Chapter four
Year 3, Day 1, 11:28 A.M.
"Don't pout love, now we match." Newt laughed at Claire. She'd managed to sprain her ankle racing Minho to the cafeteria the other day, and Jeff and Clint had her on crutches until tomorrow. She'd been stuck in the Glade all day, and it was driving her crazy.
"Slim it, Newt." Claire huffed, making him laugh.
"You're cute when you're mad." Newt chuckled.
"Then I'm about to be shucking adorable."
"You already are, love." Newt grinned boyishly, kissing her hair. She broke into a smile, leaning against him as they peeled potatoes. Suddenly, the Greenie alarm blared loudly and Newt helped her stand. "Lets go get the new Greenie." He suggested.
"Alright." Claire agreed. Newt kept pace with her as they walked to the box, a crowd of Gladers already surrounding it. They stood next to Alby as two boys yanked the top open
and Gally jumped inside to grab the new kid.
"Day one Greenie. Rise and shine." He said before tossing the boy out of the box.
"At least he's our age, I was worried they'd send up another kid." Claire commented.
"Chuckies done pretty well."
"He's a kid. He shouldn't be here."
"Fair point." Newt agreed, as they pushed through the crowd jeering at the boy. Before they could reach him, he got to his feet and started running. He tripped soon enough and landed on his face. Claire rolled her eyes fondly as the Gladers clapped and laughed and followed Newt and Alby towards the boy, who was on his feet again and staring at the walls around them.
"Alright kid, you need to calm down." Alby called as they got closer. The Greenie whipped around to face them, backing away distrustfully, but pausing when he locked identical blue eyes with Claire.
"Clara?" He choked out, making them all freeze. "Clara!" He surged forward suddenly, grabbing her arms. "We have to go, we have to go-" Newt and Alby yanked him away from her, passing him off to another Glader, yelling to put him in the pit. Clara didn't move, not taking her eyes off of the boy's vivid blue eyes, identical to her own. "Clara!" He yelled as they dragged him away.
"Claire. What the shuck was that?" Alby demanded.
"I-I don't know. How did he know my name?" Claire murmured, staring after the boy.
"Claire, love look at me. Do you know him?" Newt asked urgently.
"I- I don't know who he is. He just seems so… familiar. Like- I have no idea who he is but… I missed him." The boys stared at her for a second before Alby shook his head.
"Okay, we need to find out what all he remembers, he could be our ticket out of here. You two can figure out why you're missing another guy later." Alby said, walking towards the pit. Claire rolled her eyes but Newt looked slightly worried.
"You're not worried about that, are you?"
"It's kind of hard not to be, love." Newt said sheepishly.
"Hey." Claire pulled him to face her and stood on her toes, kissing him slowly. "I love you. That's never gonna change. When I said I missed him, it's like when I miss Alby of Minho. Like family. Alright?" Claire asked.
"Alright." Newt said with a small, crooked smile, tucking some loose hair out of her face.
"Oi, lovebirds! Lets go!" Alby yelled when he realised they'd stopped. With one last grin, Claire turned to hobble after Ably, Newt walking with her. They joined Alby outside the pit, out of the greenies sightline but still able to see him. "You absolutely sure you don't know him, Claire?"
"Honestly he seems really familiar, but I have no idea who the guy is." Alby sighed heavily and nodded, walking towards the pit, where the Greenie was peaking out at the Glade.
"Hey, hey there Green Bean." Alby greeted while the boy stumbled backwards against the wall. "My name is Alby, this is Newt and Clara. Can you tell me anything about yourself, who you are, where you came from?" The boy shook his head repeatedly, clearly struggling. "Can you tell me your name?"
"N-No. No I cant- I can't remember anything. Wh- Why can't I remember anything?"
"Okay, okay relax. How do you know Claire?"
"I don't remember-"
"How'd you know her name?"
"I don't know!"
"You don't know?"
"I just- all I know is her name's Clara and she's important. She's sick." The boy said, making Claire's eyebrows furrow.
"She's sick?"
"She's dying, we have to get her out of here, we have to-"
"Hey, it's okay." Claire interrupted. For whatever reason, she couldn't stand seeing him so scared. "I'm okay, I'm not sick."
"No- we have to get out-" The boy gasped.
"Hey, we wanna get out. Do you know how?" The boy shook his head. "Do you know why we're here, or where we are? Who put us here?"
"I don't- I don't remember, why can't I remember? I can't-" The boy gasped, taking quick, panicked breaths. Claire shared a look with Newt and Alby, backing up and leaving the boy to his quiet muttering so they could talk.
"What do we do?" Newt asked seriously.
"What can we do, other than knowing you, he doesn't remember anything that can help us."
"How does he remember me?"
"I don't know." Alby sighed.
"He does kind of look like you love. Maybe your sibling, like Willaim and Charlie." Newt suggested. Will had woken up with the rest of them three years ago and Charlie came up a few months after. Both boys looked extremely alike, with their wild red hair, freckles and bright blue eyes and they'd eventually realised they were brothers.
"It's hard to tell, Will and Charlie were almost identical, the Greenie and I aren't."
"I know, but something about him reminds me of you." Newt insisted and they all looked back at the panicked boy. They weren't that similar beyond their matching aquamarine eyes and facial structure, the greemies hair was a few shades darker than her own long hair, and he was almost a foot taller. She was tanner from her time in the Glade and he was pale and had several moles splattered around his skin.
"There's no way to know for sure. For now we'll treat him like any other Greenie, hopefully he'll remember more soon. We'll call a Keeper Meeting tonight." Alby said, making them nod. "Now let's get the Greenie sorted." He sighed, turning back towards the pit, striding forwards to unlock the top. "Hey Greenie, I'm gonna let you out, but you're not gonna run again, yeah?" The boy didn't respond but Alby nodded to himself, opening the gate and kneeling in the entrance.
"Why can't I remember anything?"
"Hey, relax. It happens to all of us, you'll get your name back in a day or two. It's the one thing they let us keep."
"They?"
"Whoever put us here."
"Where is here?"
"The Glade." The kid stared at them and Alby offered him a hand. "Lemme show you." Alby hauled the kid out of the pit and he looked around, watching the Gladers at work. "Wee we sleep here, we grow our own food, we make our own shelter. Whatever we need, the box provides. The rest is up to us. " Alby explained.
"The box?" The kid asked.
"Yeah, it comes up once a month with fresh supplies and a new Greenie. This month it's you. Congratulations." Alby said with a somewhat mocking smile.
"Sent up, by who though? Who put us here."
"We don't know." Claire spoke for the first time, leaning against Newt. The Greenie stared at them quietly.
"This is Newt and Claire, when I'm not around Newts in charge." Alby explained as Newt shook the kids hand.
"It's a good thing you're always around then." Newt laughed. "Listen, that was some dash you made earlier. For a second I thought you had the chops to be a runner, til you face planted. Though that's nothing new." Newt grinned down at Claire, who stuck her tongue out as Alby chuckled.
"A runner?" Alby ignored the kid, turning to his friends.
"Do me a favor, go find Chuck."
"Alright." Newt nodded, placing a hand on the small of Claire's back to lead her away. They tracked down Chuck, a slightly chubby but sweet twelve year old, and sent him to see Alby, before returning to helping Frypan in the kitchen. They finished peeling potatoes and FryPan shooed them both out of his kitchen when they started tossing the peels at each other, then at him. After Fry successfully kicked them out, Claire and Newt were on their way to the Med Jacks to get her ankle check, but paused when they heard Gally yelling. Claire turned and cursed, seeing the new kid trying to get passed Gally, get closer to the door. They took off running towards them, Claire slowed down a bit by her crutches and arrived with a small crowd of Gladers.
"-Woah, woah, take it easy, just relax." Gally warned the agitated kid, hands raised in surrender but still blocking the door. The dark haired boy turned when they approached and scowled.
"Hey, what the hell is wrong with you guys!"
"Hey, just calm down, alright." Newt tried, stepping forward, but the Greenie stepped back, gesturing at the maze.
"No, okay, why wont you tell me what's out there?"
"We're just trying to protect you man." Alby warned.
"It's for your own good."Claire tried, stepping forward but pausing when the kid stormed towards them.
"You can't just keep me here!"
"We can't let you leave!" Alby said.
"Why not!" The kid snapped, but paused when the walls made a deafening boom, cogs and gears coming to life and squealing loudly as the giant metal walls started to close. As they did, a strong wind blew out of the maze and Claire tensed, heading the distant chittering of a Griever. The greenie started, jaw dropped as the massive doors slammed shut and Gally scoffed at the boy.
"Next time, I'm gonna let you leave." Gally warned, turning to return to his builders, but Claire caught his arm.
"Thanks Gally." Gally nodded at her, glancing over her shoulder at the shellshocked Greenine, before leaning down a bit.
"Be careful with that one, Claire." He whispered. Claire's eyebrows furrowed.
"Why?"
"There's something about him that I don't trust. He seems, familiar somehow." They both turned to look as Alby approached the kid. "Just be careful."