Wastelands → Newt [Movie Trilogy]

04 → "THOMAS, THE STUPIDLY BRAVE"

"Have fun." He gave a grin, then a slight wave.

"Whatcha gonna do 'till breakfast?" She found herself asking.

"Dunno." Newt just shrugged. "Shower, maybe. Go wake the other shanks up?"

Adeline gave a slight laugh. "Good luck figuring out whatcha gonna do, then."

"Ha - ha. Very funny." He smirked, then left her to flick on the lights to the Kitchen. She was the first Cook to be there. Usually, it was Frypan who got there first to flick the lights on. Adeline generally was the second Cook there in the morning. Adeline had already decided that it was going to be pancakes for breakfast, when Frypan wandered into the Kitchen, surprised to see her awake. Nevertheless, he didn't disagree on what would be served for breakfast. They needed something to be excited about after last night —the Gladers were always excited when they served pancakes for breakfast. Alby usually said that toast for breakfast was becoming a little tedious, and scrambled eggs was getting a little boring, too.

Adeline's morning went downhill once breakfast was being served to the almost fifty hungry Gladers. Her mind started to remind her of last night again. She wasn't sure why it was even bugging her as much as it was. None of the other Gladers seemed to be as bothered by it as she had. Ben's pleads were what had haunted her the most — Adeline pushed the thought away.

But, from then on out, mistakes were made. The first was when she bumped into Gally and spilt orange juice all over his shirt. Gally screamed at her for that — obviously he was letting out his anger after the Bonfire to scream at her about ridiculous things, such as spilling orange juice on his shirt. Newt saved her from that, steering her away and telling Gally to "slim it nice and calm". The second mistake was when she dropped the stack of dirty plates on her way to the kitchen and in the midst of them scattering on the ground, some broke in half. The plates were plastic — and they had spares — but Frypan wasn't impressed by that. Adeline didn't blame him, but nevertheless Frypan let her off for last of the morning to clear her head after the morning she had. Adeline went off and went to look for something to do.

There really wasn't anything to do — she could go and wash her dirty clothes like she'd planned to do after lunch, but she decided to just do it later, to give her something to do in the afternoon. After sitting in her hammock for a while, she wandered around throughout the forest. Nobody questioned why she wasn't working, considering the breaks the Cooks got between the time of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Soon enough, Frypan had called her back and she helped to begin lunch. Frypan had already begun preparing to make soup, so Adeline just helped with whatever Frypan wanted her to do. Lunch had no accidents, thankfully, and after lunch she spent the time washing her clothes in an spare bucket that she borrowed from the Track - Hoes (and spent a good twenty minutes scrubbing clean). Sometime later in the afternoon, the weather changed from their normal sunny days, to rain, although it wasn't strange for it to rain. Everyone ran to find shelter as a thunderstorm began to form, thunder booming in the distance. The boys ran to the closest shelter — which was the kitchen. But, as they stood there, they all watched the doors, realising just to how long it had been since the Keeper and their First - in - Command had gone into the Maze.

"They should be back by now." Thomas states, leaning against the post holding the man - made shelter up. "What happens if they don't make it?"

Newt doesn't even flinch at those words. All he responds with is; "They're gonna make it."

Thomas pushes away from the post, stopping in front of Newt, restlessly. "What happens if they don't?"

Newt stares back at Thomas. Again, he repeats; "They're gonna make it."

Thomas doesn't respond. Instead he moves away from Newt's side and moves somewhere else under the shelter, while Newt's eyes trail to his feet. Newt wouldn't want her to know it, but she knew he was more than worried that something had happened out in that Maze.

—

Time dragged, the thunderstorm passed and dinner time drew nearer. Dinner time draws nearer, and so does the closing of the Doors. The Doors were about to close in an hour, and their Leader and the Keeper of the Runners, had yet to return. Boys disregarded their jobs and started to crowd around when they realised how long they had until they'd hear the usual boom of the doors as they closed for the night. And so, the almost fifty boys and one girl stood before the open doors, waiting. Time seemed to pass by quickly at this point, waiting. And then, an hour became two minutes. Two minutes until the doors would close.

"Can't we send someone out to look for them?" Thomas quizzed, standing at the front of the crowd, in between Newt and Gally. Adeline was behind them, next to Chuck.

"It's against the rules." Gally stated, crouched down for whatever reason. He stood back up. "Either they make it back or they don't."

"Can't risk losin' anyone else." Newt responded when Thomas turned to him for backup. Adeline gave a grimace at that, reaching out and placing a hand to his shoulder in reassurance. Newt peered back at her and gave her a small, forced smile. The usual boom of the doors sounds seconds after, and they all block their faces as the usual wind that occurs when the doors close, picks up.

"Oh no." Chuck mutters, and both Adeline and the thirteen year old share a worried glance.

"Shuck." Adeline mutters under her breath, her heart racing now. Not because of the anxiety of the closing doors, but because of the fear for her friends. Each Glader starts to panic, and then Thomas perks up, pointing at the end of the corridor, exclaiming;

"There!" Adeline would've been relieved at that, if Newt hadn't then found something to diminish it.

"Wait, something's wrong." Newt points out. Adeline pushes to the front of the crowd to see. And when she realises what Newt meant, her stomach drops. Minho lugs an seemingly unconscious Alby, struggling to keep the boy upright as he rushes to get to the Glade before those doors close. Boys begin to cheer the Runner on, urging him to hurry.

"C'mon Minho, you can do it!" Chuck encourages, and soon enough boys start to give encouragements, too.

"C'mon Minho!" Adeline encourages. "C'mon!"

"Minho, ya gotta leave him!" Gally screams at the Runner, who has dropped their Leader onto his back and is rushing to grab his leg to drag him back to the Glade. But, that's when Adeline realises that the Doors are almost closed, and they're not gonna make it. And she hated feeling pessimistic, especially as that was their friends out in that Maze, one of them seemingly injured and the other trying to save his life but struggling in the process, but Adeline couldn't help deny that to herself.

"They're not gonna make it." Newt realises, just as she does. Newt exchanges a glance with her, and Adeline can't help but show that she feels the same way about the situation to the blonde. Thomas looks at the both of them, as if shocked they could be so pessimistic. In what feels like slow motion, Minho screams, dragging Alby across the dirty Maze floor, trying to get to the Doors as they close, almost completely shut. Boys are shouting, Gally is shouting at Minho to leave Alby still. And then, before anyone could really process what Thomas was even doing, the boy shuffles closer to the doors.

"Thomas, no!" Chuck bellows. In a blur, Thomas pushes through the remainder of the closing doors. Newt strides forward, attempting to grab the boy by the arm as he stupidly squeezes his body through the small remainder of the closing doors. Newt barely even gets a chance to try pull the boy back, because as soon as he tries to, the boy is already on the other side of the doors as they boom shut, officially sealing Thomas, Minho and Alby inside the Maze.