At first there was only sound, a grinding of metal on metal plus a distinctive whoosh of air as something moved upward far too quickly.
Then there was sensation bleeding through, the cool press of metal against a cheek, the sick spinning feeling of a body lying still and yet shooting through space, and the dull pain as something heavy shifted nearby pressing on body parts that must belong to one collective human.
Then there was a slamming stop, blinding light and sound again.
This time it was voices.
"What the...whoa," The closest one said before others grew louder as well.
"What the shuck is it, Gally?" Another voice called, impatience obvious in its tone.
"It's a girl," The closest voice answered, seemingly having a hard time believing its own statement.
Huh. That must be me thought the...girl, though she couldn't seem to muster the strength to open her eyes and confirm her own identity. She certainly couldn't grasp onto any thoughts that would indicate if they were right one way or the other. Everything was fuzzy in her mind, strings of sounds and words dancing in and out of her comprehension.
Worst of all was the buzzing, part sound, part pain, that was gradually growing from within her head.
"I think she might be dead," The first voice declared loudly, making the girl wish she had the ability to scrunch up her face to indicate the pain his volume caused.
"I'm coming down," called a new voice, then there was a slight bump as if someone had landed hard next to her.
She felt someone prodding gently at her shoulder as though to wake her though the act proved to be pointless. She still didn't have the energy to react at all.
That wasn't what caught her attention though.
The buzzing. The pain in her head.
As soon as the...boy? She thought the voice (like all the voices) belonged to a boy, which she was pretty sure she wasn't.
As soon as the boy had touched her...the pain had vanished.
Some vague half thought in the back of her mind wanted her to contemplate what that meant but all she could bring herself to truly register was relief before all of her limited senses melted away into blissful oblivion.
Newt paced in front of the med-jack cabin, his limp giving a distinctive rhythm to his repeated journeys from one end of the building to the other.
Step-drag-step-drag-step-drag
Normally his leg didn't give him much trouble anymore. The med-jacks had fixed him up better than they had any right to be able to given they were really just a couple of kids with bandages and other rudimentary supplies at their disposal. That plus copious (and strictly enforced) rest had left Newt with an annoying, but manageable stiffness that didn't slow him down much.
But every once in awhile, usually when he was under a lot of stress, it acted up. The pain, now usually a dull but constant companion, came back full force and forced him to favor his leg or suffer the consequences. He'd been laid up for days at a time during the worst of these fits.
Alby had a theory that it was psychological.
The last time Alby had suggested it Newt had chucked a plate of Frypan's best bacon at his friend and almost earned himself a night in the slammer for his trouble.
Alby didn't bring up that particular theory anymore though.
Step-drag-step-drag-step-drag
Newt grimaced and shook his head as an especially brutal bolt of pain shot up from his toes all the way to his hip.
He hated to admit it but Alby might have a point. Stress, anger...other negative emotions. They did tend to result in corresponding flare ups in his injury.
Bloody inconvenient too, given what had just shown up on their doorstep.
When Gally had called up from the box that there was a girl inside-a possibly dead girl at that-Newt had been sure he was feeding them a bunch of klunk.
It wasn't until he'd jumped down to the box himself that he'd accepted the truth of Gally's words.
It was a girl.
A bloody, shucking girl after what...50 boys? All coming up like clockwork, all awake if confused, and now this?
Newt couldn't shake the feeling that when she woke up everything was going to change and it wasn't a pleasant premonition.
It's not like he was so in love with the way their lives were now, the exact opposite in fact. But surviving those lives required a very delicate system to remain in place and any changes threatened to topple everything they'd worked so hard to create. Already Newt was out here standing guard in effect, Alby having ordered the non-essential gladers away from the cabin though many were still lingering within sight in case the girl made another appearance.
And if she didn't wake up...Newt didn't let himself finish the thought as he allowed himself to lean against the side of the med-jack cabin heavily.
Just because he was nervous about what the girl meant for the glade didn't mean he wanted the greenie to end up another corpse in their makeshift cemetery.
Before he had time to resume his pacing the door opened suddenly and Alby stuck his head out.
"She's awake," Their leader stated simply, shaking his head in a rueful manner. "Sort of."
Newt pushed off from the building, shooting his friend a confused look.
"What do you mean sort of?" He demanded, face scrunched in confusion.
"See for yourself," Alby shrugged, disappearing back into the cabin leaving Newt with little choice but to follow.
As soon as he did he saw exactly what Alby meant.
The girl was on the table they used as a makeshift cot, eyes open indicating her level of consciousness. However, she wasn't responding to any of the semi-frantic questions or comforting words being thrown at her from Clint and Jeff the two med-jacks in the glade. Each of them were attempting to secure an arm but the girl was thrashing around too harshly for them to get a good grip. Both of her hands were reaching upwards towards her head and when she was able to periodically snatch one or both away from the boys she would clutch at her forehead as though she were in great pain.
"She woke up and started this klunk," Alby informed Newt, moving quickly to try to help the med-jacks. "Won't listen to any shucking thing we say."
The girl was making soft whimpering sounds that occasionally built into a crescendo of a moan.
Newt didn't see what he could do that wasn't already being done but he moved towards the table and its occupant anyway.
Maybe it was because he hadn't seen a member of the opposite sex...well, maybe ever as far as his faulty memory was concerned, but he couldn't stand to see her writhing around in pain and not try to help.
When he reached the table he reached out to hold down own of the girl's legs which had just begun to twitch violently and looked to be within striking distance of Alby's face.
The second he touched her, before he even had a chance to exert any real force, her struggling stopped, and her body dropped limply back to the hard surface it rested on. The girl let out one final whimper before she was still, her eyes drifting down to Newt, seemingly just as surprised as the rest of them.
"What did you do?" Clint demanded.
Newt raised his arms in a gesture meant to indicate that he had no idea but the moment his hands left the girl's leg she groaned and began thrashing again.
"Newt!" Alby snapped, and Newt quickly dropped his hands back to their former position.
"What...where am I?" The girl had apparently found her voice and they all heard the familiar panic seeping into it. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"It's ok," Alby told her in a firm tone. "You're in a safe place. I'm Alby, I'm in charge here. This is Clint, Jeff and Newt. We're here to help you."
Alby had nodded at each of the other boys in turn as he said their names but the girl's gaze had never flickered from Newt's own, a fact he found more than a little unnerving.
"Do you remember your name?" Newt asked, without much hope. "Anything about where you came from?"
"I...I don't know," the girl shook her head as though that would somehow shake loose the answers to his questions. "I don't know who I am. I don't know anything."
"That's normal," Alby offered, probably meaning it in a comforting manner though the girl's widened eyes indicated it wasn't working. "None of the greenies remember anything at first. Your name will come back to you and we'll go from there."
"Greenies...what?" The girl seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open, as exhaustion threatened to overcome her despite the fact that she had only just awoken. "I don't understand. I don't know how I got here."
"You should get some more rest," Jeff offered, but it seemed as though his advice was unnecessary. The girl had already slipped back into slumber, though this seemed more like normal sleep than whatever state she had arrived in.
"Clint, Jeff, I don't want you poking and prodding at her while she's sleeping," Alby ordered, shooting the two med-jacks a look. "You try to satisfy your diagnostic curiosity and the next thing we know she's set off again. Go get some grub."
The two reluctantly did as they were told and Newt started to follow before Alby stopped him with a hand to the shoulder.
"I want you to watch her," Alby informed him.
"Why me?" Newt demanded, trying to ignore the ache in his leg that was only intensifying.
"Because you're the only one the greenie seems to let near her without trying to take their head off," Alby answered matter of factly. "Just for a few hours, Newt. I need some time to get the rest of that lot under control. This mess has riled them all up."
"Fine," Newt acquiesced despite his reservations. "Just for a few hours."
He felt badly about his lack of enthusiasm for his task. He normally had a lot to do with filling in the greenies anyway and it wasn't like he wasn't concerned about the girl's welfare. He couldn't put his finger on it but he just had a bad feeling about the whole situation.
Alby strode out of the cabin and Newt cautiously removed both hands from the girl's knee where they had been resting. The girl shuddered in her sleep and her brow furrowed slightly but she didn't wake, nor did she start moaning again.
Newt dragged a makeshift stool that was sitting nearby over to the side of the table the girl lay on and settled in for a long night.