Alex felt something tapping her forehead. She groaned and put her arm over her face. She felt something now poke her cheek. She tried to smack it, eyes still closed. Another poke, on her nose.

"Shuck it! Stop it, ya Shank!" she moaned. She heard a chuckle. A British chuckle. He poked her again.

"You bloody shuck face! Shucken bloody slint head! You shucken bloody son of a motherles goat!" She yelled, blindly throwing a pillow towards Newt.

"Alex! Such language! And first thing in the morning! Tsk tsk" Newt scolded. "Come on She-Bean, time to get up, Fry has breakfast cooking, and you have your tour with Alby."

"Come on Mama Noottie! 5 more minutes!" she yawned, rolling over.

"Excuse me? Mama Newt? I think the bloody shuck not! You have hung out with Minho way too much already! No way you're calling me that!" Newt's voice came from above her. She let out a loud growl as a pillow smacked her in the face.

"All right I'm up!" Alex roared, throwing the pillow back in Newt's general direction. She sat up rubing the sleep out of her eyes. Newt was standing at the end of the bed, all ready for the day, a mug of something steaming in his hand.

"Is that coffee??" Alex asked in disbelief. If they had coffee she could get through this prison sentence.

Newt nodded his head, taking a long dramatic slurp.

"COOOOFFEEEEE!!!" Alex said dreamily. How could she remember that she loves coffee? She remembered drinking coffee with people, but faces and places were all blurred like someone took an eraser and rubbed details away.

"Thank the creators, they send it up with the supplies every 2 weeks. Now get your sorry arse outta bed and come get some. Meet me in the hall in ten." Newt ordered, leaving the room, closing the door.

Groaning, Alex got out of bed and stretched. She spotted a crate on the floor that wasn't there last night. She picked it up, saw it was for her and brought it back to the bed. Inside held everything a girl could ever use in a maze full of stinky boys...well not everything, but, still helpful things: hair ties, deodorant, a hair brush, toothbrush and past, shampoo and conditioner that smelt like coconut, a few t shirts and tank tops, black leggings, jeans, a pair of olive green shorts 2 sports bras and underwear, socks. There were also a few supplies for 'that time of the month'. "The creators can take my memories but can't deal with that issue? What a bloody rip" she muttered to herself.

She pulled on a pair of black leggings, a white t shirt, she pulled her black combat boots on, threw her hair up into a messy high pony after brushing it quickly, slapped some deodorant on and as a last thought grabbed Minho's hoodie and threw it on. She packed everything back into the box and left the room looking for Newt.

"Good, you're up. Isn't that Minho's hoodie?" Newt asked suspiciously, from the bottom of the stairs, his lip curling into a smirk, raising an eyebrow. Alex shrugged, not quite meeting his eye, feeling a little warm all of a sudden.

"It's comfy, and I don't have one. Now, Mama Newt, where can I get me some shuckin' coffee up in this joint?" She asked, chnging the subject.

Newt groaned "That name is never leaving is it?"

"Nope" she answered, popping the p.

__________________________

With a steaming mug of coffee clutched in her chilly hands and a stack of fluffy pancakes in front of her, she was content, the sun was warm, and it was quiet. Until the table filled up with guys; Clint and Jeff sat down, "Morning" they yawned. Chuck plopped down right beside Alex, and started chatting, the kid was definitely a morning person.

Who has that much energy in the morning?

Alby slouched over holding a cup of coffee like it was his life line.

Definitely NOT a morning person.

Newt came back to the table, talking with 2 boys she recognized from the fire last night. She guessed they were both Keepers. The one boy, who had droopy eyes, white blond hair and already covered in mud, held out a hand to Alex, "Zart, Keeper of the track hoes."

Alex choked on her coffee, "Keeper of the what?"

"Keeper of the track hoes, I work in the gardens. I'm a Track hoe." Zart said with a deadpan face, and a slight confused look on his face as Alex continued to choke and cough. He was serious, Track Hoe, that was an actual name here.

"Who's a hoe?" Asked Minho walking up to the table, backpack in one hand, with a\ cup of coffee and a plate of pancakes balanced precariously on top. Alex choked on her coffee again, laughing.

He plunked down on her other side, digging into this pile of pancakes. Once Alex had stopped sputtering, she looked at the guys around her.

"You guys have the weirdest bloody names for things. Why not just call 'em farmers? Or even better 'gardeners'?" she looked around at the boys again, they all gave her blank looks, a few shrugs, Zart scratched his head.

"Cuz I guess we never thought of it" Minho finally replied, tapping his chin with his fork.

"Well that's shucking obvious you guys didn't think!" Alex rolled her eyes, "Boys." she muttered.

She giggled to herself for a moment. She glanced at Minho, who was almost done eating, he was inhaling his pancakes, and kept glancing at his watch.

"You going to be late for something? Where are you off to this early in the morning?" she asked him, nudgin his arm.

Minho straightened up with a smirk, struck a pose and flexed his muscles, his head held high with a stowic expression.

"I." He said, deepening his voice. "Ma' Lady am off into the maze, to save you all from the evil clutches of the creators and greatest peril of the shuck maze!" he ended with his hands on his hips puffing out his chest.

"Uh huh" Alex said, picking up her coffee again, however inside she was freaking out.

One, that deep voice, shuck me! Two: oh my goodness those muscles...how does his shirt stay together when he flexes? Man those are some ripped shoulders and chest...and three: what the shuck is out those walls?! Did he say maze?

Minho deflated a little. "I run the maze. I'm a runner, Keeper of the Runners, actually" He puffed his chest in pride, he looked down at his watch "And I'm late, see ya slint heads later" He got up but paused for a moment, he leaned over and whispered in Alex's ear making her body break out in goosebumps and choke on her coffee.

"Nice hoodie, sweetheart. Looks good on you. Keep it."

He smirked at her while she turned beat red, he took off running towards the walls. She twisted around and watch him run away. The walls started to rumble open, the ground vibrating. Her mouth dropped open watching the doors spread apart. Her eyes snapped back to the keeper of these mysterious runners, and watched him and the blond boy from yesterday, Ben, run through the huge opening. She turned to the other door, and watched two more boys sprint off into the dark corridor. Alex turned back to Newt and Alby, a dozen questions forming in her mind. She was about to spill them when Alby held a hand up, stopping her before she could start.

"Coffee first. Then questions."

Alex huffed in frustration. But she turned to her breakfast, with a scowel.

Fair. But still!

Clint, Jeff and Zart got up, said goodbye and went off to their respective jobs. The quiet boy she never got the name of nodded, stood up and left too. Chuck started cleaning off the table, bringing the dirty dishes to the sink in the kitchen, chatting animatedly with Frypan. All that was left at the picnic table were Newt, Alby and Alex. She sat watching him, her leg bouncing, her fingers twisting into Minho's hoodie. As soon as he took the last sip of his coffee, setting his empty mug down, he was pelted with questions.

"What's a runner? What's out there? How come no one can leave? But I watched some of the guys leave! Are we really surrounded by a maze? Why a maze? How come there are doors in the wall? Is there a way out? Does everyone have a job? What are the different jobs? How do we get jobs? What are the different jobs? Are we stuck here?"

She didn't realize how many questions she had, and how confused she was until just now. Yesterday happened so fast, it was a lot to process, and now her questions caught up with her.

Alby sighed in frustration and rubbed his tired face. "I really don' like this part of the job, every shuckin' greenie comin' up here with all these stupid questions."

That hurt, she frowned at him. How could she not ask questions, she had no memory of anything. She only remembered her name last night! And only her first name, not even a last name! And only because Gally body slammed it out of her. She felt her frustration rising. Of course she and every other new kid sent to this shuck prison, was going to ask questions. Nothing made sense here and the guys were so secretive with answers!

Newt, glanced over, sensing her frustration and seeing the tension in her small frame, cut in "Ya know Alby? Gally had some questions this morning, about the new Med Jack Hut they are planning. I'll take Alex on the tour." Alby looked at him and then at Alex.

"Done." He stood up and left without a backwards glance.

"He is NOT a morning person. Mr. Grouchy pants" Alex muttered under her breath.

"Alright She-Bean, tour starts now - no, wait, let's refill the coffee cups- then the tour starts."

She liked the way Newt thinks. "Good that!"

____________________

They started at The Box. The metal doors were closed at the moment, which Alex was grateful for. She didn't want any more reminders of that nightmare.

"Ok. As we told ya yesterday; this is the Glade, it's where we eat, where we sleep, where we work. It's split into four parts. We got the Homestead." pointing at the wood structure.

"Looks like the big bad wolf could huff and puff it down" noted Alex.

"Shush" Newt tried to scold her, but his lip twitched. "That's where we have the new Med Hut going, behind the Homestead." pointing to what was being prep as a construction zone. "We're getting tired of hulling injured shanks up the stairs."

Alex nodded, made sense, a lot of these guys looked quite heavy to carry.

"Also where the kitchen is, bathroom, showers, also the bigger gatherin' hall; when we need all Gladers present, ect."

He turned, pointing to the gardens, "Gardens, where the tool shed is an' where the Track hoes spend most of their day in the fields. If I'm not helping Alby, that's where I work."

Alex snorted with laughter again, "Newt? You're a hoe? You didn't strike me as the hoeing type, wined and dined first, ya?" She giggled uncontrollably.

Newt just rolled his eyes, swept his hair out of his face with an exasperated sigh. "That's the bloody name. We ain't gonna change it now, just get over it. We grow most of our own food, creators supply what we can't grow or slaughter."

Alex blanched, "Slauter?!" Her giggling stopped immediately, she stared at him in horror.

"Ya. Nasty business, bloody nasty business, the slauter house."

Alex snorted again, her lp curling. "Good Pun. Bloody slauter house!"

It took Newt a second, he looked at her with a blank second, then he let a chuckle out.

"You're impossible. Min's gonna have a solid competition with you now."

"Challenge accepted." She smiled, crossing her arms.

Newt turned again and pointed to the big red barn. It had a fenced pasture, where 2 cows, some sheep and a goat roamed around. There was a little chicken coop, and a pig pen. "Slicers work there. They do all the bloody dirty work. Literally. But that's not all they do, they work with the animals, feed and takr care of them, that sort of thing."

"What's that little concrete building by the Wall?"

"That's the Map room. Only runners are allowed inside. When they get back at the end of the day, they map out what they run."

"Runners? You guys keep talking about these mysterious Runners! Also...map?" Alex questioned. Newt ignored the inquizitries, turning instead to the forest. "Deadheads." He stated, no inflection in his voice. That didn't sound promising.

"You going to elaborate or..?" asked Alex. Newt sighed, sadness washed over his face, and his broad shoulders slumped.

"Ya, come on I'll show ya." He led her into the cool shade of the trees, and made his way through the forest. He seemed to have trouble with the underbrush, she never really noticed on the flat ground, but Newt had a limp.

"Newt? You okay? You're limping a bit, did you hurt your ankle yesterday?"

Newt stopped, shoulders tense. She realized right away, she shouldn't have said anything. Something had happened, and he was still hurting, not just physically. It was none of her business. A weird sensation in the pit of her stomach, a deep need to comfort him and make sure he was okay, not just physically. She really wanted to hug him all better.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry Newt.It's none of my buisness" She said quietly, twisting some hair nervously.

His shoulders drooped, and hung his head letting out a sad sigh, "No Alex, it's fine, you're just concerned." He paused, thinking of how to word his next sentence, "l had an... accident in the bloody maze. Haven't been the same." He still didn't turn around.

"In the maze...I thought we weren't allowed in there...wait! You were one of these mysterious Runners, weren't you!? Can you please tell me what a Runner is, like what they actually do?!" She pleaded with him. "Why is everything such a shucken secret around here?" she muttered in frustration.

"Yeah, I was a Runner, and a good one too." He started walking again, deeper into the forest.

"Runners run the maze. Every bloody day when the doors open they go out into the halls of the maze, mapping it and try to find a way out of this bloody prison. They are the best of us. Have to be. Everything depends on them. They gotta be the bravest, fastest, strongest...bein' a fast runner is only a small portion of it, actually. Can't be reckless, can't be timid, either. And every day they put their life on the line, 'cause if they don't make it back before the doors close...they spend the night in the Maze. No one has ever survived a night in the maze. No one."

Alex gulped. That sounded so dangerous, so scary, so...thrilling. The freedom to be out of the stone wall jail cell, running free... Minho does that every day? And he's the keeper? That's a lot of pressure on one boy's shoulders. Her respect for the guy sky rocketed. No way she would ever tell him that, his ego would topple him over, perfect hair first straight into the ground.

"Why hasn't anyone survived? What happens to them? They still haven't found a way out?" asked Alex.

"We call 'em Grievers. No one has seen one and lived to talk about it. But they're out there." He paused, "No we haven't found a way yet. It's not so easy, the maze walls change every night. Runners are the only ones who really know what's out there. Those nasty monsters that come out at night and roam the maze. If you listen at night you can bloody hear 'em, the odd one creeps around during the bloody day, but again, no one lives lon enough to talk about it. It's awful in there She-Bean."

"But..why? Why's it so bad?" Her desire to know everything was weighing on her. Newt was finally telling her something. She tried pushing just a little more. "You used to be a runner, you could tell me?"

Newt finally turned to face her, his face was pulled into a frown, darkened with memories he had of the maze.

"No." he answered flatly.

Alex huffed. "More bloody secrets."

"Look, Alex, bein' a Runner is hard. You deal with more klunk then the rest of the Gladers. Pressure. Stress. Maze pattern different every day, tryin' to picture things in your mind, tryin' to get us out of here. Worryin' about the bloody Maps. Worst part, you're always scared you might not make it back. A normal maze'd be hard enough—but when it changes every night, couple of mental mistakes and you're spendin' the night with vicious beasts, and remember, no one lives long enough to talk about it."

Alex was speechless. Holly shuck. Runners really had to be the best of the best. Newt's words should have scared her, deterred her, but what they did was peek her interest. She wasn't dumb enough to go out there alone, or push the boundaries, but she definitely wanted to know more.

Newt had stopped in a clearing. Alex looked around, the trees grew along the edge, the bright morning sun shone down through the trees, casting eerie shadows. In the clearing there were little wood signs sticking up at random. She took a few steps to the closest one, crouched down to see it. The stick was actually 2 pieces of wood tied together, a name hastily painted. This one read George. She recognized the name, it was one of the names that was crossed out on the wall that Minho showed her. She stood up and spun around to look at Newt in shock and horror.

"This is a graveyard!" She breathed.

Newt had a dark look on his face. He remembered each kid in here. He hated coming here. It made him feel sick, and guilty. Why did he live while they died? There was nothing he could do to save those kids, the creators just sat back watching as kids died. His friends, his brothers.

"Now you know. Minho told ya some yesterday. We had some dark times here, and people die here. Kids die here. This place is dangerous! The maze is even worse. We don't know why we're here. An' it took a long time't get to this point, order and civilization and klunk. Our first leader an' Alby worked real hard, but we lost a lot of good kids." He said darkly, "We don't know why we are here, we know nothing except we gotta get out; and the only way is through the maze, we have tried everythin'. You think it, we've tried it. Twice." Newt took a deep breath, "Come on, enough depressing stuff, back to the glade."

It was a quiet walk back. The two British Gladers stopped at the edge taking a look around.

Newt looked down at the girl, crossing his arms across his chest, still serious, "We have three rules. The most important rule, the one you won't ever be bloody forgiven for breaking. Nobody- absolutely nobody- is allowed outside the walls- except if you're a runner." He added quickly, knowing she was going to interrupt. "Two. Do your part, we don't have time for slackers, everyone has a job and everyone does their job. And three. Never harm another Glader. This don't work if there ain't bloody trust. This is all we got. We've worked shucken hard for it. If you respect this place...we're a family, and we all have each others back."

Alex's stomach twisted.

Should I tell Newt about Chris? I didn't want to be a tattle tail. I don't want to be the whiny little gladder girl.

But something deep inside told her...yes.

"Newt..." she said quietly. He sensed her sudden unease. Frowning slightly he turned to her, giving his full attention.

"What's wrong Alex? Whatever it is, It's safe with me." He put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"I know" she mumbled. She looked up into his brown eyes, a stab of pain shot through her head. She recognized those eyes. They were so familiar, so safe, she felt comfortable with this boy.

Where do I remember those eyes?

She knew that she could tell him anything, he wouldn't laugh or judge her, he would take her seriously.

"There is this guy...he hasn't actually done anything...yet. But I feel uncomfortable, and unsafe around him. He gives me the creeps. Last night at the fire, he tried taking me away from everything and everyone, after I said no. He got angry, I got away. That's how I ended up in the sand pit with Gally, trying to get away from the creep."

Newt's jaw clenched, same with the hand still on her shoulder. "Who?"

"Chris." Alex whispered.

Newt frowned, a creas formed on his forehead. "He was the slint head who said those nasty things at the box, ya?"

"Ya, the same one. I don't ever want to be alone with him." Alex said quietly, looking at the ground. She knew she could protect herself if need be, but she would rather not be put in that situation if she could help it. Newt lifted her chin so she had to look at him.

"Thank you for telling me, Alex. Now that I know, I can keep an eye out. Okay? Thank you for trusting me." He was genuinely concerned, that deep natural instinct to protect her was back. Alex felt relieved, she told someone and they had her back.

"Thanks, Newt. For taking my concerns and feelings seriously."

Newt nodded, "Is there anyone else who you trust? I know it's only your second day, but anyone that you feel you could trust, who can help keep an eye out?"

Alex thought for a moment. "Ya. You, obviously. Alby, even though he's Admiral Grumpy Pants, Frypan, Chuck and Minho for sure. And I think Clint and Jeff." Newt smiled and nodded again.

"Solid choices She-Bean. I would have picked those shanks too. Now I think that's it for the tour. Let's go find Alby an' see if we can have a quick gathering. Then we can get your first job trial.