AN: I know this took twice as long as it should have, but I had all these bits and pieces that I didn't know how to put together until now. My deepest apologies, but I think this particular bout of writers block is done with. I've got the next chapter done, if I get enough reviews I might post it later this week. Sorry for the wait!
"Sam?"
I groaned and opened my eyes, then shrieked and scrambled back when I saw someone less than a foot away. Newt fell over and put his hands up defensively.
"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" He managed. "I'm sorry. It's just, I knocked and I called for you and you weren't waking up."
"It's okay." I sat up and shrugged. "I wasn't sleeping very well anyways."
"Are you alright?" He asked cautiously. "You don't...you don't feel any different or anything, do you?" I shook my head.
"Good, that's...that's good." He cleared his throat. "Er...breakfast?" He said hopefully. I nodded. He stood, then helped me up and we walked out of the Slammer. I put my hand on Newt's arm.
"Hey, what time is it?" I asked. Newt looked at his watch.
"Around 8:30, why?"
"I just wanted to know if I could see-"
Screaming pierced the air. In what was probably an overreaction, I instantly let go of Newt and clapped my hands over my ears. It was too loud. Much too loud. I could feel myself start to hyperventilate.
Refusing to move, he stood frozen with terror as the terrifying monster retracted into the box. Then he broke. The young boy fell and was crying on the ground, sobbing, his face hidden in his knees as he huddled against the wall.
"You mean a recording, don't you?" I asked, horrified.
"Unfortunately no. I think it's best he goes through this again."
The boy raised his head. Minho looked through the glass, tears streaming down his face.
Sam
Sam
"Sam!" Newt was staring at me, deeply concerned. His hands were on my shoulders. Gingerly, he reached up and brought my hands away from my ears. I stared back at him. I felt myself working to calm down and regain control of my breathing. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
"He's stopped." Newt told me. "Do...Do you want to go lie down?" I shook my head. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Newt looked worried.
"One of the Runners must've gotten stung." He said gravely. It was only 8:30, they can't have gone far. There was a Griever this close to the entrance? He started towards the MedJack tent and I followed him. He looked back at me.
"Maybe you shouldn't..." Newt started, then saw my expression. "Alright, fine. Just so you know who it is. After that you shouldn't be in there."
"Oh, but you can be in there?"I responded. Newt smirked.
"Well, love, I happen to be second in command." He straightened. "So as a matter of fact, yes. I can do what I like." I raised an eyebrow.
"That's not a real job."
"It is! And it's true!" He defended. A strange expression flashed across his face, but it was gone in an instant. I looked at him. "Oh, come on then. Let's get it over with." He took my hand and all but dragged me to the tent. Even though he was a bit slower now with his limp, which he still hasn't talked to me about, I was still a bit weak and his legs were still longer than mine. Not to mention I just woke up.
We entered the tent to find people bunched around someone on one of the cots. Clint. Jeff. Alby. Minho. I breathed a sigh of relief. Minho was okay. Newt and I walked up to them, joining the small crowd. As we got closer, I saw who it was. And I saw Gally holding him down as he thrashed around on the cot, his movements becoming slower and sluggish until the serum took effect and he finally passed out. I felt sick.
"Right, you know who it is, I don't want you in here any longer than you should be. You're starting to look a little pale, love. I knew this was a bad idea. Let's get you some air." Newt put his hands on my shoulders and started to lead me out.
"You heard him, huh?" Minho, hearing Newt's voice, turned. "Poor Benny's gonna be-" he froze, suddenly realizing I was standing next to Newt. Grinning, he practically jumped me and tackled me in a hug. Unprepared, I stumbled and fell backwards. Both of us fell over. Minho landed on top of me. He pushed himself up so he didn't hurt me.
"I'm sorry!" He apologized. "I just missed you a lot, I didn't think you would fall over."
"G-Get o-off me." I groaned. Caught off guard, Minho lost his bearings and fell on top of me. I coughed. Despite him being a small child at heart, it felt like a small elephant was sitting on my chest.
"All right, that's enough. Get off her." Newt says tersely. Minho rolled off me, then stood and helped me up. I brushed my jeans off.
"You can talk now?" Minho grinned. I nodded. "Awesome!" He looked at Newt. "Sorry, man."
"Look, she hasn't eaten breakfast so we should-"
"Hey, have you met the new Greenie yet?" Minho asked. "Cause I heard you got thrown in the Slammer yesterday and I wanted to go see you but then Chuck wanted to tag along and I didn't want to come at you with a bunch of people and the new kid was totally losing his-"
"Breathe, shank." Newt said. Minho looked at him and took a slow, deliberate breath.
"We're going for breakfast, are you coming?" Newt asked.
"Duh." He said. "Second breakfast is the second most important meal of the day."
With a final glance back at Ben and the others, we walked towards the Homestead. We were about to walk through when someone practically ran into us.
"Oh, sorry man." The Greenie ran a hand through his dark hair. Then stumbled forward as someone else ran into him.
"Sam!" Chuck hugged me, moving past the Greenie. I grinned, ruffling his hair. He pulled back and gave a little frown.
"I know you're up and around and stuff but that's still not cool." He grumbled. I laughed. He looked like a kid pouting because their toy got taken away. I looked up at the new kid. He was staring at me, but it was different. He seemed...curious. Newt cleared his throat.
"Sam, this is Thomas. Thomas...Sam." Newt looked at me, smiling. I waved at the Greeenie.
"Hi, I'm Thomas." He said. Thomas held out his hand and I took it
...
"We're here, aren't we?" He mumbled. I glared at him, then crossed my arms, leaning against the wall. Thomas leaned towards me.
"Thomas, I love you, you're the best person in the world." He said quietly in an oddly high pitched voice. I frowned.
"You're mocking me." I signed.
"Hey, that impression's spot on." He defended. I smiled slightly. Thomas nudged me. "See, there it is."
...
"Sam?" Newt waved a hand in front of my face. I blinked. I must've zoned out for a second. I looked down and immediately let go of Thomas' hand, embarrassed.
"Sorry." Thomas looked at me.
"Is...is she deaf?" He asked.
"Actually-" Newt started.
"No, hey, wait. I think I got this." He looked at me.
"Umm...Hi. My name is T-h-o-m-a-s." He signed. Incredibly slowly, to be fair, like he was struggling to remember the right words. And spoke, but that wasn't the important part. Newt and I stared at him. What I had seen during the Changing...It could've been real. Because I knew his face. But it didn't make sense. What I had seen before, through all of it, were they real memories?
"What, did I do it wrong? Oh, uh, sorry." He said.
"No, no, you were fine it's just..." Newt trailed off. Alright, time to see how much he knew.
"I'm not deaf, I'm mute. Or at least, I was. I can sort of talk, I just stutter a lot and it's really hard so I kind of prefer to just...sign. When it's longer. I'm still working on it." I managed, signing the entire thing to see if he understood. His eyebrows had furrowed in concentration while I spoke.
"Oh, okay." Thomas said. Newt frowned.
"You...you got all that?" Newt clarified. Thomas nodded.
"Yeah." Then he raised an eyebrow. "You got all of that too?"
"Yes." Newt said coldly. I frowned.
"We should get some breakfast." I told Thomas. "See you around."
Newt and I started to walk to our table. We sat down, then I nudged him so he would look at me.
"Yeah?" He sighed.
"What was that about?"I asked, confused. "You were acting kinda weird." He pursed his lips and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"I just...I don't really trust him, is all." He muttered. I raised an eyebrow.
"You just met him yesterday. I'm sure it's fine." I said. Newt sighed.
"It's not him, I...well, it is him, it's just that he..." Newt trailed off, digging his hands further into his pockets. I raised an eyebrow.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No." He decided. "Nothing."