"Jeff, what's going on? What's the matter with her? Why won't she wake up?" Newt asked a little harshly.

"Hey man, I got my job the same way you did." Jeff replied plainly.

"She just-" Clint started, but didn't finish.

"She what?" Newt demanded.

"She keeps saying his name over and over." He replied, pointing at Thomas.

Newt saw Thomas staring at her face with a weird expression. "Do you recognize her?"

"No." he replied immediately.

"Really? Because she seemed to recognize you." Newt's tone was worrying him, so Thomas changed the subject. "What about the note?"

Newt clearly didn't want to change the subject. "We'll worry about the note later."

"I think you should worry about it now." Thomas said, not giving up.

"We've got enough to deal with at the moment." Nor is Newt.

"He's right, Newt." Jeff intervened. "If the Box isn't coming back up, how long do you think we can last?"

That seemed to bring Newt to the bigger problems. "No one said that. Let's not jump to any conclusions." Newt said, "We'll just wait until she wakes up and see what she knows. Somebody has gotta have some answers around here." And Newt was sure she had them.

"Okay-" Thomas didn't want to think about her right now. He can't wait for the girl to wake up, like Newt, so he started walking out.

"And where are you going?" Newt called behind him.

"Back into the maze." and with that, he left.

Newt looked at Minho with the expression that said 'Go after him'. He nodded and went after Thomas.

"Hey-" Minho called, ran up to Thomas, and stopped him. "Hey, Thomas. What is this with you, huh? A death wish. You just got out and now you want back in?"

"Newt said that no one has ever seen a Griever and lived to tell about it, right?" Thomas said. "Minho, now we have one. You're telling me you're not even a little bit curious?"

He is crazy. Minho thought. We just got back. "Not really, no."

Thomas said nothing and simply started making his way to the maze, but Minho stopped him.

Newt would kill me if I let him go in there. Minho thought. "So, what's the plan? You're gonna go out and dissect that thing all by yourself?"

"I will if I have to," Thomas said. "I can't wait and sit around like Newt, obsessing over that girl."

Minho laughed and muttered under his breath, "Oh trust me, she's not the one he's obsessing over."

"What?"

"What?"

"You said something."

"No."

Thomas gave him a weird look and chose to change the subject. "Have the other runners left yet?" He asked.

"The other runners quit this morning. After Alby got stung, they're not in any hurry to get back out there. Why are you?" Minho asked.

"I think it's time we find out what we're really up against."

Minho knew he was right and he couldn't stop him, but he knew who can. "All right. But you're not going back out there alone. Meet me in the woods in half an hour."

Thomas nodded and made his way to the woods.

Minho pulled Newt away from Jeff. "Your Greenie is an idiot."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Newt raised his eyebrows.

"He wants to go back to the maze." Minho replied.

"No, I know he's an idiot and wants to go back. I meant, what do you mean by 'Your greenie'."

Minho looked at him in disbelief. "He wants to go back into the Maze right now!" He repeated with his voice becoming high-pitched.

Newt ignored Minho ignoring his question and put a hand on his forehead. "Don't let that Shank go alone in there."

"You're not gonna stop him?" Minho was surprised "I came here so that you can go and stop him."

"I don't think I can." Newt lied, but Minho knew he can stop Thomas by just saying it. "You mean you don't want to."

Newt again ignored Minho and frowned. "I don't want anyone outside alone from now on and I know you want to go too."

Minho groaned, "Fine, I'll go with him then."

"Take other Keepers with you too."

"Why do you think they'll want to go?"

"Same reason you're going. There is a dead Griever outside. Hell, I want to see it too, but someone will have to take care of Alby and the girl."

"Okay, but I'm not taking Gally with me."

"That's fine." Newt shrugged.

After Minho left, a new dilemma emerged inside Newt's mind. There was something different about Thomas. He knew Thomas didn't know more than what he had told him, but there was something that Thomas wasn't telling him.

Gally knew it too, and it scared Newt that he might use it against Thomas.

He saved Alby's life. He is one of us. Newt repeated in his brain. And he finally came to a decision that he trusted Thomas but he had to keep in mind what Gally said.

I'll just ask him whatever it is he is not telling me. Newt made a mental note.

After some time Gally came into the homestead. "I'm calling a gathering of Keepers." Before Newt could say anything, Gally raised his hand to stop him. "I know others went out into the maze with the Greenie, but this is important. It's about Alby."

Newt took one look at Alby laying on the bed. He could see the veins in his body, black. He looked terrible.

Newt didn't want his judgement about Thomas to get more clouded by Gally's theories, but if it was about Alby, he had to listen to it.

He returned his gaze to Gally and nodded. Clint and Jeff also followed them out.

"Are you bloody serious? After all the hell Minho and Thomas went through." Newt yelled.

"Do you have a better solution?" Gally asked, and Newt went silent.

Gally sat down. "Honestly, I don't know why we're talking about this." He looked at Newt. "We don't have a choice. If Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me."

"Clint, Jeff, how's he doing?" Newt asked in a low voice.

"It's bad. It's getting worse." Jeff replied.

"Ok... um... just keep an eye on him. Thanks"

Clint and Jeff made their way out, but before they both reached the door, Minho burst it open with a kick. Other keepers and Thomas followed him inside.

"Oh, it's nice of you to finally join us. You boys enjoyed the field trip." Gally said.

"What the hell Gally! You think you can call a Keeper meeting without us." Minho was looking angry.

Gally looked at Thomas. "Last time I checked the Greenie wasn't a Keeper. You might wanna wait outside."

Thomas looked embarrassed and was about to go outside, but before he could Minho loudly said, "He stays!"

Gally sighed and Minho looked at Newt. "What's the point of all this?"

"We got two hours until sundown. We've got to figure out what we've to do with Alby."

"You wanna banish him." Winston said in disbelief. It wasn't a question.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Minho looked angrier.

"No, no one wants to banish anyone. Alright. But he's stung. We don't have a choice." Gally said.

"Yes, we do." Thomas replied.

"You say something Newbie."

"Yeah, we have a choice. We don't have to banish Alby."

"Right, and how's that?" Gally asked.

He took a device from Minho's hand. "Here, we found this on our field trip." He handed it to Newt."It was inside a griever."

Newt examined it and found writing on it. "These are the same letters we get in our supplies."

"Yeah. Whoever put us here obviously made the Grievers. This is the first real clue, the first anything, you've found in over 3 years. Right, Minho?" Thomas asked, looking at Minho.

"Right." Minho replied.

"Newt, we gotta go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us. Maybe we can find a cure for Alby." His words filled Newt with hope to save Alby.

Newt looked at Gally to see his reaction. "You see what he's trying to do, right? First, he breaks our rules... and then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally. The rules are the only thing that has ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me. This shank needs to be punished." And Newt didn't like his reaction at all. He knew Gally was right to some extent, but he believed Thomas could help save Alby.

"You're right. Thomas broke the rules. One night in the pit, and no food." Newt said simply.

"Come on, Newt! One night in the pit? Do you think that's gonna stop him from going into the maze?" Gally asked.

"No," Newt said as a matter-of-factly. "And we can't just have non-runners runnin' into the maze whenever they feel like it."

Thomas nodded like he understood why Newt was saying it and accepted his punishment.

"So let's just make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're a Runner."

Thomas was surprised and internally screaming with joy. Minho smirked and looked at Gally to see his reaction to this.

"Wow." Gally said, shocked annoyingly.

"Gally." Frypan tried to talk to him. "No, Fry." Gally said and left the room. Frypan followed him outside.

For a moment, Thomas kept his gaze fixed on Newt. "Thanks, Newt." he said softly.

Newt remained silent, not breaking his contact with Thomas's eyes. Minho shifted his gaze between both of them and then rolled his eyes. Newt felt Minho rolling his eyes and finally broke the eye contact and turned around.

The meeting was dismissed, and everyone except Newt, Thomas, and Minho left the room in a hurry.

Newt hadn't moved from where he was standing. "Well, that was good times," he murmured.

Minho walked over and playfully punched Thomas in the arm. "It's all this shank's fault." Thomas punched him back. "Thanks for standing up for me."

Minho faked an evil grin. "Gally was getting on my shucking nerves. It was time someone stood up to that Shank."

"He's not wrong though." Newt looked away for a moment, then turned back to look at Thomas. "According to Gally, there's somethin' rotten enough about you that..."

"Newt, I don't know—" Thomas started, but Newt didn't let him finish. "I know you don't remember anything, Thomas! Quit sayin' that—don't ever say it again. None of us remember anything." Newt realised he was shouting and sighed heavily. "The point is there's something different about you, and it's time we figured it out."

Thomas's eyes widened when Newt didn't call him by his nickname. "Fine, so how do we do it? I want to know who I am just as much as anyone else. Obviously." He sounded irritated.

"I need you to open your mind. Be honest if anything—anything at all—seems familiar." Newt replied calmly.

"Nothing—" Thomas started, but stopped.

"I can see your wheels spinnin'," Newt said quietly. "Talk."

Thomas hesitated "Well… I can't put my finger on anything specific." He spoke slowly, carefully. "But I did feel like I'd been here before when I first got here." He looked at Newt. "It all seemed familiar to me, and I knew I wanted to be a Runner."

"That's bloody interesting." Newt examined him for a second, not hiding his obvious suspicion. "Well, keep lookin' for it. Strain your mind, spend your free time wanderin' your thoughts, and think about this place. Delve inside that brain of yours, and seek it out. Try, for all our sakes."

"I will." Thomas closed his eyes, started searching the darkness of his mind.

"Not now, you dumb shuck." Newt laughed. "I just meant do it from now on. Free time, meals, goin' to sleep at night, as you walk around, train, work. Tell me anything that seems even remotely familiar. Got it?"

"Yeah, got it." Thomas couldn't help worrying that he'd thrown up some red flags for Newt, and that the older boy was just hiding his concern.

"Good that," Newt said, looking almost too agreeable.

Thomas couldn't stifle his worry about what Newt was thinking. He'd opened himself up, and he really liked Newt. If Newt turned on him now, Thomas didn't know if he could handle it.

"Here's how it'll play out, Tommy," Newt said, interrupting Thomas's thoughts. "You're with me the rest of day - we need to figure things. Then you're Minho's and, I want you to stay away from the other shanks for a while. Got it?"

With that girl singing his name in her sleep, everyone'll get suspicious of him. It's better for him not to meddle with them. Newt thought.

Thomas nodded as if he understood what Newt was thinking. "Sounds beautiful. So Minho's going to train me?"

"That's right—you're a Runner now. Minho'll teach you. The Maze, the Maps, everything. Lots to learn. I expect you to work your butt off."

"I'll start with his training now," Minho said. He was sitting quietly all that time, that Newt and Thomas looked a little surprised to still see him there. "You can figure things out with him after that." He said that with a smirk, which they ignored.

He was right. There wasn't much time left today, anyway. And Thomas had to spend the night in the pit. They had to start his basic training right now for him to go into the maze tomorrow. Newt nodded and started making his way out of the room.

"Where are you off to?" Minho asked. Newt turned around and gave him a questioning look. "I thought you'll be helping with his training." Minho said, referring to Thomas.

"I've to take care of Alby," Newt said sadly. "I prevented Gally from banishin' him, but he was right. If Alby attacked someone, we- I'll have to-" Newt hesitated. A really painful expression appeared on his face.

"It won't come to that. We will save him." Minho stressed at that line.

"Come to what?" Thomas asked. "What happened?"

Minho looked at Newt, who nodded. "George." Minho said. "He died two years ago."

"I think I saw his grave back in the woods. He got stung." Thomas said looking at Minho but he didn't reply.

"Alby stabbed him in the neck," Newt responded. "to save the other Gladers. He went crazy. We would've lost a lot of boys if he didn't stop him."

"He was the first one to get stung. Alby put his grave, to prevent others from getting near a Griever." Minho said and Thomas gave him a horrid look. "It worked. No one else got stung after that incident, except Ben." Minho's voice became sad as he remembered his friend. "He got stung in broad daylight. That was not supposed to happen."

Thomas realised what was going on inside Newt's mind. If he couldn't prevent Alby from attacking the Gladers, he wouldn't have any choice other than to kill his best friend. "Don't worry Newt. We'll save him." Thomas said sincerely, and Newt tried to smile in response but couldn't hide his pain from him.

With that, Newt made his way to Alby, and Thomas followed Minho to the Map room with his perseverance of saving Alby and everyone.

After a while, when Newt went back to the homestead, he saw the girl was missing. But soon he found out that she somehow got to the highest spot in the Glade and was throwing everything she could find on the Gladers standing below, scaring her.

"Clint! Jeff!" Newt called and the med-jacks looked at him. "Go get Thomas."

A moment later, he saw Minho and Thomas running towards them. Minho, being smart, looked at the scene from a distance while Thomas went right below where the girl was throwing things.

But, just as Thomas yelled, "Hey, it's Thomas!... It's Thomas!" She stopped.

"I'm gonna come up, okay?" The girl didn't reply.

"Okay- Just me." He said and climbed up.

Minho came up to stand next to Newt and grinned as he saw Thomas climbing up. Newt frowned at his friend's reaction. There wasn't anything funny going on.

And all the Gladers patiently waited for Thomas to bring the girl down. But Newt's patience grew thin in just five minutes, which was unusual. "What's going on up there?" He asked, "Is she coming down?"

Thomas's face came into view when he looked down. "Um... Hey, listen, you guys just give us a second, okay?"

Some kind of bad feeling emerged inside Newt. But because he didn't know what it was, he chose not to show it to his face. "All right. Come on." And all the Gladers started walking towards their respective works.

"Is this what all girls are like?" He heard Frypan's voice behind him.

"That girl is crazy." Someone replied.

A/N: No matter how jealous he is, Newt will always try to protect his Tommy from harm.

And also: We've completed half of the story. Thank you for reading it so far.