Chapter Text
The first thing that Newt noticed as he woke up was that he was lying on something hard. This normally wouldn’t be surprising, but he could have sworn that he fell asleep in his room. On his bed. The second thing was that it was absolutely silent around him. There was no snoring or shuffling around that was unavoidable when sleeping outside with the rest of the Gladers. This alone was enough for him to open his eyes to see what might be wrong. Alby was busy enough without some problem between the Gladers. It was Newt’s job as second-in-command to make things easier for their leader. Groaning internally, Newt blearily opened his eyes to a strange sight.
Newt was surrounded by bodies. Not dead ones he realized after a fraction of a second of panic. They were sleeping.
“What the bloody hell?” Newt whispered in bewilderment.
Most of them were Gladers. He could see Alby and Minho to his left. The Newbie, Thomas, was near the girl. Chuck was curled up near him. Then Newt noticed the strangers.
“Who the bloody hell are you?”
Everyone startled at the shout, but Newt was too busy glaring suspiciously at the strangers. There were three of them. There was an olive skinned, dark haired boy to his right, separated from the group. He was looking at the group in fear. He didn’t seem like much of threat, but they had to be cautious. The biggest threat was behind Alby and Minho. There was a young man and an older teenager. The man was Hispanic and looked ready to fight with a crazed look in his eye as he slowly got to his feet. Beside him was the teenager. She was a fierce looking long haired girl. Newt could spot her eyes glancing around the room searching for an exit. It was obvious to him that these two were dangerous. He could see from his peripheral vision that the rest of the Gladers were clumping into a group behind him while the lone boy curled up into a ball.
“This shank here asked you a question.” Newt didn’t need to turn to know that Alby was standing beside him.
“Now, now, hermano, there’s no need to be hostile.” While the man may have the facial expression of someone who wants peace, his eyes tell a different story. He looked to be itching for a fight. “We’re just as confused as you are. Perhaps we could all sit down and chat.”
Newt turned to Alby. While he didn’t trust them, he would respect his leader’s decision. He watched all the thoughts pass through Alby’s face before settling on a stony look.
“Alright then, why don’t we start with your names,” Alby said, giving the man a look that dared him to refuse.
“Alrighty then. I’m Jorge and this is Brenda,” the man said with a nod to the girl. “We don’t know anything about where we are or how we got here,” he finished with a smirk. “Now, you’re turn.”
Alby glared but replied, “I’m Alby and this is my second-in-command Newt. The pudgy kid is Chuck and next to him is Thomas. Potato-nose is Gally and Frypan’s next to him with the beard. And this ugly shank is Minho. Not sure what the girl’s name is. First time any of us have seen her awake.”
Everyone turned towards the girl. She showed no open sign of discomfort.
“My name is Teresa,” she stated.
Alby hummed and turned to the boy.
“What about you?”
The boy flinched and gave a small squeak. Stuttering slightly on his words, he said, “I’m Aris.” There was a slight pause as he gathered his courage. “Um, do any of you know why I can’t remember anything? You all seem to remember stuff, so why can’t I?”
Newt turned to Alby with a surprised look on his face. He could see the same question running through Alby’s eyes. Could this kid be a new Glader? But the note said the girl, Teresa was the last one ever. Could there be a different reason for the memory loss? It’s possible. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the Glade or the Maze.
Newt tuned Alby out as he started to explain to Aris. Newt started to examine the room that they were stuck in. It was fairly small, with a couple couches facing in a semi-circle. However, the thing that really caught his attention was a window with a view into a beautiful meadow.
Thomas, noticing where his eyes were looking, said, “Don’t bother. It’s fake. I tried to open it, but I couldn’t. It doesn’t even feel like real glass. You can’t get out that way.”
Newt ignored him, not because he thought Thomas was lying, but because something had caught his eye. There was a folded note on the windowsill.
Newt walked over cautiously to the window with Thomas trailing behind him. “That wasn’t there before,” Thomas worded carefully. Newt ignored him as he picked up the unknown note and unfolded it.
Dear Gladers, Jorge, Brenda, and Aris,
I know you are all very confused and that is why I am sending you this note. I have sent you here because the future is dangerous, and I hope to help you stop it. There are people playing God and making decisions that are not theirs to make. I have sent three books that will give you the knowledge that you need to change the future. Use that knowledge wisely. There is much at stake.
Anonymous
Newt continued to stare at the note as the voices around him began to rise.
“Slim it!”
All the heads in the room swiveled to look at Newt. He used this opportunity to speak up. “There’s a note from whoever sent us here.”
There was a moment of silence before both Alby and Jorge sped over to where Newt was standing. Jorge got there first and ripped the note out of Newt’s hand. Alby and Newt glared at him as he read the note.
“They talkin’ about the Flare and the Cranks? ‘Cause I don’t think there’s anything we can do ‘bout that,” Jorge said with raised eyebrows. The Gladers and Aris all looked at him blankly.
“Sorry, the what?” Newt asked, trying to be polite.
Jorge burst into laughter before noticing that the Gladers were serious.
“You’re joking, right? Everyone knows about the Flare,” Brenda spoke up.
Before some of the more temperamental Gladers could start a fight, three paperback books fell from the ceiling and landed on Gally’s head. There was silence as all of them stared both at the books, and Gally’s face turning a deep red.
“I suppose these must be the books the note was talkin’ about,” Jorge said.
Alby snatched the note out of Jorge’s hands and skimmed it over. It wasn’t until Minho cleared his throat that Alby read the note out loud.
“Sooooo, dumb question, but will we take turns reading it or are we reading it aloud?” Chuck asked. He blinked confusedly at all the sharp looks he was getting. “What?”
Newt rolled his eyes. “So who’s gonna read out loud first?”
There was a pause as everyone glared distrustfully at each other.
Newt rolled his eyes again. He was going to get a headache if this kept up. “Never mind, I’ll read.” He picked up the books and found the one that seemed to be the first book. “The Maze Runner.”