the door. It kind of annoyed Maria how quickly Newt could get ready for the day. All he had to do was put on a shirt and that's pretty much it. He didn't have to deal with a tangled mess of hair like Maria had to. She tried to smooth it out with her fingers, but it was pointless. Wearing her hair down was not an option. Defeated, she put her hair up in a ponytail and followed Newt out the door.
"Just so you know, you do have to go to work today." Newt told her sternly on their way to breakfast. Maria fake pouted at the news.
"Aww do I have to." She complained.
"Yes, we need a med-jack on duty, and sorry but I'm not gonna be at their today. Zart needs me in the Gardens to record how many crops we lost thanks to a certain dog." He said while lifting an eyebrow at Maria. She grumbled how that wasn't her fault before leaving to go get a plate of food. It was a little upsetting to hear that Newt wasn't going to be at the med-hut. That meant she would have to spend all of her time with Clint, who was pretty annoying to be around in his concussed state.
As Maria sat down, she couldn't help but notice the large smile plastered onto Winston's face. Usually when Winston smiled it was because he had just killed an innocent little farm animal, so seeing Winston smile this early in the day wasn't the most comforting thing.
"What are you smiling about?" Maria asked Winston with caution, slightly afraid that he was about to tell her all about his animal murdering exploits.
"Jeff woke up last night." Winston beamed. This made all of the guys at the table perk up upon hearing this. Jeff waking up was awesome news, the constant stress of having a comatose glader was lifted from Maria's shoulders.
"How is he?" Maria asked enthusiastically, anxious to know that Jeff was ok.
"He said that he feels fine. No concussion of anything." Winston enthused. Nobody seemed happier about Jeff waking up than Winston. When they weren't working, Winston and Jeff usually spent all of their time together. Winston had actually visited Jeff so many times during his coma to the point where Winston had just up and neglect his work. (That was probably why the past few meals had so little meat in them). The rest of the table happily chatted about how good it was to not have any unconscious gladers left in the med-hut.
"I'm gonna go head to the med-hut to go check on him and Jeff then." Maria said as she finished up the last of her eggs.
"Alright talk to ya later love." Newt said as he leaned in to kiss her cheek goodbye. The gesture was sweet and sincere, but Maria didn't get to appreciate it thanks to all of the guys collectively groaning.
"You guys need to cool it with that lovey-dovey klunk." Groaned Gally.
"Please just leave before I throw up." Whined James. Maria scoffed as she walked away from the table. Boys could be so immature sometimes.
.
She walked into the med-hut to the welcoming site of Clint throwing up all over the floor.
"What the shuck Clint?" Maria sighed, carefully stepping around the mess, this was like the tenth time he had puked in her presence. "What are you doing out of bed?"
Clint rolled his eyes, "I just wanted to get a little fresh air." He said defensively.
"Yeah well now I gotta clean this up." She whined pointing angrily at the floor.
"You're a med-jack! This is what you signed up for." Clint retorted.
"Well than as the med-jack, I command you to go back to bed." Maria huffed and went to go get the cleaning supplies.
"Stupid Clint, with is stupid concussion, and stupid face. Why couldn't he be the one in the coma?" She muttered.
"Did somebody say coma!" Said a cheerful voice from behind her. There was Jeff, sitting at the base of the stairs with his usual goofy grin on his face.
"Oh thank God you're awake!" Maria ran over to engulf Jeff in a hug. The hug was a little awkward, seeing as he was sitting down and she was standing, but the hug perused regardless. She didn't really know Jeff that well, but they were co-workers. In the short week they had worked together Jeff had proven to be a pretty cool guy. He had a great sense of humor, and they both agreed that Clint needed to loosen up. Another great thing about Jeff was that he always had a positive outlook on things.
"Haha Ok… You're hugging me ok." Jeff said awkwardly.
"Sorry." Maria withdrew herself from the hug and stepped away. "It's just great to see you're not dead."
Jeff nodded. "Yeah…like Ben." Jeff's voice trailed off.
"Oh yeah…like Ben." Maria murmured. "You heard about that?"
"Winston told me everything I've missed."
Before Maria could think of a response to the depressing comment, a voice from the other room called out, "EY MARIA, THIS VOMIT AINT GONNA CLEAN ITSELF." Clint shouted.
Maria slumped her shoulders and parted ways with Jeff. She grabbed the mop and bucket from the closet and begrudgedly went to clean Clint's mess.
"Ugh someone deliver me from this hell." She groaned, praying for something to distract her from her chores. Of course she didn't expect her prayer to be answered, but imagine her surprise when out of nowhere, the loudest most terrifying sound Maria could ever remember hearing began ringing throughout the Glade.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT." She shrieked, covering her ears with her hands. The sound was metallic and repetitive, like a siren.
Clint wasn't supposed to be exposed to loud noises with his concussion, but the unavoidable sound seemed to be turning him green. "Yep, I'm gonna puke." Clint mumbled as he stumbled over to the trash can.
While Maria was freaking out and Clint was vomiting, Jeff was actually laughing. How was he laughing when there was a demonic siren sounding through the air?
"WHATS SO FUNNY?" Maria yelled to Jeff over the sound of the siren.
"I didn't realize that it had been a month already. That's the newbie alarm!" Jeff chuckled.
"WHAT!" Maria yelled. Her eyes widened, but that meant-
"THERE'S A NEW GREEN BEAN!." Jeff yelled. Maria gasped. She wasted no time in dashing out of the med-hut and making a beeline for the box, where a small amount of guys had already gathered. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd. Newt and Alby were already front and center, ready to retrieve the green bean.
"You think it'll be another girl?" Maria asked hopefully.
"Dunno, but whoever they're gonna be your responsibility." Alby answered, his eyes focused on the box in front of him.
"What?" She raised her eyebrow, Maria didn't remember hearing anything about being responsible for anyone.
Alby shrugged, "we normally have the last green bean be in charge of the new one. You and Newt were the exception though."
"Why?"
"Chuck wasn't fit to be your guide because he was too young, and since you were the first girl, he wouldn't have been able to protect you." Alby said.
"Not to say that you needed someone to protect you." Newt chimed in quickly, trying to soothe over the insensitive comment. Maria's angry glare went unnoticed though, because the guys all turned their attention to ceasing of the alarm.
There was a disturbing silence in the glade, followed by the creaking hatches of the box opening. Watching the scene unfold sent chills up Maria's spine. One month ago, that had been her down there, someone down there was just a scared and confused as she had been.
The doors opened completely, revealing a figure concealed in the darkness of the box, not yet recognizable in the shadows.
"Is it a chick?" Asked a glader.
"It's probably a shucking guy. Well is it?" Questioned others. All of the guys crowded around the opening, anxious to see who the new green bean was.
"I'm going down there!" Maria announced. She didn't even wait for Alby to protest. She jumped into the box exactly like Newt had the day she showed up. Only then did she hear the whimpering and sobbing coming from the girl on the floor.
She was definitely a girl. That much Maria could tell, due to her shrill crying and the curtain of straight black hair that covered her face. The girl was sat in the middle of the box, hugging tightly to her knees with her head tucked down. Just like Maria had done.
"It's ok, everything's ok now." Maria assured the crying girl.
"Please let me out of here." The girl whispered in between sobs. She didn't look up at Maria, rather she began to sob even harder.
"Ok but you need to cooperate." She told the girl calmly. The crying girl didn't seem curious as to where she was, she asked no questions, and made no attempt to harm Maria. She was literally paralyzed with fear.
"WELL IS IT A GIRL?" Alby called down to Maria, probably annoyed that she was idling for so long down in the box.
"YEAH, BUT SHE DOESN'T WANNA MOVE. CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME LIFT HER UP?" Maria called to the crowd above her.
A moment later Newt hopped down into the box. "Huh, so she is a girl. I wander if they're just gonna keep sending up girls from now on?"
"Newt you can think about that later, what are we supposed to do with her." She hissed pointing at the despondent girl on the ground.
"We've gotten plenty of crying green beans before, you just gotta now how to deal with them." Newt told her.
"And how is that?" Maria crossed her arms over her chest.
"Like this." He grabbed the girl by her arms, and threw her up out of the box forcefully. Maria was genuinely surprised to see Newt act so…impolitely.
"WHAT ARE YOU? HEY STOP STOP." The girl finally shrieked as she was tossed onto the ground outside of the box. Newt helped hoist Maria out of the box and lifted himself out as well.
"At least you got her to talk." Maria nodded her head at Newt. As she stood over the girl, now laying on the ground.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME? GET AWAY FROM ME." The girl shrieked, curling into a ball. Maria didn't get a good look at the girl, all she knew about her was that she had caramel colored skin and incredibly straight black hair.
"We're not gonna hurt you greenie." Alby reached his hand out for her to grab onto, but she just scrambled away from him.
"WHY DID YOU BRING ME HERE?" She sobbed.
"Unbelievable." Newt scoffed. "Why does everybody think we kidnapped them?"
Alby shot a look at Newt, but went back to trying to talk to the girl. "Can you tell us your name greenie?" He said in a louder tone over the girls cries.
The girl tried to cease her crying, slowly releasing a few jagged breaths. "Caroline?" She said almost as if she was questioning whether or not it was her name. "No it's Lina, my name is Lina."
Maria smiled sympathetically at her. "Lina, everything is fine, stop crying and we'll explain everything to you." She finally stopped crying, still breathing heavily and wiping the tears away from her face.
"Please tell me what's going on." She pleaded, trying to regain her composure. Lina was able to stand up on her own, but she didn't look ok at all. Her knees were wobbling and her arms were wrapped around herself protectively.
"This is the Glade, every month we get one green bean, this month it's you. You're probably scared right now because you don't have any memories, but eventually you'll get used to life here." Alby said while gesturing around the glade.
"How did you know I didn't have any memories?" Lina whimpered while stepping backward away from Alby, similar to how a cornered animal would.
Newt was the one to speak this time. "Nobody here has any memories. Some of us have been here for three years and we still don't know why we're here, or what we're supposed to be doing here. We think the only way out is through the maze though…which we haven't solved yet."
"Newt slow down you'll overwhelm her." Maria chastised. Meanwhile Lina looked like she was about to faint. Her eyes shifting quickly in every direction, soaking in the surroundings.
"The only way out is through the maze?" Lina asked, trying to stop hyperventilating. Nobody noticed that her eyes had focused right on the entrance to the maze."
"Um yeah." Newt answered, normally the brand new green beans weren't really worried about the maze, so he found her question oddly out of place. "But only runners are allowed in there."
Newt's comment fell on deaf ears though. Before anybody could stop her Lina took off running across the Glade. Nobody expected her to run, they all assumed she was too scared to do anything. They were wrong though, because boy did this girl run.
"WE GOTTA RUNNER!" Shouted multiple voices from the crowd. Lina sprinted like a deer in the direction of the opening. A couple of them tried to catch up to her, but they were clearly out matched, Lina was like lightning on her feet. She had ran the entire clearing in under a minute, leaving all of the gladers to watch in horror as Lina broke one of the most important rules. Maria looked in the direction of the entrance dumbfounded, she couldn't believe how stupid Lina's actions were. She was running into the maze hoping to find freedom, when she was most likely going to find her own demise.
"What a bloody idiot." Newt muttered. Secretly, Newt was freaking out. If this girl go trapped in the maze, her death would be on everyone's conscious. He feared that the death of a girl would weigh heavily on the rest of the gladers, especially Maria.
Lina was almost out of sight, in another few moments she would have turned down one of the corridors in the maze and probably be gone forever. All of the gladers had ran to the entrance, but nobody dared step foot in the maze. She was almost out of their vision, when the unpredictable happened.
Minho had turned the corner of the maze at the exact same time as Lina, and the two collided at full speed, knocking them both to the ground.
Maria could hear Minho's curses from 100 feet away, but he quickly got up to access the situation.
"MINHO GRAB HER AND BRING HER BACK." Alby yelled from just outside the maze. Minho had no idea what was going on. He had just ran into a girl he'd never seen before, and-oh shuck the girl was crying, or had been at least. Whatever had just happened, Minho would figure out soon. He picked the girl up and draped her arm across his shoulder, practically carrying her out of the maze. The problem was that the girl, whoever she was, had ran into Minho pretty hard. Whenever he stepped on his right foot, searing pain shot through him. If this shank had broken his ankle he was going to be seriously pissed off. He took another step. Yep his ankle was definitely broken. Well shuck.
"Ok you can tell me whatever just happened once I get to the med-hut. She broke my shucking ankle." Minho grimaced as he threw Lina down in front of Alby and limped over to Maria.
Maria looked down with worry at Minho's leg. "Ok I'll see what I can do." She nodded at Minho. "Somebody check and see if the girl is ok." Maria shouted behind her back as she led the pained runner over to the med-hut.
Newt smirked, he thought it was funny whenever Maria entered what he called "Doctor Mode." Maria just had this flawless way of transitioning from a sarcastic teenage girl into a focused medical practitioner.
Newt turned to Caroline, or Lina, as she preferred to be called, "What you just did was so bloody stupid?" He started to yell at her, but he hadn't noticed that the girl had started crying again. Newt sighed, "Listen I know you're upset and confused, but you should be thanking Minho for running into you. You would have died in there." He reasoned.
"I'm not crying because of that." Lina sobbed. "I'm crying because I think my leg is broken."
"Oh shuck well why didn't you just say so?" He snapped at her. "Alby come help me take her to the hut." Newt called to the boy next to him. Alby, along with everyone else in the glade, had watched in silence at whatever just happened. Lina sure had made an impression on the gladers.
Alby and Newt half carried, half dragged Lina to the Med-hut. Lina didn't exactly trust the gladers who were supposedly trying to help her, but Lina knew she couldn't run away with a broken leg. If these people were going to fix her leg she wouldn't argue, but as soon as she was ok she would run again. Something wasn't right about the glade, and Lina didn't want to stay another minute.
"What is she doing in here?" Minho groaned when he saw Newt and Lina limp into the med-hut. "Come to break my other ankle huh sweetheart." Maria had told Minho what he missed, and as happy as he was to have another girl in the glade, he wasn't exactly thrilled that Lina's stupid actions led to him breaking his ankle.
Lina didn't dignify his comment with a response, instead Newt spoke up.
"We think her ankle is broken too." Newt told Maria, who was frantically gathering materials to make a proper splint for Minho.
Maria sighed. "Just set her down next to Minho, I'll fix her up to." She said distractedly. Lina very hesitantly took her seat next to the runner.
"Did I ever thank you for breaking my ankle Sweetheart?" Minho said sarcastically, he was going to hold this grudge for a looooong time.
Lina wiped the tears from her cheeks and buried her head in her hands, she didn't care about Minho's sarcastic remarks, she only cared about getting out of wherever the hell she was. "This is the worst day of my life." She whimpered.
"Well technically this should be the only day of your life you can remember, not much competition than huh sweetheart." Minho shrugged.
"Stop calling me sweetheart."
"Stop breaking peoples ankles." Minho bickered.
"Minho it was obviously an accident will the two of you just apologize to each other." Maria snapped. She did not want to deal with her two patients fighting like children.
Lina grumbled an insincere apology to Minho, but the runner was to proud to accept nor apologize himself.
"Apology not accepted."
Newt and Maria rolled their eyes at how dramatic Minho was.