Her || The Maze Runner

Sixteen

Mara turned cold and she could feel the blood draining her face, leaving her as white as Chuck facing a griever in the maze. Thomas. The boy from her dreams, the boy who had worked with W.I.C.K.E.D. and her. He was, according to the dreams, Mara's friend, but that didn't make her any less fearful.

She tried to swallow the fear and confusion, but the two boys looked back at her in a confused manor, aware of her sudden mood change.

"Nice meeting you," She tried to speak clearly but her body wouldn't let her. Her breathing faltered; the first sign of one of her panic attacks. "I need to- uh, I need to do... I just need to go." Mara scrambled to her feet, only just maintaining balance.

She stumbled backwards then turned away from the curious newbie and Chuck, breaking out into a fast walk towards the Homestead. It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? She was trouble; everything had just gotten worse since she had arrived at the Glade. Was Thomas meant to mean something to her? Was he sent because of her? Newbie’s were meant to come each month, not two days after each other.

Mara’s heart felt like it was burning, her entire body felt numb as it shut down on her, breaking away from her mind. She raced inside the Homestead, rushing up the stairs and following the sound of Ben’s yells.

Without thinking, she burst through the door concealing the tortured moans, seeing the boy’s body surrounded by med-jacks, Newt and Alby. Mara froze, her jaw dropped at the sight of Ben but she zipped it shut trying to avoid her last meal coming back up.

She only stood there for a few seconds before Alby spotted her, sending Newt over to ‘take care of her.’, but that was enough time for the image to sink into her brain. Ben was unrecognisable, tangled up in veins made of a sickening green that restricted his entire body almost like a long unmovable snake strangling its prey to death. Dark purple bruises padded his body, mixed in red hives and blood-stained scars. The boy’s eyes were bloodshot and shot around the room, trying to look away from everything else that drowned his body.

“What are you doing M? You shouldn’t be here. I told you to look after the bloody newbie! Not come lookin’ for answers. I didn’t want you seeing that mess in there, that’s why I told you to stay out.” Newt shook his head as Mara followed him into their bedroom. It was the angriest Mara had ever seen Newt, or at least she thought it was.

“I wasn’t looking for answers or anything Newt! I was actually coming to tell you something.” Mara exclaimed, shutting the door behind her so no one else could hear her. Newt sat down on the nearest bed to the door, brushing his hair back with his hand.

“What do you need to get off your chest love?” He asked, surprisingly calm. His eyes were sad and looked weary, he needed some rest. Mara knelt down in front of him, leaning on his knees as she looked up into those pained eyes.

“Thomas. Newbie’s name is Thomas.” She watched Newt’s realisation set, his eyes widened and lips parted slightly.

“The one from your dreams?” He asked and Mara nodded. “Listen to me, you tell no one else. Alby’s not in a grand mood and this ain’t gonna make the shank feel nice and dandy at all. We’ll wait till after the buggin’ changing to tell him.”

Again Mara nodded. She stood up and sat next to Newt, watching the door for any unwanted intruders. She knew why they had to wait, Mara wasn’t exactly on Alby’s good side, if he had a good side, telling him would just make him doubt her more.  She wondered why he hated her so much, maybe Newt would know.

“Why does Alby hate me?” Mara turned to Newt, who furrowed his brow and let out a quiet chuckle.

“Hate you? What the bloody hell are you on about M?” He laughed, softly hitting Mara on the arm as he spoke. “Alby’s just confused and stressed being the new leader and all, but he’s a good shank. Just ain’t good at the emotional side of things.”

“Okay… so why is he so much stricter with me?” She asked, still not convinced by Newt’s argument.

“Because you’re our only shuck girl and things have been changing since you got here. He likes you really, but can’t show favouritism or we’ll have a bunch of jealous shanks to deal with.”

“Favouritism? Stop lying Newt, you know that’s not true. Out of everyone in the Glade, I’d say I’m at the bottom of Alby’s favourites list, ‘part from Minho maybe.” Mara shrugged. Minho and Alby seemed to be friends, but they were more like frenemies with all the eye rolling at Minho’s comments and Alby’s leadership rules. Newt laughed.

“You either love him or you hate him.” He smiled and Mara agreed with him. It was true, and honestly Mara thought Minho was brilliant. “You know, you may not be on Alby’s favourite list, but you’re at the top of mine. ‘Part from Minho.”

Mara leant backwards to take the pillow from beside her and hit Newt over the head with it. He jumped up and playfully ripped the pillow from Mara, bashing her in the stomach with the soft object. She fell backwards onto the bed, giving Newt the opportunity to attack her with the pillow again, and again, and again.

“Stop!” She giggled through her smile, trying to avoid Newt’s new weapon. Mara managed to jump to her feet and grab another pillow off of Newt’s bed.

“What’re you doing up here, greenie?” Alby’s angry tone interrupted their playfight, both Mara and Newt freezing in place. At first, Mara thought he was talking to them, but then she heard a second voice from beyond the room.

“I… uh…want some answers,” Another boy mumbled. It was Thomas. Mara dropped the pillow she was holding on to Newt’s bed and made her way towards the door. Newt did the same thing, but he reached the door to the hallway before Mara did and swung it open.

“Get your runtcheeks down those stairs, right now” Alby ordered the boy, ignoring Mara and Newt’s presence. “Chuck’ll help you. If I see you again before tomorrow morning, you won’t see another one alive. I’ll throw you off the cliff myself, you get me?”

The boy nodded in fear. Mara stepped over to him and threw her arm around the boy, which caught him off guard, but he didn’t resist this time.

“Lay off the buggin’ kid Alby, he’s just scared. How was he to know not to come up here?” Newt asked rhetorically, standing the other side of Thomas and copying Mara’s body language.

“Just get him outta here lovebirds.” Alby said before returning to Ben.

“Come on Tommy, let’s get you outta here.” Mara smiled, leading him towards the stairs and out of the Homestead, collecting Chuck on the way. They returned to the tree they had sat by before, all four of them sitting in a small square.

"We shoul get you some food from Frypan." Chuck said in a chipper way, maybe he was happy to have a new friend in the Glade.

"I don't know if I can ever eat again." Thomas shuddered, obviously thinking about Ben. Mara had managed to block that out, but the image of him popped back into her mind. She threw it away, trying to enjoy the company of the others.

"Yeah, you will. I'l meet you-"

"I'll go." Mara interrupted Chuck. "That way I know I'll get my sandwich as well. Be back in ten."