Disclaimer:

I do not own The Maze Runner, but if I did, I would have included the 'Teresa throwing things at the boys' scene in the book because #iconic.

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"Ben," Alby repeated firmly, a clear warning in his tone. "Stop right now, or you ain't gonna see tomorrow."

Ben? Wasn't that the kid who was screaming in the Homestead; the one who Chuck said the Grievers had done something to him? I wondered if it was enough to make him crazy. No wonder Thomas had felt unsettled after seeing him.

"If you kill me," Ben shrieked, spit flying from his mouth like he was a vicious mutt, "you'll get the wrong guy." His gaze snapped to Thomas and I. "He's the shank you wanna kill. And she could've stopped it all!"

I felt something wet in my hair, so I reached up and touched the back of my head. When I brought my hand back down, blood was covering my fingertips. My vision swam at the sight.

"Don't be stupid, Ben," Alby said calmly as he continued to aim the arrow. "Thomas and Dylan just got here- ain't nothing to worry about. You're still buggin' from the Changing. You should've never left your bed."

"He's not one of us!" Ben insisted loudly. "I saw him- he's...he's bad. We have to kill him! Let me gut him!"

Me and Thomas both took a step backward and my hand instinctively went over him. "Not on my dead body you won't."

Every syllable I spoke made more pain flare in my skull. Spots danced in my vision. I was going to pass out soon- again.

Ben seethed and growled at me, his eyes narrowed into thin slits. Green veins bulged out of him and he was extremely thin, but obviously, that didn't get in the way of his strength. The Griever sting must have given him some sort of power. But, then again, he was trying to kill us. Of course the goal would make him stronger.

"You leave that to me and the Keepers to figure out, shuck-face." Alby still hadn't moved his weapon an inch, ready to fire at any moment. "Right now, back your scrawny butt down and get to the Homestead."

"They'll wanna take us home," Ben continued on as if Alby hadn't said anything at all. "They'll wanna get us out of the Maze. Better we all jumped off the Cliff! Better we all tore each other's guts out!"

"What are you talking-" Thomas began, but he was cut off.

"Shut your face!" Ben screamed at the top of his lungs. "Shut your ugly, traitorous face!"

"Hey!" I protested. "Only I get to call him ugly!"

The words surprised both me and Thomas. They had slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them, almost like I was used to saying it. It had felt like the most natural thing to say in the world, yet I didn't get why.

"Ben," Alby said calmly. "I'm gonna count to three."

"They're bad, they're bad, they're bad..." Ben was whispering, almost chanting what he was saying. He rocked back and forth, his eyes glued on me and Thomas.

"One."

"Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad..." Ben smiled and his teethed seemed to glow green in the faint light.

I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to run, to find somewhere safe to stay. But where? Where was safe?

My body was frozen in fear. My hand somehow found Thomas's and I squeezed tightly, my heart beating so fast and loud I could hear it in my ears.

"Two." Alby's voice had more warning to it now.

"Ben," Thomas said shakingly. "We're not...I don't even know what-"

Ben screamed, a strangled sound filled with complete madness, and leaped into the air, slashing out with a knife he didn't have until now.

"Three!" Alby shouted, and it all seemed to happen in slow motion.

He let go of the arrow. It sent a whooshing sound through the air and left a thunk when it lodged into its home. Ben's head snapped violently to the left. His whole body twisted until he landed on his stomach, his feet pointed away from us. He didn't make a sound.

It was like someone had pressed the play button on my body and I stumbled forward, my legs feeling like jelly. The arrow stuck out from Ben's cheek, buried in there quite deeply. Blood poured from the wound and seeped onto the forest ground. I fought the urge to puke. But with the head injury, it was likely that I would.

"Come on," Alby urged extremely nonchalantly considering what had just happened. "Baggers'll take care of him tomorrow."

When I started to walk, my legs gave out and I and nearly fell on top of Ben's lifeless body. Thankfully, Thomas caught me, but my head spun and hurt so badly I didn't think I could walk on my own.

"She's bleeding from her head," Thomas observed loud enough for Alby to hear. "Ben slammed her against a tree pretty hard."

Alby sighed and walked over, slinging one of my arms around his shoulders. Thomas did the same with my other arm, and together they carried me out of the woods.

-/-

Once we finally stepped back into the open area of the Glade, I sighed in relief. The Glade was blanketed by a thin sheet of clouds, making the evening sky slightly darker. The open atmosphere calmed the fierce beating of my heart.

Suddenly, Thomas stumbled, falling to his knees. I would've gone down with him due to the lack of balance had Alby not grabbed me.

I turned away in disgust right as Thomas emptied the contents of his stomach onto the grass. Alby crinkled his nose and lifted me back onto my feet.

"Think you can walk with me to the Homestead?" he asked. I nodded and with Alby's help, managed to get there. All eyes were on us, it seemed, but I kept staring straight and didn't look at anyone.

"What the bloody hell happened?" Newt asked frantically as he came jogging over. Without another word, he slung my other arm across his shoulders and helped Alby carry me, putting his hand on my waist.

"I'll explain later," Alby responded. "We've gotta get her back to the Med-jacks first."

They carried me inside the Homestead, managed to get me up the stairs, and brought me down the hallway until eventually we reached the room I was in before.

"Alby!" the other Med-jack of whom I did not know exclaimed the moment we walked in. "We don't know where Ben went-"

"Ben's dead," Alby deadpanned. Newt's jaw dropped open in shock.

"Alby?" he said. "Whaddya mean, Ben's dead?"

"He attacked the Newbies," Alby explained simply. "Thomas just puked his guts out at the edge of the forest. Dylan here's bleeding from her head."

"Yeah, but you said he's...dead," the Med-jack reminded him in a confused tone.

"Yep," Alby confirmed.

"But how?"

"I killed him."

Newt almost dropped me in shock. "You bloody did what?!"

"Gave him a chance," Alby explained somberly. "Counted to three. He would've killed them had I not come along. He somehow got a knife-" He suddenly stopped, and for the first time since I had arrived in the Glade, I saw past his tough guy facade. He was just as startled by Ben's death as Thomas and I were. He took a shaky breath before continuing. "Point is, he's gone. Help Dylan. I'll be out."

Then he handed me to Newt, and left without another word.

-/-

That night, I laid awake in my cot, staring at the wooden ceiling. I didn't know what time it was but I hadn't been able to fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Ben. I saw the arrow flying towards him. I saw his dead body on the ground. I saw him attacking me, bashing my head into the tree. Choking me. Sinking his teeth into Thomas's shoulder.

I shook as shivers went down my spine at the memories. I had only been in the Glade a full twenty-four hours. Surely it could only get better.

I touched the bandage on my head carefully and sighed. At least it didn't hurt anymore. Whatever they had given me for the pain really did work.

After the Med-jack, Clint, had me all patched up, he had me lay there for a little bit before I was allowed to be released. Newt stayed by my side until some kid came in and needed his help. He promised he'd come back to check on me as soon as he was done with whatever the kid needed.

Newt didn't get back in time before Clint let me go. Luckily Chuck and Thomas were there, and like the good friends they were, they helped me up and made sure I didn't fall down the stairs.

After we had made it outside, I noticed it was darker than before, meaning we'd missed dinner. So, naturally, the first thing I wanted to do was eat. Frypan wasn't very enthusiastic about giving me food when he wasn't supposed to - apparently the rule was that if you don't go to dinner you starve for the night - but Chuck told me that the whole Glade knew about what happened to Thomas and I. That was probably why Frypan included a mini chocolate cupcake with my dinner and juice instead of water.

"Eat. You'll feel better," he had promised, and so I did. I took my time in finishing my meal, not wanting to eat it all at once and then promptly puke it all out.

"I can't believe Frypan gave you a cupcake," Chuck complained. "He never gives out cupcakes, except on very rare occasions. Somethin' about the supplies being so scarce."

A Latino boy butted into our conversation and added, "The last person he gave a cupcake to was Newt last year."

I was intrigued. What had happened to Newt? "Why'd he get one? What was wrong?"

The boy shrugged, running a hand through his chocolate brown curls. "'S not my place to tell you, newbie. He'll probably let you know when he's ready." I noticed a strange kind of accent in his voice; Spanish, probably. He started to walk away, then turned around with a half-grin on his tanned face. "My name's Theo, by the way."

And then he had left without another word, leaving me very puzzled and wanting to know what happened with Newt.

"Dylan?" Minho's voice sounded from the other side of the room, his voice hoarse. "You awake?"

"No, I'm sleeping," I answered sarcastically. Minho snorted.

"Just wondering. Why you gotta be so rude?" he asked playfully. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm rude? Yeah, sure," I scoffed with an eye roll.

"No, but seriously," Minho said, all the laughter gone from his voice. "Why can't you sleep?"

"Why do you think?" I snapped, then immediately wished I hadn't. "Sorry."

"It's fine; I understand. But you really should try. Alby's not gonna go soft on you, especially when you've got your jobs to do tomorrow."

I groaned. I had forgotten about that. Tomorrow Thomas and I would be trying out our different jobs to see which one fitted us best. I didn't really mind, but I would've liked to be a Med-jack or Runner. Definitely not a Builder. I would rather run out into the Maze than be under Gally's control.

I suddenly thought of an idea. "Minho, can you tell me something?"

"Maybe."

I took a deep breath. "What happened to Newt?"

There was a long pause before Minho responded, the silence adding to the anxious feeling in my stomach. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he has a limp, and a kid named Theo said the last time someone got a cupcake, it was him," I explained. "Chuck told me Frypan never gives out cupcakes."

"He didn't just get one," Minho corrected. "He got three."

"Three?" What was so bad that Newt got three cupcakes from Frypan? "Why three?"

"It's Newt's job to tell you, okay? not mine. Get some sleep," Minho said concisely, then there was silence after that. He had fallen back asleep.

I sighed and turned on my side so I was facing the wall. I closed my eyes and forced the horrid images and questions out of my mind, eventually falling into a restless slumber somewhere along the line.

gif is newt being badass and hitting ben with a shovel. you go newt.

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isnt minho and dylan's friendship cute? aside from them arguing all the time, of course

i literally can't wait for the next few chapters bc theyre hilarious man. plus there's some newt x dylan moments.

speaking of, i have 3 options for a ship name and i've decided to let you guys vote!

•nylan (courtesy of @didyougetthepie )

•nylewt courtesy of rachel (electrifies )

•newlyn (courtesy of @epika123 )

go ahead and choose your favorite! the winner gets to be the official ship name! (personally i like newlyn. does my vote count though?)

~kristyn

edit: omg the early thylan days my loves