Burn; TMR ➵ Thomas

Four | ✓

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do," a younger version of him spoke as a blurred figure was being taken away.

"I hate you, Tommy," were the last words he heard from that blurred figure.

Thomas woke up startled due to his dream. The voice sounded familiar. A stranger covered his mouth with their hand causing him to tense again. He relaxed when he saw Amelia standing in front of him.

She gave him the signal to be quiet and follow her. As they snuck their way through the tightly strewn pack of sleeping bodies, Thomas almost tripped several times and stepped on someone's hand. He earned a sharp cry of pain in return, followed by a punch on the calf. He whispered an apology, ignoring the dirty look given by Amelia.

"It wasn't always like this, we had our dark days. We lost a lot of boys to panic. We've come far since then, established order, made peace," she told him as he trailed behind.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"Because you're not like the others, you're different. But not that different that Alby would throw you off the Cliff. You're curious," she answered quietly before stopping at one of the walls.

"You're one of us now," she slid the knife she was holding into his hand and gestured him to write on the wall. Thomas looked at it, a bunch of names had been engraved into it, some were even crossed out.

"What happened to them?" Thomas asked pointing at the names which were crossed out.

"Like I said, Tommy, dark days," she replied. Thomas stared at her for a moment before engraving his name under hers. After he was done, he handed back the knife.

"Well, everyone should start to wake up soon. Alby told me I'm meant to give you the tour today, might as well start now. Then you'll be working with Newt after it if we finish early. Come on, shuck-face."

✿✿✿

The two Gladers managed to finish earlier than Amelia thought. So she sent Thomas to work with Newt, along with the other Track-hoes while she walks around, helping everyone who needs it.

"Has anyone tried climbing to the top?".

"Tried it. And besides, where you gonna go from there?".

"What about the box? The next time it comes up—"

"No, we tried that. The box won't go back down with someone in it.".

"Okay what if we—".

"No, we tried it, all right? Trust me, anything you already thought of, we already tried. The only way out is through the maze. Now look, ya wanna be helpful?" Newt grabbed a bucket near him and tossed it at Thomas, who caught it. "Get us more fertiliser.".

Thomas did nothing but obey and started to walk to the Deadheads. As he walked through it, he tripped halfway through his journey until he spotted a grave. He bent down to look and saw a name. George.

He recalled the moment when Amelia had brought him to the wall, he remembered seeing George's name being crossed out. A twig snapped behind him, causing him to snap back to reality. Thomas stood up and turned, only to see an unfamiliar, yet familiar-ish Glader. Although they've never met and no one had introduced them to each other, Thomas knew his name.

According to Chuck, he was the poor shank who kept on screaming back in the Homestead.

Ben was appalling. His skin was pale. Rope-like veins ran along his body, pulsing and green. His bloodshot eyes fell upon Thomas as if he were seeing his next meal.

"Oh, uhm. Ben, right? I don't know if we ever ... Hey, you okay?" Ben lunged towards Thomas, tackling him to the ground, knocking the breath out of him.

"It's your fault, you did this. It's your fault!" Ben muttered the same sentence repeatedly. He had his hands wrapped around Thomas' neck, almost choking him.

Thomas managed to shove the sick psycho off him. Ben crouched, ready to spring for another attack. Fortunately for Thomas, someone came and helped him.

"Ben!" He sighed in relief when Amelia came into his sight. She had a large bow and quiver filled with arrows.

"You have two choices. Stop it right now or I let go and you won't live to see tomorrow," Amelia nocked an arrow. Thomas looked back at Ben, who stared viciously at her.

"You wouldn't do that, you don't have the heart! And even if you do, you'll get the wrong guy! He's the shank you wanna kill!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Thomas's innocent, he just got here! You're still going through the Changing, you should've never left your bed," Amelia barked.

Thomas took an involuntary step backwards. Ben continued to 'convince' Amelia that he was a traitor - that he was going to kill them all. The female Glader pointed the arrow at him. She started to count down to one, giving Ben at least a chance to change his mind during the three seconds.

"One," There was a sound of snapping wire. The whoosh of an object slicing through the air. Ben's head snapped violently to the left, twisting his body until he landed on his stomach, his feet pointed towards Thomas, who jumped to his feet and stumbled forward.

"It isn't your fault, you know? Judging by what I just saw, I know he attacked you first," Amelia mumbled to the horrified boy.

"Come on, the Baggers'll take care of him tomorrow.".