We Got a Runner
Bang!
A seemingly lifeless boy lay within a metal elevator.
Rumble…
As it started to ascend, he could hear its noises.
Clang!
The sounds sounded far away yet close.
Rumble…
He was tired, fatigued, and felt utterly incompetent.
Clink!
Slowly blinking open his eyes, the boy saw flashing lights.
Rumble…
Panic raced through him the moment he looked around. He didn't know where he was nor did he understand anything he was seeing. The boy seemed to be in a metal box with nothing but blackness underneath him. His head hurt, his body felt weak, and his heart was racing. He didn't know anything. He couldn't remember anything.
"H-Hello…?!" the boy yelled in terror as he hastily stood up. However, the only response the boy got back was a low, gurthy grumble. It came from one of the smaller boxes surrounding him. The boy slowly inched closer to the box, but the only response he got back was- Bang! The boy topled back the moment that pig roared from within its cage. Standing back up, the boy looked up and started banging on the roof of the metal elevator. "HEY…! HEEEY! HELP ME!"
Red. Red lights suddenly illuminated the end of the tunnel. It looked like the boy was going to slam into those red lights, so he fell back down to the ground. However, the metal box stopped - it stopped right in front of those red lights. But then, the red lights became green and a loud alarm sounded through the space as well. Black. The green lights snapped off, and the boy was engulfed in blackness. In that second, the only sound he could hear was his fast, rigid breathing. The boy was so scared that he didn't even have the energy to yell for help again. He felt numb with fear.
Rumble! But just then, the blackness turned into white. The tunnel opened up, and with it came a blinding light and boyish laughter. Once the mystery boy's eyes had situated themselves to the light, he could see where the laughter was coming from: multiple other boys standing over him. Likewise, when the metal box was opened up by those same boys, he could start seeing their faces much better. He didn't have much time to stare, though, before one of the boys spoke up.
"Go get 'em."
BANG, BANG! With two perfect jumps, one of the boys jumped into the box with the newest boy. He got right up into the new boy's face, smiled the smallest of smiles, and said, "Day one, Greenie. Rise and shine."
The poor boy was then grabbed and pulled out of the metal box.
When Hope heard that alarm go off, her entire body froze in fear and shock. Even if it had been a full month, she remembered that sound perfectly. Frypan obviously heard it, too, because he and Hope shared a look immediately after it sounded through the Glade. They both dropped their half-done vegetables, ran out of the Kitchen, and sprinted toward where the Box was, Hugo following right behind them. They weren't the only ones running, either, since the entire Glade seemed to be doing the same as them. It was a sunny midday, barely any clouds in the sky; there were birds chirping, a soft breeze, and even the smell of flowers danced in the air. But all that tranquility washed away the second Hope heard that noise. Only last night had Hope promised Alby to protect those boys, and there was no way that she would break it. She would… do anything… to…
"Hahaha!" When Gally picked up and dropped off the newest Greenie onto the grassy-ground, however, Hope became glued to her spot. Even as the other boys teased their new prison mate, Hope couldn't seem to move. "Look at 'em!"
"He's so skinny!"
The boy lay on the ground.
"He looks like a Slopper to me!"
He looked terrified.
"Guess our girl was just a little accident after all!"
His eyes were such a dark, dark brown.
"Awe! He looks so scared!"
And there was this mole on the left side of his lips.
"I could use some help in the Kitchen!"
But Hope's staring-fit ended right when… the boy stood up.
"Hey…!" Zart shouted after the boy pushed through the other boys and abruptly started running away. "WE GOT A RUNNER!"
That was when Hope heard it.
"W-Why…"
That was when Hope heard a new voice in her head.
"Why is your life like this…?"
It wasn't the woman nor the girl.
"What makes you so special?"
It was…
"I… I wish…"
A boy's voice.
"I-I wish you'd just disappear!"
And that was when Hope's body moved on its own.
"Hope! Wait! No!"
Hope heard her friends' voices try to stop her, but nothing could stop her.
She ran after that boy with dark brown hair.
She ran after that boy with pale skin and a slim body.
She ran after the boy with long, fast legs.
She ran after the boy with a blue shirt and gray pants.
She ran… with tears falling down her cheeks.
"W-Wait…!" Hope somehow managed to yell at the boy. "Please, wa-! Oh crap!"
"Woof!" Even Hugo, who had been running beside Hope, let out a bark after seeing what had just happened. "Woof, woof!"
The boy had tripped and fell legs first into the ground; he had been running so fast that he even rolled across the grass the flowers a few times. Hope stopped as well, but tried not to listen to the other Gladers' laughter behind her. Instead, Hope watched as the boy took his face out of the dirt and looked around. Furthermore, the more the boy looked around, the more his face contorted in bafflement, confusion, and horror, especially when the boy stood up again and did a full one-eighty view of the place. This had been the first time that Hope had ever seen a boy experience this, and it was… worse than she could've ever imagined. But right when the boy turned in her direction and connected his eyes with Hope's, was when it was her turn for her heart to go crazy. Again.
"I-I wish you'd just disappear!"
Another tear fell down Hope's brown eye, causing the boy's eyes to go wide.
He looked her up, and he looked her down.
She had long brown hair in a ponytail.
Pale skin that sparkled in the sunlight.
Black cargo pants, a striped long-sleeved shirt.
And she… Those eyes of hers… made the boy…
"W-Who," the boy stuttered. "Who are- Hey!"
But the other boys were on him before he could finish. The Gladers ran up from behind Hope and surrounded the boy, capturing him in their grasps. Almost immediately they started yanking him away and pushing him, prompting the boy to shout and try to escape. But because there were so many more of them than him, the new boy didn't have much luck. He was being taken away without a single question, and Hope… Upon hearing his shouts of anger, snapped out of her trance and tried to help.
"H-Hey, wait!" she chimed in. "Why are you-?!"
"What do you think you're doing?!" Hope was stopped by an arm on her shoulder and Gally's voice. "Greenies are unpredictable, Hope! You can't just run after one and think that they… won't… hurt…" But Gally trailed off after he'd turned Hope around and saw her tear-streaked face. "H-Hey…"
"Hope?" Frypan appeared from behind Gally, who instantly walked up beside him once he saw Hope's state as well. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"I-I, uhm… It's…" Hope quickly tried to wipe away her tears, but annoyingly, only more flooded from her eyes. "I-I'm sorry, I… I don't know… This is… I'm not trying to…"
"Hope…" Newt's soothing voice sliced through Hope's anxious stammering. She looked over to her right and saw him standing there, worry swimming in his dark brown eyes. "Hope… Can I touch you?"
"C-Can you… what?" Hope asked, making Newt take a deep breath.
"Can I touch your face?"
"Y-You want to… Oh…" Hope mumbled in understanding after seeing Newt point a finger at his cheek. At first, her cheeks went red with embarrassment, but then she realized that… she wasn't able to reject him. The word 'no' simply couldn't come out, so Hope responded with the opposite. "I-If you really want to, um, sure…"
"Okay… Then, c'mere." Newt's two hands were on Hope's cheeks before she knew it. His hands were calloused and rough, yet they were also warm and comforting; as she looked into Newt's sincere eyes, Hope's cheeks reddened even more. More so, the way he was stroking underneath her eyes and holding her was… It made her heart go crazy. "You know I can't bloody handle it when you cry…"
"I-I'm sorry," Hope apologized. "I don't… I don't know why I'm crying…"
"You sure about that?" Newt inquired. "You seemed pretty certain when you were running after him."
"But that… th-that was after I heard…" Then, Hope's eyes widened. "Newt, I… I heard a boy's voice."
Newt raised an eyebrow. "You did? Was it… his voice?"
"I don't think so. It was a little boy's voice."
"What'd he say?"
"He said…" But Hope couldn't say it. She couldn't say those words out-loud, because even just thinking them made even more tears form in her brown eye. And seeing this happen to Hope caused Newt to immediately shake his head.
"O-Okay, I'm sorry! I won't ask that again! Please, Hope, I… Please, just… just don't cry…"
"I-I won't…" Hope said as a warm smile formed on her face. "See? You stopped them, Newt. No more tears."
Surprisingly yet not surprisingly, the moment Newt had placed his hand on Hope's cheeks, her tears had stopped falling. The "uncontrollable" tears simply… stopped. Even the ones that had just formed in her eyes wouldn't dare fall with Newt's hand there. The tears knew that they'd be stopped. That all of their sadness… would be washed away. And upon seeing this as well, Newt couldn't stop himself from smiling. "Yeah… That's good…"
"Uhhh." But all of a sudden, an accusatory voice cut through their conversation. "Are you suuure you two aren't dating?"
"And what the actual heck am I lookin' at right now?" Gally had also asked right after Fry. "It's making me wanna throw up… Oh my god, wait… Wait, it's happening… BLAH!"
"You two are the dumbest shanks here," Newt grumbled while he dropped his hands from Hope's strawberry-red face. "I was just being nice, that's it."
"Oh, 'nice,' you say?" Frypan smirked the evilest of smirks. "Then you wouldn't mind me being 'nice' too and… touching Hope like you just did?" That smirk turned into a laugh, however, when Newt's expression turned panicked and slightly angry. "Pffft! Your face! I can't, dude!"
Newt scoffed. "Bloody hell… Do you two ever shut up?"
"Do you ever not look like an idiot?" Gally asked, causing Newt to glare at him.
"Does your bald-head ever not look like a potato?"
"Now, now, boys! There's no need to fight!" Frypan said, making a spot for himself in between them and placing a hand on either of their shoulders. "And, if anythin'… Newt's a raw biscuit and Gally's a kernel of corn."
"FRY!" both Gally and Newt barked. "That's not helping!"
"And I don't look like a biscuit!" Newt added.
"And I don't look like a kernel or corn! …Or a potato!"
"Well," Frypan and Newt smiled, "gotta disagree with that one."
"Are you two really double-teaming me now?!"
Frypan and Newt shrugged. "Sort of."
"Oh, I'm gonna beat-!"
"Haha…" But then the three boys heard it: a soft giggle from beside them. They each snapped their heads over to see the source, and once they saw her, the three couldn't stop themselves from blushing. "Haha! Oh my goodness, you three! You never change, do you?!"
"Hey…" Gally deadpanned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I-I just mean that… Heh, well…" Hope took a deep breath to calm herself. "I get that you three have been doing this for a long time now, but it's refreshing to see how a new Greenie doesn't change anything. You three are still you, and without that, I think I'd be completely freaking out."
"You really shouldn't be worried, Hope," Frypan acknowledged. "The Greenbean will fit right in. Just like everyone else."
"Speaking of the Greenie, I should probably walk over to the Pit - Alby might need me for something," Newt stated and then gave Hope's hand a small squeeze. "But you be okay now, alright? No more cryin'."
Hope nodded almost immediately. "Y-Yeah, I'll try my best."
"Will you two slim it for once?" Gally snapped. "I don't wanna see anymore of your flirting."
"And I don't wanna hear anymore of your voice."
"And I don't wanna see anymore of your face."
"And I don'twanna-"
"C'mon, Hope!"
"W-Woah!" Hope yelped after Frypan had suddenly taken her other hand and started pulling her along. "F-Frypan, what're you-"
"Hurry! We need to get away from those idiots before they start fighting again!" Siggy jested while Gally and Newt were still standing there, completely confused. Still, Frypan just continued to pull Hope along, Hugo following behind them. "Ready make a huge feast for tonight, Hope?"
"Oh, right! I almost forgot about that!" Hope admitted, but she had an excited smile on her face. "I'm ready, though! I can't wait!"
"With you helping us," Frypan glanced back and smiled at her, "I bet it'll be the best feast we've ever made."
But little did Frypan know… that it'd be the last feast he'd ever have to make.
After Newt had seen Fry and Hope walk off, he decided to do the same. Leaving Gally with one more glare, Newt ran over to where he saw Alby leading around the newest Greenie. The Greenie still looked utterly confused, but his fear had obviously died-down a little; he followed Alby around with no hesitation, even taking a good look at everything around him. And if anything, the Greenie's eyes were more curious than confused. "Hey!" Newt called out to the Leader of the Glade. "You alright, Alby?!"
Similarly, upon seeing his second-in-command, Alby let out a merry laugh. "Haha! Greenbean, meet Newt. When I'm not around, he's in charge."
"Well, good thing you're always around then," Newt said as he shook the boy's hand. Then, once their hands disconnected, Newt couldn't stop himself from teasing a little. "Listen, that was some dash you made earlier. For a second I thought you had the chops to be a Runner… Until you face-planted. That was great."
"A…" The boy looked between the two curiously. "A 'Runner'?"
"...Yo, do me a favor?" Alby talked to Newt instead of answering his question. "Go find Chuck?"
Newt followed Alby's orders without question, walking between the two and going to find the young boy. However, Newt didn't leave without looking behind his shoulder at the Greenie. The Greenie, on the other hand, surprisingly did the same as Newt: they both glanced behind their shoulders and toward where the other was walking away. But unlike the Greenie, Newt sent the boy a sharp look. The boy didn't know what the look meant, yet it still sent a chill up his spine, so he looked away instantly. Even as Alby brought him to a tall wooden tower, the boy's mind was being bombarded with so many feelings. All at once, an extreme amount of information was being stabbed into his brain. And with that information came so many questions.
Nonetheless, once the boy had climbed to the top and looked over the Glade, his dark brown eyes caught hold of something that made all of his bewilderment… just wash away.
"O-Oh my gosh, Frypan!" the girl laughed while flour was being poofed into her face. "I'm gonna dump this entire thing on you if you don't stop!"
Unlike before, the girl had the largest of smiles on her face. She looked happy. Truly, undeniably happy. The boys standing around her looked just as happy, too. Her laugh, her smile, her voice made the boy feel strange, particularly since he had seen her cry only a few minutes ago. For some reason, those tears falling down her face made the boy feel guilty. But now that he had seen her smile as well, he… he felt… relieved.
"I'd be careful around that one." When Alby's voice interrupted his staring, though, the boy immediately turned back toward him to see a knowing smile on Alby's face. "She's a pretty dangerous girl."
"Really?" the boy asked, glancing back over at the innocently smiling girl. "She doesn't seem too dangerous to me."
"No, the girl herself is as harmless as they come," Alby acknowledged. "But the people who care about her, that's… that's who you should be worried about."
The boy showed Alby a weird look. "Why…?"
"Let's just say that she's a very important person around here. And if you hurt her… Well," Alby smirked, "your time here will be worse than anything you could ever imagine."
In response, the boy just gulped and looked back over at the girl. She looked the same as before, but for some reason, Newt's glare popped into his head. Was that why…? The boy thought to himself. Did he look at me like that because… I made her cry? But even as Alby continued his speech, the boy couldn't stop sneaking glances over at the girl. The boy wanted to know, more than anything, who she was.
A/N: Friendly reminder that I do NOT own 'Maze Runner' nor its characters! I only own my OC!