FEAR OF HER.
[ chapter three ]

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

ALBY APPROACHES THOMAS' BED, making sure a knife is secured in his waist band before shaking the boy roughly awake, "Thomas." He places a finger to his lips and clamps a palm over the brown eyes boys mouth, "Shh. Follow me."

Reluctantly, Thomas drops out of his bed, his eyes flicking over to Eve's empty hammock for a moment before he jogs after Alby, wondering where he's going.

"It's peaceful, isn't it?" Alby smiles as they walk through the bright green grass, "I know it's hard to believe but it wasn't always this way. We had dark days. We lost a lot of boys to fear - to panic."

They both stop, turning around slowly to look out over the peaceful Glade, listening to the crickets and other insects hop around on the grass. Thomas' eyes look for Evelyn, curious of why she wasn't in her hammock, but when he doesn't see any sign of her, he turns to Alby again.

"But we've come far since then." Alby continues, "Established order, made peace."

"Yeah." Thomas clicks his tongue, tilting his head slightly in confusion, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're not like the other boys. You're curious. But you're one of us now." He slips the knife out of his waist band and gently places it in Thomas' hand, closing his fingers around it, "You need to know what that means."

He nods his head towards the maze wall, causing Thomas' eyebrows to furrow as he turns around, noticing all the names carved into the hard stone. Some of them are crossed out, others aren't - giving the new boy a good indication of who's gone. But one particular name sparks his interest and he taps the tip of the blade against the name.

"Why is Evelyn on here twice?" He asks, his gaze switching between the two carvings - one crossed out and another not.

Alby sighs, holding his hands together behind his back while he sways back and forth on his heels, "We thought she was dead when she got trapped in the maze. The next day she came through those doors, smiling her ass off because she'd proved us all wrong before collapsing to the floor due to blood loss. Evelyn has had a rough three years here, compared to the rest of us."

Thomas purses his lips, nodding slightly before stepping forward, digging the knife into the stone and slowly carving in his name in large letters, making sure to be careful not to ruin anyone else's.

༒

"Talk to you later, Goldie." Evelyn pats Newt's shoulder, saying goodbyes once she notices Thomas making his way over to the gardeners with a spade in his hand.

She steps over a vegetable patch only to be stopped by Chuck sliding in front of her, "I finished them." He beams happily, holding the two knives out to her.

Slowly, her hands curl around the handles, firmly gripping them before taking them away from the boy to examine the detail of the wood, "Holy shit, Curls. These are beautiful. Thank you." She lowers her body slightly before pulling the small boy into a hug. His breath hitches for a second, scared that she's planning to stab his back, but when he doesn't feel any sort of pain - he hugs back, really happy with himself.

"Well, I better go and try these out." She pulls away, still staring down at the deadly weapons in her palms, "Once again, Chuck, thank you. Now, get back to your job before Newt sees and gets annoyed."

"Bye!" He waves, running off to join the rest of the sloppers.

Evelyn flips the knives around in her hands, getting used to the feel of them before trudging into the woods, following her usual path through the trees and large piles of leaves.

She slides the knives into her waist band before finding her tree and pulling herself up to sit on the long branch, making sure to be facing towards the makeshift target on the trunk opposite her.

Taking in a deep breath and rolling her head around, clicking her neck before bringing up one knife, holding it out in front of her with a straight arm. She focuses on the tip of the dagger and the middle of the target before flicking her arm, sending the weapon flying through the air and smacking right in the middle of the target.

Slowly a triumphant smirk makes its way onto her lips as she slides out the other knife, this time not taking a second to think before throwing it.

Thomas' head whips back once the object flies past his face, very nearly scaring the bridge of his nose. With wide eyes, he turns his head to see the target board, one knife in the centre and the other on top of that one, the blade sliced right through the handle of it.

A loud thump behind him causes his head to snap round, his eyes meeting Evelyn as she dusts off her legs, signalling to him that she had previously been up in the tree.

"Did you throw them?" He questions, pointing at the wooden circular board.

She tilts her head while walking past him, "No, the boars did. Yes, shank, obviously I threw them." One of her hands grabs the handle of the knife on bottom, while the other pushes against the target, making it easier for her to remove the weapons.

"You're good." He nods, watching as she tucks the daggers into her belt again, slipping her tank top over them so they're hidden.

She glances back at him for a second before walking away, "I would sure hope so. I've been throwing knives since I got here."

Thomas jogs up beside her, the basket that he's supposed to be filling with fertiliser banging emptily against his leg as he kicks leaves out of his path. He immediately stops the action once he uncovers bones, lots of them.

Evelyn notices his panicked face and chuckles, looking at the floor around them, "It's just animal bones, calm down."

Thomas nods warily before kneeling down, sliding his finger across a wood plank that has 'George' written across it. The stick formation around it, makes it clear that it's some sort of grave stone and he starts to doubt that they're just animal bones.

"Ben?"

Evelyn's voice snaps him out of his worried trance and he stands up, looking around to see who she's talking to before seeing the runner, stood awkwardly with his arms swaying by his side.

Immediately, Eve knows something is wrong with the boy she would call one of her closest friends. Ben's eyes were always lit up and gleaming, even if he wasn't feeling happy - he still looked it. But, the person in front of her right now, wasn't the Ben she knew and loved.

He starts to pant and tenses his jaw when Thomas takes a step forward, quickly being stopped when Eve grabs his wrist, pulling him back to her side, "Something's wrong with him."

All of a sudden, Ben jumps down off of the small hill and lands right on top of Thomas, pinning his hands to the floor and spitting in his face, "It's your fault. I saw you! You did this!"

Ben continues his grumbles while Evelyn snatches Thomas' small spade off the floor, whacking it across the boys head, causing him to fall off of Thomas, giving the black haired boy enough time to scramble up and start sprinting away.

Evelyn follows after him, soon slightly in front of him while they both let out strangled yells for help, wanting someone to hear them.

Eve breaks through the tree line first and Thomas soon after but Ben is still hot on their tail, pouncing on the girl out of anger and wrapping his fingers tightly around her throat.

The Gladers start to run over, shouting and yelling for Ben to stop and Thomas falls to the ground, panting heavily while trying to figure out what to do about Eve.

She scratches at Ben's arms for a second before kicking her knee up, hitting him right in the balls and he collapses to the side. She rolls over and straddles him, grabbing both of his wrists and pinning them beside his head to keep him still.

He snaps his jaw at her but can't get free, not matter how hard he tries. Thomas watches in awe as she effortlessly holds down a boy miles taller than her.

"Ben, stop. Calm down." She snarls, Gally and Newt dropping to her side and letting her climb off the boy so they could keep him down instead.

"Yo, what the hell happened?" Fry asks loudly, his eyes looking between Thomas and Evelyn.

"He just attacked us!" Thomas tells him, still completely shocked while trying to brush off the dirt and soil.

Eve stands up, placing her hands on her head while pacing back and forth in front of the group, all of them staring at her as she does so. Once she notices the heavy amount of eyes on her, she stops and falls to Ben's side again, biting her lip anxiously - knowing what the outcome of all this is.

Alby pushes through everyone and stands above Ben, who starts to cry and beg in protest but it's no use, "Alright, lift his shirt."

Newt does as he's told and rolls up Ben's white long sleeve top, revealing the hole in his stomach, dark blue and purple veins growing out of it and seeping through his skin.

Evelyn's jaw clenches at the sight and she tries her best not to listen to Ben's cries, "He's been stung." She states as Alby kneels down beside her, "In the middle of the day, is that even possible?"

"Please, please, just help. Help me." The injured boy whimpers, squirming in Newt and Gally's grip.

"Put him in the pit." Alby orders, moving his gaze to the surrounding boys, "Everybody help. Take him to the pit."

His shouts and protests gets louder when more hands are placed on him and he's picked up. Evelyn stands up to move away from his kicking legs and places a hand over her mouth before trudging over to the homestead, not being able to watch another second of it.
__________________________

this is a shit chapter, sorry babes