Bound | Newt Love Story

22 | Verbatim

The image of the Glade and the Gladers surrounding the mouth of the Maze causes a bright smile to tug at my lips. Minho, Thomas and I run through the doors with a clear amount of time, nothing to be worried about. But it isn't the time that has the Gladers worried. It's all the noise. The noise of section 7 forcibly closing in the middle of the day, caused the entire Glade to stop working.

"What the bloody hell is going on out there?" Is the first thing Newt says as we approach them. 

We stop our running, walking at a fast pace through the Gladers. 

"We found something." Thomas answers. 

The Gladers follow us like a bunch of lost puppies as we try to catch our breathing. Newt looks at me, worriedly, but then looks at Thomas, curiosity tearing through him. 

"We think it may be a way out." Thomas finishes.

"Really?" Newt asks, looking between Minho and I for an answer. 

"It's true." I confirm. "We opened a door."

"Something I've never seen before." Minho adds, a slight smile appearing on his face. "I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day."

"Wait. Woah, woah, woah." Chuck stops us. "You're saying you found the Grievers home?...And you want us to go in?"

The group stops walking, all eyes on the three Runners...which happens to include me. 

"Here." Newt mumbles to where only I can hear. He reaches behind him and pulls out an ice-cold bottle of water. 

"Oh dear god." I mumble, gratefulness written all over my face as I take the water from him. As my hands clasp around the body of the bottle I realize I'm shaking vigorously. I try to ignore it and twist the cap off the top, but once the cap comes off, the water just starts spilling everywhere. 

Newt chuckles, taking the water from me. I furrow my eyebrows, a playful pout forming on my lips. Newt playfully rolls his eyes and brings the water bottle, himself, up to my lips. I drain half the water bottle, Newt holding it for me. I crash into his arms, saying multiple "thank you"'s. He just chuckles and says "You're very welcome, love."

The conversation going on around us seems to fade back in again. 

"Chuck," Thomas starts. "Their way in could be our way out."

"Yeah, or...there could be a dozen Grievers waiting on the other side!" Gally yells from the back of the group. "The truth is, is that Thomas doesn't know what he's done, as usual."

Gally's words pull me from Newt as I glare hard at him. I walk up to Gally, my blood boiling with anger. "You know what, Gally? At least he shucking did something! I mean what have you done? Huh?" I get in his face, shoving him back a little. "Aside from hide behind these walls and being all big and bad? Wanna know something, huh?" I ask, shoving him back again. "I'm about done with this little act of yours. Acting like you run this damn place! Because the damn truth is, is that you've done absolutely nothing to help get us out of here."

"You want to know what, B?" Gally yells, exaggerating the B. "You've been here...what? Three months. I've been here three years!"

"And you're still here, Gally!" Thomas yells, getting in on the fight as well. "You've been here for years and you're still here. What does that tell you? Maybe you should start doing things a little differently."

"Well maybe you should be in charge, huh Thomas? Or maybe you should have this girl, who's doing all the standing up for you do it instead." Gally remarks, pointing to me. 

"Hey!" A voice comes from farther away of the group.

All heads turn to see Teresa. "It's Alby!" She says. "He's awake."

My eyes widen and my gaze leaves Teresa, falling on the Homestead. Immediately I run after Teresa, Newt following me close behind, along with a few other people. We duck down into the Homestead, preparing ourselves for the worst. Maybe Teresa was mistaken. Maybe he's actually dead and not awake. 

Teresa is the first one to enter the room Alby occupies, Minho following her, then Thomas, then Newt and then me, along with pretty much every other Glader in the Glade. My heart seems to start beating again as my gaze falls upon a sitting up Alby. Newt dives down, sitting next to him, cautiously. 

"Alby, are you alright?" Newt questions, leaning into his view. 

Alby's eyes are madly glossed over, as if he is going to bust into tears at any moment. I see this and walk over, crouching down next to him. 

"Hey, Alby." I whisper, a smile forming on my face, trying to comfort him. "Alby, we might have just found a way out of the Maze." I say, hesitantly. I look over at Newt as Alby doesn't respond to me. "Do you hear me? We may have found a way out."

Alby starts shaking his head, his eyes never meeting mine. "We can't." His lips tremble. "We can't leave. They won't let us."

Thomas walks over now, crouching down with me. "What're you talking about?"

"I.." Alby hesitantly starts to answer, his voice shaking. "I remember."

I clear my throat, "What do you remember?"

Alby's head turns towards Thomas, "You."

Shocked and terrified eyes turn to Thomas.

"You were always their favorite, Thomas." Alby mumbles. "Always."

Suddenly some kind of yelling starts coming from the outside of the Homestead. 

"Why did you do this?" Alby asks Thomas. "Why did you come here?"

My eyebrows furrow as my gaze falls upon Newt, who's already looking at me with worry in his eyes. I jump up, running outside. The Gladers that weren't in the Homestead are running around like crazy, torches and weapons in their hands. Newt comes running up behind me, his presence becoming known to me. 

"What the hell is going on?" I ask, turning back to Newt. Newt eyes dance around the Glade, trying to find his answer. That's when Thomas, Gally, Teresa and the rest of the people inside the Homestead come running out. 

"Jeff!" Newt calls. Jeff, who is running past us with a lit torch in his hand, stops in his tracks and runs over to us. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

"The doors." Jeff gasps, slightly out of the breath. "They're not closing."