RECKLESS [The Maze Runner || Newt || Book 1]

03 - Trials

Time passed by quickly in the glade, within a week they had a system. Sort of.

They made rules, number one obviously being don't go out into the maze, since none of them knew what the hell was out there. And they organized themselves into jobs around the glade. The track-hoes, who worked in the small garden they found next to the main building, the slicers who were in charge of raising and taking care of the animals they had – a few chickens and pigs that were in a makeshift barn on another side of the glade, the med-jacks – basically the doctors – the builders, and the cooks.

All of the boys had pretty much sorted themselves out into the jobs, everyone trying a different job until they found the one that suited them best. Clara, however, had not. None of the jobs in the Glade had stuck with her so far, she wasn't particularly bad at any of them, but she just didn't enjoy any of them either, so she spent most of her time with Frypan in the kitchen. The two of them grew very close, becoming friends quickly, he was pretty much the only boy in the glade who didn't care that she was the only girl and he treated her the same as everyone else, which she appreciated.

Other than Frypan, the only other boys she really spoke to were Gally, who decided to join the builders, Winston, one of the only boys brave enough to be a slicer, Minho, who – like her – hadn't quite found a job he liked yet, and Newt who joined the track-hoes. For some reason Clara found herself irritated by the blonde boy, something about him managed to get under her skin, and he felt the same way, consistently making an effort to avoid sitting next to her.

Clara, Winston, Gally, Newt, and another boy who she learned was named Zart, were sitting at one of the empty tables outside the large wooden building – which they decided to call the Homestead – eating the sandwiches Frypan had made for dinner and talking about nothing in particular. Clara felt a pair of eyes on her and lifted her head from her food, noticing that Newt was staring at her with a blank expression on his face. She glared back at him, staring directly into his eyes, but he didn't look away, he didn't even blink.

"Can I help you blondie?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she snapped her fingers in front of his face, pulling him out of his trance. He cleared his throat, looking her up and down before he mumbled something and looked down at his hands. But before she got the chance to say anything else Minho came running up to the table, clearly out of breath. He took a seat next to Clara and a few deep breaths before he started speaking,

"Alby said... we can start... exploring the maze." He said between breaths. Her curiosity was growing, Exploring the maze? That sounds like something I could do she thought, now giving Minho her full attention,

"He said I can hold trials tomorrow... for runners." He finished. The word runners played over and over in her mind.

"What time?" She asked, causing all the boys at the table to stare at her, looking dumbfounded,

"What?"

"What time are the trials tomorrow?"

"Uhm, after breakfast, I guess?"

She nodded, taking her sandwich off her plate, and walking back to the homestead and upstairs into the small room Alby decided she would have. After they'd all arrived in the Glade, he thought it would be best for her to sleep away from most of the boys in the glade, so he offered to put her in one of the rooms upstairs with the rest of the keepers, and she gladly accepted, overjoyed at not having to sleep around a bunch of hormonal and sweaty boys. Clara finished her sandwich quickly and got ready for bed, the anticipation of the trials shaking her bones. Somewhere deep down inside she felt like being a runner was exactly what she was supposed to be doing, the thought of exploring the giant labyrinth surrounding their little home was terrifying but exciting at the same time. She smiled at this thought and climbed into her bed, pulling the thin blankets over her body, falling asleep to the thought of running freely through the maze.