A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 34

Cally's pov

The sound of sirens blasted through the air as the alarm went off. I was in the Med-room, taking care of one of the Gladers who had had a confrontation with a Beetle Blade.
     "Can you hurry up? I wanne see the new Greenie's face when he comes out of the box." The guy said.
     "Yeah, sure, I can hurry."  I said while rolling my eyes, trying not to sound too annoyed. "I'll just skip disinfecting your wound, I mean, how bad can an infection be, right?" A joyless chuckle left my mouth. "It's not like people die from them or something."
     Knowing I was right, he sighed, letting his shoulders hang. "Never mind."
     As the alarm went on, the commotion outside grew louder and louder, and when it stopped, the Gladers made just as much noise. I knew they would open the box in less than fifteen minutes and so did the Shank I was helping, he didn't rush me with words but the way he was shuffling in his chair told me enough. Done with it, I quickly wrapped it up and dismissed him. The guy didn't know how fast he had to get downstairs, not even as much as thanking me for helping him.
     I wasn't that excited for a new Greenie. Just another guy without his memories thrown into this crazy test. Even though most of the Gladers didn't even know they were being tested.
     Sometimes, I don't like knowing all of this stuff while the others don't. I often wonder if I should tell them, or at least tell Newt. But I always come to the conclusion that telling someone would create chaos, and that's something that we do not need right now. Or ever. Things are already bad enough.
     Minho's idea of letting me run Newt's section until he could run again got blown off by Alby. It seemed that some Shank named Chris had potential, so Minho had to train him, and now he was a Runner. Of course, I was a little disappointed by the news, but at some level I already knew it wasn't going to happen.
     Newt's foot still hadn't healed. He said the pain was less, but we still thought it would be better if he kept using the crutches for another month or so. Clint, Jeff, and I think it's never really going to heal, but we hadn't told Newt. It's better to let the guy have a little hope. There already is so few of it left.
     Even though Newt didn't know, we had told Alby that the possibility that Newt wasn't going to be able to be a Runner again was there. Alby himself agreed that it would be better if he stayed inside the Glade, so he could keep a better eye on him from now on.
     I, on my turn, had been cleared by Alby. Well, he started to trust me more in the past weeks. I think it has something to do with me stitching people up all the time and now knowing almost every Glader. By face, at least, I'm still awful at remembering names, but they seem to like me enough.
     Curious to the commotion, I walked over to the window. I couldn't see the Box itself, but I did see the entire Glade gathering around it. I really did not understand their enthusiasm. Shaking my head, I turned around, my eyes finding Bark, who had been sleeping on one of the beds for the past hour. Smiling at her adorableness, I said down on the ground, leaning on the bed as I softly let my hand move over her soft, brown fur.
     After some time, the door of the Med-room opened, and there was Jeff, "Hey Cally, aren't you coming?"
     Bark shifted, and for a moment, I thought she would wake up, but her lazy ass just huffed and continued her nap. "Nah, I'm on M.R. duty, remember?" I answered, not looking up from Bark.
     "You don't have to stay here, at least, you're allowed to come see who pops out the box. It's really amusing to see the Shanks reaction to all of this." I considered his offer. Do I really want to see how some other unfortunate guy is put into the Glade? Apparently, Jeff noticed my doubt and continued.  "Ow, come on, Cally, don't be stubborn. It'll just take a few minutes, then you can go back here and wait until some shank looses a limp."
     I sighed in defeat, accepting that my curiosity had won. "Okay, I'll come." I pushed myself back on my feet and joined Jeff in the doorway.
     "Aren't you going to wake the dog?"
     "No, I don't want her near the box. She could fall in." After I said that, I closed the door behind me. I walked down with Jeff and gathered around the box, just like everyone else.
     "So ya decided to come?" A voice from behind me asked, it was Newt. I turned to him, "Jeff convinced me, sort of, how long until it opens?"
     Newt glanced down at his watch, "Right about.... now." I heard the loud noises of the opening box doors and turned my attention back to it. Alby and Gally had opened the box, and now Alby jumped down into it. Still, there was nothing to see, but all the Gladers were excited, and to be honest, I was getting really curious too.
     Some of the Gladers were shouting things to Alby, just like every other time the Box got opened.
     "What's his name?"
     "Is it another girl?"
     "How old is the Shank?"
     But Alby didn't answer them. He was busy with getting the Newbie out of there.
     After about five minutes and two robes made out of ivy, they finally got him out. The Gladers gathered around even closer around them, making it impossible for me to see anything.
     "This really is amusing," I said to Newt and Jeff with sarcasm clearly in my voice. Newt chuckled, but Jeff didn't seem to have noticed my commend. He was still trying to see the Greenie.
     The commotion changed. People were shouting through each other, making it hard for me to hear what they were saying. I didn't get what was going on until I saw someone running towards the North door, "is that the Greenie?" I asked to no one in particular.
     Newt looked at the running Shank, worry in his voice, "we need to stop him, if he goes through that bloody door he's dead."
     "I'm on it..." I mumbled half a second before I shot after him. I may not be a Runner anymore, but I still can run fast. It didn't take long before I started to catch up to him, he wasn't really fast, thanks to the non-structured way he moved his body, arms flapping left and right as he tried to keep balance while he kept tripping over clusters of dirt and grass.
     The door was getting closer, the walls already looming over us. I could easily catch up to him and try to talk him out of it. But something about the way he made a fool of himself told me that wasn't going to work. So, I moved beside him, and before he had even noticed it, I threw myself at him, tackling him to the ground.
     I heard him yelp as he landed on his right side with me half on him. I tried pushing myself up, but instead of the ground, my hand found the guy's hip, and I slipped back down into the still dewy grass. I could feel the Shank struggling to get away from me, making it harder for me to get up, I finally managed to push my upper half off the ground as I spoke, "calm do- AUW!"
     Before I could finish my sentence, the guy had hit me in the face, making me fall off of him to the ground. Pain shot through my cheek and nose. He had missed my eye with just a few inches. "DUDE!" I bit at him as I covered my nose with my hands, "that was SO uncalled for!" My anger was clear in my voice, and at that point, I didn't care anymore about not scaring the guy off.
     "Cally?"
     I froze.
     I know that voice.
     Wiping the hair out of my eyes, I stared at the Greenie who just said my name.  Brown, short hair, green eyes, black vest, grey Portal shirt, and shark tooth necklace.
     "Ezra?" I said with disbelief in my voice. If my eyes didn't already have tears in them from the smack in the face, they would've filled up now. Realizing where we were, I quickly looked over my shoulder. Alby and the others were closing in on us fast.
     Ezra wanted to ask me something, but I didn't let him and started whispering, "Ezra, listen," the urge in my voice got him to focus on me. "You do not know anything except your first name. Not me, not anything, just your first name. Good that?"
     I could see the confusion in his face, but before he could react, the others had reached us.
     Alby first, he dropped down beside Ezra and practically forced him to stand up. Then he looked down at me, "Are you okay?"
     Quickly, I nodded, "I'm fine."
     "You're bleeding." I tried to look down, but of course, I couldn't see my face like that. I wiped my hand under my nose, and there was indeed blood on my hand, just as Alby had said. I hadn't even noticed before, but now I could feel it drip down my lip.
     Before I could react, Jeff dropped down beside me and looked at my face. He took my head between his hands and tilted it in such an angle that he could look into my nostrils. "He hit you pretty hard..."
     "No, really, it's fine," I tried to wave it off, not liking the way Jeff was looking at my face. 
     One of his hands left my face as he put a little pressure on different parts of my nose. "...it's not broken." Jeff said, ignoring my commend.
     I pushed his hands away from my face and got up from the ground, Jeff following my example. "I told you I was fine," I said before my attention got turned back to Alby and my twin brother.
     "You really had to hit the girl, didn't you?" Alby said to Ezra. It was obvious that he had no idea what was going on. I had to admit that, in some way, the confusion on Ezra's face was a little amusing.
     "I...I uh... I didn't..... what?"
     In the meantime, more Gladers had gathered around us. Most of them laughed because of Ezra's reaction, and some looked at me with concern because of the blood on my face.
     "What's your name, Shank?" Alby asked him.
     He shot me a quick look before answering, "I'm... Ezra... my name's Ezra."
     "I think you should apologize, Greenie," Clint told him while gesturing to me with his head.
     Ezra first looked at him, then turned to me again, "I'm sorry." I could hear the hesitation in his voice, and I knew it was because he had no clue what was going on.
     I smiled at him, "Apology accepted, Ezra. Welcome to the Glade."
     The frown in Ezra's face deepened, "the what? Where are we? Who the fuck are you people?"
     Alby laughed, "the Glade, allow me to explain." Then he turned to the rest of us, "okay! Show's over shanks! Go back to work!" The group of Gladers started to thin out as most of them started walking away.
     "Let's get you cleaned up," Jeff said to me. I nodded, but wasn't fully aware of my movement, I was looking at Ezra who's attention was with Alby, though he kept glancing at me.
     "What did just bloody happ'n?" Newt had finally caught up to everyone. He was getting faster with the crutches, but he still couldn't go faster than anyone in the Glade.
     "Cally tackled the Greenie and then he hit her in the face," Jeff answered him.
     "He did what?" I could hear concern and a trace of anger in Newt's voice, it was kinda cute, "are you okay, Cals?"
     I stopped staring at my brother and looked at Newt, "what? Yeah, I'm fine."
     "Fine?" He clearly did not believe me. "Ya're bleedin'."
     Again I wiped my hand under my nose, "it's just a little blood, Newt. I've had worse."

~.~.~

Edited: 19/12/20