Now beta'd by the incredible fixusi! :*

By the way, Leo's name comes from Leonardo Da Vinci, as ProngsPotter22 successfully guessed ;)

Also, I'd like to thank you all so much for reviewing and favoriting/following my story. You have no idea how much it means to me. (or if you're a writer youself, you do have an idea, actually)

And I must add that I just loved writing this chapter. It's a little bit longer than the first two chapters (whoopz) but I'm sure you don't mind!

I own nothing.

CHAPTER 3

We are among the first ones to reach the Box. Everyone's having the same confused, dumbfounded expression on their faces.

"Newt, what's happening?" Chuck, who has gotten there before us, squeaks, and others turn to look at Newt, too. The fact that Newt's second-in-command apparently makes everyone think he has all the answers. He shrugs, and the siren slowly grows silent, letting us know the elevator has arrived.

"I don't know any more than you shanks," he answers, and steps forward. "Tommy, Gally, help me with the doors," he continues. By 'doors' he means the giant, door-like hatches that cover the elevator hole.

I hurry to the other hatch as Gally, who has just arrived, reaches for the other. We grab them at the same time and lift them up, revealing what's inside the Box to everyone else. It's so heavy that I have to struggle to get it fully open, but I manage, and then the hole is wide open.

"What is it?" Chuck asks, although he's already making his way closer to see inside. Newt has already crouched next to the hole, and he's staring into the Box with a blank expression.

"It's…it's a new greenie," he answers, sounding utterly confused. "And it's, uhm…I think it's a girl."

The reveal makes us all speechless. Getting a new greenie this early is already weird, but getting a girl-greenie? That's just insane. There are no girls in the Glade, and according to Newt, there has never been.

Why now?

I rush to Newt's side and stare into the hole. It's definitely a girl, her long, black hair covering some of her face. I don't remember the girls I've met before my memory got erased, but I can tell she's very pretty.

Newt jumps down to the bottom of the Box, and kneels next to the girl.

"Why is she lying down? Is she –" one of the Track-hoes, Archie, starts, but doesn't finish the question that's burning in all of our thoughts. Newt reaches towards the girl's neck, probably to check her pulse, but suddenly she jolts awake, giving us all a shock. Newt immediately backs off, but she doesn't attack him or anything, she just lies in the bottom of the Box and lets her gaze wander on all of our faces.

To my horror, the gaze stops when it reaches me, and the only thing she mumbles before she passes out is "Thomas".

I stare at her long after she's lost her consciousness, my mouth hanging fully open, and it's then when I realize everyone's staring at me.

Great.

She just had to randomly wake up and make me look incredibly suspicious by calling my name like that. Totally logical.

Then Newt looks up from where he's still crouching beside the girl.

"Tommy– do you know her?" And I'm digging my memories as I'm staring at Newt, trying to find any kind of recognition from my brains, but I can't find anything.

I can't help feeling relieved.

"No," I shake my head, "not that I remember, anyway."

"You sure? 'Cause she definitely seems to know you."

"I'm sure," I answer, and I am sure. Nothing about her seems familiar to me – although I must confess that her recognizing me does raise uncomfortable questions.

Newt nods, and asks Gally to hop down and help him with the girl. Some of us get closer to the edge as others stay gathered around the Box, and with mine, Ben's and Archie's help they actually manage to get her out of the elevator. We put her on the ground, and that's when Archie notices that her hand is tightly curled over something. He gently opens the grip and reveals a small piece of paper.

"What is it?" Gally impatiently demands to know, and Archie stares at the paper long enough to make Gally tired of waiting. Without asking he snatches the piece of paper from Archie's hands and reads out loud the short writing.

"She's the last one ever."

And that must be the quietest moment in the Glade so far.

Newt finally takes the paper and eyes it suspiciously, as if Gally might've misunderstood a letter or two. His furrowed brows and the way his lips are pressed tightly together are enough to tell us Gally read it perfectly right.

"Wha– what does that mean?"

"Yeah, like the last greenie ever or the last time the Box comes up?"

"But how could we survive without the supplies?"

The atmosphere explodes with questions and panicked voices, and I notice Newt pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes shut, before yelling: "Would you bloody shut up?"

The hustle calms down a little, everyone, including me, staring at Newt. He licks his lips nervously, trying to find the right words.

"I think we should just bloody calm down and think about this for a minute before jumping into hasty conclusions, okay?" Everyone seems to agree with the second-in-command – or maybe it's just pure respect – and Newt nods to himself. "Okay, so here's what's gonna happen. Chuck, go get a hammock – easier to carry her to Homestead with it," he continues, barely getting the words out of his mouth when Chuck's already running towards the Homestead.

Then Newt turns to look at me. "Ben, Tommy – you carry her to Homestead when Chuck comes back with the hammock, okay?" I nod, and Ben grunts something agreeing on my right side.

"Archie, go find Jeff or Clint, and you," he points at a Glader I don't recognize, "make sure the doors get closed, in case the Box could still go down. I'm gonna go find our shucking fearless leader and ask him how in bloody hell he managed to not hear the shucking siren. And show him the paper," Newt adds with an unpleased expression on his face, obviously pissed that Alby hasn't appeared to the scene. With that being said he turns around and disappears to look for him.

Archie hurries to go find one of the med-jacks while Ben, Gally and I are left to do nothing until Chuck comes back, so we just stare at the girl. I have an uncomfortable, nagging feeling on the pit of my stomach, and I have no idea why.

But I do know something about the girl's making me nervous as hell.

Suddenly Chuck arrives running, a hammock on his hands. We don't speak as we put the hammock on the ground and lift the black-haired girl to lie on it instead. Ben goes to grab it from the front, and I stay on the back. Together we lift her up, and start carrying her towards the Homestead, leaving Gally and Chuck behind.

At first we stay quiet and I'm facing the back of Ben's skull, but then he turns his head to stare at me.

I'm shocked of the murderous look that he sends me.

"Don't think I'll forget how she called your name when she woke up," he growls, glaring at me furiously. "The moment I saw you I knew there was something wrong with you."

"What? There's nothing wrong with me!" I deny, totally confused by his sudden act. I knew Ben wasn't exactly fond of me, looking a little annoyed every time he got to the same place with me, but he hasn't been this hostile until now.

"Right, sure, why wouldn't I believe you?" He gives an evil laugh, and I get chills when I look into his dead eyes. "I know you're hiding something, and I'm gonna find out what. Sooner or later."

Then he turns his gaze to Archie and Clint, who I suddenly notice are running towards us, and I don't get a chance to defend myself as they reach us.

"Come, let's take her upstairs," Clint orders. My mind keeps buzzing over the things Ben said to me, and before I even know it we're at the Homestead.

With a little help from both Clint and Archie we carry the girl upstairs, and put her on one of the proper beds. Clint immediately takes control and starts checking multiple different things, as we others stand back.

"I guess we're done here," Ben says, and I swear the way he bumps into my side as he walks past me isn't accidental.

After he's gone, Archie turns his gaze from the girl and Clint to me. Since he's at least half a foot shorter than me, he has to look up as he looks at me.

"Are you worried? About what she said," he adds, when he sees my puzzled expression. I feel kind of strange about speaking with him about this, since I haven't really had a proper conversation with the guy yet, but from what I've seen he seems nice enough.

I shrug. "I wasn't lying, you know. I really don't remember her," I answer.

"I didn't mean it like that. I believe you," Archie quickly nods, his longish brown hair almost covering his eyes. "I just mean, I'd be shucking terrified if I was you. But I guess I'm not as brave as you, anyway," he chuckles, and I immediately decide I like him.

And not only because he seems to think of me as a brave person, although that is a nice plus.

"Well, this beats working with the bean patch," I point out, making Archie snort. He's one of the Track-hoes like Zart, so I guess I'll be seeing a lot of him during my trial with them.

"What is this complaining I'm hearing?" A deep voice interrupts us, and Alby steps in, Newt following behind him. Luckily Alby is an easy-going guy, and we know he won't mind us joking around.

The dark-skinned leader takes a step closer to the girl, and something unrecognizable flashes in his eyes as he glances at her. Then he turns to look at Clint. "Well? What do you say?"

Clint only shrugs. "I'm no real doctor, you know that. But I'd say other than being unconscious, she seems fine."

Alby nods approvingly. "Is there anything we can do to wake her up?"

"No," the med-jack answers, "not with the supplies we have. We're just gonna have to wait for her to wake up on her own – if she wakes up, that is."

Another nod. "So that's what we're gonna do. We wait 'til she wakes up, and then ask her what she knows and remembers. I don't want her to be left alone for a second."

"Sure," Clint says, "but right now Jeff and I are having a lunchtime, so someone else will have to watch for her 'til we come back. Newt?"

Newt opens his mouth to answer, but Alby's deep voice interrupts him. "I can take care of that – I'll watch over her."

"Nah Alby, you shouldn't waste your time to something like –"

"I said I'll do it."

I glance at Alby, surprised by how he insists watching over the girl, since he always seems to have so much stuff to do. And it's not like watching her is rocket science – anyone would be capable of doing that.

Newt shrugs like it's no big deal, and exits the room, Archie and Clint following not far behind.

I take a last glance to Alby, who's now standing by the girl's bed, staring at her with a seriously weird expression on his face.

"Tommy, c'mon," I hear Newt's voice, and before Alby gets to turn around and notice my staring I leave the room and head downstairs.

"I guess we should go back to the gardens," Newt sighs when we're back outside, his face revealing just how willing he is to get back to the patches.

As in not willing at all.

"Really? But…this is a special day…" Archie whines, making me remember the whole Bonfire party thing. I wonder if they're still going to throw the party after all that's happened.

"No can do, shank, work before the fun," Newt says, smirking, and Archie makes a pouty face.

"C'mon Arch, it's not that bad. Just a couple more hours is enough. Hey, why don't you go ahead, Gally said he wanted to speak with me and Tommy," the second-in-command continues, grabbing my arm to stop me, and Archie rolls his eyes before continuing without us. I turn to look at Newt with a questioning look on my face.

"So, what does Gally want with us?" I ask, and Newt shakes his head. "Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you. You look a little pale, are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, sure, I'm fine," I answer, and try really hard to ignore the warm feeling that spreads through my body because of the fact Newt's worrying about me.

"But she did say your name, you gotta admit that's a little scary," Newt points out.

And maybe it's the kind shine in his eyes that once again makes me trust him enough to tell what I'm really feeling.

"Well," I start, hesitating, "It is weird. And– I don't know, something about her makes me– makes me kinda nervous. Not just the fact he said my name."

Newt nods, looking worried.

"I know what you mean. Something's bloody wrong and I just know she has something to do with that. I…I don't think she's like us."

"Well, she is a girl, if you didn't happen to notice," I smirk, and Newt snorts.

"You know I didn't mean that, you bloody shuck. I just mean…I don't know. I don't think she's a victim of this like us, you know?" And I do know, because that's exactly how I feel, too.

"But hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll get some answers once she wakes up, and it's not like anyone's thinking you're responsible of anything, even if she said your stupid name," Newt tries to assure me, but I just scoff.

"Yeah, well, except for Ben, maybe."

"Ben?" Newt's looking puzzled, and I realize that he has no idea of the little friendly chat I had with Ben.

For some reason I'd like to keep it that way – I guess I don't want Newt thinking I'm trying to talk shit about his friends behind their backs.

"Uhm, nothing. We'd better get going before Zart comes to hunt for our sorry asses," I try to change the subject, but I should've known the blonde wouldn't be so easily distracted. He grabs my hand again as I try to turn around, preventing me from leaving.

"No, you idiot, stop hiding things and spit it out," he orders, and I sigh.

"It really is nothing," I try assuring him, but he sends me a look that really leaves me no other options than to tell him.

"Okay, but it really is nothing. I don't even know why I brought it up –"

"Tommy –"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. Um, well, we were carrying the girl towards the Homestead, and Ben suddenly got all hostile and said stupid shit like 'I know you're hiding something' and 'There's something wrong with you' and – well, long story short, he thinks I'm responsible for – for what the hell ever he thinks I'm responsible for."

Newt looks baffled.

"What? Ben said that?"

"Yeah. Why is it so weird?"

Newt shrugs, scratching his neck. "I dunno – Ben's a good guy, I don't get why he would act like that."

"Well, didn't seem a good guy then," I blurt, annoyed for some reason.

"Chill, Tommy – I'm not taking his side. I just don't get why he's being an ass," the blonde says reassuringly.

"Just gotta hope the others don't turn on me like he did," I sigh, but Newt just shakes his head like it's no problem at all.

"C'mon, of course they bloody won't. They're not idiots. And," he continues, "If I'll be there to have your back, what do you have to worry?"

And the playful smile on his face would be bright enough to blind people, I swear.

I press my lips together, totally unsure of what to answer, but then Newt tugs my hand – of which he's still having a good grip, apparently – and says: "Anyway, now we really have to go. I think I can hear Zart's pissed thoughts all the way from the gardens."

I chuckle, and that being said he starts walking, dragging me behind. For some reason that is the moment when my gaze lowers to his left leg and I notice that he's limping. I mean, I guess he's been limping for the whole time I've been around, but I've been so caught up with everything else that I haven't noticed earlier that he actually limps a lot.

It doesn't look too painful, but it must be the reason why Newt never rushes anywhere – and here I thought he just likes the slow walks or hates running. I'm an ass.

I make a note to ask him about it later, if I get an opportunity, and promise myself I'll never so much as friggin' jog if I'm with Newt.

And my brains being filled with all the guilty thoughts, I only vaguely notice that Newt doesn't release my hand until we're almost at the bean patches again.

The rest of the day goes quickly. I work with the Track-hoes for a couple hours – just like Newt promised to Archie – and go to eat with them after that. The whole afternoon passes without any interesting happenings – if Frypan winking "Nice to see Thomas hasn't abandoned you, after all" to Newt doesn't count. How many times do I have to tell the damn cook I'm perfectly capable of eating alone, too?

After enjoying a lunch with the other Gladers I leave the Food House, because I really feel like taking a nap. Or ten.

I go to my hammock and sit on the edge of it for a moment when I realize there's something I need to do before taking that nap. I stand back up and instead of heading to the entrance of the Homestead, I go to the opposite direction – towards the stairs.

Although I really don't feel like going back to her, I feel like I have to check she's still sleeping before I can sleep myself. The thought of her being awake and fully conscious is scary, I admit. And if she's awake and telling who knows what to everyone, I don't want to be sleeping and miss it without getting a chance to defend myself.

Yeah…I guess after the chat with Ben I'm just scared she'll remember something about me that I don't want to remember.

So I go upstairs, quietly, making my way to the doorway. When I take a careful peek to the room, my first reaction is relief – she's still lying on the bed, eyes shut, far away from this world.

But then my gaze wanders to the person who's sitting next to her bed and– it's Alby?

Why is Alby here? I mean, I know he offered to stay with the girl until Jeff or Clint would get back, but that was friggin' ages ago. How come he is still here? There must be something more important for him to do than this.

And by this I mean – he's just sitting there, leaning his chin to his crossed hands, staring at the girl. He's not doing anything else. Just sitting.

Man, if that isn't creepy.

Even more quietly than before I back off from the doorway, and go back downstairs, to my hammock. As I lie down I'm pretty sure I won't be able to catch any sleep – my brains are way too active now, filled with pictures of Alby sitting next to a comatose girl.

But somewhere between thinking about Newt's limp and man I'd die if I woke up to find Alby staring at me, my eyes fall shut and I go out like a light.

"I'm gonna kill you."

Newt would probably answer something cocky if he wasn't dying of laughter next to my empty, swaying hammock. The reason why it's empty is because Newt friggin' thought it'd be hilarious to wake me up by covering my mouth with his hand – again. I was in such a deep sleep that when I felt something on my mouth, I jolted up like an electrocuted person and fell from my hammock.

Which, if I may add, Newt thinks is even more hilarious.

"I'm seriously gonna kill you," I growl, and Newt's laughing so hard his eyes get all watery. He offers a hand, but I ignore it, getting up from the floor by myself. The back of my skull is aching – again – from an impact with the floor.

"Wow, I can literally hear the sound of Thomas rolling his eyes all the way from here," somebody says from the doorway, and then Minho jogs inside. He's a little out of breath and I can see the sweat on his forehead, so he's probably just come back from the Maze.

Newt's wiping his eyes, not turning away from me. "I'm sorry, Tommy, I couldn't help myself," he manages to say once he's done laughing his ass off. Minho stares at my furious form and Newt's amused expression, rising his eyebrows.

"So, what did he do this time?" The Asian asks. I squint as I stare at Newt murderously.

"Scared the hell out of me," I snarl, but Newt just smiles, bumping his fist gently to my shoulder.

"Aww, c'mon, Tommy, it wasn't that bad," he denies, and I roll my eyes so hard I'm afraid they're going to pop out. I can hear Minho chuckling behind Newt.

"Anyway, you shucks, I came to inform you the Bonfire's about to start. Care to join your own party, Tommy?" Minho asks, and I'm about to object when I glance at the windows and notice the sun's actually about to set.

I frown, surprised it's evening already. Looks like my nap turned out to be a little longer than I thought.

"How long was I out? And it's Thomas," I correct the Asian, and Newt shrugs, answering: "I dunno, maybe four hours? The doors are closing soon."

"What, so I don't get to call you Tommy? I'm hurt," Minho says with a faked hurt expression, and I'm confused.

"No, nobody gets to call me Tommy, because that's not my name," I deny, and now it's Minho's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, right. Because he always calls you Thomas," he blurts, nudging at Newt as he says 'he'.

"What?" I'm really puzzled now. "Newt doesn't call me– he calls…calls me Thomas?" The rest of the sentence kind of turns into a question as I notice the really, dude expression on both Newt's and Minho's faces.

"Dude, I call you Tommy all the time," Newt states while Minho's nodding in the background.

"What? No, you –"

"C'mon, princess, let's shucking go. I don't wanna be late," Minho whines, grabbing the back of the second-in-command's shirt to drag him outside of the building. Newt smacks his hand away with a smile, and I have no other options than to follow them, my mind buzzing with confusion as Newt and Minho chat together, quietly.

Newt doesn't call me Tommy. I would've noticed if he did.

Right?

It's not a Bonfire party just because of the name – the Gladers actually have gathered together enough dry branches and wood to make a huge bonfire, at least eight feet tall. I must admit I'm kind of impressed by the size of it, and I can't wait to see it on fire – it's going to be phenomenal.

"When are we gonna light it up?" I ask Newt and Minho, as we're standing by the bonfire. Leo, the other Runner, has just made it out from the Maze and is jogging towards us, and pretty much everyone else is gathered somewhere near us.

Minho shrugs. "I guess after the doors have closed," the Asian answers, and I nod. Sounds logical.

Then Leo reaches us, bumping his fist into Minho's chest and panting "You left without me again, you slinthead" and they start chatting together about their day spent in the Maze. I point my gaze to the sky instead, where the last beams of sun have taken over. It's a matter of seconds, now, before the doors close, as they tend to close when sun has set.

And very well, after maybe half a minute the familiar screeching noise interrupts my thoughts, and the massive walls begin to shut. I stare at them until they slam tightly together, and then turn to look at the bonfire again.

"Now?" I ask hopefully, and Newt chuckles.

"Aren't you bloody eager, like you've never seen a bonfire before."

"Well, not that I remember, anyway," I blurt out, and he snorts amusedly.

"Point taken. Hey, Gally, should we light it up now?"

Gally, who's standing next to the bonfire too, shrugs. Then he takes a step closer and crouches down, starting to light up the matches.

Yeah, apparently whoever it was who put us all here decided we need matches to survive. I'm not complaining, though, pretty damn grateful actually. It'd take ages to set up a fire in a caveman style.

Gally gets the fire to start, and little by little it starts spreading through the dry branches. Before we know it, the whole thing's on fire.

Minho whistles on my right side, and Newt nudges my shoulder. "Pretty cool, huh?"

I nod. "Pretty friggin' cool," I admit, making both Minho and Newt chuckle. They only give me seconds to stare at the fire before deciding it's time for Gally's drink, and start dragging me towards a table somebody has brought outside. It's covered in different sized of bottles and the liquid inside of them really doesn't look appealing.

Leo appears to my other side, taking an empty cup and filling it to the top. He winks at my doubtful expression and takes a long gulp, humming in satisfaction. Newt and Minho do the same, filling a fourth cup and offering it to me.

"Um…what's in it?" I hesitatingly ask before accepting the cup that's being offered to me. Minho and Newt probably think I don't notice the quick glance they send each other but I do, and it's definitely not making me feel any more willing to taste the liquid.

"That's something you'll have to ask Gally, we have no idea. No, don't smell it," Newt quickly adds and prevents me from from sniffing the cup by placing his hand on top of it, "It's best if you just take a sip and gulp it down."

I raise my eyebrows, but all three of them are staring at me with such expectant expressions that I just can't bring myself to chicken out. I lift the cup to my lips and take a long sip –

And spit it all out half a second later.

Newt, Minho and Leo all burst into laughter, and I'm pretty sure there's some of the liquid in my nose.

"This shank's awesome," Leo chuckles, before he fills his cup again and leaves, saying something about finding Winston on his way.

"Here, wipe your shucky face," Minho smirks while offering me a piece of paper, and Newt steals the cup from my hands before the rest of the liquid spills to the ground, too. Then he fills my cup again, totally ignoring my "Newt, seriously, no" comments, and hands the cup back to me.

"You just have to get used to it, don't be a bloody baby," he laughs, and I roll my eyes but accept the cup anyway. After both Minho and Newt have their cups filled too, we leave the table and go find a place to sit. It's getting darker and darker every minute and I really like watching the warming bonfire, so I suggest we sit somewhere near it. Newt shrugs approvingly, but Minho complains that it'll get too hot and leads us to a big log. It's not exactly next to the bonfire but I don't really mind enough to object.

Minho sits to the ground and leans to the log, and I follow his example. Newt sits next to me and for a little while we just sit there, not saying a word, Newt and Minho enjoying their drinks. I stare at mine for a moment until Newt nudges me with his elbow, saying: "C'mon, it won't bite you," and I venture to take a new gulp.

This time I'll only take a small sip, though, since I know what kind of shit the drink really is, and I actually manage to get it all down. Minho whistles and Newt pats me on my shoulder, yelling: "You go, girl!" And although the drink still tastes like shit, I have to admit I kind of like the aftermath of it – the tingling, warm feeling that spreads through my whole body. I'm the most surprised one when I lift the cup to take another gulp, a little bigger this time.

Time passes by and Minho makes two rounds to fill our cups before deciding to take a whole bottle of Gally's drink with him instead. The more I drink, the warmer I feel.

At some point Minho disappears to find Leo, and Newt and I are left alone. We talk about stupid, useless shit and he tells me such hilarious Minho-stories that my eyes get all watery from laughing. I'm having so much fun that I don't even have time to marvel how I'm able to have fun in a situation like ours – trapped in the middle of a giant Maze with no way to get out.

Newt's leaning against me, his head lying on my shoulder and his hair annoyingly tingling my neck. For some reason I don't mind at all.

My hand is on his right leg, making circles around his knee, and I suddenly remember a thought from earlier today.

"Hey, Newt," I start, "Why do you limp?"

Newt sighs, and I feel his warm breath against my neck. For a moment I think he's fallen asleep or just doesn't want to answer my question, but then he says: "I hurt myself in the Maze."

It takes a moment for me to realize what's wrong in his answer.

"The Maze? But only –"

"Runners get to go to the Maze, yeah."

Okay, now I'm utterly confused.

"But…you're not…" I start, and he interrupts me again.

"Well, I was. A long time ago. But then I– Then something happened, and because I could no longer run, I couldn't be a Runner anymore," he tells me, and I don't know what to say. It makes me so confusingly sad to hear that Newt used to be a Runner, because that means he really wanted to do that back then. And now, because of some stupid accident, he's unable to run.

I suddenly feel like I have to give him a hug, but since we're sitting on the ground I'm content with just wrapping my left hand around Newt's slim waist and pulling him closer.

He hums happily, burying his face even tighter against my neck.

"I'm sorry," I almost whisper, but Newt just scoffs.

"Don't be."

I don't know how long we stay like that, but then Minho appears from the shadows with a full bottle, and makes a gagging sound as he sees us.

"Eww, get a room," he whines, and Newt chuckles and flips him the finger, but wiggles away from me, anyway. I feel kind of cold without him pressed to my side, and I realize the bonfire's not even burning properly anymore – it's just a pile of burned wood that's still glowing of warmth.

Minho crashes to my right side, nearly knocking us both in the process, and starts telling us something about something that someone said, but I'm not really listening to his words. I feel a little sleepy and I'm just about to suggest going to sleep when Ben appears out of nowhere and stumbles to in front of us.

Just one look to his face and I know this won't end well.

"Well, if it isn't lil' Tom befriending my shanks," he stutters, waving an empty mug on his hand. I slowly stand up, wanting to be ready to defend myself if things get ugly. Minho gives a hesitant laugh, as if he isn't sure how to react to Ben's words. He, of course, has no idea about our little chat earlier today, so he's probably confused.

"Hey, Ben," Newt greets casually, standing up himself, too. Ben squints as he glances at the second-in-command.

"Tell me, Newt," Ben begins, "How does it feel to cuddle with a lying shuck like him?" I vaguely realize he must've been watching us even before Minho came back if he's using a word like that.

Newt looks baffled, and it occurs to me that it's probably now that he realizes I wasn't exaggerating when I told him about Ben's dislike towards me.

Well, dislike does seem like an awfully mild word right now. I'd probably use hate instead.

"Ben, what are you talking about?" Newt asks, a frown forming to his face.

"This piece of klunk has come here to destroy us all, but I won't let him" Ben snarls, glaring at me dangerously. Newt pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head, looking like he's fed up of Ben's bullshit already. I open my mouth to snap something back, but Newt's faster.

"No, look, Ben, I think you've bloody drank too much. Now, why don't you go and –"

"He's evil! He's evil, and I'm not gonna just shucking sit on my ass and do nothing while he plans to end us! I'll shucking kill him if I have to!" Ben's almost shouting now, his eyes furious, and shoves me hard enough to make me trip on the log behind me and fall on my ass.

Damn, my poor ass.

"Hey, stop it, you bloody idiot –" Newt tries and as Ben takes a step closer to me with a murderous look in his eyes, the blonde steps between us and lifts his hands to Ben's shoulders as a calming effect.

Except that Ben doesn't take it calmingly at all.

He snarls furiously and before Newt has a chance to act, Ben's hits him in the face hard enough to make him stagger, and it's the sickening thud when his fist meets Newt's cheek that makes me see red.

I jump up, shouting "Don't you friggin' touch him" and if it wasn't for Minho who suddenly takes a death grip of me, I'd be on Ben that second. Ben growls and I struggle against the Asian, wanting so bad to punch that ugly expression off his face.

But then there's somebody – Winston, maybe? – behind Ben, manhandling him away from us with someone else's help, and the scene's over just as suddenly as it started. It's when Newt mumbles "take him to the stammer" from my left side when my anger's suddenly replaced by worry. Minho lets go of me and I stumble to Newt's side, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you– you okay?" I ask him, and Newt glares at me, his hands leaning to his knees as he spits some blood out of his mouth. "Sure, just peachy. Man, that shuck knows how to punch," he growls, and finally straightens up, wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Let me see that," I try, but Newt just waves me off like it's no big deal.

"It's nothing – my cheek scratched into my teeth a little, that's all," the blonde mumbles and spits to the ground once more before facing my look. Totally ignoring his words, I raise my hand to his injured cheek and stroke it with my thumb gently.

"I would've managed just fine without you," I mutter, and Newt raises his eyebrows, scoffing "Is that so," but there's a glimpse of something sincerely soft in his eyes. He then leans off the touch and says: "I must go find Alby," before turning around and leaving me alone with Minho.

The bonfire has burned out and doesn't glow warmness anymore, and even though it's getting chilly outside there's something warm inside my chest that doesn't seem to cool down.

END OF CHAPTER 3

Ta-da!

Don't we all just feel like we wanna give Newt a hug every now and then. Also, a new OC! Any guesses according to Archie's name? ;)

As always, feedback is love. I'm off to write chapter 4!