The pain in her head grew stronger as a wave of questions attacked herbrain. What do they mean by, The Glade? Where am I? what the heck is even going on?!
She decided that before her head exploded with all the incoming uncertainty that it would be best for her to start asking questions. She opened with the first one that came to mind.
"What do you mean? the Glade? I-I don't understand…" Joanne's eyebrow raised, she was surprised at how calm she sounded, considering the mental breakdown that was going on in her mind. "and why can't I remember anything!?"
"No questions. I'll tell ya what ya need to know, when you need to know it" The leader took a step forward, crossing his arms, "Names Alby"
Joanne felt a pang of annoyance hit her, no questions? What do you mean, no question?
"Don't worry, you'll get used to everything eventually. Every Greenie has gone threw the same as you" The attractive blonde added, before sticking his hand out for Joanne to shake it, "My names Newt, by the way"
Joanne stared blankly at the two, her mouth dropping open slightly. Newt must have realised that she wasn't going to shake his hand because he slowly pulled it away.
"I'm sorry" she said raising her hand slightly this was directed towards Alby, "but are you mental?! what do you mean, no questions? of coarse I'm going to ask questions! I just got dropped in the middle of nowhere and I don't remember anything but my name. Your really not going to at least answer one of my questions?"
The boy, named Alby, took another step closer to her his arms still crossed and jaw tight as he spoke. "Ya, that's right greenie. You gotta problem with that?"
All her previous courage suddenly left her all at once, although she wouldn't let it show. Maybe it was the realisation that what she was doing wasn't the smartest thing, Or perhaps it was the fact that she didn't know why she had said anything in the first place. Her mind raced even faster, How can I not know anything about who I am?!
Joanne attempted to look nonchalant about the whole conversation and looked to the giant wall to her right. She need to get her head back because right now all she felt like doing to yelling and screaming at them both to answer her questions.
Sucking in a deep breath of air she turned back to them, Newt carried a concerned look across his face and Alby still wore the annoyed snarl that Joanne was quickly learning to hate, "so, now what…"
"we'll get someone to show you around, get ya settled, and then in the morning we'll 'ave one of these shanks show you the ropes" Alby said giving a slight glance to the crowd of boys around them. The group had been quiet for the most part, sometimes Joanne could hear whispers but was unable to make sense of any of them.
Joanne realised that she had no choice but to listen to them from this point on. Being hostel wouldn't get her anywhere. However, she couldn't deny that, not too far below her tough exterior, she was absolutely terrified of the whole situation. Who in their right mind wouldn't be, she had no idea if she could trust them and yet she seemed to have no choice but to do just that. More terrifyingly perhaps, was that she didn't know if she could trust herself...
From somewhere she heard a male voice call out, "I'll show her around."
Although Joanne was unable to see who had said that, she felt extremely uncomfortable about the idea. It may have been the tone he used or the way that he had said it, but she felt her spine tighten.
Another voice followed after that, "Nah, I already told you lot, I got dips on the girl"
Joanne's eyebrows knit together, she felt as if she was being auctioned off. Like she was item rather than a person. Her eyes darted around the Glade, they couldn't be serious.
Newt must have caught on to her distress because he spoke up, "Maybe it would be best if I showed her around"
He had said it loud enough for everyone to hear, and even though it was meant in a questioning way, no one dared question him. Joanne's eyes fell back on the blonde. A kind smile danced across his lips and somehow it made her feel a little more at ease.
"You wouldn't mind, would you?" This on the other hand was a question. He gave her the full choice of if he was to show her around or not. She liked this guy already, him and Alby, even though he was harsh, seemed to be the only two so far not to treat her as a item.
Joanne nodded slightly, "I think that would be best"
Alby stared at Newt for a long while before nodding his head once. He then turned to address the crowd, "Get back to work, give the girl some room to breathe."
Groans could be heard from the crowd as they dispersed, going back to whatever they'd been doing before Joanne had arrived. Joanne mind was beginning to spin. Alby whispered something to Newt, it was just out of her ears reach. By the look that Newt gave his leader, she desperately wanted to know what he had said. She couldn't imagine it was anything good.
Recovering from whatever he'd been told, Newt looked back to Joanne, "come on"
Joanne simply nodded and followed a few steps behind Newt like a faithful dog. The shock was really beginning to take its toll.
"Are you hungry?" Newt asked almost as soon as they began walking
He looked back at her, his eyes gleaming with kindness and genuine concern. In that moment Joanne came to the conclusion that if there was one person she would trust here, it would be Newt. He had a good vibe to him and she figured she was going to need a friend in this place.
"No, not really…" she told the truth
"You will be once the shock wears off," The two had stopped in front of one of the buildings. She could see now that it was most likely built by the boys, as it was haphazardly thrown together in some places. It was still impressive however. "here…wait here a second and ill see if I cant get you something to eat"
Without another word Newt wandered off into the building, leaving Joanne outside. Turning on here heel she looked up at the darkening sky above her. It was all so strange. It was almost like a dream, one that she expected to wake up at any time now and continue on with her normal life.
Joanne wasn't left very long to her own thoughts. Newt remerged from the building shortly, holding a apple in each hand. He walked back over to her and held out one of the apples for her to take.
"thank you" Joanne said softly, taking the apple even though the idea of eating made her feel sick to the stomach at the moment.
Newt smiled at her again and she became transfixed on it. The smile looked so natural and good on his face, and yet in the whole scheme of things, the situation they were in, it simply seemed wrong.
"you still with me?" Joanne realised that she must've spaced out because when she came to, Newt was waving his hand in front of her.
"oh, ya" Joanne said, feeling uncomfortable again.
"why don't we sit for a minute?" Newt said it, although he was pretty much on the ground once he'd finished the sentence. It didn't give her much other choice, not that she new another one to be taken. Newt patted the ground next to him as an invitation for her to take a seat beside him, before biting into the other apple.
After standing awkwardly for a few seconds, Joanne finally took a seat next to the blonde. She fumbled with the apple, turning it over in her hands as she stared off into the distance. From where they were, she'd been given a pretty good look at the walls that surrounded them. There was a opening to the cement around them, but it didn't look like it lead to anything.
"What exactly is out there" Joanne asked, although there was a waver to her question. Almost like she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
Newt turned his head to look at her and this time she dared to look him in his blue eyes. He watched her for what seemed like a long time and then swallowed what he was chewing before answering with a sigh.
"Beyond those walls is a maze…" He looked back to the open space in the maze. "We send Runners out every morning, to try and find a way out"
"And you've never found anything" Newt shook his head and then looked back to Joanne with another smile.
"I'm not suppose to be telling you anything though"
Just when Joanne had thought that she was getting somewhere with someone, all the doors were shut and dead bolted and she was locked out again. Damn, so close to finding something out….
Suddenly a ear piercing sound of metal forcefully grinding against other metal filled the air. It was loud enough that it required Joanne to cover her ears with her hands. Her heart beating fast, she dared to ask, but there was panic to her voice. "What Is that?!"
"it's the Maze, love" he said simply and then pointed towards the opening in the wall.
Joanne followed his finger until her eyes fell upon what he was pointing at. Her eyes widened. That couldn't be? How?
The walls were moving….
Closing to be exact. The spot that had once been an opening in the maze was now getting increasingly smaller as a giant gate began to close separating the two sides from each other.
"Those doors open and close at the same time every day" Newt continued, the gap between the walls getting increasingly smaller.
They two watched in silence after that, until the doors completely shut. Eventually Newt mentioned that they should probably head to the homestead to get some shut eye. Joanne agreed, feeling a overwhelming swell of exhaustion and followed him.
However it wasn't until she laid her head down to sleep that everything finally hit her and she became further from sleep then the moon was to Earth. Silent tears slowly slipped down here cheek as everything in her suddenly came crashing down, compressing her in every way.
Little did she know that Newt lay not to far from her. A frown spread across his face and a pain grew in his heart as he watched the young girl cry herself to sleep.
Again, thank you all for reading :) I really appreciate it and hope that you are enjoying the story so far! If you have anything to say or ideas for the story, please feel free to message me or leave a review. Any feedback is great! On that note, a special thanks to Jaegger and Mrs.1DJessup for leaving some lovely reviews on the last chapter and giving some inspiration to put Exist Strategy at the front of my things to do. Until next chapter, cheers.
I don't own The Maze Runner or any of the characters no matter how much I wish that I did. The only character that is mine is the OC, Joanne.