Without A Choice // The Maze Runner [Book 1]

THREE

The sun had gone down and while the boys around me were hollering about the bonfire and the drinks, I wandered off to find Newt. I found him seconds later, sitting next to Newbie. They were talking to each other as I walked up to them. I was holding Gally's infamous drink that everyone found disgusting but drank anyway.

I plopped down next to Newt. "How's it going, Greenie?" I asked. He nodded hesitantly. 

"It's just a little bit terrifying being trapped in here," he mumbled, looking down at the sand. 

"I get it, I almost clunked my pants when the doors closed on my first day." I chuckled lightly. "Here, this puts some hair on your chest." I handed him the jar filled with a yellow liquid, Gally's drink. 

Newbie unscrewed the top, took a large gulp and almost immediately spat it back out. Coughing wildly, he tried to remove the substance from his body. I let out a joyous laugh. "Still funny," I said with a giggle, Newt let out a chuckle too. 

Newt and I always offered the newbies Gally's drink. Some had been really relaxed about it but we had found them puking in the bushes minutes later, some had spit it right back out, like Newbie, and some had drunk it and tried to be cool about it, but we could see they were trying not to puke. There hadn't been a single Greenie yet that actually liked the drink. 

Newbie coughed with tears in his eyes. "Oh my god, what is that?"

Newt laughed lightly as he took the jar from Newbie. "No one actually knows, it's Gally's secret recipe."

"Rumor says it's his pee." That caused Newbie to cough even harder, which made me laugh harder.

"Yeah, well, he's still an asshole," Newbie stated.

"An asshole who saved your life. You won't survive it out there on your own. The Maze is a dangerous place," I said. "It changes every night. That's why it's taken us three years so far trying to find a way out." 

"Three years?" Newbie breathed. 

I nodded solemnly before I turned around. "You see those guys by the fire? They're the Runners. I'm one of them. We run through the Maze every day as soon as those doors open again. We map it and try to find a pattern or a clue that might lead us to the exit."

Newbie's forehead creased in thought and we sat in silence until Newt got up. "I'm gonna find Alby, see if he's got any fun stories to tell." 

"Why are we here?" Newbie asked softly, carefully.

I let out a sad chuckle. "I wish I could tell you. In the very beginning, we thought that the reason I was the only girl, is so we could... procreate..." My voice wore off. Newbie looked at me with a disgusted face. "That was my reaction too. Until we realized that every month, a new Glader arrives. There's no way we could create other human beings with only one girl and about thirty boys." I sipped Gally's drink. I had gotten used to the taste after the many years of Gally making me drink it. 

"About that rule, no romantic involvements? Did you come up with that?" he asked, his eyes never leaving me.

"No, Alby did. Pedro, someone who is sadly no longer with us, tried to get close to me because he hoped we could... you know..." I made a vague motion with my hands. "Alby found out and that's how the rule was born. It's not safe for me to be dating any of you guys, I'll choose them over the rest if we end up in danger."

"What do you mean by 'he is no longer with us'?" he questioned, completely oblivious to the rest of my story.

I let out a breathy laugh. "You ask a lot of questions, you know?" I stopped to breathe before continuing, "There's only one way to make these rules work and that's by punishing those who break them." Newbie stared at me intensely, expecting me to continue but I averted my eyes to the entrance to the Maze. "Like I said, no one survives a night out there." With those words, I got up and held out my hand for Greenie to take.

His gaze left the doors and averted to my held-out hand. He took it firmly in his and I pulled him from the sand. I took him to the circle of boys, where Gally and another Glader were 'fighting'. It's a tradition to see how strong the new Greenie is by challenging Gally to a wrestling match. Gally was probably warming up.

Once Gally laid eyes on Newbie, his eyes lit up. "Greenie, you and me, let's go." He clapped his hands. Greenie looked at me wearily and I pushed his shoulder with a grin.

He entered the ring slowly. Gally took a defensive stance and balled his fists. Newbie stayed at a safe distance and looked like he was in a mood opposite of wanting to fight Gally, which was understandable. "Be nice, Gally," I shouted playfully.

"Always," he responded with a grin. Before Newbie could react, Gally thrust forward and grabbed him by his shoulders, pushing him back into the crowd, who shoved him back harshly. He fell to the ground and let out a raspy cough.

He scrambled back to his feet and tried to push Gally back, but he failed immensely. Gally dodged his attack and Newbie met the ground again. Sand sprayed all over his face and also entered his nose and mouth since I saw him spitting it out seconds later.

Gally turned to the crowd, which responded with a loud cheer. By turning his back to Greenie, Gally had given him a chance to strike. He grabbed Gally's arm and pulled him backwards. 

Gally stumbled slightly but steadied himself. He rushed forward once more, trying to throw Greenie off of his feet. Greenie was thinking ahead and dove sideways, dodging Gally's attack. Gally landed face first in the sand. 

The crowd hollered and cheered loudly. No one had ever come close to beating Gally on his first day.

Newt stepped up next to me. "He's doing pretty good, huh?" I stated.

"Yeah, but he's still an ugly shank," Newt said with a low chuckle.

"Oh, come on, he's not that bad looking," I retorted. I may or may not have reacted to that statement way too quickly, but Newt let out a chuckle. I was just relieved that he didn't lecture me on my comment. 

Since Greenie got distracted by the cheering crowd, Gally saw an opportunity and kicked Greenie's legs, sending him crashing to the floor. The side of his head hit the ground with a smack and I held my breath.

He hazily looked around and sat back up. "Come on, Greenie! We're not done," Gally ushered him back to his feet.

"Thomas," I heard him say softly.

"What was that, Greenie?" Gally asked.

"Thomas! My name's Thomas!" Greenie, apparently called Thomas, exclaimed.

The audience fell silent before Alby shouted, "Thomas!" Everyone burst out into cheers and surrounded Thomas. I stayed behind and looked at them with a broad smile.

Thomas had seemed out of place, more than the others when they first got here, but now that he remembered his name, he had become part of the group.