Memory Games - Newt TMR

8

I turned around to walk away, intending on spending the rest of the evening alone, but then he spoke again.

"Hey greenie, did you wanna eat dinner with me? I heard you were asking questions last night, pissed Nick off-"

I rolled my eyes with a groan and went to turn around again, but he continued.

"No, I'm not telling you off or nothing. I was stung too. I can probably answer some questions, or try at least."

At that I felt my ears physically prick up and my eyes widen, my heart thumping and my annoyance almost entirely fizzling out.

"Really? You mean- you remember things? You have some answers?"

"Calm down green bean. Yeah I remember some things, but I don't know if the answers are gonna make you happy."

A real smile crossed my lips this time.

"I'm sure I can handle it. I'll stand out here and guard you, then we can go?"

"Sure. But try not to be disappointed, it's not like I remember a lot."

The minutes between that sentence and finally sitting down with Gally on the edge of the deadheads felt like forever. Realistically it was thirty minutes at most, but I was eagerly bouncing, desperate for any answers.

The first question I shot was "Why are we here?" to which he answered "I'm not sure" then I asked "Well why don't we remember anything?" to which he replied "I don't know."

"Look, it's probably just easier if I tell you what I do know. It's not a lot after all." He said before taking a big mouthful of his food.

I hadn't gotten myself any food, not hungry nor in the mood to speak to anyone in the kitchen.

"Okay." I agreed, and he began after taking another bite.

"Well, first of all, I think we were all kept somewhere for a long time before this. There were doctors and scientists, and this boy and girl... I'm not too sure what they were doing to us. I remember trying to run away, I remember pain. I remember a desert. I remember, that there was some kind of virus, making people sick. But it wasn't just sick, it was something else, like the changing but.. worse." He then turned to me so that we were making eye contact, suddenly more solemn than he had been. "I don't know if we might be better off here than we were out there. I think that the Glade is some kind of safe haven the creators made from that virus. So, I don't really care if the runners ever find a way out, I think they would regret it if they did."

I pondered on his words silently for a minute, thinking of how they compared up to the visions in my reoccurring dream. Doctors and scientists made sense with the sterile hallway, and the injection made sense with a virus. A metal bed frame seems like the kind of thing we'd have slept on in a prison, and the desert - surely they had to be the same one.

"G-Gally, I-" I stammered before he cut me off.

"I hope I haven't upset you too much greenie. I did warn ya'."

"No. It's not that." I took a breath before confessing. "I've uh- I've been having these dreams. And they sound similar to what you remember."

He raised his eyebrows, clearly shocked by my response.

"What do you mean? What kind of dreams?"

"Well they're not very clear. And it's just one, but I've had it most nights now. There's a desert in it, a huge, sparse desert. And I instinctively know that it's dangerous, but I feel that I have to cross it anyway."

"It's burning hot, the sky is purple and the sand is orange." He said quickly and I nodded.

A thick silence filled the air between us for a few minutes, contemplating heavily on the other's words, before Gally turned his body to me again and let out a huff.