So Chapter 5 is up. Thank you to people who have followed and favourited and reviewed. It means a lot. It definitely inspires me to keep writing and updating. :)

Life in the Glade

It had been a week since Hank had been stung and life in the Glade was returning back to normal. I could tell that some of the boys were still having a hard time; everyone had loved Hank. Gally in particular. Hank had been the greenie before Gally so he showed him around the more specific parts of the glade that Alby hadn't covered in his tour. They had been really close ever since. Hank had shown Gally how to build using the small amount of tools we had.

'I should probably see if he is okay.' I say to myself. As I head over to the east side of the homestead, where Gally and the builders are expanding the sleeping areas, I see Newt standing by the opening in the wall. I make a mental note to ask him about that later.

'Gally,' I call as he comes into view. 'Can you come help me inside please?' He nods, telling the remaining builders what to do in his absence. Gally is now the Keeper of the builders so they look to him for instruction. He follows me into the homestead.

'What's up Kira,' he asks. I look at his face trying to judge the situation. I decide to be blunt.

'You okay, with Hank and everything?' He looks at the floor trying to decide what to say.

After a minute he says, 'Honestly?' I nod. 'No.'

'You wanna talk?' I ask. He sighs sitting down on the floor. I follow his lead.

'He was my first friend here,' He sighs. 'All of my happiest memories in this place, he's there, laughing with me.'

'I remember what he was like when you came up in the box. He liked you instantly. He practically begged me to let him show you around. He was the last greenie so he wanted to prove he could do it, but he wanted to hang out with you. I remember asking him about you a couple of weeks later and he called you 'the brother he doesn't remember having.'' Gally laughed as a tear trickled down his cheek. 'You too were good for each other. He barley spoke before you came up.'

'So it's my fault he wouldn't ever shut up,' Gally laughed.

'Little bit,' I shrugged with a smile on my face. Gally sat in silence with a small smile on his face. 'You know Hank, he wouldn't want you to be upset. He would want you to remember the good times. Like when you hid all of Frypan's ingredients and he almost had a heart attack.'

'Or when we locked you and Alby in the homestead and wouldn't let you out until you roomed us together.' Galled added.

'Or when I taught the two of you how to fight and you would try and surprise attack each other for about 4 months.' I laughed at the memories of Hank surfacing.

'Yeah, he never did get me back for the attack in the klunker.' Gally chuckled. I smiled at him.

'This is how Hank would have wanted to be remembered. For his best moments.' I looked at him to see a content smile on his face.

'Yeah, he's somewhere better now. With his family.' Gally's smile suddenly turned into a small frown. 'He didn't suffer for long did he? You know when you…' he trailed off.

'No,' I said 'He bled out quickly. He almost looked calm at the end. Like he wasn't in pain anymore.' Gally turned to me and hugged me.

'Don't tell anyone about this, yeah. I have a reputation to uphold.' Gally asked softly. As he let me go I said, 'And we wouldn't want anyone to know you actually have a heart, would we.'

'Oh no, definitely not.' Gally agreed. He stood up and went to leave the homestead. Just as he reached the door he turned back. 'Thanks Kira.' He said quietly.

'Anytime,' I replied.


Later that day I heard a whoop from the kitchens. I walked over to see Zart holding out some fresh vegetables that he had picked from the fields. Frypan was hugging a carrot like it was his long lost child. We had been given the stuff for carrots a few boxes back and Fry had been so excited ever since.

'Alright Fry?' I called over. He looked up at me with genuine tears of joy in his eyes.

'Yeah I'm good,' He called back. I continued to walk over to the boys.

'Need any help Fry? Obviously I'll leave the carrots to you,' I joked. Fry nodded his head.

'Could you peel these potatoes for me?' I walked over to the potatoes and started peeling. I watched Fry carefully chop up the carrots into perfect sticks. Fry was an interesting person. He came up in the box and barely spoke until he saw Nick butchering up some ingredients and screamed at him. 'You have to respect the food! It won't taste good it you butcher it like meat!' Nick looked at Fry shocked as he bustled past Nick pulling the knife out of his hands and began re-chopping the veg. At the time we were lost for words but we soon learned that Fry is very passionate about food and ingredients. Once I has finished the potatoes I walked over to Fry.

'Hey have you seen Newt today?' I asked.

'Yeah I saw him earlier talking to Alby about something.' Frypan said without looking up from what he was doing.

'Cheers.' I said walking off to look for Alby or Newt. Walking through the Glade I bump into Minho.

'Hey Minho, everything alright?' I ask. He looked up at me and scowls.

'No, the med jacks can't do anything for my leg,' Minho had hurt his leg earlier in the week and Alby and I had decided to take him off running for the time being. He was miserable. 'I'm gonna have to wait for it to heal up on its own.' I sit down next to him.

'What have they said you've done?' I asked him.

'Fracture, from running too much,' he says simply.

'How long til you can run again?' I ask knowing he wants to get back out there.

'A couple of months!' he stresses. 'What am I supposed to do for a couple of months?' I think about it for a second.

'How about,' I suggest 'You go to the map room and study the maps. We are finding new sections everyday now, but from what you have been telling me it seems like some are closed one day then open the next.' I look to Minho for conformation. He nods looking at me curiously. 'So we need to figure out which sections are open when, if there is an order, or if it is just random, if the sections differ we need to make a note of what is different about them because you never know it might mean something?' Minho stands up nodding quickly.

'Good idea, maybe I can crack it from the map room and get us all out of here.' He sounds excited about the idea. He helps me up and limps quickly towards the map room. I smile after him. I'm glad he's doing something. Over the last few days he has been miserable just sitting about and healing. Minho doesn't like not being busy. He gets bored very easily unless he has got something to do.

I continue walking across the Glade when I spot Alby talking to the Keeper of the Slicers, Winston. I walk over to them and Winston catches my eye. He smiles at me and I smile back. Alby sees Winston smiling and turns round to look at me too.

'Hey guys,' I say to the pair. 'Alby, have you seen Newt?' I ask.

'Yeah, he is helping the track-hoes out in the fields.' Alby responds. Oh I hadn't thought to check the fields. 'Cheers Al, oh and if you need Minho he is in the map room.' I say walking away. As I walk I look round at the Glade and smile at everything we have built. Together. As a unit. It's funny looking back and thinking about what it was like when I first got here. How little I knew about this place and about myself. I smile to myself as I reach the fields and see Newt talking to Zart and the other track-hoes about something. I creep over to them, not making a sound and in my deepest, loudest voice I yell 'AND WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!' Everyone jumps and whirls round to see me clutching my stomach and laughing so hard that I can't breathe. Newt runs to me and picks me up from behind, spinning me around so I get so dizzy I can't stand anymore. I plonk myself on the floor watching Newt and the rest of the track-hoes join me in my laughter. Once the laughter has died down I say to Newt, 'Hey, can I talk to you?' He nods, helps me up and we begin to walk away from the fields. 'I saw you earlier, standing by the opening to the maze.' He looks at me with a small smile.

'I was thinking about Minho.' He states. Minho? I look at him confused. He sees my confusion and clarifies. 'About the fact that we need another runner to take his place whilst he heals. We can't have Ben going out on his own.'

'You considering it?' I ask slowly. He shakes his head.

'With my leg? No, actually…' he pauses looking at me, 'I was thinking that maybe you would go.' I stand staring at him. Me? But I… I couldn't. Could I. It had been nearly 3 years since I last entered the maze. Maybe it was time to try again. Maybe it would be better than last time. I am definitely stronger and fitter and faster. Physically I could do it, but mentally…

'I don't know Newt. It's been a long time.' I look at him. He has a look of understanding plastered all over his face.

'I know.' He says, 'You don't have to decide now. Think about it.' He smiles at me.

'Yeah I will.'

'Are you okay?' Newt looks at me with a slight concerned gaze. I laugh. He could always tell. I stop walking. I look at Newt not really knowing what to say. I shrug my shoulders.

'Why have we stopped here?' He asks. I look up and notice I have stopped in front of the name wall. I look up at Hank's name and trace the line through the middle with the fingers.

'It's my fault.' Newt looks at me with surprise.

'What? Why?' He probes.

'I should have trained him harder. I knew he wasn't as fast as the rest of the runners but I let him go out in the maze anyway. We needed another runner, and he wanted to go, but he wasn't ready and I knew that.' Newt's mouth moves but no sound comes out. 'I was just so frightened because I knew I was the only other option but I couldn't bring myself to go. I was a coward and I got Hank killed.' I whispered feeling a tear roll down my face.

I leave the wall and head to the deadheads. I could hear Newt trailing behind me. When he finally reaches me, I am standing in front of Hanks grave. 'I'm so sorry Hank, I'm so, so, sorry. I should've gone. You weren't ready. I should've run. Not you. It should have been me.' I ramble to the grave. I feel Newt's arm slide round my waist and I curl into him. 'It should've been me, it should've been me.' I repeated over and over again. Newt grabs my shoulders.

'Bloody hell, Kira. Don't say that. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. None of us would be able to defend ourselves if it wasn't for you. The Glade would be chaos if it wasn't for you. I mean, come on 40-odd boys living alone. Chaos!' I chuckled. 'We wouldn't be able to get our shit together long enough for anything to be done. You are the glue that holds this whole community together.' I look at him for a moment ignoring the warm feeling growing in my stomach at his words. I smile softly. He uses the hands on my shoulders to pull me in for a hug. 'Don't doubt yourself K.' Inwardly my heart flutters at the nickname. Outwardly though I say, 'Okay, N!' Newt blushes as I chuckle. Damn it. Why did you make fun of him? You liked it. Damn, damn, damn. Pushing down my inner conflict over my choice in response I squeeze his hand and begin to walk back the Glade. I stop though realising something is bugging me over this conversation. 'How did you know?' I ask Newt.

'What?' Newt says.

'That I wasn't okay. Alby didn't even pick up on it.' I turn around to look at him. He looks to the ground.

'I dunno, something wasn't right.' He answers vaguely. I look into his eyes trying to see what he was really thinking. Sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself.

'I'll do it.' I finally decide. Newt looks confused.

'Hu?' He blinks.

'I'll cover for Minho. In the maze.' And with that I walk away to tell Ably of my plans.