—3rd Person—
That night, not many spoke. The bonfire was postponed. Not many ate, even though Frypan busied himself with cooking instead of grieving a friend.
Zart was oddly silent. Though, having gone through the changing, his decaying brain was too full. Too loud to make any sounds of his own.
Elsie lay in her hammock alone in the hammock hut. In the dark. Wearing one of Minho's tee shirts and wrapped up in his blanket from his hammock.
She refused food. Didn't talk to anyone other than Newt and even then it was very minimal. She'd gone numb. Just like they thought she would.
Newt was trying his best. But that old nagging feeling in the back of his mind came back, causing him to rub away a dull ache in his messed up leg.
He wouldn't repeat his actions he'd done that day. Because he was lucky to have failed and it felt like some higher powers had prevented him from offing himself for a promise of better days.
And better days they did bring. Elsie. They brought his family to him. But took his friend like a brother.
He remembered how he'd made Minho promise Elsie's life and safety over his own. And he knew that had to have been his last thought. At least one of them. Probably next only to Elsie herself.
Newt had piled up a load of old cushions from a ratty old couch in the homestead and made them into a makeshift bed on the ground next to Elsie's hammock.
He'd had a funny feeling she wouldn't sleep the entire night and he wanted to be there to comfort her and keep her company.
He looked up at her from his propped up view on the floor and he frowned. Her cheeks were pink and shiny, dark bags moved in under her beautiful green eyes.
And she lay clutching tightly to Minho's pillow as she slept. Her face buried into the Minho scented fluff.
Something shifted in Newt that night. Something that told him they needed to find a way out of this place and fast. Before the Grievers decide to take any more of them.
At the meeting Alby had told the keepers about before everyone went to bed, he was going to give the greenie what he wanted. A free position as a runner. Because he didn't care.
They needed a beating heart and working lungs and brain to get through that maze. And Ben is the only real runner they've got left. Even then, he's just about as not here as Elsie is.
He was gonna get her out of the place no matter what it cost him.
—First Person—
"Red alert. Red alert. Intruder in the building! Red alert. Red alert. Intruder in the building!"
Gunshots rang out.
Blood was everywhere.
White coats stained red.
Experiment... destroyed.
—
I woke up with a start the next morning, my heart racing just as fast as yesterday when I'd run to escape the Griever.
Today's the day of Zart's banishment.
Apparently the poor guy was tiptoeing around the maze behind Minho and I, spying on us. When he ran smack into a Griever and got himself stung.
Then he came rampaging through here trying to stack Chuck. Who, surprisingly, was saved by Gally.
My eyes opened and I adjusted to the sunlight leaking in, and noticed a pile of couch cushions laid out on the floor next to my hammock.
Newt. It had to have been. No one else would volunteer to sleep on the floor to watch over me.
Reluctantly, I forced myself to get up. I changed my clothes because I was alone and tied my hair up so I at least looked halfway decent.
Minho would want me to.
"Mornin', Elsie!" A random Glader smiled at me as I left the hammock hut.
I rolled my eyes. "Kiss up."
Trudging my way across the Glade towards the mess hall, I spotted Chuck playing with Dory off in the distance by the fruit trees.
The cherry trees Newt had planted ages ago are finally starting to sprout.
I pushed my way through the door of the mess hall and spotted Newt, Frypan, and the greenie all talking together while Fry did the dishes.
Their conversation ended the moment they realized I was there. Letting me know their conversation topic was definitely about me.
So, I sighed and turned around and left. Not even wanting to deal with it today. But, much to my dismay, I was followed.
"Hey, Els," It's Newt. He grabbed my hand and turned me back around. I stepped forward and buried into his chest. He hugged me tightly, then pressed his face into my hair. "It's okay. You don't have to fake it around me. I know, okay?"
I nodded, sniffling back tears. "I love you, Newt..."
"I love you too, Elsie," He replied. "And it's because I love you that I tell you that you could use a hot shower. Wash up from that run yesterday, get yourself feeling better."
"I don't think I'll ever feel better, Newt..."
"That's okay," He rubbed my back, validating my feelings instead of brushing them off with toxic positivity. "You don't have to. Just take care of yourself. You know he'd be telling you the exact same thing. Come on. I'll watch the door while you're in there."
—
Today I decided to sit in on the meeting in the homestead. Which shocked everyone, but it was a good distraction- hearing everyone talk and argue and share their pieces.
But, oddly, Alby decided not to come to the meeting. Which put Newt in charge and Gally as runner up.
"Alright. First things first," Newt stood as he talked. "We're all going to be respectful of Elsie's presence today. Which means none of you shuck faces are going to say one rude thing to her or about herself or Minho. Understood?"
There were nods all around the room, some shot concerned and worried glances my way. More pity. Great.
"Alright. First off I want to say this and get it out of the way, so you all can get it out of your systems," Newt sighed. "Alby has stepped down from position as leader of the Glade."
Immediately the room roared to life with protests and shouts. Newt tried to silence everyone so he could continue but he had no luck.
"Shut it! The lot of you! Let my brother speak!" I yelled suddenly, silencing the whole room. Newt gave me a look of thanks, then continued.
"And he has appointed me as leader, because I was second in command," Newt said. No one protested. Newt really must be a favorite around here. "And I've chosen Gally as my second in command. Which means we both demand just as much respect as you gave Alby. Alright? All his rules still apply."
Again. More nods. Gally got some looks of jealousy and unease. Not shocked, he's a meathead. But Newt didn't really have a choice. The Greenie and I haven't been here long enough, Frypan is too much of a peacemaker, and Minho- well.
"Second order of business. Zart's banishing. It'll happen immediately following this meeting so we can just get it over with. A reminder of why he is being banished, he broke two of our most important rules," He sighed heavily. "Going into the Maze without a runner let alone at all, and attempted or carried out harm to another Glader. Does anyone protest?"
Silence. Yet again. Newt nodded.
"Alright. Next, the Greenie," Newt glanced around the group. "It was Minho's original plan for Elsie to be a runner with him and Ben to potentially trigger a vision of a way out of the maze. But, to allow her time to grieve and adjust to the absence of Minho, we will be appointing the Greenie as runner with Ben. I've spent a considerable amount of time with the bloke and can infer that he is a clever shank, so it will be good to have another sharp mind running those walls."
Finally, more protests.
"The guy doesn't even remember his name! Why is he going into the maze!?"
"Everything started going wrong after he came up!"
"Yeah! How can we trust him?!"
"Because I do!" Newt replied. "I do. And he's smart. And he's all we have right now besides Ben and no one's allowed in that maze alone! Do we understand?!"
Silence yet again.
"Alright. Meeting dismissed. Everyone go prepare for the banishing. Poles are lined up on the walls where they usually are."
"So, leader?" I asked Newt when he turned after the meeting ended. The boys were filing out. "What happened?"
"Alby's not... Alby. He's... giving up. Two Glader deaths in one day... it must have been the last straw. He gave up. Come on. Let's go get this banishing over with. I will warn you though, it's painful to watch. But everyone has to be there. Well, except Alby."
"He's borderline a suicide risk," Gally told me on our way out of the homestead. "I don't think we'll have him much longer either."