The rest of this story follows Newt's perspective of the Maze Runner Series. It is not accurate to the book or movie and will not follow the exact storyline. Reader be warned.
Newt was anxious the day of the new Greenie. He didn't know what would happen and there was thick tension in the air of the Glade. He stood with the others, listening to the whirring of the metal box as it ascended from an unknown place. A place Newt closely associated with hell. Inside he heard nothing, sometimes Greenies would wake up in advance and cry out for help, Newt wished that this was the case. But there was silence from the box which only added to his nerves.
His biggest fear was that they would do it all over again, torture some girl by sending her here and the nightmare would start all over again. He was praying that it was not a girl being sent up in the box. The message that had been sent with her still haunted him, a new challenge, but maybe they had not been talking to the Glade. Perhaps the message had been for her the whole time and she was challenged to be here. Not that any of it mattered anymore, she was gone now while Newt remained tethered to the Glade. He wasn't sure if he could handle even seeing another girl after just losing her.
The box stopped and Newt's heart started to race as the lock divided to reveal the inside. Everyone stepped to the edge and locked below to see what new Glader had arrived and Newt saw a small boy with chubby cheeks streaked with tears. Newt thought he would be relieved and he was, but he also still felt a bit of sadness for the boy. He looked so young, younger than the rest of the Galde, was that their goal?
The boy took a lot of coaxing, he was mortified by the Glade and even with Alby's gentle hand, he was shy. The first step was to get him new clothes, the kid had klunked his pants, but that wasn't such a rare occurrence. Newt helped Alby show him around and explain it all, it was understandable to see the boy was confused by it all. The good news was he seemed almost to scared to try to bolt or anything else. It was a small victory when Newt was able to make him smile for the first the next few days he became a Slopper, he was so short and had little stamina that there wasn't really any other job that would work for him. He remembered his name was Charles, but the nickname of Chuck fit him more. He blended in with the Glade immediately, he seemed to thrive with all the rules and followed them without question.
Even with him being such a wee little fat shank, Newt never spoke a word about the girl he had lost. In fact, the whole Glade was quiet on the topic and kept her living in memory only, but not in stories told to one another. He appreciated that more than he could ever say. It was one of the contributing factors to why he never spoke of the broken maze beyond their walls, he wanted the Glade to carry on hoping. He was able to give them that small piece of optimism that kept them going day after day while he was tormented by thoughts of never leaving.
He had put on a brave face, he didn't want anyone to really see how much he was hurting. Losing her was tearing him up inside, there were days he would sob uncontrollably at the thought of her being gone. But Newt also had moments where he would think of her and smile without losing his cool, it was a whirlwind of a month for him. Newt struggled with his emotions and guilt, but he tried to remind himself that the past could not be changed and that she was gone.
The Glade continued, just like it always did. Newt tried to not think about the Glade too deeply, because it would only lead to lingering thoughts and doubt. But to him the Glade was like a heart, drumming with life and providing for the Gladers but also was spread a poison of complacency. It was all giving and all taking, a silent and unforgiving God that held them all in the palm of it's hand. Newt tried to think of the lighter side, and how to keep the Glade motivated without dreading the day when the Glade would turn dark.
"Do you think I have parents?," Chuck asked Newt one day as they carried dry wood to storage.
"I'm sure we all do."
"Do you think they know where I am?"
"None of us know, Chuck."
"Newt?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think we'll ever find out?"
Net looked down at the curly headed kid beside him, in the short time he had known Chuck he had grown found of him. He was sweet and shy, but he was giving the Glade his all.
"My advice is to focus on now. No use in letting your mind think about something that might never happen. We're here. We're living. We have each other."
Chuck nodded," Yeah, you're right, Newt."
Newt liked the new Greenie, but he would never love a Greenie again.
"Another day, another Greenie," Gally laughed as the Gladers made their way towards the box.
"Yeah, you could use some help with building huh, Gally?," Zart chuckled.
"Yeah, I'll call dibs on this one," he winked to them as the circled around the box.
The whirring was underway and they waited, some happily and others more out of tradition. Newt swallowed the tickle in his throat, just because they sent a boy last month doesn't mean they will again. The box jolted to halt and sun poured into the rusty crate to show a scrawny guy looking surprised and mortified. Newt pushed next to Gally to get a better view and Gally took the initiative to jump into the box.
"Day one, Greenie. Rise and shine," Gally said and grabbed him by the shirt to pull him up into the Glade.
The Greenie slipped and fell onto the ground making the circle laugh and close in. Newt watched the guy, he looked petrified by them all, but he had yet to klunk his pants so he was doing better than most.
"Little scrawny for a builder," Gally smirked.
"I could use some help in the kitchen," Zart smiled.
The Greenie pushed him self and dove from the group, sprinting away from them as fast as he could.
"We got a runner!," Zart hollered after him, causing the rest of the Gladers to laugh.
Newt watched with a smile as the Greenie took off, he was really making good ground. Maybe we have a runner after all, Newt considered just before watching his foot catch and him topple into the grass. The boys all cheered him on like he won a race, but Newt knew it was all in good fun. Later after the Greenie had calmed down, Newt approached him and Alby.
"Greenbean, meet Newt. When I'm not around, he's in charge," Alby introduced the pair.
Newt shook the Greenies hand," It's a good thing you're always around then," he turned to the Greenie. "That was some dash you made earlier. There for a second, I thought you had the chumps to be a runner... until you face planted," he chuckled and Alby joined him.
"Runner?," he questioned.
"Newt, do me a favor, go find Chuck? Alright, thanks."
Newt left in search of the young Slopper, but he felt the eyes of the new Greenie follow him. Later at the bonfire, Newt saw the Greenie sitting against a log and sat beside him.
"Hell of a first day, Greenie," he said while chewing the pork that Frypan had made for the special occasion. Newt was used to this part of his job, he was to make the newcomers feel welcome. It had been easy with Chuck, he was eager for acceptance and friends, but the Greenie seemed different. He kept eyeing the maze with a spark in his gaze, almost with an animal hunger. Earlier in the day he had nearly walked out before Gally had stopped him.
"Here, put some hair on your chest," Newt passed a bottle of Gally's hooch.
The Greenie nearly chocked on the bitter taste," What is that?," he gagged.
Newt smirked," I don't even know. It's Gally's recipe and a trade secret."
"Yeah well, he's still an asshole," The Greenie sniffed while watching Gally wrestle.
"He saved your life today," Newt was being honest. "Trust me, the maze is a dangerous place."
He was attempting to stop this new Greenie's interest in the maze, make him see that the Glade is better.
"We're trapped here, aren't we?"
"For the moment," Newt nodded. "But... see those guys by the fire. Those are the Runners. That guy in the middle is Mihno, the Keeper of the Runners. Every morning when those doors open, they run the maze, mapping it for a way out."
"How long have they been looking," the Greenie asked.
"3 years."
"And they haven't found anything?"
"It's a lot easier said than done. Listen," Newt paused to hear the distant rumble. "That's the maze changing. It changes every night."
"How's that even possible?"
The new Greenie seemed in awe by it all and deep in concentration about how and why this was all happening. Newt was not doing the job he wanted, he was hoping to discourage this Greenie from the maze, no entice him further.
"You can ask the people who put us here, if you ever meet the bastards. The truth is, the Runner are the only ones who know what's out there. They're the strongest and the fastest of us all, because if they don't make it back before the doors close then they're stuck out there for the night. No on has ever survived a night in the maze."
"What happens to them?"
"We call them Grievers, but it's rare to see one and live to tell about it. That's enough questions for one night. Come on, let me show you around, you're the guest of honor."
Newt hoped that the real horror of the maze would dampen his interest. Instead he showed him around the Homestead and told him about the jobs available.
"What if I want to be a Runner?
"Have you not heard a word I just said? No one wants to be a Runner and besides you have to be chosen."
"Chosen by who?," he asked just before a sparring match bumped into him, nearly knocking him over. Gally took the opportunity, you could see he wasn't too fond of the new Greenie and this was the only way accepted by the Glade to let out aggression on other Gladers. Gally easily pushed him to the ground after explaining the rules.
"Come on Greenie, we're not done yet," Gally laughed, happy to have all eyes on him. A crowd formed and were cheering on the match, rooting mostly for the new Greenie because Gally was the reigning champ.
"Stop calling me Greenie."
"What do you want to be called? Shank?"
The crowd laughed, but Newt stumbled without being pushed. It was like her... she hated being called Greenie. She loathed it so much. He got a vivid flashback of her and he felt weak for a second. It looked like she was really here, beside him watching the two wrestle, cheering as Gally got shoved into the sand. He caught his breath, unable to really believe it and just as quick as she had been there, she vanished.
"Thomas. Thomas. Thomas! I remember my name! I'm Thomas!," the Greenie cheered and the crowd erupted. Newt was so caught off guard by the moment that when they went to swarm Thomas, he was pulled in. He smiled, he had really seen her. Hadn't he? No, it couldn't have been her. Alby shut it down for the night after the screech of a Griever bellowed, ever since that night with Lee, he had stricter boundaries with hooch.
Newt went to his hammock, blocking out the Griever's cries and replaying the vision of her at the bonfire.