He's tied to the end of a vine and is being lowered down. He reaches out for you and softly says, "Don't worry. I've got you."
You grab his arm and he wraps his other arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him. You let go of Gally's arm. Now you're holding on to Newt for dear life. He looks up and yells out, "Okay, pull us up."
You hear grunts as you and Newt get pulled up. When you reach the top, arms reach down and pull you over the side. You stand up and see a group of people pulling Newt back up. He unties the vine from around his waist and walks over to you. You run into his arms and nearly fall over from relief.
"Thank you," you get out through heavy breaths. At first he is surprised but then he hugs you and whispers, "It's okay, you're safe now."
He keeps hugging you until you calm down, then he look you in the eyes and says, "Let's go to the Homestead and get you cleaned up."
You nod and follow him to a building that looks very rundown and ramshackle. It's several stories tall and the top ones look as if they had been thrown together. You go in and Newt leads you up a flight of stairs. When you reach the top Newt calls out, "Clint, Jeff, you're needed."
A boy with a big nose pops his head out of a doorway and says, "A bit busy at the moment with a broken arm."
"Yeah," a shorter boy says, "some Slinthead Builder got his arm stuck between two poles that slammed together." He ducks back into the room.
"Okay," Newt answers, "where should we wait?"
"That room over there," the taller one says pointing to a door across the hall from him.
"Sure, thanks."
"Jeff! A little help?" the shorter boy calls from the room.
"Coming, Clint!"
You and Newt go into the room that Jeff pointed out to you and wait. While you wait, you and Newt start talking,
"So, we haven't officially met yet. I'm Newt,"
"Yeah, I kinda gathered. I'm Y/N."
"Nice to meet you, Y/N."
You smile.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that just now. Gally's never done that to anyone. I guess it's because you're the first girl."
"Really? I guessed it might have been something like that. I didn't see any girls earlier."
You keep chatting until Jeff and Clint come in. They clean your wounds and bandage what needs to be bandaged. They give you a cast for your left arm and tell you to come back in a week to check it out. You and Newt walk around and he starts to show you around.
"This is the Glade. We live here. The box you came out of comes once a week with supplies. But it brings another Newbie once a month. We do our own thing here. We grow our own food, raise our own animals and eat them. It never rains here but we get all our water from pipes in the ground. If we didn't, we'd have starved long ago."
He tells you about the big openings in the walls. You didn't notice them in the chaos of earlier. But it's like you're in the giant courtyard of a castle. On all four sides of the Glade is a wall that must each be at least one hundred feet tall. In the middle of each wall is an opening just as tall. You stare at it in awe and start to walk towards the closest one.
"Oi, Y/N. The Doors are about to close. You can't go in there," Newt runs over to you and you notice that he has a limp.
"Doors?" You ask.
"Yeah. These four openings are doors. They shut each night at about 6:32."
"About? That sounds very precise to me."
"Sorry, I used to be a Runner. I guess there are some things you never forget."
"What's a Runner?"
"Runners go into the Maze each morning right when the Doors open and get back right before they close."
"That's a maze?!"
Newt nods.
A boy runs out and waves. Newt waves back before the boy runs to a concrete building nearby with a strange, heavy door. He opens it and runs inside.
"That's Minho," Newt explains, "He's the Keeper of the Runners. That building is the map room. Every day, when they come back from running, the Runners draw the maps so they can keep track of the changes in the Maze."
You're confused again and Newt can probably see it but he just says that he'll explain it to you later. The two of you stand there a while. Newt looks down at his watch and says, "Any second now."
Then there's a big gust of wind, you aren't prepared so you're nearly blown away but Newt grabs your arm and pulls you back. The wind stops and the walls start to move. The right wall crawls towards the left one the poles built into the right wall seem to reach towards the left one. They're about a foot long. On the left wall are holes, in the same spot as the poles. The poles slide into the holes and the Doors are closed for the night.
As the tour continues you zone out and start thinking about the doors and the maze. You wonder why they would close each day. You start feeling claustrophobic when you think about the doors locking you in. Then you think that maybe it's keeping someone or something out.
At the end of the tour Newt turns to you and starts talking. You're not paying attention. You just stare into his beautiful, chocolatey, brown eyes imagining the two of you together, wanting so badly to kiss him. You want to date him. You wonder about your selective memory loss. You know what dating and kissing is. You know the feeling of love, you remember feeling it. But you can't think of who or when. You try to bring up pictures, but all you get is a face made of smeared colours.
"Y/N," Newt says your name trying to get your attention, "Y/N. Can you hear me?"
"Oh, yes, sorry. I wasn't paying attention, it's just a lot to take in."
"I understand. But, as I was saying, you must be hungry, do you want to go get something to eat? I'm sure Frypan would understand."
"You're right I'm starving, I don't remember the last time I ate."
Newt chuckles softly and you smile, you hadn't meant to make a joke.
Newt takes your hand and you feel a spark of joy tingling up your arm from where his hand touches yours. Your heart starts beating faster and harder and you hope he can't feel your heartbeat through your hand. He leads you back to the Homestead and takes you into a kitchen. He opens a refrigerator and takes a few things out. You peek inside and see many different fruits and vegetables. You recognize tomatoes, lettuce, apples, strawberries, and a few others. Again, you wonder at your strange memory and how you know what all these fruits are, what they look like, and how they taste but you don't remember eating them or with who.
You sit at one of the tables and wait. Soon Newt comes over with two sandwiches. He gives you one and starts eating the other. You thank him and take a bite. It's the first thing you remember eating and it tastes good. Newt starts talking again,
"Frypan doesn't really like it when people come in here and help themselves, but you're a newbie, I'm sure he'll understand."
You're smiling at him and you just nod.
"Tomorrow night," he continues, "is a bonfire. To honour you're coming to the Glade."
"Really? Why?"
"We do it for every Greenie."
"You called me that earlier and Alby called me a Greenbean, what does it mean?"
"It's what we call the newest newbie. Thomas was the Greenbean until you came, though I think the name might of stuck."
You nod. You and Newt have finished your sandwiches and Newt announces, "Well, it's getting late, you're probably awfully tired, the Greenbeans usually are. But you've had a long day. Let's get you fixed up for bed."
You follow him and he takes you to the Homestead. He opens a closet and takes out a hammock. He hands it to you. He then gives you a pillow and a blanket and says, "You don't have to use it as a hammock, some people prefer to sleep on the ground. There are extra pillows and blankets in there if you ever need one," he points behind him to the closet. You smile, thank him, and walk out. You pick a spot near the Gardens, lay your things down and fall asleep.