𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨

𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 slaps her hands down on her thighs, pushing herself up as she lets out a breath. "I'm gonna go watch the fights—wanna come with?" The brunette girl stands, looking to her best friend.

Minho scoffs as he turns his head to the fighting. "To watch these shanks get their asses beat? Hell yeah." He says excitedly, pushing his own hands onto his knees to stand.

As Blake and Minho approach the circle, her emerald eyes spot Newt and the greenie walking their way. "No...no one wants to be a runner." Blake hears Newt say to the newbie.

Blake rolls her eyes as a smile spreads across her lips. "Aw—come on, Newty—it's not that bad..."

The blonde and the greenie turn their heads to Blake walking in front of them, raising a jar of Gally's moonshine to her lips as she smirks at the two.

Greenie watches the girl intently as she strides over.

"Yeah, but It's dangerous." Newt throws the girl a slight smile.

"Someone has to do it." Blake says with a shrug.

Newt rolls his eyes in response as his hands settle on his hips.

"Hey, you voted for me to be a runner, you shank!"

"Yeah, because you're faster than almost everyone here!" The blonde exclaims with a smile, pausing for a second as he brings his finger up to his chin, thinking. "Well, except for Minho."

Blake rolls her eyes at his playful banter.

"Hey, if it weren't for Minho—you would've run straight into the maze on your first day."

"Yeah, but I was almost there."

Blake and Newt laugh as they remember the girl's first day in the maze. The greenie stands off to the side, shifting his feet as he stands beside the two.

Newt's eyes flicker over to the greenie, which he forgot was standing right next to him. Quickly, the blonde clears his throat. "Oh—Blake, this is the new greenie."

Blake's eyes flicker to the boy—getting an even better look at him up close; he's even more attractive from a few feet away.

The small girl shakes out of her thoughts as she throws her hand out for the greenie. "Hey, I'm Blake."

The greenie seems to snap out of whatever daze he is in also—quickly reaching to shake her hand, "I—uh.. don't know my name yet."

As their hands make contact, both brunettes feel a jolt of electricity shoot throughout them—making the two slightly jump.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?

"T-that's —okay, we know you as greenie for now." Blake says, offering a small smile.

Awkwardness fills the air as the two gaze into each other's eyes. The girl quickly clears her throat again—attempting to get rid of the tension. Newt stands off to the side with his hands on his hips and a smile plastered across his face in amusement.

Newt has never seen Blake act this nervous before. Ever. She had been nervous and scared the first day she came up the box, but nobody had made her this nervous.

"You'll get your name back—"

Blake flickers her eyes to the side of the computer to see a boy sitting at a desk in front of her. His face is a bit blurry at first, but she can make out his facial expressions.

His lips tug into a smile as he notices the girl's eyes landing on him. Her own lips pull into a smile of her own as she quickly smiles back before turning her head back towards the computer—hiding the heat on her cheeks.

"Hey, Blake?" She hears him say. His voice is soft toward the girl as she looks back up to the boy. Their eyes connect as Blake sees the familiar brown her emerald had landed on.

But, their moment is quickly interrupted by guards storming into the room right towards her.

The girl jumps in her seat, frantically looking around—frightened. The guards stop at the girl, reaching to grab her arm and dragging her up—and out from her desk.

The boy across from her stands up suddenly, pushing his chair back as it rolls behind him, not caring if it hits anyone on the way. Worry and terror flash across his features as he tries to push his way to her. The guards catch onto his shoulders, holding him back as he screams at them angrily.

"Hey!" He pushes the guard, but the guard's grip strengthens on the boy, holding him into place.

"Blake. Come with us." The guard orders, grabbing Blake's upper arm and dragging her away.

As the girl stumbles in his grip, she turns back to see the boy. His face finally becomes clear.

The greenie.

"Thomas!" She screams, trying to break free of the guard's grasp.

Jolting out of her weird daydream, Blake returns to reality—seeing 'Thomas' and Newt watching her with their eyebrows raised.

"Blake, you okay?" Newt quizzes with a worried expression plastered on his features.

"Sorry—I-I just got a little dizzy..." Blake says as she gestures to the jar in her hand, "Gally's moonshine has me feeling a bit queasy today."

𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮—𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘮? 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦? 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵—𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥...𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴.

"I gotta find Min. See you later, Newt." Blake says awkwardly as she quickly walks past the two boys still standing there.

Blake briskly makes her way over to Minho, grabbing onto his wrist as she leads him away from the other runners.

"I need to talk to you." Blake's voice says in a serious tone.

Minho's eyebrows furrow in confusion, following the girl to the edge of the tree line. As they near the edge, Blake halts them as she lets his wrist go, turning around to face the boy.

"Min, I had a memory come back." Blake's voice came out shaky and serious, causing Minho to only further his brows at her in concern.

Her bright green eyes scanned the boy's face before following behind the boy— making sure nobody had followed them.

"It was of the greenie... I— apparently knew him..." Blake finally reveals.

A brief moment of silence follows.

"What do you mean— 'you knew him'? Who is he?" Minho asks as his eyes scan Blake's concerned features.

The boy's hands plant on his hips as his frame leans toward the girl, keeping their conversation as low as possible.

"I don't know, Min...Look—all I can remember was sitting across from him at some desk...one minute he was about to say something—and the next guards dragged me away—probably to this hell hole."

"So you think y'all were—" Minho starts to conclude her theory.

"No!— at least—I don't think we were. " Blake trails off before returning her focus, shaking her head

"Anyways, that's not the point. As I introduced myself to him, I shook his hand—and suddenly, I get the memory back for some odd reason!" Blake exclaimed.

Her eyes hold onto Minho's as his expression mirrors hers.

The boy lets out a sigh. "I don't know... maybe...y'all knew each other, and it kickstarted your memories."

"Minho. I'm serious. I have a feeling he is the reason I am in this place—and I don't know how or why, but—" Blake's eyes flick over Minho's shoulder, glancing at the attractive boy.

The greenie stands beside Newt, still conversing with the blonde as his head turns to the two runners. His honey-colored eyes connect to hers as Blake's heart jumps a beat at his gaze.

"In my memory—he went to tell me something or say something but was stopped by the guards that started dragging me away. He looked guilty and sad." Blake said as her eyes glanced back to Minho, nodding her head over Minho's shoulder to the greenie.

Just as the runner's eyes flick back over to the boy—Gally sends a boy flying into him, knocking the greenie over. The irritated greenie pushes off of the ground to stand as Blake watches Gally taunt him.

Blake lets out a huff of annoyance as her hand grabs Minho's wrist to pull him with her as she walks.

"We will talk about this later. Gally's about to beat the holy shuck out of this kid."

As the two near the growing crowd, Blake releases her grip on Minho to push past the boys—seeing the newbie standing awkwardly in the middle as everyone chants—

"greenie, greenie, greenie!"

Blake rolls her eyes at the crowd's antics, stepping next to Newt, who also isn't amused.

The greenie's stance stiffens as his head turns back to Gally, nodding hesitantly at the taller boy's invitation.

"All right," Gally says, fixing his wristband. "The rules are simple, greenie—I try to push you out of the circle; you try to last more than five seconds."

The greenie's eyes scan the crowd formed around the circle— landing on Blake, who stands beside Newt with her arms crossed.

"Easy on the greenie, Gally" a boy from the crowd shouts, earning a chorus of laughs sounding from the crowd.

"Ready?" Gally asks, snapping the greenie out of his gaze. The boy's brown eyes shift from a gaze to a glare as they narrow at the tall builder.

Suddenly, the greenie charges Gally—diving forward.  His hands fling onto Gally's arms, trying to push him back, but the taller boy flings the greenie backward into the crowd.

The greenie lands on his side as his anger rises to his chest. Pushing himself up, his eyes land on the girl who stands on the edge of the circle, smirking.

"Come on, greenie!" One of the boys shout from the other side of the crowd.

The greenie turns his head back to the circle as he rushes towards Gally again, but Gally shoves the greenie back down into the sand.

The newbie coughs up sand as he slowly pushes himself up again, regaining his stance.

"Come on, greenie." Gally taunts, "We're not done yet."

The greenie stands back up—glaring at Gally, "Stop calling me greenie." The boy shouts

"Stop calling you that?" Gally questions, "What do you want to be called?—Shank?"

The crowd laughs as the greenie glares around the circle, growing angrier.

"What do you think, boys?" Gally asks the crowd as he spins around with his arms outstretched.

"Shank! Shank! Shank!" The crowd's chants echo

"Does he look like a shank?" Gally questions again but is cut short when the greenie tackles him. The two boys grunt and spin as they try to throw each other out, but Gally throws the greenie onto the ground again.

"You know what? I think I've settled on shank."

Laughter erupts from the crowd as the greenie circles the edge of the ring—grunting, the greenie charges Gally again, knocking the undefeated champ to the ground.

"Yeah! There you go, greenie!" Someone yells through the crowd's cheers.

Blake and Minho stand beside Newt, watching the scene with their eyebrows raised. Laughter erupts in the girl's chest. "Oh, come on, Gal—thought you were undefeated!" The girl taunts

The boy growls at the girl from the ground, pointing his finger. "Shut it, shuck face."

The greenie strolls closer to Gally with a proud smile plastering his face, "Not bad for a greenie, huh?"

The builder's nostrils flare with anger as the greenie reaches the builder. Gally takes the greenie off guard as he turns around, swiping the greenie off his feet.
The newbie's head slams against the ground with a thud as a chorus of hisses sound from the crowd.

"Ooooohhh, that's gotta hurt." Blake hisses

The greenie lays on the ground coughing as the pounding in his head was almost washed away—remembering something.

—"Thomas." He mutters.

"Thomas. Hey!" The boy repeats louder, rising from his position on the ground to stand.

"I remember my name! My name is Thomas!" He yells with excitement.

Alby is the first to react, pointing to the brunette boy, smiling, "Thomas!" He yells out

The whole crowd cheers for the greenie as they crowd around the newest glader. Frypan lifts a jar of Gally's moonshine to the greenie as he celebrates with the others, "Welcome home, Thomas!"

Minho turns his head to Blake with a lifted eyebrow as the two stand off to the side. Blake's eyes connect to Minho's as they watch the others celebrate.

The girl shrugs her shoulders in response to Minho's expression. Her suspicions about the boy are confirmed, well, most of them.

Pushing the anger and fear down her throat, she swallows a hard gulp before turning on her heels and heading back to the sleeping quarters.

From the middle of the crowd, Thomas celebrates with the others as he turns his head back to where Blake stood.

He had wanted to talk to her before—and get to know her some more, because she seemed familiar for some reason. Especially the little jolt of electricity he felt when they shook hands.

Thomas' eyes scan the crowd, searching for the girl before he sees her silhouette walking back towards the homestead.

His face drops from a smile to a frown as he watches the girl walk away alone.

"She'll warm up to you." A British voice sounds from behind the boy, making him jump.

Newt's hand lands on Thomas' shoulder as they watch the girl disappear. "She usually isn't like this, but I guess you've managed to get on her list."

Thomas turns around to face Newt as his eyebrows furrow in confusion—something he's been prone to lately.

"What list?" Thomas asks as the blonde raises the jar of moonshine to Thomas, gesturing for him to take it.

Newt laughs dryly. "The 'I don't like you' list. Whatever you did—"

"But I didn't do anything?—not that I know of..."

Newt shrugs as Thomas takes a sip from the jar, cringing at the sour burn.

"She doesn't take greenies all that well—considering she's been waiting for another girl to come up. I don't think it's you personally."

"Well, I don't know why she's taking it out on me."

"It's because you're new; everyone takes it out on the greenies. You'll get used to it... just prove yourself useful and make friends."

Thomas gulps another sip before handing the glass back to the blonde—turning back to where the small girl disappeared.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰?