Hello again!

I don't really have a lot of news, so here's the chapter!

-Plerfstacks

Chapter 12

Anna didn't see a lot of the Greenie for the next day or so. He mostly left her alone, and he spent the majority of his time with Chuck. The Greenie also seemed to have made friends with Newt, who didn't really confirm or deny this when Anna asked him. Anna wished that she could make friends with the kid, but she wasn't warming up to him very well. Maybe time would tell.

Anna's day went very much like it usually did, until about dinnertime: She woke up, found Newt, went with him to go see the Runners off, ate breakfast, and worked with the Gladers on various projects. The only time she veered from her usual schedule was that evening when she went to go see if Clint and Jeff were making any progress with the girl. They weren't, but she seemed alive enough, and Clint told Anna that as near as he could figure, the girl was in a coma.

"How's Ben?" she asked, figuring that while she was there, she might as well ask.

"I don't know," Clint admitted. "Jeff was the last one to check on him."

"Jeff," Anna said. "How's Ben?" Jeff poked his head into view from the end of the hall.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "Last time I checked, he had mostly finished the Changing, but he's still pretty bad off."

"Can I see him?" Anna asked. Clint nodded and gestured up the stairs. Anna climbed the rickety staircase that she usually avoided at all costs, wondering if this would be the time that it collapsed and she was buried under all the rubble. When she finally got to the top unscathed, she opened Ben's door slightly and peered inside. When all that she saw was an empty bed, she frowned in confusion. She checked all the other rooms with mounting panic as her search revealed nothing. Anna practically flew down the stairs, not even worrying about them collapsing, and almost ran into Clint.

"Clint," she panted, wide-eyed. "He's not there."

Clint frowned.

"Yeah, he is," he assured her. "He was there like ten minutes ago."

"Clint, I swear he's not there. He's your shucking patient. Go find him." While Clint still seemed unconvinced, he obeyed her order and walked outside, scanning the area.

"There's nothing there," he said. "Nothing at all." Anna frowned.

"Look harder. I'll check the Deadheads; you go somewhere else." Clint nodded, and they split up. Anna ran in the direction of the dense forest, looking around her for signs of the possibly addled escapee. She had only run for about ten seconds when she reached the graveyard where they'd buried George, Stephen, Jack, and all the others. The Greenie was standing there with Ben, and Ben didn't look good. He was holding a knife, for one thing, and he was staring at Thomas like he wanted to kill him with it. He was muttering things at Thomas, mostly about how Thomas was evil and trying to destroy everything. Anna stepped forward.

"Ben," she said. "Stop. He's not bad. He's just the Greenie. Put down the knife." Ben didn't put down the knife.

"Anna, listen to me," he rasped, switching the knife from hand to hand. "He's bad. He's not trying to help. He's bad, he's bad, he's bad." Anna frowned.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Put down the knife. I promise the Greenie won't hurt you." Ben glanced around like an animal caught in a cage. He crept closer to Thomas. Anna, feeling the need to defend herself and the Greenie, grabbed her switchblade, which she always kept in her pocket.

"Ben, get away from him. Put down the knife."

When Ben didn't listen to her for the third time, she decided to bluff.

"Ben, if you don't put down the knife and get away from him, I'm gonna throw this. You have till three. One." Ben didn't move. "Two." He fingered his knife's blade in a slightly nervous fashion. "Three!"

Anna had never intended to throw the knife. She didn't want to kill anybody. When she got to three, she blanked. Ben sensed her pause and took advantage, leaping forward and trying to tackle Thomas. Anna recognized her mistake and jumped on top of them, wrestling the sickly boy off of the Greenie. She realized suddenly that it had been a lot easier to lift him off of Thomas than it should have been, and she looked down to see that her hands were sticky with blood. Ben was lying limply on the ground with his own knife stuck in his head. Anna fought the urge to throw up. The Greenie scooted backwards, the expression on his face making it clear that he was fighting the same battle that Anna was. Anna cursed, unable to do anything else. She gathered her wits and stood up.

"C'mon, Greenie," she said hollowly. "The Baggers'll come get him later." The Greenie stood up to join her, and the two of them walked silently towards the Glade. Thomas made it to about ten feet from the border before he doubled over and threw up, his left hand clutching his stomach and his right hand pressed against a tree trunk. Anna waited patiently for him to quit puking, and then continued walking.

She was peppered with questions as she walked back into the Glade covered in blood with the Greenie trailing behind her, but she waved them away numbly, looking around for her second. She eventually spotted him making his way quickly over to where they stood, and when he reached them, Anna could see concern etched all over his face. Ignoring the Greenie, he addressed Anna.

"What happened? Are you alright? Why are you covered in blood?" he asked her, giving her no time to respond between his questions. She held a hand up to quiet him.

"Shhh. Give me a second to talk and I'll tell you." Newt looked at her expectantly.

"Yes?"

"Ben escaped from the Homestead, and I went to go find him. I checked in the Deadheads, and I found him with the Greenie. He was holding a knife and saying that the Greenbean was gonna destroy life as we know it and whatever, so I told him I'd throw my switchblade on the count of three if he didn't put his knife down. I was bluffing, so when I got to three I didn't throw it, and I guess he could tell I wasn't gonna. He jumped on Thomas, so I tried to wrestle him off, but I guess he'd misjudged where his knife was, because he accidentally stabbed himself in the head."

Newt looked bewildered.

"He accidentally killed himself. That's what you're saying?" Anna nodded.

"Yeah. We need to go get the Baggers."

Newt suddenly turned and looked around at the small crowd that had gathered around them.

"Go away!" he yelled at them. "We'll tell you about it tomorrow. Get to bed."

The crowd filed off, and Anna shooed the Greenie away, as well. She looked miserably down at her blood-soaked hands.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," she decided. "I have to get this off of me."

Anna had trouble falling asleep that night, as her mind was occupied with thoughts of Ben, and how she may have been the one who'd killed him. She didn't want to dwell on this, but by trying not to think of it she managed to keep herself up until about midnight, when she finally fell asleep.

She'd only gotten about three or four hours of sleep before she awoke with a small, hastily stifled yelp. She had no idea what had woken her up, and she lay face up in the darkness of her room, trying to steady her breathing and the pounding of her heart which throbbed through her like a drumbeat. After a moment or so, there was a small knock at her door that scared Anna half to death. She jumped slightly, causing her mattress to bounce up and down rhythmically. Collecting herself, she managed to call out,

"Who is it?"

"Newt," he whispered. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

Newt opened her door and stepped inside, leaving it open behind him. He walked over to her bed and sat on the side of the mattress.

"What's wrong?" he asked, smoothing Anna's hair back. She looked up at him, propping herself up on her elbow.

"Something woke me up, but I'm okay now."

"Alright. Should I leave?" Anna found herself shaking her head before she could stop it.

"No," she responded. "You can stay here." She scooted over and pulled him close to her. Newt's hair tickled her nose as he lay down next to her, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Anna pressed her cheek into his chest, and with Newt's warm breath ruffling her hair, she fell asleep.

The next day, one of the Baggers came to Anna with some interesting news. When they were trying to move Ben's body, they had realized that he wasn't dead. The knife had missed his brain, and he was currently in the Slammer, awaiting trial.

Anna called a meeting of the Council, because she didn't know what else to do. She explained what had happened, and that they needed to figure out what to do with Ben. They discussed the options: They could let him off and chalk the little incident up to the fault of the Grievers, they could make him stay in the Slammer for a set amount of time, or they could Banish him. Anna felt very uncomfortable about that last one, because she had seen it happen before, and it was never pretty. She did have to take into account, though, that he had broken one of their rules. In fact, he'd broken two of them, because they wouldn't have this problem if he hadn't been a slinthead and walked into the Maze in the first place. He'd attempted to kill the Greenie, which had to count against him, and to add to it, he'd actually bitten Thomas, which Anna hadn't noticed the night before.

For her vote, Anna suggested that they keep him in the Slammer until they decided that he was stable enough to be a member of the Glade again. Unfortunately, she and the few other people who were in favor of her idea (Newt, Zart, and Minho), were outvoted, and they decided to Banish Ben that night.

Anna hated every second of the whole shuck ceremony that they put on. She hated that she had to be a part of it, and most of all she hated how she was being forced to officiate the whole thing, along with Newt. She could tell that he felt the same way as she did, based on his expression of a mixture of pity, shame, and sadness. After the Doors had closed, Anna walked miserably to her room and stayed there until the next morning.

Anna could tell that the Greenie had been disturbed by the previous night's events, to say the least. He was avoiding everyone, and he wasn't talking a lot. Anna could tell that he was sort of appalled by what they had done to Ben, and she wanted to clear up the fact that she hadn't wanted to, but she decided that that wasn't really the right way to go. Instead, she resumed ignoring the kid unless it was necessary to talk to him.

The next day, Anna was working in the Fields with Zart and the other Track-Hoes when she heard her name being called from somewhere within the Glade. She glanced up, her mind immediately flashing back to a very similar situation that hadn't ended very well. Her panic subsided, however, when she realized that it was the Greenie, sitting on the ground beside Minho, who had apparently finished running. Anna ran over to where they were now engaged in conversation.

"Shut your shuck mouth, Greenie," Minho was panting. "Gimme a second."

"What's up, Minho?" Anna asked. "Why are you back so early?"

"Why is everyone coming to talk to me?" he coughed, running a hand through his sweaty hair. "I need water. Go get me some water, Anna."

Anna considered retaliating, but instead smirked and ran off to go get Minho some water. When she returned and Minho had composed himself some, she raised an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for him to fill her in. Before he began his story, he glanced sideways at the Greenie and tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah," she said dismissively. "He can listen. Get on with it." Minho shrugged and began to tell them about how he'd been running around the Maze when he'd stumbled upon a dead Griever.

"Wait," the Greenie interrupted. "This hasn't happened before?"

"Of course it has, slinthead," Anna snapped sarcastically. "It happens every day. That's why Minho ran all the way back here two hours before he was supposed to." The Greenie frowned, but didn't say anything. Minho shot him a look and continued.

"Yeah, I didn't want to pick it up, 'cause those things have to weigh a ton. You and I could probably go see it, though, and we could get there and back by sunset."

Anna nodded.

"Alright," she agreed. "I'll put Newt in charge."

About ten minutes later, she and Minho were in the Maze. It took them about an hour to get to where the dead Griever was, and when Anna laid eyes on the thing, she was filled with a primal panic and her brain screamed for her to run away. She stood her ground, though, and assured herself that it couldn't hurt her; it was dead.

"Shuck it," she said in awe. Minho nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I wasn't sure what to think, 'cause I've never seen one up close. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be."

Suddenly, there was a faint whirring noise that Anna dismissed as her own active imagination until Minho's face went pale as he stared at something behind her. Anna spun around just in time to see the Griever hauling itself into a standing position and turning to face them. Anna froze, her eyes widening as she forgot how to move. Minho was yelling at her to snap out of it, but by the time that she blinked and realized what was going on, something heavy flung around and hit her in the back of the head, and she was out like a light.

When Anna came to a little while later, she was met with a lot of commotion. The familiar rumbling of the Doors closing had filled the air, along with a lot of yelling. She blinked bewilderedly, trying to comprehend the situation. Suddenly, somebody flew past her into the Maze, and she was simultaneously thrown out the door, landing on the grass. The Doors shut with a crash, and all the noise stopped. Anna sat up shakily, wincing as she touched the lump that had formed on the back of her head. Suddenly, the brief moment of silence was broken, and Anna was once again overwhelmed by the noise. She stood up, leaning against the wall of the Maze.

"What's going on?" she yelled. The Gladers looked at her. Newt shouldered his way through the crowd, and he came to a stop in front of her. His face was gaunt and his hair was disheveled, and his expression was unreadable as he looked at her.

"Anna…" he murmured. "Oh, God, Anna." He turned to the crowd of Gladers, which had already begun to disperse. "Alright, guys, you can go," he said to them in a voice that was much less commanding than the one he usually used with the Gladers. Avoiding eye contact with Anna, they all turned and left.

"What happened?" she asked, frowning at Newt.

"You almost died, that's what bloody happened."

"Explain," she pressed.

"You and Minho were out way too long. When we could finally see you two coming out of the Maze, Minho was carrying you, and I thought you'd died. Minho almost made it out, but apparently Tommy decided it was a good idea to run into the Maze with you, so he ran through the Doors as they were closing. Minho chucked you out the door, and then it closed. Minho and Tommy are still in there."

Anna took a moment to realize the enormity of what had happened.

"So… They're dead?" she asked, unable to believe it. They'd never lost two Gladers simultaneously. She felt like she'd failed in some way, like she wasn't good enough at her job. "Shuck it, I'm such an idiot." Anna was flooded with guilt. If she hadn't panicked, Minho and Thomas wouldn't be dead.

"How?" Newt asked. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it was," Anna confessed, feeling her cheeks grow warm as hot tears welled up in her eyes. Blinking them away, she went on. "The Griever wasn't dead. It sort of stood up, and I completely froze. It hit me on the head with something heavy. If I hadn't panicked, Minho wouldn't have had to drag me along and we would've made it on time." Newt frowned.

"It's not your fault," he told her gently. "These things happen." Apparently able to tell that she was still upset, Newt reached forward and wrapped his arms around Anna, stroking her hair with one hand. The two of them stood there for an immeasurable amount of time, until Anna let go of him and they walked off to bed.

"You know what I just realized?" Newt said as they walked hand-in-hand to the Homestead. "The Grievers keep ignoring you. They keep hitting you with stuff instead of stinging you. I wonder why?" Anna shrugged, unwilling to discuss this.

Later that night, though, as she was somewhere between waking and sleeping, she began to ponder this as well. Why weren't the Creators letting her go through the Changing? What would happen if she did that they didn't want happening?