I do not own The Maze Runner or any of its characters

Thomas: What is this place?
Lauren: *in a tree* Depends on who you're asking. To some, it's home. To others, it's Hell. To me, well, it's a great place to start fights.
Alby: *in the distance, screaming*

Lauren
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Over a week had gone by. I was still on crutches, but I worked half-day shifts wherever I could. Peter and I had made up. Gally went back to being his regular self. All was well in the world. But the universe decided I needed to be deaf, yet again.

"Ooooh, a Greenie!" Jeff dropped what he was doing and ran out.

I watched him go out and decided against trying to get him to clean up after himself. Finishing his work, I made my way down the stairs very carefully. After Peter's talk-confession, I may or may not have spent an entire hour trying to figure out how to best go down the stairs.

When I managed to open up the door, I saw the crowd around the Greenie.

And saw him making his way towards the open Doors. He didn't even see me, but I was right in his path. I would like to have said my life flashed before my eyes, but really only one thought did. And I did exactly what it said to do.

I tripped him.

"Shuck, Greenie, you got a death wish?" I had him pinned under my crutch. He looked familiar.

He looked up at me and opened his mouth as if to say something. But the crowd had caught up.

"You stopped him real good, Lauren!" The boys laughed.

"Congrats, Greenie! You're closer to her than any of us have even dreamed of!"

I moved my crutch off his back and helped him up. "Don't do it again."

The Newbie just nodded, and I shoved the boys away to get to Peter. He was laughing. "You really did just trip him."

"Hey! I was doing the kid a favor! Alby would've skinned him alive if he made it to the Maze."

Peter just laughed. Alby had brought the two Baggers that threw me into the Slammer, and now they had the kid.

Then it finally dawned on me why I knew him. He was the same kid I saw in my memory of Terra in the cafeteria. I looked over at Gally, and I saw him looking at the kid with pure contempt.

"Oh, no."

"What?" Peter asked.

"Nothing." I pushed people out of the way to get to Gally.

"Do you-?"

"Not now." He gave me a look.

I just nodded, and we went our separate ways.

"So, we're all about to take bets, but are you going to fight Minho tonight?" Peter started walking with me.

"Take a wild guess, Peter." I gestured to my crutches.

"Alright. But who else is going to fill the slot?" Peter actually sounded concerned.

"I'm sure Gally will want to fight the Greenie." I half-heartedly offered.

He gasped. "It's perfect! I'll go ask him." Peter left.

I hadn't even realized what I said. But it was too late. "Oh well." Walking back to the Homestead, I got a glimpse of Peter talking to Gally. It had me giggling all the way up the stairs.

|~^-^~|

Staying in bed was the worst. I was due to go back to being normal in two days, and I couldn't wait. Clint told me that the only way I would speed up the healing process was by sticking to bedrest for half the day and working the other half. As much as I grumbled about it, I still appreciated Clint for allowing me an easy way out.

But it didn't mean I couldn't break the rules once in a while.

I decided to go on a walk. I thought about stealing Peter and going to the Deadheads; then I remembered the fact that Alby had torn into him for skipping so much work to hang out with me while I was injured.

So maybe it was best if I let him be.

While I was walking and people watching, I noticed the Greenie walking towards the Maze and Chuck following him.

"Does this kid ever learn?" I mumbled and started towards the two.

It looked like Chuck had it under control. So I moved the other way.

But then I heard a shout and saw Gally in the middle of pushing the Greenie halfway across the Glade.

"Holy finch!" I hobbled fast to stop a fight.

It looked like a lot of others saw the thing too.

"Gally, what the shuck?" I used my crutch to push him back a little so that he could cool off. Alby tried to calm the Greenie.

"The little shank tried to go into the Maze." Gally panted.

"Yes, but you didn't need to push him that hard. You could've used your words."

"Look at 'em. Only been here for half an hour, and he's already tried to go to the Maze twice. Someone needs to teach him a lesson."

"And that'll be Alby's job."

Gally was cut off by the Doors closing. Standing so close to them scared me. I stumbled a little closer to Gally as if he was going to protect me. He moved so that I was behind him. I didn't even try to stop him.

Once they were done, he moved towards the stunned Greenie. "Next time, I'm gonna let you leave." He walked away.

I rolled my eyes and followed. Ever the drama queen.

|~^-^~|

"Oh, Gally? It's time for me to pester you about what's in your drink."

"That means it's time for me to say no." He looked at me. "No."

I mock-gasped. "Cold-hearted."

"I heard they want you to light the fire this time. Go talk to Newt about it." He waved me off.

"Oh, really?" I left and was about three steps in before I realized what he did. "The little crackface." But it was kind of funny.

"Peter! Will you be my drinking buddy tonight?" I found him talking to some guys.

"Of course!" He laughed. I noticed the journal in his hands.

"What's the bid?"

"Frypan wagered dish duty."

"Oooh. How did he clear it with Newt?" Keepers weren't allowed to bet. It honestly saddened me.

"Newt okayed it because Frypan wasn't betting himself. He just chose the punishment."

It was a very narrow loophole, but I guess it was a loophole nonetheless.

"Did you bet?"

"Of course! I bet on Gally. It's stupid not to." He scoffed.

"Yeah, but did you see the kid? Pure Runner material. It's going to be a close fight."

"Eh." Sometimes you had to wonder if Peter had common sense or not. "Whaddya say?" He tried to give me the book.

"Peter, I'm a Keeper myself."

"Oh. Right."

Sometimes it made me wonder how I was a Keeper. Sure, they invited me to join the Gatherings, and I was allowed to put my two cents in, but it still didn't make sense. When I first got my job, I thought Newt was in charge of me. Oh well. I wasn't going to decline. The title came with perks.

It was that time again to appreciate everyone who survived another month. I cheered loudly when the fire was lit. We hadn't lost anyone this month. I survived a Sting; we finished remodeling the Homestead, Peter and I grew closer, and I didn't get in trouble. The month was, by all intents and purposes, good. Sure it had it's sad parts, like getting Stung, but it happened for a good cause, and I survived. And now, I felt like I had truly made a home for myself. I hung out with some new people and even made polite conversation with Henry. It was the first time in a long time I didn't miss the other girls. It made a girl wonder if we ever needed to leave the place. We had each other, and that was really all we needed. We made our food, we had our water, and we were self-sustainable.

Did we actually need to leave?

I couldn't dwell on it for too long because something else caught my eye. I walked away from the group I was chatting with and settled in a new spot where I could watch the scene unfold.

Newt was chatting with the Greenie, and my curiosity got the better of me.

It looked like a regular conversation, and I just imagined that the Greenie was asking Newt about the ins-and-outs of the Glade. He hadn't really been able to ask that many questions before he was thrown in the Slammer. I thought it was a bit much, but then again, I was thrown in there for a mere conversation. You really couldn't tell with Alby.

I laughed a little when Newt gave the kid some of Gally's drink. He immediately spat it out.

Way too soon, they were standing up, and I rushed to find Peter to look normal.

"Where'd you go? I had like two cups while you were gone!" Peter scolded me.

"Sorry. I'll drink one to keep up with you." We went to find Gally.

"I'm limiting you two to five cups this time," Gally instructed us.

"Aw! That means I only get two more!"

"You've already had three? Well, shuck, I gotta drink two then." I was halfway through my second cup when Newt and the Greenie showed up.

"And this is Gally, Peter, and Lauren. Gally's Keeper of the Builders, Peter's a Builder, and Lauren once hospitalized two guys in a week."

"Hi!" Peter waved.

Gally did nothing.

I finished my cup. "Did you really have to introduce me like that? I'm Lauren, and I've remodeled the Homestead over there. I'm actually a lot nicer than Newt says. And also, I haven't hurt anyone for a month." Of all the things Newt could've said, he went with that?

"Oh. Nice to meet you all." But gave a look to Gally. The two moved one to someone else.

" 'Nice to meet you all' Who raised this kid?" I snorted.

"Lauren, I think it's time for you to take a break." Gally tried to grab my cup.

"No! I still have two more!" I pulled it away.

"And how many cups will it make?"

"Eight."

"Lauren!" He managed to grab it out of my hands.

"No!"

Peter just kept on laughing. "Haha!"

"And how many have you had?" I turned on him.

"Sev-three."

"And that's enough for you, too." Gally confiscated his cup as well.

"Aw. Party pooper." Peter pouted.

"That's what you get!" I laughed.

Gally ended up getting someone else to take over for him so that he could fight the Greenie. Peter and I got our cups back with some sweet-talking/grabbing some new ones and just telling the kid to pour it. Then we found some spots at the front and watched the show.

It was honestly funny. Gally kept up a steady stream of insults, and everyone was laughing. I found myself rooting for the Greenie a couple of times and then remembered I had to root for Gally. But the Greenbean wasn't doing that bad. When he managed to knock Gally down, it was right in front of me.

I nudged him with my crutch. "Get up, bud."

And get up, Gally did.

He swept the kid's legs, and he fell hard on his head. I winced; it hurt to fall on your head. The crowd started groaning.

"Thomas." The kid whispered.

It seemed like I was the only one who heard.

The Greenie got up. "Thomas! I remember my name! I'm Thomas!"

No one knew what to do. Was he going crazy? That was a pretty hard fall. I saw some confused looks.

Alby saved him. "Thomas!"

The crowd rushed forward. Yells of Thomas were heard across the Glade. Even Gally had to clap.

"Wait. Who won?" Peter had other things on his mind.

I managed to get out of the rush of the crowd. Getting my leg hurt again didn't seem like a good thing to do. I locked eyes with Gally, and he just shrugged.

It looked like the Greenie was setting in just fine.

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IN WRITING THE BONFIRE SCENE, I HAD TO DO SOMETHING I SWORE I WOULDN'T DO.
i had to freaking watch the Thomas remembers his name scene.
whenitellyouilaughed-

ANYway, I find it funny that in some fanfics, there are maybe two or three chapters before Thomas comes up, and then it's the plot, but I'm over here with my 40 chapters, and 10 of them are when Thomas is here.
there is no shade in this comment. i just find it funny.

oh yeah, this book is only 40 chapters long. :') not including the epilogue or the prologue

Questions!!

-Were you expecting me to go the movie route for the beginning of this chapter?

-How many of you are shocked that Will (Gally) managed to shove Dylan (Thomas) that far?
(To me, it just's just 0-0. the strENGTH)

-Are y'all sad that there are only 10 chapters left?