A/N - Hey guys, sorry its been so long. Took me a while to get this chapter right. But it's up now. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 10

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

What is that noise? I open my eyes slowly. It's not a conscious decision, but my eyelids are so heavy, slowly is the only pace I can go. White light blinds me. I jam my eyes shut, before opening them again, adjusting to the light.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

People in masks loom over me. What is happening! Where is Newt, and Alby! Who are these people? What is that irritating beeping sound?

'Sleep now Kira. You'll want to reserve your strength.' One of the masked people says to me. What is going on? 'Are we ready? Phase One. Group A. Test Subject One. Kira.' A sharp pain shoots through my body as the world around me becomes foggy. I can hear them celebrating! Clapping and cheering and whooping. Just before I lose consciousness again someone whispers in my ear, 'Remember Kira, WICKED is good.'


The load blaring of the claxon woke me that morning. Shit. I jump out of bed, and run to the window. The boys are crowding round the box as usual. I catch sight of Gally.

'Gally!' I shout trying to get his attention. His face snaps up to look at me. 'You're doing the intro!' Before he can say anything else, I walk back into my room, throwing clothes on haphazardly. Why is it, that today, of all days, I wake up late. I think back to that dream I had. WICKED? What is WICKED? I push the thought away as I don't have the time. Downstairs Alby and Newt are waiting for me.

'You okay?' Alby says looking at me with a raised eyebrow. 'You never sleep in.'

'Fine,' I answer quickly walking out of the homestead.

The boy's shouts make me quicken my step as we walk towards the box. As soon as I get sight of the box though, I stop to watch as the Greenie pushes his way out of the gaggle of guys around the box and starts to run towards us. Well towards the gap in the wall, but we're in front of that.

'WE'VE GOT A RUNNER!' Frypan shouts as the boy runs as fast as he can… before tripping and falling on his face.

'Hmph,' Newt chuckles behind me. 'Could have been a runner, til he tripped.'

I smile and look back at him. 'All runners trip.'
Leaving it at that I walk towards the Greenie and smile broadly as he gets up and really looks at the Glade. It's the first time I get a proper look at him. He is tall, with short brown hair and slightly tanned skin. The look of curiosity on his face is one I recognise instantly.

'Not letting you do the intro's again, if they're gonna run as soon as they see you're an ugly mug!' I shout to Gally. The Glader's surrounding him all jeer and pat his back as they begin to unload the box. Newt goes to help them leaving Alby and I alone with the Greenie. I turn my attention to him, who is still staring as his surroundings.

'Hey, you're not gonna run again okay.' I say drawing to attention to me. I smile slightly as his eyes widen and he nods. I'm not surprised as he's only seen guys so far. 'I'm Kira. Do you remember your name?' His eyes widen even more as he shakes his head.

'Do you remember anything?' Alby asks from behind me. He shakes his head frantically. I can see the panic starting to set in.

'Uh, I, I can't remember anything. Why can't I remember anything?'

'Hey, it's okay. Don't panic. It's normal. It happens to all of us.' I say putting my hands up to calm him slightly. I'm not sure it worked. 'Your name will come back in a day or two. They let us have that.' I smile reassuringly at him.

'What is this place?' He asks quietly, however I could feel him wanting to ask a million other questions.

'We'll show you.' I say gesturing to myself and Alby. 'This is Alby.' Alby steps forward and shakes his hand. I can tell he is getting ready to put on his tour voice.

'We eat here. We sleep here. We grow our own food. We build our own shelter. Whatever we need, the Box provides. The rest is up to us.' I roll my eyes. I have heard him make this speech hundreds of times and with few variations, I feel as if I can recite it.

'The Box?' The Greenie slips in a question as Ably pauses to breathe. I knew it, he is curious.

'What you came up in.' I add in. 'It's sent up once a month with fresh supplies and a new Greenie. This month that's you. Congrats!' I smile and wink at him. He smiles slightly at my antics as Alby sighs.

Looking back to Alby he asks, 'Sent up? By who though? Who put us here?'

Alby sighs again and says 'That, we don't know.' I can practically hear the Greenie thinking. Before he can ask any more questions, Newt walks up.

'Hey, you alright guys? A-ha!' I narrow my eyes playfully at him. Nosy little shit.

'Green-Bean, meet Newt. When we're not around, Newt is in charge.' Alby said nodding his head to Newt.

'Well, it's a good thing one of you is here all the time then.' He replies jokingly. Turning to the Greenie he says, 'That was some dash you made earlier. For a second. I thought you would have the chops to be a runner… til ya face-planted! That was great!' He chuckles to himself when he catches my and sees me mock glaring.

'Will you do me a favour?' I say to Newt. 'Find Chuck.' Newt nods and head off. 'Thank you', I call after him. He just puts his hand up in response. Alby puts an arm around the Greenie's shoulder and pulls him off towards the treehouse/sculpture thing Gally made.

'Look, I'm sorry to rush this. You came up a little late, and there's a lot to do. We got something special planned tonight. Yeah. You'll see. I hope you're not afraid of heights. Let's go. Come on.' Alby says. Late up? Wow, I really slept in then. Fuck. Catching up with the pair at the top of the tree, I hear Alby telling the Greenie the rules.

'First, do your part. No time for any freeloaders. Second, never harm another Glader. None of this works unless we have trust. Most importantly... never go beyond those walls. Do you understand me, Greenie?' He giggle to myself he sound so serious when he says them. I didn't sound that serious did I? No, I was too excited for new people when I told Alby the rules.

'Hey Alby!' I hear Chuck's voice from the base of the tree. I pop my head over. 'Hey Kira,' He beams at me. 'I didn't realise you were up there too?'

'Yeah, just needed a reminder of the rules from Commander Alby!' I snuck a glance at Alby to see him rolling his eyes. I laughed and called back down to Chuck, 'He'll be down soon Chuck. I'll bring him to you.' He nodded and walked away, arms full of equipment. I smile as I watch him leave. Turning back the others, I smile at Alby. 'Didn't you say you were busy?' As if reminded how busy he actually was, Alby got up and headed towards the ladder. Calling behind him he said, 'Kira's in charge. Don't piss her off and you'll be fine.' He looks and me and his serious face cracks into a sly smile. I roll my eyes as he climbs down the tree and heads of to the homestead.

I sit down next to the Greenie who looks a mixture between amused and curious. 'He's kidding. About the pissing me off bit. It takes a lot.'

'So you really are in charge?' He looks surprised. I nod.

'Yep, so I've been told.' I look at him waiting for the barrage of questions I know are waiting just under the surface.

'What's out there?' He asks suddenly.

'A maze. Next question.' I answer.

'A maze?' He whispers to himself. 'Why can't we go out there?'

'Creatures. Next.'

'What kinda' creatures?'

'Bad ones.'

Sensing that was a sore subject he veered away from that line of questioning. 'What are Runner's?'

'Gladers that are the fastest of all of us. They go out and run the maze, trying to plot a way out.'

'And you haven't found one?' I raise my eyebrow at this question. 'Right, stupid question.' I smile as he tries to get his thoughts in order. 'How long have you been here?'

'Well, as Alby said, one Greenie comes up a month so varying times, but the longest, just over four years.'

'Wow, and you haven't found anything?'

'Nope.' We fall into a comfortable silence. 'It's not bad here. All you've heard is how were trying to get out, but life here in the meantime, it's good.' I smile. 'We have a sorta tradition that the Greenie from the month before will show you the… inner workings almost of this place. That's Chuck.' I pointed at the small round boy attempting to make up the Greenie's hammock. I hear him chuckle beside me. 'He's a sweet kid. You'll like him.' I get up without another word and head down the tree. I wait at the bottom as he joins me and we walk over to where Chuck is. As he catches sight of us he beams and reaches into his pocket.

'Look Kira,' he says holding his hand out. In it is a wooden owl. I pick it up at study it closely.

'It's brilliant Chuck. Well Done!' I grin at him and see him smiling at the ground. 'What's up?' I kneel in front of him.

'Do you think they will like it?' He looks up at me.

'Are you kidding?' I look at him in disbelief. 'Chuck, this is amazing! Better than any of us could do. They'll absolutely treasure it!' I put my hands on his shoulders and pull him in for a hug. His arms wrap around my shoulders as he sighs.

Stepping back he looks up at the Greenie. 'I'm Chuck', He holds out his hand so the Greenie can shake it. I smile at the pair as they begin to talk but I see the Greenie's eyes being pulled to the wall. More specifically the gap. I want to see how this pans out so I quietly leave the pair and sit on one of the boy's hammock's so I can watch him.

As Chuck is talking, he turns his back on the Greenie and he gets up and heads towards the gap. I quickly follow as does Chuck. I can see Chuck talking to him as Ben and Minho run in from the maze. It was Minho's first run in a while so I head towards them too see how it went.

'Hey, Chuck. New Greenie, huh? How does it feel to be promoted?' Ben said to Chuck as he passed.

'Feels great, Ben.' Chuck replies as he was pulled back into a conversation with the Greenie.

Pulling my eyes from the pair, I look at Minho and Ben. 'Hey guys, how'd it go?'

'Great!' Minho smiled at me. You could tell he missed it out there.

'He was almost as happy as you to be out there. Freaks. The pair of you.' Ben said with a smirk.

We all laughed at Ben's comment when shouting caught my attention.

'HEY!' Gally shoves the Greenie away from the gap so hard that he falls pretty hard. 'We gotta stop meeting like this, Greenie.'

Scrabbling up the Greenie shouts, 'Get off me!'

'All right! Calm, calm, calm.' Gally tries to calm him but he is pissed!

'Don't touch me!'

'Whoa! Take it easy! Just relax.' Newt runs up to the pair, and tries to defuse the situation.

'What the hell is wrong with you guys?'

'Just calm down, all right?'

'No, okay? Why won't you tell me what's out there?'

'I have.' I say looking at him trying to work out what this is really about?

'You guys can't just keep me here.'

'We are not keeping you here. No-one can leave. We've tried. People have died trying to leave. We're trying to protect you so you don't end up like them.'

He looks at me with a look of defeat. Gally still angry, storms up to the Greenie and says, 'Next time, I'm gonna let you leave. Welcome to the Glade.'


'LIGHT HIM UP!' Alby shouts as the Gladers throw fire sticks onto a large straw model.

'Hell of a first day, Greenie.' Newt says to him as we sit slightly away from the fire. Picking up his drink off the ground he hands it to him. 'Here. Put some hair on your chest.' Newt and I smirk as he takes a sip; immediately spitting it back out!

'Oh, my God! What is that?' Newt and I roar with laughter.

'I don't even know.' Newt says taking it back and taking a sip himself.

'It's Gally's recipe. It's a trade secret.' I say still chuckling as the Greenie tries to recover.

'Yeah, well, he's still an asshole.'

'He saved your life today. Trust me. The maze is a dangerous place.' Newt says gravely; the mood having taken a turn.

'We're trapped here, aren't we?' The Greenie says with a sigh.

'For the moment. But... you see those guys? There, by the fire? Those are the runners. They're who I was telling you about. That guy in the middle there, that's Minho. He's the Keeper of the Runners. Every morning, when those doors open, they run the maze... mapping it, memorizing it, trying to find a way out.' I say pointing to the group of runners talking amongst themselves.

'You mean, you run the maze.' Newt corrects me.

'You're a runner?' The Greenie asks me with surprise.

I nod. 'Yeah, I wasn't out today because of the introductions but normally I'd be out there, yeah.'

'Wow. How long have you been looking?'

'Three and a half years.'

'And they haven't found anything?' His voice was almost pleading.

Before I can say anything, Newt cuts in. 'It's a lot easier said than done. Listen… Hear that? It's the maze, changing. It changes every night.' The low rumbling from inside the maze draws our attention.

'How is that even possible?' The Greenie asks in disbelief.

'You can ask the people who put us in here, if you ever meet the bastards.' I say.

Newt continues, 'Listen, the truth is... the runners are the only ones who really know what's out there. They are the strongest and the fastest of us all. And it's a good thing, too... because if they don't make it back before those doors close... then they are stuck out there for the night. And no one has ever survived a night in the maze.' I look down at my lap as I clench my hands together.

'What happens to them?'

'Well, we call them Grievers. Of course, no one's ever seen one and lived to tell about it. Or if they have, they haven't wanted to say. Too painful I guess. But they're out there.
Right, that's enough questions for one night. Come on. You're supposed to be the guest of honour.' Newt says changing the subject as he sees me getting a bit tense at the topic of conversation.

'Oh, no...' The Greenie starts to shake his head, but Newt isn't having any of it.

'No! No, come on. Let me show you around. Come on.' Newt and I grab a hand each and pull him up.

'Whoa!'

We begin to walk round the fire, addressing the different groups.

'And there we got the builders. They're very good with their hands... but not a lot going on upstairs.' Newt says laughing as I punch him in the arm.

'And then we got Winston... he's the Keeper of the Slicers. And we got two med-jacks, Clint and Jeff. They spend most of their time bandaging up the slicers. Hey guys, what's up?'

'Yo, Newt. Hey Kira, you speech-ing tonight?'

'Maybe, might need a few drinks first!' I laugh as they both shove drinks my way. I take Clint's and with a smile carry on walking round.

'What if I want to be a runner?' The Greenie says stopping short. Newt chokes on his drink, as I just smile. Knew it!

'Have you listened to a word I've just said? No one wants to be a runner. Well except Kira, and she's a nutter! ('Oi!') And, besides, you gotta get chosen.'

'Chosen by who?' Before we can reply, the game of Gally (v) Glade ended when the Glader got pushed straight into The Greenie.

'Whoa!' The Greenie said trying to catch his footing.

'What do you say, Greenie?' Gally taunted. 'Wanna see what you're made of?'

'Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!' The Gladers seems to like this idea a lot. Me, not so much. Not that I didn't think he could handle himself, I was just worried that Gally would play too rough to get him back for earlier.

'Okay. All right.' The Greenie said shrugging his shoulders and walking into the circle. Uh-oh. This won't be good.

'The rules are simple, Greenie.' Gally walked round the circle, talking more to the Gladers than to the Greenie. 'I try to push you out of the circle... you try to last more than five seconds.' The crowd laughed at this. 'Ready?'

Adjusting his wrsitbands, Gally rushes forward and shoves the Greenie out of the circle and into the crowd. They push him back into Gally, where he turns to the side causing the Greenie to fly past him and fall on his face.

'Get up, boy.' The crowd obviously hasn't had enough.

'Come on, Greenie. We're not done yet.' Gally said hopping from one foot to the other showing his agility. He gets up from the floor and faces Gally.

'Stop calling me Greenie.' He said firmly. Echoes of 'Ooooooo' surround the pair. I chuckle to myself. About time somebody stood up to Gally. He's a bit off a hardass to everybody but me.

'Stop calling you that? What do you wanna be called? Shank?' The Gladers cheer as The Greenie runs forward and grips Gally's arms. The pull each other around, neither one being able to get a leg up. Pulling the Greenie to his right Gally get's him off of him and onto the floor again. 'Whoa! Come on!'

'What do you think, boys? Does he look like a Shank?' I look across the circle and see Minho looking at the Greenie, almost impressed at his persistence.

'You know what? I think I've settled on Shank.' At this the Greenie runs at Gally grabbing him round his waist. Unfazed, Gally pushes him back across the circle looking to push him out. However at the last second the Greenie slides under his arms and pushes Gally to the floor. Gally face-plants as the crowd goes wild.

'Oh!'

'There you go, Greenie!'

'Not bad for a Greenie, huh?' He says to Gally. Angered Gally catches the Greenie's ankle with his and pulls him to the floor. His head cracks against the ground with a dull thud. Everyone is silent. I rush forward to see if he is okay. Kneeling beside him, I brush his hair from his face.

'Thomas.' He whispers.

'What?' I say.

'Thomas.' He says louder getting up from the floor.

'Hey! Thomas! I remember my name. I'm Thomas!' He looks around with a huge smile on his face.

'THOMAS!' We all shout in acknowledgment. He grins at me as I give him a quick hug.

'Welcome home, Thomas.' I say to him before the other Gladers file in giving him pats on the back and handshakes. I watch as Gally walks up to him, with a small smirk.

'Good job... Thomas.' Laughing, I decide now is a good time for a speech. I stand on a log and wait for people for finish congratulating Thomas. As the boys begin to notice me they quiet down.

'Okay, so, another month, another Greenie.' I say looking at Thomas. 'I, on behalf of everyone, would like to formally welcome you to the Glade. We welcome you as a friend and as a brother. I say this to all the new Greenie's so everybody else has heard it before. We Gladers are a family. We live, work and fight as a family. And now you are part of that family. So congrats on remembering your name. It suits you.' Raising my glass, I shout, 'To Thomas!'

'Thomas' Everybody echoes holding their own drinks in the air. As the party gets restarted, I can see Thomas looking slightly overwhelmed.

'You okay?' I ask.

He nods. 'It's a lot to take in. Being able to remember your mane and nothing else. When you can't remember anything you think it might all come back at once. But when I remembered my name and nothing else came back…' He smiles. 'Guess I should be grateful for the name.' I put my arm round his shoulder and squeeze. A loud noise interrupts what I was going to say next. The party comes to a halt instantly.

'What the hell was that?' Thomas says.

'That, my friend, was a Griever.' Newt says walking up to us. 'Don't worry, you're safe here with us. Nothing gets through those walls.'

'All right, guys. Let's tuck it in for the night. Come on. It was a good night.' Alby calls clapping his hands. As people walk past Thomas they pat him shoulders and his back.

'Good job, man.'

I tap his shoulder and nod towards the hammocks. 'Get some sleep.' Seeing his apprehension I say, 'Seriously, don't worry. You're safe here with us.'

Ahhh! So Thomas is in the Glade. What do you guys think? I would love to hear. So please review and let me know!

Zoe xx