Alex woke stiff and sore, and stuck. She looked down and saw Chuck still curled up on her lap, and she had a blanket draped over her.
How did I get a blanket?
Her legs were numb, but she didn't move. She smiled at the child, he looked even younger when he was sleeping, small snores escaping his chubby lips.
"She is finally bloody awake!" Newt said. He was walking over holding 2 steaming mugs. He sat down and handed Alex a mug of coffee.
"Shhh, Baby is still sleeping! And thank you!"
"I'm not a baby!" said a sleepy voice, Chuck sat up rubbing his eyes with his fists, looking just like a toddler after nap time. Alex smiled at him.
"Mmm Hmm." Alex hummed. She looked at Newt with amusement. Newt chuckled softly watching the younger boy, and his sister's gentleness with him. He needed someone to look out for him. "What time is it Newt? Where is everyone?" Alex said, stretching her sleeping legs.
"About 10am."
"WHAT?!" Alex yelp jumping to her feet, "Newt! That's like 2 hours after I'm supposed to be at work! Why didn't you wake me?! Or Minho for that matter! I'm supposed to be out in the maze?!" Newt looked a little guilty, he looked down into his coffee and fiddled with the handle.
"Newt! What are you not telling me?" She demanded. He decided to talk to his coffee instead of meeting her accusing glare.
"You looked peaceful, and after yesterday, everyone agreed to let you sleep. Well Gally was against it, Minho was almost thrown into the slammer, they got into it pretty bad...I'm surprised you slept through that! But also-" he faltered.
"Newt!" Alex gave him such a withering look, it would make anybody spill the secret they held onto. He spoke even quieter "Minho and Alby went into the maze to look at that Griever you guys found.." he trailed off.
"WHAT? ALBY WENT INTO THE MAZE? AND THEY WENT WITHOUT ME? YOU AND ALBY KEPT ME ASLEEP SO I WOULDN'T STOP HIM! WHO'S SHUCKIN STUPID KLUNK IDEA WAS THAT? WHEN THEY GET BACK OOOHH THEY ARE DEAD!" Alex was pacing back and forth, steam just about coming out of her ears.
Alby isn't a runner, he has a hard time jogging around the perimeter of the Glade! How the shuck is he supposed to keep up with Minho? I'm the runner. I was the one who found the stupid thing!
"Hey! Stop and bloody listen! Alex. It was Alby's own idea. He's the shuckin bloody leader, he knows what he's doing!" Newt said indignantly.
"Ya, but that doesn't mean he makes smart decisions! Newt, that's why he has a second...but apparently he doesn't make smart decisions either!" She growled at him. She took a few deep calming breaths before going on, "I have a bad feeling! The last few days the maze hasn't been status quo, Grievers, alive and dead! Something is going on!" Alex had started pacing again.
"It's okay Alex, Minho is with him. Minho will get him home." Chuck said standing up, looking at her with his big innocent doe eyes. "I know you're also worried about him too, they will come home safe." He then gave her an evil little grin, " then after you punch McDreamy's face you can kiss it!" he teased, "I know you didn't get to do your weird little goodbye thing!"
Alex settled a little, Chuck was right, Minho was the smartest and most capable in the maze, but not saying goodbye and telling him not to leave her hanging gave her a dread feeling in the pit of her stomach, and not seeing him cross his heart and wink.
Today is going to be a long day.
She spent her morning stitching and patching up slicers and builders, it was work that didn't require a lot of brain power, so her hands worked and her mind wandered. And while her mind wandered her anxiety increased. She wasn't sure why, but something bad was going to happen. Maybe it was all in her head. But her anxiety kept the awful what if situations running through her head all day. She was also more jumpy. At lunch Frypan had walked up behind her, she yelped and dropped her plate of food all over the ground.
"Shuck Sakes Frypan! You scared the klunk out of me!"
"Sorry Lil Lady, you're a jittery one today. Are you upset that someone didn't get to say goodbye to a certain Keeper?" He teased her, wiggling his eyebrows, and elbowing her in her ribs.
She rolled her eyes, "Seriously, you guys need a hobby." she whined. She had just finished cleaning up the spilt food when the Newbie Alarm went off. A loud wailing screech.
Here we go again.
The gladers made their way over to the Box. Thomas and Chuck caught up with her and Frypan.
"So, you're officially not the Greenie anymore!" Alex smirked at him, knowing that name really got under his skin.
"Finally!"
"Are we betting Shank or Shanket? It was Chuck, then Alex then Thomas, now Newbie..." Frypan counted on his fingers. Thomas shrugged looking clueless.
"Shank" Chuck said, crossing his arms, "Sorry Alex, but I still think you're like an 'Ops' the creators sent.."
"Thanx Chuck. I love being called a mistake by a small child" she rolled her eyes at him. There was a loud thud from the box. The Gladers were quiet. There was no sound coming from the box, usually they could hear some yelling or crying.
"Well they're a quiet shank" Frypan voiced the opinions of everyone.
"Well they could be like Alex!" piped up a boy from the back.
"Ya! She hid and gave Newt a heart attack! Remember?"
"She aint so quiet now! She could take your head off!"
"Shuck right I could, now who's going to help me open this door?" Alex snapped back. Gally stepped forward and helped open the grate, Newt dropped into the box to see the Greenie.
"What do you see Newt?"
"Is the shank crying in the corner klunking his pants?"
"Crybaby!"
"Wellcome to hell!"
"DUDE! You can't say things like that!"
"Newt, what do you see?" Alex called down, Newt was frozen in his spot. Newt looked up with a confused look on his face.
"It's a girl!" Instant commotion from the boys again.
"IS SHE HOT?"
"I CALL DIBS THIS TIME!"
"YA, MINHO GOT THE LAST ONE!"
"OUCH"
"DUDE! YOU STILL CAN'T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT, ALEX IS GONNA STAB YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!"
"SLIM IT YOU SHUCK SHANKS! WE ARE NOT A PIECE OF MEAT TO FIGHT OVER. SO SLIM IT AND SHUT YOUR SHUCK MOUTH!" Alex bellowed at the boys, glaring at them all.
"I thought you had better manners than that, you slint heads!" She growled.
They looked sheepishly away.
"And yes DAVID, I WILL stab you in your sleep if I hear you talk like that to or about me and the new Shanket!" She glared at the boy in the back, her small fists on her hips.
"Ooooh, Shanket used your full name, dude. You're in trouble now! Better watch your back!"
"That's not the only thing!" Newt yelled up from the Box, he was now crouched. "I think she's dead!"
He stood up and looked at the crowd. Alex jumped down into the Box, as it swung a little, all the memories and awful feelings swirled up in Alex. She hated this thing, despised it with a passion. She shuddered and then shook the thoughts away.
"You said dead girl? Where?"
Newt pointed into the dark corner. Alex stepped closer, it was definitely a girl. She was petite and dainty, long raven black hair, her skin so fair you could mistake her for dead, she was wearing jeans a tight blue long sleeve shirt, she looked so clean compared to everyone here, including Alex, who tried very hard to have hygiene in the middle of about 60 stinking boys. Alex knelt beside the girl and placed her ear right by her mouth trying to feel or hear breath and watch if her chest was rising. Barley. She was barely breathing. Alex checked the rest of her quick, no blood or obvious signs of trauma or injury. She was patting her arms down, when she saw the girl's fist clenching a piece of crumpled paper. Alex gently pulled it free and Alex stood up, looking at the boys above her.
"BRING THE ROPES! SHE'S STILL ALIVE! BUT BARLEY! MOVE IT BOYS! SHE'S DYING!" Newt and Alex got her secure as fast as they could and Gally and a few builders hoisted her up, Frypan helped hoist Alex out. She ran over to the pack of boys who had circled around the girl on the grass.
"BACK OFF! FRY! NEWT! A LITTLE HELP!"
The boys helped push the crowd back a little, Alex tipped the girls head back, pinched her nose, placed her mouth over the girls and blew all the air she could into the new girls lungs. This was the second time she had to breathe for a Glader. After a few seconds she stopped and pushed on her chest, "Come on! I can't lose you! I need another girl! Please!" She muttered. Newt and Thomas came and knelt on the girl's other side, watching with apprehension as Alex tried to get the girl breathing on her own. She repeated the whole process, she was half way through her third round of pushing the girls chest when her eyes shot open and she sat straight up, with a loud gasp like she was electrocuted.
"THOMAS! ALEX!"
Alex fell over onto her butt, with a scream and scrambled backwards. The girl's eyes looked around wildly. Her eyes found Thomas first "Thomas" she whispered and then travelled to Alex's.
"Alex... It's all going to change!"
The girl collapsed back onto the ground. Every eye was travelling back and forth between Alex and Thomas. Alex felt as lost as Thomas looked.
"The shuck was that?" she finally managed to get out.
"I KNEW IT! Gally hollered, "I knew they were trouble, especially Thomas! Lock them all up in the slammer!"
Alex ignored Gally, "Newt, that's not all. She had this in her hand when I checked her in the Box." Alex handed the crumpled paper to her brother. He took it and smoothed it out. His eyes flicked over the paper, he looked up to Alex.
"Bloody Shuck" he whispered.
"WHAT IS IT NEWT?" Yelled Gally, he pushed his way past Frypan.
Newt looked up from the paper, "It says 'SHE'S THE LAST ONE. EVER.'"
"See! I told you! This proves it! There is something fishy going on with those three! And I don't care that she's your sister, she's in on it!' Newt stood up, anger evident in his body language.
"Gally. Shut the Shuck up. No one is going to the slammer. And you're not making any sense. You get stung again? Clint! Jeff! Take her to the MedJack Room." He looked at the crowd of boys standing around, all trying to get a look at the new girl. "GET BACK TO WORK YOU SHANKS!" he yelled at the Gladers sternly. The boys all shuffled off. "Alex, Thomas. You come with me."
Thomas gave her a questioning look "What's going on? How does she know us? Did she look familiar to you? What was with the note? I don't know what's going on!" "Thomas! Slim it! No one does, okay?" Alex snapped. Her head was pounding.
Newt, Thomas, Clint, Jeff and Alex stood around the girls bed, all staring at her. If she woke up now, she would probably die of fright, with all these strange faces hovering over her. Newt sighed "She's okay now?" Alex nodded, "Her breathing is regular now."
"She's, what we can guess, is in a coma." Jeff added.
"You guess?" Newt looked sceptical.
"Hey man, we got our jobs same as you!" Jeff held his arms up in defence. Newt just ran a hand through his hair in frustration, he looked at Thomas "You recognise her?" Thomas looked back at the girl. His face screwed up in concentration.
"Don't blow a gasket!" Alex whispered, trying to hide a snicker. Newt glared at her.
"No. Yes..Maybe? I don't know. I have no idea who she is!" Thomas sighed in frustration.
"Really? Cuz she seemed to know you. And Alex!" The two just shrugged.
"What about the note?" Asked Thomas trying to deflect some heat off himself. "We can worry about the note later." Newt said, waving a hand. "No, I think we should worry about it now!" Thomas insisted, they were glaring at each other.
"Ya, I think we should worry about the note now, what does it mean she's the last one? Like the last Greenie or the last Shanket?" Jeff asked. "The Box hasn't gone back down, Gally and his crew unloaded the supplies, and it hasn't moved! We won't be able to last too long without regular supplies!"
"Jeff, no one said that." Newt replied. He sighed and sat down heavily into a chair. Thomas huffed and crossed his arms. Newt looked at him, "Thomas if there isn't anything else, you can go back to work. Zart needed help with some harvesting." Thomas stormed out of the room. Newt watched him go and winced when the door slammed. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair agitated. Jeff and Clint both left too, with Alex watching the girl, they didn't all need to be there. Newt and Alex were left alone with the girl in a coma.
"You sure she doesn't look familiar?" Newt asked, desperate for some kind of clarity. Alex shook her head, "No Newt, and you know I would tell you if I did! You know that." Alex crouched in front of him. "A lot of klunk happened on the one day your left in charge, huh? Ha, Alby is going to come back and this place will be in shambles, people crying everywhere. Fires everywhere, animals out of their pens.. who knows, the sun might shut off and we could be hostile Grievers over for lunch! " Alex chuckled.
Newt chuckled a little, "Alex, your sarcasm and sass is going to dethrone Minho."
"Good. I'd look better in the crown." She teased, patting Newt's knee as she stood up. He turned serious "Alex...Can you have a memory flash of her? Can you try remembering?"
Alex turned around in a huff, "Newt, you know it doesn't work like that! I don't know when or where or how it works! Usually I have to touch something..I don't know! But I touched her already and nothing!" She threw her hands into the air in frustration, "I'm not a crystal ball you Shank." He smiled at that, "I know, but can you try again? Please?" She groaned loudly "Fine. Only because you're my shuck brother, and for some reason love you." She sat on the edge of the girl's bed, she looked at her closely.
Pale fair, clear skin, long thick black eyelashes that fluttered while she slept, silky raven hair fanned out around, curves in all the right places, but still petite and dainty. Alex felt a little intimidated by her, she was beautiful, clean and perfect. Alex on the other hand was dirty, full of scares, cuts and bruises, and a smart ass mouth. She shook her head. "Okay Newtie, here goes" she rolled her eyes. "This is so dumb." she muttered under her breath.
"I heard that!" Newt chuckled. "Good. You were supposed to!" She grabbed the girl's hand and held it. Nothing. "See? It's not working! What a surprise." She was ticked off, and she wasn't entirely sure why. "I can't just touch stuff and have it switch on!" She got up and grabbed the girls foot. Nothing. "No surprises! This isn't working!" She was looking at Newt and grabbed her other hand. Nothing. "SEE? IT DOESN'T SHUCKING WORK!" Alex was yelling now, glaring at Newt, she slapped her hand on the girl's forehead. Alex's head snapped up and her eyes glazed over, she dropped to the floor convulsing.
*** She was sitting on a white bed with Sonya and a girl with black hair and electric blue eyes, they were both holding her as she sobbed. "What will you do?" "I don't know. He said they would hurt me if they ever found us together again!"
*** She was in the cafeteria with Newt and Minho, Alby, Gally she saw a black haired girl with a brunette boy walk passed the window, the girl turned her head and looked through the window. She had electric blue eyes. And a pretty smile.
*** She was about 10 years old sitting at the back of a classroom at a table with the same black haired girl, they were working on an assignment, "Come on Alex, stop oogling him and help me!" The black haired girl whined. "But it's boring!" Alex answered.
*** She was sobbing in a white hallway in the arms of the black haired girl and a brunette boy's arms, the girl was also crying. "They took them! They took everyone! Everyone I have ever loved! I did everything for them! I can't any more! I can't! I have to do something!"
*** Alex was standing in the shadows of a dark room, she was whispering to the two other teens left at the facility. "Thomas, you got it?" "Ya, barley though." "Ok, good. I deploy tomorrow for a few days, I should be able to sneak away for a bit and get it over to Brenda. She should be able to then get it to her contact in the R.M." "Good. Do you think that info will help? I copied as many files as I could without it being suspicious." The girl whispered urgently, looking over her shoulder. "Anything will help! We will take down WICKED."
*** Alex was being hauled through some doors two guards were holding her as she fought and yelled in anger and frustration. She was thrown onto the floor as a man in a high neck sweater and a twitchy body- his face was blurry- "Well well well, Looks like we found our mole. You really thought you could get away with passing information onto The Right Arm?" The twitchy man looked at the guards "Where is the file?" "There was no file. We searched her. She had nothing." The man's face twisted in anger, he turned back to Alex and slapped her with the back of his hand. Alex just smirked as she spit some blood onto the floor. "Take her to her room, she goes UP tomorrow, Maze E" he sneered down at her. "I'm done with her disobedience. Tomorrow your memory will be wiped and give her the antidote of the Herculean serum, we don't want any other issues with her."
*** Alex sat on her bed, feeling a mix of emotions, the raven haired girl beside her holding her hand. "What happened?"she whispered urgently "I got the files out, we did it! They don't know you or Thomas had anything to do with it. You're safe. They are sending me into the maze, but maze E. I won't ever see Sonya or Newt or you..or anyone I love again!" Alex whispered as a tear fell down her check. She wasn't worried about going up, she was worried about forgetting her loved ones. The girl whipped Alex's tears away. "I won't let that happen. Thomas and I have a plan. We will get you to Maze A!"
Alex sat up with a gasp. "Wholly Shuck!" Newt was kneeling beside her with a look of relief on his face. Then he smiled, "See. Told you it would work!" Alex just stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh real Mature!" he chuckled. "Ya well, next time you tell me to do that would you at least catch me before I hit the shuckin floor?" she stood up rubbing her head. "Oh ya, sorry. You convulsed for like 4 minutes. I was starting to get worried. What did you see?" He didn't even bother hiding his curiosity. Alex sat down on the chair and told him everything. "So, basically she was Sonya and my best friend, and after this group called WICKED took Sonya and you and everyone else, it was just us and Thomas! And we somehow came up with some plan to sneak information to some other rebel group...I know why they sent me to the maze, but I was supposed to go to a different one. Thomas and her somehow got me here, instead. So Chuck was right, sort of. I am a mistake!"
"Bloody hell Alex. You really are a badass." Newt was looking at her with admiration, then his face morphed into concentration. "Wait..hold on a second..." He started rubbing his bottom lip "Did you say the group was called wicked? That seems...familiar?" Alex shrugged. "Well whatever or whoever calls themselves WICKED, is kind of shucked in the head." Alex noted. Newt stood up, "Well I should get to the gardens. You're OK here now? I'll call Clint or Jeff, oh and Bark has been begging at the door to come in. She good to come in?" Alex smiled. "Thanx Mama Newtie." He groaned as he let the dog in and left. Alex sat down again, rubbing Bark's ears and holding her best friend's hand.
Jeff took over for Alex after lunch. She was feeling restless, Bark seemed to feel it too, she was doing a lot of passing and whining. Alex was sitting with Chuck while Thomas and Newt and Zart were trying to chop and move a huge stump that was in the way of the new field. Well, Thomas wasn't doing much, except asking stupid questions. Chuck was busy carving something and Alex was happy watching him. Her mind was still reeling from what she saw this morning.
"But why would Alby go into the Maze? He's not a runner!"
"Things are different now. Alby went to check out that dead Griever Alex and Minho found.." Newt answered calmly, he was always so patient.
"So he'll go back in there after 2 kids got stung recently? After a Monster that tried to sting your sister?" Thomas asked again, glancing at Alex.
"Alby knows what he's doing...all right? He, better than any of us." Newt answered, he had stood up for a moment, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
"What?" Thomas asked again.
"Well, it's like you have heard, yeah? Every month, the Box sends up a new arrival. But someone had to be first, right? Someone had to have spent a whole month in the Glade. Alone. That was Alby. I mean, it can't have been easy. When those other boys started coming up, one after the other... he saw the truth. And he knew that the most important thing... is that we all have each other. Because we're all in this together. He leads us, so when something changes he makes sure he knows what's going on so he can lead us best he can. Ya?"
That seemed to have finally sunk into Thomas's head, because he finally stopped asking questions and started to help.
"Pretty sure I told you the same thing your first week here, you shuck face!" Alex said, rolling her eyes.
There was a loud boom, making everyone jump. It made Bark whine even more and she was shaking, nothing made her shake.
"What was that?" Alex asked, looking around, along with everyone else, except Newt. He was looking up.
"It's raining! It's bloody raining! That was thunder!" He laughed, from deep in his chest.
Alex, on the other hand, had a bad feeling. It started pouring rain, they couldn't continue working, so everyone took refuge under the Gladers lean to or in the Homestead. There wasn't much to do, Alex sat leaning on a pole watching the maze doors, and chewed her thumb nail. She couldn't sit still, she kept changing positions or bouncing her knee. She finally stood up in a huff and started passing. Thomas leaned over to Chuck and whispered not so quietly "What's her problem?"
Chuck whispered back, "Minho and Alby ain't back yet.. But she's mostly worried about the Keeper of the Runners. She misses him so shuckin much, and she only realised now how much she actually cares about him and-"
"-Chuck I can hear you!" Alex hissed.
"Good. You were supposed to" He retorted.
But it was true. Alex was getting more anxious by the minute.
"They should be back by now!" she whispered to no one in particular.
"What if they don't make it?" Thomas asked, looking at Newt.
"They're gonna make it." Newt replied without looking at him, he was also worried. His two best friends were out there, it shouldn't have taken this long.
"What happens if they don't?" Thomas was being very unhelpful.
"They're gonna make it." Newt said, more to try to convince himself then reassure anyone. Alex felt like throwing up.
The rain eased up and Alex was the first one to head to the open doors.
"Come on, guys, can't we send someone after them?" Thomas was trying to be helpful, but Alex was getting more and more anxious and upset with each question. Breathing was starting to get difficult.
"No. That's the rules. Either they make it back or they don't." Gally replied with zero emotion and a deadpan face.
"Even runners? They can't go out there to look?" Thomas suggested.
"We can't risk losing anyone else. Doors will close in 2 minutes'' Newt said quietly, looking at Alex. She was hardly breathing.
"Newt?" she whispered softly, tears forming in her eyes.
Newt came over to stand beside her.
"I can't lose him." her voice broke, "I never.. told him...I.. never told him... I love him. Newt..I..love him!"
Newt's heart broke for his sister.