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

"We don't even know what this stuff is, we don't know who sent it, or why it came up here with you. I mean, for all we know this stuff could kill him!" Newt exclaimed as he, Clara, Thomas, Jeff, and Teresa stood in the med room next to the bed Alby was lying on.

"He's already dying Newt, look at him. How could this possibly make it any worse?" Clara stated, gesturing at the boy who was groaning and breathing rapidly. Thick black veins covered his arms and neck, and he was writhing around in pain.

"Come on, it's worth a try." Thomas added, backing her up. Newt glanced between them and Alby, weighing his options.

"Alright. Do it." He sighed, handing the cylinder over to Thomas. 

He walked over to Alby, leaning over him, and positioning the syringe over his arm. But all of a sudden Alby opened his eyes, reaching forward and grabbing Thomas's collar,

"You shouldn't be here! You shouldn't be here" He yelled, pulling Thomas closer to him, spit flying all over his face. Clara jumped forward and pulled Thomas away as Newt and Jeff held Alby down.

"Get the syringe!" She yelled and Teresa grabbed it out of Thomas's hand, quickly lifting her arm up and stabbing the needle straight into Alby's chest. It made a hissing sound as the liquid disappeared from the cylinder and Alby calmed down, his breathing slowing down and his eyes closing again.

"Well, that worked." Thomas muttered, stepping backward.

"Right, from now on, someone watches him around the clock," Newt demanded, looking at Jeff, who nodded at him.

"Hey." A voice sounded from the door, and they all turned to see Gally standing there, "Sundown greenie, time to go"

"You too, Clara." Newt added. And she looked at Thomas before the two of them walked out, following Gally to the pit. He grabbed a torch on their way out and walked ahead of them.

"Hey what is your problem with me?" Thomas asked, breaking the silence between the three of them and Clara raised her eyebrows, surprised at his bluntness.

"Everything started going wrong the minute you showed up, first Ben, then Alby. Now the girl."

"And me Gally? Remember when we used to be friends? Before you started acting like an asshole to me." Clara interrupted,

"Yeah, that was before you broke the rules and jumped into the maze with your boyfriend here."

"I thought you said Newt was my boyfriend?"

"Oh, slim it. Don't forget that everybody saw the girl recognize you. And I'm betting you know who she is, and you and Thomas are hiding something from the rest of us."

Gally leaned down and opened the door to the first cell in the pit, letting Thomas jump in and locking it behind him. The boy reached out, wrapping his hands around the bars,

"Gally, you know we can't stay here forever, right?" He said, but the builder didn't respond as he opened the door to the second cell and Clara climbed inside it. He locked the door and walked away from them, taking the torch, and leaving them in total darkness. 

Clara huffed and sat down, leaning against the wall separating her and Thomas and she heard him do the same. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Thomas spoke,

"So, your name is Clarissa?"

"Yeah."

"Why does everyone call you Clara."

"I- I don't really know. It just felt more natural to me, I get a bad feeling in my gut when people call me Clarissa. Maybe it's from something that happened before the maze."

"Oh." He responded, thinking for a few seconds before speaking again, "When we were in the council hall earlier, you talked about someone named Freddy? What happened to him, and why were you banned from going into the maze."

"Jesus do you ever stop asking questions." She complained, but she started to answer, nonetheless. 

"Freddy was a greenie, the seventh one to come up. But he was different from the others, he wasn't scared shitless like Chuck, or curious like you. He was brave, smart. He kicked Gally's ass in the ring at his bonfire, and so I asked Minho if he could trial with the runners. Newt and I were runners back then, partners, so I said he could spend the day with us, and Minho agreed. Everything was going fine until I saw a griever - this was before we knew what they really were - and I made them follow it with me. Long story short, a griever got Freddy and stung him." She paused, realizing a tear was rolling down her cheek.

"But why were you banned from the maze?"

"Well, Newt realized we wouldn't make it out the doors carrying Freddy, so he made us leave him behind, he practically had to carry me away from him. Alby found out what happened and ordered that nobody was allowed back into the maze until further notice. But I felt so guilty, it was painful, it felt like it was trying to dig its way out of my skin. So, I woke up early the next morning and snuck out into the maze to find Freddy's body. I mean, deep down I knew it was hopeless, but I couldn't deal with the guilt. Anyway, Newt found out what I was doing, and he came and got me out of the maze, and I got in a load of shit."

"Oh yeah, what's the deal with you and Newt?"

"Shut up greenie, I'm getting there. They had a keeper meeting about what would happen to me, and Newt suggested that they kick me out of the runners, his idea won the vote so that's what happened, I got placed with the med-jacks instead. And I hated Newt for it, I didn't speak to him for a year."

"But you guys are fine now, aren't you?"

"Well Newt, he uh... he got injured about a year ago, pretty badly, and because I'm a med-jack I had to help him, so we agreed to try and put it behind us. Mainly because Alby and Minho were getting pissed off at us fighting all the time. But things have never really been the same between us." She trailed off, fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist,

"He cares about you, you know? You don't see it, but I can tell from the way he looks at you."

"Yeah, well he shouldn't have stabbed me in the back."

"You're going to hate him forever for something that happened two years ago?"

"I don't hate him, not really. It's just, you know, I don't -"

"Don't want to admit that you have feelings for him?" Thomas finished her sentence for her,

"Stop being a smartass, Thomas. Go to sleep." She chuckled but quickly stopped as she heard the sound of a lantern rattling and footsteps coming towards them,

"Who's there?" Thomas asked, and Clara sighed in relief as she recognized Chuck's short frame coming toward them.

"It's just me." The boy said,

"Hey, Chuckie." Clara smiled up at the boy, and he looked down at her, mirroring her smile,

"Here you go." He said, handing her a bottle of water and a sandwich which she gratefully accepted, practically shoving the entire thing in her mouth, wondering when the last time she ate was.

"Thanks, kid, you're the best." She said, her mouth full of bread which made him and Thomas laugh.

She lay down flat on her back, wriggling around to move the small stones out from under her and she looked up at the stars.

"Goodnight boys." She called to the two boys,

"Night Clara." They said in unison before starting their own conversation, whispering to each other. She smiled and closed her eyes, suddenly realizing how exhausted she really was, and she let sleep take over.