RECKLESS [The Maze Runner || Newt || Book 1]

"Absolutely not. You know the rules, greenies don't get to trial as runners." Alby now stood in the council hall in front of Minho, Newt, Clara, and Freddy.

"Alby come on! We need a new runner, Rob's gonna be out for ages with his broken leg!" Clara pleaded, she knew that they needed fresh meat in the runners, she'd noticed how many of the boys were getting drained or losing hope from running the same routes every day and she had a feeling that a new greenie would bring a new sense of hope for all of them like maybe he'd find something they missed. "

Minho already agrees with me, you saw how he kicked Gally's ass out there! I mean look at the kid, he's got bigger muscles than half the glade!" She remarked, pointing at the greenie whose face went slightly pink. Newt noticed Freddy's face and felt a pang of jealousy at the compliment the boy received, but he quickly pushed the feeling away and chimed into the conversation,

"He can run with me and Clara tomorrow, we'll take him on an easy route, see if he manages, and then he can start running with Johnny. We can't keep mapping without him and Rob, there's too much of the maze to explore, and Johnny needs another partner."

"Minho, you're okay with this?" Alby asked, still hesitant about the idea.

"Yeah, I'm getting bored of seeing the same shanks every day, a new face would do us some good."

The room went quiet for a second while Alby weighed his options, he'd watched the fight at the bonfire and seen what the greenie was capable of, but he also knew the dangers of throwing a new boy into the maze.

"Fine. But Clara, Newt, you take him on an ordinary route, nothing new or dangerous, got it?"

"Got it," Newt responded, a smile forming on his face. He turned around to face the greenie, who was still a little bit confused about what exactly was going on,

"Alright mate, welcome to the runners."

"Yeah, what exactly are runners?"

Clara smiled as she watched Newt walk the greenie out of the homestead, explaining the procedure to him. Her heart beat a little bit faster at the idea of a new runner joining them, and suddenly she felt like she had a little more reason to hope

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"Morning sunshine." Newt greeted as Clara jogged up to him and the greenie, who were standing in front of the East maze doors.

"Blondie. Greenbean" She said back, chuckling at the confused look that formed on Freddy's face at her nicknames. She threw the boy an extra pack she grabbed from the map room and strapped her own one to her back, making sure to secure the small knife she carried with her to her hip holster.

"Why do you carry that?" The greenie asked, nodding towards the knife that was now resting on her hip,

"The knife? Oh, that's for the zombies" Clara deadpanned as a hint of fear started to show on Freddy's face. Newt threw an apple at her, narrowly missing her face and chuckling at the scowl she pulled at him,

"She's pulling your leg mate, we use them to cut the ivy so we can follow it back if we get lost. But we never get lost so don't worry about that. Ready to go?" He asked, tightening the straps of his pack. The greenie nodded, even though he looked slightly scared Clara could feel the excitement coming from him and she smiled slightly, remembering her own anticipation from her first day in the maze.

"Alright greenie, let's get going." She said as Newt started jogging, motioning for the greenie to run ahead of her and she took off after him. The trio ran into the maze, Newt leading them on the route he'd planned the night before with Freddy behind him, keeping pace, and Clara at the back stopping every few seconds to cut a piece of ivy down. 

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw something moving at end of one of the passages they ran past, she stopped quickly, calling for the other runner,

"Newt!" The boy slowed down his pace and the greenie did the same, they both turned around and walked over to where the girl stood.

"What's wrong?" Newt asked, standing next to her, and looking out at the same spot her eyes were plastered on, seeing nothing but the walls of the maze.

"I- I swear I saw something moving at the end of the passage. I want to check it out." Clara said as she started walking forward, Newt grabbed her arm before she could go too far, turning her to face him,

"Clara, you heard what Alby said, no new routes. We have to stick to this one."

"But Newt, what if whatever that thing was leads us to something new. What if it leads us to a way out."

"Are you absolutely sure you saw something moving?" He asked, and Clara nodded. Newt looked back and forth between the passage before speaking again,

"Okay, let's go. Freddy, run next to me yeah?"

The three of them slowly jogged to the end of the passage, Clara running slightly ahead of them, letting her curiosity get the better of her. When they reached the end of the passage she looked to her right and saw a small sliver of metal disappearing behind one of the walls,

"There!" She pointed at the walls and looked at Newt, who shared the same face of confusion as her. They slowly started walking towards the walls, their intrigue, and fear growing with each step. As they reached the end of the passage Clara spun around, looking for whatever had disappeared so quickly as Newt walked around, looking for a hint of anything. He walked up to the wall where they'd seen the metal object, pushing back some ivy he noticed what looked like scratch marks of sorts. Large lines had been scraped into the stone, he brushed his hand over the indents.

"Clara, come look at this." He called the girl, and she made her way over to him. When she saw the marks on the wall, she brushed her fingers over them the same way he did, feeling her fear growing slightly,

"What the hell?" She whispered, "What could be strong enough to leave marks in stone?"

Suddenly a yell sounded from behind the pair, they jumped around and Clara felt all the colour drain from her face and her blood run cold as she took in the sight in front of her.