"Why would they send us a girl anyway?" Someone shouted.

Thea rolled her eyes. This was ridiculous. Was it really necessary to have a whole meeting just to discuss her? Apparently so. The entire Glade gathered in the little hut, all shouting out commentary.

"That is not the topic being discussed right now, Will," Alby answered, which meant he had no idea.

"Is she safe to be around? What if she goes all beast mode on us just like she did the Grievers?"

Thea liked that question. She bared her teeth. "Oh, you can count on it."

The boy who asked glanced at her warily. A few of the boys whispered amongst themselves, twitching the side of Thea's mouth into a half smirk.

"Not making many friends with that attitude, princess," Minho muttered.

She snorted and replied, "What makes you think I want to?"

Gally huffed a wry laugh from the bench behind her, grinning at Minho's appalled expression and soft grumbling. Thea glanced at him with a smirk that he returned. She could appreciate anyone that appreciated her quick wit.

"Alright, that's enough," Newt said with a nod to Alby, offering him the floor. Alby inclined his head in thanks.

"Listen up, Gladers!" Alby shouted and the murmuring quieted down. "These shanks went into the Maze at night-"

"-and we really could use a nap instead of this nonsense," Minho murmured, even though he'd just woken up from sleeping almost all day.

Alby shot him a look. "-and that is against our rules. That will not go unpunished."

A couple boys cheered at that. Whether they were pleased because they just really liked dealing out punishment or that Minho would be shoved off his high horse was left up to interpretation.

"Keepers, what do you suggest?"

Immediately, the ten boys in question started shouting out their opinions, raising their voices to be heard over each other.

"Minho," Alby said in a dangerous tone, "seeing as you are on trial here, you don't get a say. One at a time. Billy, you start us off this time."

The stocky boy stood up from his log bench and immediately, the nearest Glader spanked him. Thea rolled her eyes as she watched the greasy haired Keeper chastise his companion before he finally said, "I think the Greenie should be Banished."

The room erupted into chaos once again. Minho looked at the boy, appalled that he would even suggest that.

"Because," the Keeper of the Baggers continued, yelling to be heard, "in her very first day in the Glade, she already broke all our rules! Knowingly! Rule number one; never go outside the Glade! Already broke that! Rule two; never hurt another Glader. She literally broke Gally's nose and nearly killed him in the wrestling ring. And rule three; do your part? What has she done in the Glade besides eating the food we worked so hard for and causing trouble?"

"Oh, be for real, Billy!" Minho shouted. "As if your job is anything more than a glorified stable boy!"

"Yeah, and I've been here for two days!" Thea added.

Billy clenched his fists and shouted something back while storming to Minho, but his words were lost in the chaos. Newt and Alby frantically tried to calm them down, but were immediately outnumbered by the dozens of other boys all arguing amongst themselves.

Minho threw the first punch, definitely not helping his case. Billy's lip split on the impact. He brought his fingers to his mouth and pulled them back to see them stained red with blood. Rage melded into the Keeper's face and he brought back his fist to punch back, but Gally stepped in just in time to catch him by the wrist.

"Calm, calm, calm, calm, calm."

"Slim it, Gally!" Billy wrenched his hand out of the other boy's grip and shoved a lock of shoulder length brown hair behind his ear, rearing up to try again. Just in time, the rest of the Builders came to Gally's rescue and held both Billy and Minho back, though they couldn't stop the insults from being spat.

"Both of you," Alby panted, nostrils flaring with anger, "the Slammer. One week."

Newt put a finger up and added, "But separate. Kent, take Minho to the Slammer. Jackson, put Billy in the Map Room for now."

The four of them ducked out of the room as everyone else filed back into their seats, but the tension was still tangible. Alby's chest heaved with angry, labored breaths. He shook his head and sat down silently. The second-in-command took this as his cue to lead the rest of the meeting.

"Alright. There's one idea. Zart, would you like to pick up where we left off?"

The curly, white-blond haired boy cautiously rose from his seat as if afraid that someone would come at him next. "Are we sure we want those two amongst our leaders?"

The Gladers grumbled their consent.

"Anything on topic, to share?" Newt asked, massaging his temple. The Keeper of the Track-hoes shook his head and sat down. "Fry?"

"Leave me out of this one," he said, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Alright," Newt turned to the Keeper of the Med-jacks. "Clint?"

Clint stood and glanced around the room. "I- wait, where'd the Greenie girl go?"

Sure enough, a quick sweep of the room was all it took for the boys to realize that she'd slipped out at some point between the beginning of the fight and then.

Newt taught the Glade a new curse word.

"Go find her," Alby said, finally composed enough to speak, "and throw her in the Slammer so we can be done with all this. Newt, you and I will go check out the Grievers in the morning. Objections?" No one argued. "Good that. You're all dismissed."