006. OPTIMISM

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, Evelyn's eyes drift slowly open and for a few moments she lays still in shock that she actually managed to fall asleep. Spending a few hours around the fire last night must've lulled her to sleep. She's soon distracted by the sound of fidgeting to her right and she turns her head to watch as Thomas moves in his hammock whilst still sound asleep.

His face crumples up in discomfort and she sighs in realisation. A nightmare. Quietly, she wings her legs out of her hammock and reaches a hand forward to tap his shoulder, but before she's able to make contact, he shoots upright with his eyes wide. She drops her arm back to her side while he pants breathlessly.

"Nightmare?" She asks with a hushed tone.

Thomas doesn't even turn his head to look at her or meet her gaze, instead he just simply nods before dropping back down into his hammock and dragging his hands over his face in slight embarrassment.

"We all get them," She says in an attempt to reassure him after noticing how he's shrunken into himself, "Nothing to be ashamed about."

Before Thomas has time to reply, a loud bellow reaches across the Glade from the maze doors, "Evelyn!" Minho roars, motioning for the girl to come over while he stands between Newt and Alby.

A few irritated groans escape the sleeping Gladers around her and Evelyn mutters a few words of annoyance as she slides her feet into her booted before standing from her hammock, "On your best behaviour today," She nudges Thomas gently as she slips on her running harness and slides her knives into their designated spots on her chest.

"I'll try," He sends her a tight-lipped smile just before spins on her heel and begins to jog over towards the maze doors, tying her dark hair into a ponytail as she moves.

Evelyn finally reaches her friends, each of them with a disgruntled scowl on their faces. Newt looks at her with raised brows and his hands resting on his hips in a motherly position, while Alby tilts his head in questioning at her lateness.

She stops in front of them, rolling her eyes at their attitude, "I'm sorry, okay? I slept for once. My sincerest apologies." She mumbles sarcastically.

"Overslept," Minho corrects her with a small smirk, which she quickly wipes from his face as she reaches forward and smacks his arm. He hisses, jerking his body away from her, "Shuckface."

"You two done?" Alby mutters, waiting patiently with his arms folded over his chest as he looks at the two other runners with a disapproving expression. His friends just nod guilty in response and he sighs, "Come on then," He motions towards the open maze doors, "Let's get going," He pats Newt on the back, "See you later."

"Don't get killed," Newt hums, his usual soft gaze transforming to a glare as he adjusts his eyes to focus on Evelyn, "I'm speaking to you."

She smirks as she enters the maze, looking over her shoulder and sending him a mischievous wave before Newt guts and turns around, limping back to the homestead to wake up the snoring Gladers.

"Keep your eyes on the look out for Ben," Alby instructs, "or anything to do with him."

Evelyn nods in understanding and a silence covers the trio as they continue moving round corners, each of them having their eyes peeled for any evidence left behind by the stung runner.

"So, Eve," Minho quickens, sliding next to her smoothly, "Did the greenie speak to you yesterday after the banishing?" His brows raise curiously as he shatters the peaceful silence.

"You know he did," She snarls, remembering hearing about the rumour Minho spread about her and Thomas while they were in the woods.

Minho catches onto why her tone is so hostile and he swallows thickly, "And I've apologised for that. What, like, exactly did he say to you? You two were alone for some time."

She clenches her jaw at his questions but refrains from telling him to leave her alone, "Tried to tell me I need help. That the way I'm currently dealing is the wrong way."

"He's not wrong," Minho snorts, "You need serious help," He words earn him a rough shove from the side and he quickly stops his laughter and returns to asking questions, "I take it he got rejected? Like the rest of us?"

"No," She answers simply.

"What?" He squeals in surprise, "He got. . . what's the opposite to rejected?" He speaks quietly to himself for a moment, "He got accepted by you?"

"I never said that," She snaps, "Will you stop, Minho? I had enough of this yesterday with Thomas asking questions left, right and centre. I don't need you doing the same."

"He's never gonna stop trying with you," Alby speaks up, joining the pair of best friends at Evelyn's left side as he looks at her, "Thomas is stubborn and out of all the boys who've come up in that box, he seems the most interested by you."

Minho scoffs, "Don't know why."

He's blatantly ignored and Alby continues, "He's non-stop asking questions about you. He wants to know more."

"Don't we all," Minho mutters and this time Evelyn shoves him harder, sending him tumbling to the side and crashing into the nearest vine covered wall with a pained grunt. He pushes away from the large bricks, scowling at her, "I was kidding," He coughs.

"Just shut up," She mumbles, "Please."

❀˖⁺. ༶ ⋆˙⊹❀

     BACK IN THE GLADE, Thomas watches from a distance as Newt and Zart work together to chop bark off a trunk of wood that's buried into the earth. Thomas is positioned on a fallen tree branch with his elbows rested on his knees beside Chuck who's carving at the small figure he's been working on for a while.

"Why would Alby go into the maze?" Thomas finally breaks, having to ask the question that's been bouncing around his head since the morning, "I mean, he's not a— he's not a runner."

Newt pauses his movements and turns to face the greenie, letting his machete fall to his side as he replies, "Things are different now. Alby went to retrace Ben's footsteps before sundown. Look, are you gonna help?" He snaps in frustration, motioning towards the half-stripped trunk.

Thomas ignores his question and continues to fuel his constant curiosity, "Okay, so he's gonna go back to where Ben was just stung. Wh—"

"Alby knows what he's doing. So do Minho and Eve," Newt cuts him off sharply, a certain agitated tint to his tone, "Alright? Alby knows better than any of us."

Thomas cracks his knuckles as his brows crease, "What does that even mean?"

Newt sighs, his patience running thin as he reaches a hand up to scratch at the back of his neck, "Alright, it's like you've heard, yeah?" He approaches Thomas, "Every month the box sends up a new arrival. But someone had to be first, right? Someone had to have spent a whole month in the Glade alone. And that was Alby."

"Then why is Evelyn so hostile? She hates most of you," Thomas tilts his head, "Or at least it seems that way. Why?"

Pinching at the bridge of his nose, Newt releases a breath before answering, "Despite being the second person to ever set foot here, she's also the only girl. And being the only girl, Eve had a rough time getting the boys to respect her properly. She started to hate the way she was treated, rightfully. After the first year, she began to work to become stronger than us all, so she could reverse the roles."

Thomas rubs his hands on his knees, nodding with understanding as he completely agrees with Evelyn's tactic in order to gain respect. He can't imagine how hard it used to be for her. He pushes from the fallen trunk, grabbing a machete laying idly on the floor before he lowers to own knee and helps out with chopping away the bark.

Newt watches with a small smile, already knowing that Thomas' immediate skill for the task will become in handy and also help him become more comfortable around the glade, "Yeah," He congratulates, "There you go, Greenie."

Out of nowhere, dark clouds begin to form overheard and the low rumbling of thunder is followed by pelting rain as it barrels down onto the Glade's green grass. The quick change in the weather causes all of the hardworking boys to scurry under cover beneath the homestead.

The bad weather should be a reason for the runners to return sooner, but after standing around for a short while, the Gladers begin to notice how there's been no sign of their three friends.

Thomas leans against a thin support beam and his eyes narrow as he looks across to the open maze doors, "They should be back by now," He stresses, his fingers tapping anxiously on the wood that he's leant against.

Also keeps his eyes on the doors, Newt resting back against another supporting branch before nodding, "They're gonna make it," He reassures.

Thomas moves over to him, a slow concerned crease between his brows as he looks at Newt, "What if they don't?"

Newt turns his head, meeting Thomas' eyes directly. His facial expressions don't falter as he repeats his words, "They're gonna make it."

Huffing out a worried sigh, Thomas looks back to the maze doors as his mind immediately flows straight to Evelyn. From what he's heard, surviving one night in the maze was hard enough for her. Maybe a second time around she wouldn't be so lucky to get out.

❀˖⁺. ༶ ⋆˙⊹❀

EVELYN AND MINHO haul Alby's limp body from the floor, each of them taking an erm and throwing it over their shoulders as they grunt at the sudden dead weight from their friend that only hardens their efforts to get back before the doors close. Minho curses under his breath quietly, noticing how much closer they're going now that Alby's eyes are closed and his legs are dragging behind them. This speed isn't going to get them anywhere quick enough.

"Eve, we need to move quicker," He presses.

"I'm trying," She snaps back, her muscles flexing as she clings onto Alby desperately, "The last thing I want to do is spend another night here," She mutters, the low breeze brushing down the maze sending shivers right up her spine and the black clouds hovering over them reminds her of the darkness during the night.

"Yeah, well," He chokes out, "Right now it isn't looking so good."

She grinds her jaw, knowing deep down that he's right, "Great way to be optimistic."

"Optimism won't help us," He huffs, repositioning Alby's arm on his shoulder whilst they move just before it slides off completely.

The distant rumbling noise of the mechanics of the door begins to barrel towards them and the terrifying noise forced them to move harder and faster. Their legs push and push in an attempt to generate more speed.

Back at the entrance to the maze, every single Glade stands at the open doors, looking down the corridor as they anxiously await the arrival of their friends.

Thomas bites his lip, "Can we send someone in after them?"

From his crouched position, Gally shakes his head but keep his eager eyes ahead, "It's against the rules."

"Can't risk losing anyone else," Newt sighs sadly, crossing his arms over his chest and squeezing his biceps tightly.

The conscious runners turns the final corner, both of them immediately noticing the entirety of the gladers at the end of the passage way. The sight of their friends cause them to release strangled yells to spur them on but everyone effort is useless as they struggle to pick up anymore speed.

Newt squints, clocking onto the slowness of the supposedly fastest teenagers of them all, "Something's wrong."

The Glader's begin to yell and their motivational shouts ring through into the runner's ears until Minho and Eve nearly stumble over their own feet. Alby almost slips from their grasp, but the pair manages to keep a hold and push forward.

Thomas' jaw clenches when Evelyn's eyes directly meet his and he can see the pure terror burrowing into her as the doors begin to slide shut right in front of them.

"They're not gonna make it," Newt's voice cracks as he speaks with a shocked quiet voice. He can't bring himself to speak any louder now that his worst fear is coming true. He's about to lose three of his closest friends.

"Come on, Eve," Minho grunts roughly.

"Minho—" She attempts to tell him something but before she can say anything more than his name, she's flying straight down towards the floor, her arms and legs dropping limply as she crashes down into the stone. Letting out a shout, Minho's dragged down beside her and Alby crumbles between them.

Everything blurs into one for the spectating Gladers, but especially Thomas as he watches Evelyn collapse. The doors are now metres from slamming shut and he can't drag his eyes away from the unconscious girl as she lays strewn on the floor with Minho incoherently yelling at her. Before Thomas even has time to acknowledge his own movements, he surges forward, causing him to be the one that the Gladers are screaming at. He feels fingers try to grasp at his shirt but he's too far in for anyone to get him back. He squeezes through the tight gap, both of the concrete walls pushing at either side of his body. He releases one final yell before jumping forward and skidding to the floor on the other side as the doors seal shut behind him.

He scrambles back before turning slowly to Minho, who's looking at him in shock.

"Good job," He pants, "You just killed yourself."

"Wait, what?" Thomas pushes himself from the floor whilst his eyebrows furrow, but quickly his attention is dragged back to the two unconscious gladers laid on the floor. He drops to Evelyn's side, overlooking her body for obvious injuries before he glances over his shoulder at Minho, "What happened to her?"

Minho takes one sympathetic look at his best friend before explaining, "What does it look like? She passed out. The thought of being trapped in here must've got to her."

"Evelyn, wake up. Eve!" Thomas gently begins to pat Evelyn's cheeks and shakes her shoulders.

Minho coughs, watching the greenie continue to touch the girl, "I wouldn't do that if I was y—"

Suddenly, the girl's eyes fly open and she wraps her hand around the jabbing wrist before she's touched again. She furrows her brows as she sees Thomas and for a short moment she believes that they may have made it through, but once she looks over the dark haired boy's shoulder, she spots the looming walls.

"What the. . ." She groans, shoving him away and slowly standing up. She rubs her hands over her exhausted face before jabbing a finger at Thomas, "What are you doing here?"

"He ran through," Minho informs her from the floor, hanging his head while he continues to try recollect his breath.

Evelyn let's out an exasperated laugh before shaking her head in disbelief, "You are one dumb shank."

. . .

felt like updating this so here you go ig