Minho laughed, he seriously laughed, as if it were the most impossible thing in the world.
"Really, Greenie?" he blurted, but not loud enough to wake the other Gladers. "Do you want to die?"
"Not like that." Theo grumbled, crossing her arms.
"What happened to being a Med-jack? Too cushy for you to stay in your tent?" he shook his head, "You don't just go into the Maze."
"It's only a precaution." she confessed, pulling the inhaler out of her pocket. "The box actually sent me medicine. In a way, I'm allergic to running." she wanted to smack herself at the blatant lie, because in reality the inhaler had no throat relaxants and it was in essence, a breathing problem. If she was really allergic to running, she'd probably be dead. "But I have a feeling that when we do get out, I won't be able to keep up with you guys." it was embarrassing, but to ensure her survival, she had to ask for help.
Minho groaned, because he hated to admit she was actually making sense. "Did you talk to Alby about it?"
"Not yet."
He rubbed his forehead, which was already starting to grease up with sweat. "Shuck, I can't believe I'm being nice about this."
A smile immediately bloomed on her features, and she started bouncing on the balls of her feet. "You'll do it?"
"Don't get all excited." Minho said, "We'll train one hour in the morning and one hour at night. Only until you can regulate your… running allergy." even Minho knew how ridiculous that sounded.
"Thank you, thank you!" and she threw herself onto the older boy's arms clutching them like they were her lifeline.
"You're totally shucking up my sleep schedule more than normal," he replied, trying to sound serious but in reality he was almost flustered. "I'm kinda honored you went to me first, She-bean. Am I the first boy you've hugged?" he teased, leaning in closer.
"Slim it." she smacked him on the arm, and she tried not to be so shocked at how tough his skin was.
"Wow, I can't take your Glader slang seriously."
"I was just in the moment, but I am thankful you're taking your time out for me."
Minho took a careful sip of his coffee, "As long as you make this every morning. And don't get too excited." he sucked away the last few drops of his mug, looked at it as if it would produce more. Throwing it to Theo, he waved her off. "Tomorrow morning, get the okay from Alby."
As soon as Minho left for the Maze, she made a beeline for the Homestead, pretending she had forgotten something. Virtually every Glader was gone, not wanting to miss out on the primetime for Frypan's breakfast. Walking further inside, she made way for the more private rooms, where Alby's was located. She wasn't allowed to go upstairs, but no one was stopping her, aside from the catcalls and obvious dirty joke. Nervous, she lightly tapped the doorway.
"I'm busy." was the curt reply.
"It's me." Theo tried, knocking again.
All of a sudden the door swung open, as if he was in front of her all along. "This better be good, Greenie."
She absorbed the simplicity of his bedroom, with a bed, a nightstand, and a chair. Off to the corner was a desk drowning in a series of messily drawn over papers, which Alby quickly cleared away into a box. Standing in the very middle of it, she tried to relax herself. She didn't know her mother, or if she had one, but she'd probably be very appalled knowing she went into a boy's room. "I asked Minho if I could run with him."
There was a flicker of steel in Alby's eyes, but he remained silent.
"Not in the Maze." she clarified, and took out her trump card. "I don't feel comfortable in the event I would have to run, when we'd escape." she was stretching the truth and it wasn't exactly how she mentioned it to Minho, but whatever sounded the most convincing. "He said that he'll help me build up my stamina, I want to be strong." she stated with so much conviction, she was shocked herself with the determination.
"You are strong, and you're needed with the Med-jacks." Alby reasoned, shaking his head.
"It's shameful." she confessed, biting her lip. "I want to prove I have as much capability as any other Glader."
To her surprise, Alby smiled proudly, as if he hoped she'd say those words. "You don't have to prove anything to anybody. But I know that ain't stopping you. Do what you want, just as long as it doesn't interfere with your Med-jack duties."
If she was closer to Alby, she would've hugged him, but instead settled on a quick grasp of his hands. "Thank you, and I'd appreciate it if you kept it on the down low, at least to the people I don't know very well. I don't want to draw more attention than usual."
"I don't bargain with Greenies." he shook his head with mock-seriousness, it was his attempt at making a joke.
"Well, I don't have much in exchange."
"As long as you have the Gladers' trust, that's all we need."
Her fingers were stuffed in her pocket, clutching the inhaler. Theo would tell them, once she established herself. Soon she thought, hopefully soon.
In the days following, the bane and reason for her existence, was running in the dark. Before dawn, and late at night, Minho and her took it upon themselves to keep her fitness in top shape.
"Damn girl," Minho hadn't even broken a sweat, he didn't even appear tired despite him running all day and every day before that. "Do you not know how to breathe?"
Theo was reminded of the painful ride in the Box, being suffocated and packaged like cargo. She was breathless, just like then. Air seemed sparse and her lungs were sand dry. Her throat burned terribly. "Shuck it."
Minho glowered at her attempt at looking strong. "You look like you're about to faint on your shuck face if we keep going like this."
"Well if I do, you know where my sleeping bag is." she replied stubbornly, and willed her legs to push on. "C'mon, one more lap around."
The terrain of the forest was private enough, and pushed Theo to her limit without her looking like a complete mess in front of the other Gladers. Minho pretended not to notice the continuous rounds of labored breaths and her stops of exhaustion every ten minutes, but reasoned that if she kept it up like this she'd probably drop before they solved the Maze.
"The Maze isn't exactly flat, so it'll be good to learn how to jump and dive and all that." he said between laps, referring to the unlevel ground of the forest. "Next time," he awkwardly paused as Theo gasped for air, "breathing exercises."
"Sounds good." she said, "I'm going to take my time getting to Clint and Jeff. You have fun in the Maze."
"I'll have a peachy time with the Grievers." he replied sarcastically, waving her off.
"You look like a wounded healer." Clint observed as the young girl plopped in one of their cots. The sun had finally risen, the golden light reflecting on Clint's beige shirt.
"I am a wounded healer." she sighed dramatically, throwing an arm over her eyes. She haphazardly kicked off her shoes, flinging them against the wall. Her legs dangled off the cot like limp noodles, and she lifted them slightly to check that they were still attached to her body. "Ugh, I could really use some ice."
"That's a luxury, Greenie. You'd have to get past Frypan for his ice."
"Guys," she said absentmindedly, "what's a Griever?"
Pause.
"Well, that was unexpected." Jeff deadpanned.
"Sorry," she muttered hurriedly, "It's just that Minho mentioned it in passing this morning."
"Wait, you were with Minho?" Jeff guaffed, "No wonder you're so shuckin' exhausted."
"We were running."
"Right, right." Jeff mumbled, seemingly unconvinced.
"So, the Grievers."
"What of it? You hear them every night." She thought back to the nights of endless, mechanical screams and inhumane shrieks when the walls closed every dawn. "Now that you're a Med-jack, you'll have to deal with those shanks one way or another."
Theo blanched. "What do you mean?"
"We mean," Clint shifted uncomfortably, his fingers grasping the strap of his med-kit. "We're on call whenever someone gets stung by 'em, and make sure they don't completely lose it during the Changing."
"The Changing?" she didn't like that term one bit.
"When they get all jacked up and their memories come back, it's too painful and overwhelming to take in." Jeff shrugged, trying to brush it off as a professional. "The only reason we're telling you this is because you'd need to know in the event that something does happen, not to fill your little Greenbean head."
"Regaining your memories doesn't seem that bad." Theo murmured.
"At the expense of losing your sanity?" Jeff scoffed, "Just look at Gally, and he's all shucked up."
"Gally got stung?"
"Please, no more story time." the Med-jack said, "we have a long day."
Theo left it at that, and only because the two boys offered to sneak in some ice if she'd stop asking. She still wanted to know more about the Grievers, what did they look like? Were they birds, or spiders? At the same time, she hoped that she would never have to face one, in fear of being stung, no matter how precious regaining her memories sounded. In a matter of hours, the ice had turned to water and stopped numbing her legs. Gladers started walking in and out of the main room of Homestead, as opposed to their usual room to accommodate all the injured Gladers.
And it seemed that at some point, everyone in the Glade was injured.
"This is all your fault, Theo." Jeff cursed under his breath, observing the crowd of boys filing in.
She had to agree. Some of them came in for the stupidest things "My head hurts" or "I scratched myself digging" but who was she to tell them they were and weren't in pain?
"You guys can take a break, if you want." she said sheepishly, taking the med-kit from Jeff's hands. "They won't take long anyway."
"They just want to stare at our new Med-jack." Clint nudged her shoulder, and she blushed. She was probably the equivalent of the Glade's cute nurse in their eyes, it was insulting, but inevitable. "We'll be right back, get some lunch. Want anything?"
"Apples will be fine, and if you can beg Frypan for some peanut butter that would be marvelous."
"Got it."
Theo was cleaning Frankie's barely centimeter long cut when Gally walked in. She gasped internally, and focused more on cleaning the miniscule thing, pretending not to notice him.
"Alright slintheads, we all know you're here to stare at the new Greenie. Now move aside for people who are actually hurt." Gally couldn't have said it better, and she couldn't help but find an ounce of appreciation for the guy's leadership skills. Frankie reluctantly removed himself from her grip, and he was soon replaced with Gally, who outstretched his arm. An angry, red gash spidered around his forearm, supported by what appeared to be a drenched old rag. His hands were caked in mortar and dried cement powder. "Stupid shanks dropped a brick on me while we were repairing the well."
She nodded, and immediately searched for a clean sheet and started running it over the cool tap. The Homestead was empty now. "Thanks for that, by the way."
He snorted, "I wouldn't have to fake an injury just to talk to you. If I really wanted to talk to you I would've gotten up and not be a coward about it."
The gash had little specks of cement glittering his arm, and she sighed. "This looks pretty ugly. Just run it over the water for a bit and then I'll try taking out the bigger pieces when you're done."
"Sounds like a plan."
Theo bit her lip, shifting on her heels as she waited patiently for him. "So, Clint and Jeff warned me that we might have to treat, Griever stings." Gally calmly turned off the faucet. "And mentioned that you got stung."
The builder faced her with an unreadable expression. "You may be the prettiest Glader, but you sure are stupid to ask. People are better off not knowing what they look like." he stated harshly, his arm dripping with water and blood.
"Sorry." she said, definitely not sorry. She pulled out her tweezer, and started picking at the concrete that was still lodged between his skin. "Could you at least tell me what they look like?"
He winced, his light eyebrows knitting together. Gally reached for a black pen with his other hand. "They look like," he ripped off the cap with his teeth, and started drawing on the inside of her arm, her hands still working to clean his wounds. "like that." maybe it was because she was a girl that he was being nicer than normal, but either way she'd take it.
She stopped to stare at her arm. There was a black, blob looking thing with a frowny face looking back at her. She couldn't help the giggle that bubbled up her throat. Either Gally was a really bad artist or that's what they really looked like. "That kind of looks, cute."
Gally scoffed, "Sure, they're cute as hell when you first meet them. They shake your hand with their extra comfy stingers." he pointed to his oversimplified drawing. "These shanks can kill you without the Serum."
"Serum?"
"These Med-jacks are doing a great job educating their new Greenie." he groaned. "The Grief Serum that the Creators sent heals us, but at the consequence of the Changing." as an afterthought he added, "It's not fun." and those three simple words were enough to convince Theo that he truly was never the same after he got stung.
She nodded curtly, and started wrapping up his arm with fresh gauze. "You're the first person who's told me anything remotely dangerous, and real."
He seemed proud of it, "Be glad it was me and not any of these flowery shucks, you're better off knowing what we're up against, warts and all."
"You may have re-gained some of my respect since the last time we met."
"Whatever, Greenie." and back to square one.
Theo had returned her inhaler to the Box, telling the others that they might send a fresh supply to her. She was really hoping for a reply. A week later, there was no reply. Instead, the Box gave them a boy who went by the name of Chuck.
The Gladers returned to their usual hazing, partly because he was male and partly because they were upset it wasn't another girl. But the fact that it wasn't another girl, only made Theo even more suspicious looking. The process seemed to fall back to it's normal pattern, and she was the glitch. Or was she? As little as she slept, she was always left listless and empty, so if she could figure out what her purpose was here, there was no inspiration. She wished she could just leave it alone and continue being a blissfully ignorant Med-jack, but the note in the inhaler confirmed that she wasn't just a flaw in their system. She needed to tell Alby about the note, answer or no answer.
When she approached the Homestead, she already had a feeling Alby wasn't there. It was the middle of the day, where all the Gladers were off to their respective jobs. He was probably evaluating the Glade diligently like the leader he was. She turned to leave, until she heard the muffled sobs of the latest Greenbean. Her stomach panged as she looked to the corner of the room, where Chuck was cocooned under the sheets, shivering like he was in the dead of winter.
Alby would have to wait.
"Hey Chuck," the mountain of blankets froze. She spoke gently as if he were a fragile piece of glass, gingerly approaching him. "I don't know if I introduced myself yet, but my name's Theo."
He was only a kid, barely. His messy, haphazardly frizzy hair was unkempt and shouted in all directions, his face a pasty white, and wide, innocent eyes. She hated watching this, and she thought she had a bad first week in the Glade. In reality, she wasn't even half as scared as Chuck was.
"Hi Theo." he said, his voice barely on the cusp of teenhood.
"Hey," she smiled gently, and reached over to pat his hair, "you know, I'm sure the other Gladers are expecting you for lunch."
"I haven't talked to them much." he mumbled, wrapping the sheets tighter around his body, as if he were trying to protect himself.
"But you're talking to me just fine."
"That's because," an apparent blush painted itself onto the boy's full cheeks, "you remind me of my mother."
Mother seemed like such a foreign concept, and Theo's heart warmed at the fact he still thought of her.
"I mean, I really know nothing about my family at all," Chuck said, ashamed. "But I don't look like a serial killer or anything, so I probably had one." he turned redder when Theo giggled, "but what did I do, what did we do so wrong to get separated from our mothers?"
He was young, too young for this.
"We either did something really bad," she slowly removed the blankets from Chuck's shoulders, "or really good. But as long as we've got each other, we'll be alright."
"Now you're really starting to remind me of my mom." a mangled sob escaped Chuck, and his hands flew to his eyes. If reminding him of his mom was the only way she could help, then so be it.
"C'mon Chuck," she soothed, "you'll feel better after a full stomach."
He really looked like he didn't want to eat, but his body spoke otherwise. Reluctantly shoving the blankets away, he got to his feet with the help of Theo. Shuffling under his breath he mumbled something about being "shucking hungry anyway" and Theo thought he'd make a wonderful addition to the Glade.
The backdoor of the Homestead swung open, and from her vision she could make out Alby's figure. All of a sudden, she was reminded of why she was there in the first place. Her hand still clutching Chuck's, she called out, "Alby, do you have a moment?" He looked up, and she unconsciously squeezed the younger boy's hand. "I need to talk to you, alone."
Alby exchanged looks with whoever was behind the doorway, as if they could read each other's minds.
The taller one stepped inside, making a line between Alby and Theo. It was Newt, and it made the girl feel strangely self-conscious. "Whatever you tell Alby, you can tell me."
(a/n) Be excited for the next chapter, guys! Lots and lots and lots of fluffy goodness. I did receive a guest review I'd like to answer, though, as honestly as possible. Theo's appearance is described within the text, as succinct as possible. Like Dashner, he's very vague with a lot of his character descriptions, and oftentimes is left to the bare minimum and the rest is to the reader's imagination. Not to say that I'm trying to write like him... I could talk a bunch about his writing but I'll hold my tongue for a more private conversation. Just be patient and the picture will be drawn, and that goes for Minho and every other Glader as well.
Also, I don't believe the OC is flat, non-exciting, and not going anywhere. Girl, it's only been three chapters, give her some time to breathe! She barely knows her own name. And oftentimes, Dashner's characters are just as static and confusing, I'll try my best to make them dynamic as I can, there really isn't much for me to go by besides my imagination. Again, it's only been three chapters. Yes, there will be romance, but note that this fic isn't in the romance category. I'm no hopeless romantic, and I'm not going to divert away from the plot so Newt and Theo can go on a date, they have bigger fish to fry.
Sorry for my semi-rant. But hopefully, I'll see all of you next chapter! Thank you for reading.