Joanne's second day in the Glade started with a freight as she jolted upwards from her less than pleasant dream. It was just a dream, your alright, its just a dream. She kept repeating in her head but she dare not open her eyes. She knew when she did that it wouldn't be a dream, she was still there. She was still suck in that place. Her hands shook violently as she finally opened up her eyes to survey around the room. The crushing weight of reality lay heavy on her chest.

It was now as she looked around the room that she realised just how many people were here. They all slept peacefully, or seemed to at the very least. Her eyes dropped as she wiped her clammy hands on her raggedy old blanket and fought to control the air that came in and out of her lungs. Although she felt the urge to cry again, she'd decided that she wouldn't. One night of crying was enough. This person that was here and controlling her body, it wasn't her. Joanne knew nothing about herself, but she felt that she wasn't like this. She wasn't this scared and cold person. She didn't like this person…. she just wasn't sure how to shake her fake identity.

She became so lost in her thoughts with the rhythmatic movement of her hands against the blanket, that she didn't noticed the presence next to her. It wasn't until she felt a light tap on her shoulder that she acknowledged the other person.

Not to her surprise, it was Newt who was crouched down beside her. His blue eye shown in the morning light as a half smile danced across his lips.

"wanna get something to eat?"

Her eyes found his own in a moment of shock, but she couldn't help a slight smile that pulled at the corners of her lips. Something to eat sounded pretty good right about now. She wished she actually eaten that apple Newt gave her last night because now her insides felt like there were engulfing each other in a desperate attempt to keep there strength.

Joanne nodded, "that sounds good"

"good that!" Newt replied grabbing her arms and pulling her to her feet. "Lets have breakfast then after ill show you around the Glade"

Joanne shrugged, but nodded. It sounded like a good plan to her, maybe she'd even get told more today; or would have to opportunity to pry more out of Newt or Alby now that her mind had cleared.

Like the night before, Joanne waited on the grass outside of the building as Newt went in to grab something. She stared up at the sky and marvelled at how nice the day was, the sun shinning bright, not a cloud in sight.

It wasn't long before Newt was sitting next to her again, both of them biting into a sandwich. Joanne finally decided to ask a question. Every time someone had passed them or stopped to chat to Newt, they'd stared at her like she was some foreign object. It made her uncomfortable to say the least.

"Newt?" She said, making sure to swallow what was in her mouth before looking at the boy.

"Yes love?" He replied, and she blushed lightly.

Fazed only for a second, she continued on with her first question of the day, "Why does everyone stare at me?"

Newt looked at her quickly, "well, you are a Greenie"

Joanne was puzzled, her eyebrows knit together. Greenie? She was sure that she'd heard Newt or Alby say that once before, but she was unsure of what it meant exactly.

"There you go using that word again, Greenie…What does it mean?"

Newt shrugged, finishing the last of his food, "It's what we call the newbie's to the Glade."

"that makes sense…I guess" Joanne replied, more to herself then Newt.

"It could also be 'cause you're the first girl anyone here's seen in months"

It was only then that she pieced together what he said and what she had seen. Out of all the people she'd seen passing by, she hadn't seen one other girl.

"Shall we start the tour then" Newt said changing the subject before it could become more in depth, getting to his feet.

"sounds good" Joanne said following suit.

Newt looked at her, a smile lighting up his face, "you mean 'good that'."

Joanne raised an eyebrow and repeated it, making the words familiar to her tongue. "good that"

"Thats it, your starting to sound like a Glader already!" Newt threw his arm around Joanne's shoulders as the two walked towards one of the walls around the Glade.

"Is that like a part of my initiation into the Glade?" Joanne teased "I have to learn Glader slang?"

Newt chuckled, which made Joanne smile. Not a little half smile full of worry, but a real smile, making her feel at ease. She was beginning to feel better about being here already, her fear beginning to disappear.

Newt must have caught on, "you should do that more often"

"huh?" Joanne looked up at him, getting lost in those blue eyes again. His arm had dropped back to his side at some point well they were walking.

"Smiling.." Newt stopped right in front of one of the doors to the Maze, "It looks good on you"

Before Joanne could do anything but blush, Alby joined them.

"Joanne, How ya settlin' in?" he came up to stand next to a still grinning Newt.

Joanne nodded, "better than yesterday"

"it'll get better with time" With that he turned to Newt "there's a gathering tonight, I need you there"

Newt nodded and Joanne couldn't help herself. "What's a gathering?"

Newt winced, a warning that she shouldn't have asked. Alby rounded on her like a wild dog, he didn't say anything, didn't need to. His stare was enough to burn holes threw Joanne's skin.

"never mind" she mumbled and looked away.

It was only now that she stood directly next to the Maze walls that she realized how truly tall and menacing they were.

Alby turned back to Newt, "show her around, she starts working tomorrow and your back running"

"good that"

With that Alby was gone and he left a sea of questions in his wake. work? she could only wonder what kind of work there would be. The bigger question to her however was what Alby had said to Newt, Back running? What does that mean?

Joanne didn't hesitate to ask Newt once Alby was out of hearing range. "What did he mean, 'your back running'?"

Newt smile mysteriously, "Im not suppose to be telling you anything yet Greenie"

There was a gleam to his eyes.

"Do you remember what I told you last night about the Maze?"

Joanne nodded, listening intently to what he had to say.

"we send out runners into the Maze every morning to try and find a way out." Newt continued walking along the wall and Joanne followed. His hands were shoved into his pockets. "well, that's what I do…I am runner"

Thank you all for reading and for the supportive comments! It's really appreciated and like always, if you have anything to say about the story (whether it be something you like about the story, something you dont, or just ideas or questions) please feel free to let me know :) A special thank you to Jaegger and Morgenstern18 for the reviews on the last chapter! It really does help to get those little encouragements that someone is reading!

A couple of things that I would like to say about the story itself! So, basically ive decided that I would like to have a new chapter for Exist Strategy out every Friday from this point on. I ill try may hardest to stay true to this, as long as there continues to be this positive feedback from you wonderful people, that shouldnt be too difficult to do :D Also, I guess that second thing I want to say is, this chapter is going to be a bit of a slower one then the others that will be released! and for that, I do apologize, however I hope that you all still enjoy it. I'm new to this, so I guess what im trying to get at is that, I don't know what works and what doesnt yet, so this is just kinda a trial and error thing! If you dont like it or if you find its not working, let me know and ill pick up the pace more.

Anyways,

Until next time :)

I don't own anything from the Maze Runner except for my character Joanne.