Mara turned back to the boy cowered by the tree, his head in his knees.

"Hey kid," She called out as she jogged back over to the greenie who looked up to her as she ran. Once she reached him she sat on her knees and gave him a polite smile. "How you holdin' up?"

"How am I holding up? How am I holding up, seriously?" The boy cried, his eyes narrowing before he cradled his head in his hands.

"No need to get snappy," Mara told him, reaching out for the poor boy. He looked her age, maybe older but she couldn't quite tell. She wanted to know more about him, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him anything, it wasn't as if she would get answers anyway. He wouldn't remember. She felt sympathy for the boy, for every single boy in the Glade, but she didn't want to show it. If she did, it would probably just embarrass the boy, she knew it would have embarrassed her. "I get how you feel, we've all been there."

The boy's attention snapped upwards as a metallic clicking sound came from the branches. It was a beetle blade. Mara remembered the name, and had seen plenty of metal bugs crawling around the place, but she had never seen one up close without it running away. Sadly, that day wasn't going to be her lucky day as it disappeared from sight.

"What was that?" The boy asked as he craned his neck to try and see the bug that had scuttled away.

"That was one of them beetle blades." Someone said, making both Mara and the greenie look at the owner of the voice. It was Chuck, who then dawdled over and sat next to Mara, facing the newbie who wore an expression of confusion.

"A beetle what?" The newbie asked, turning to Mara for the answer.

"Beetle blade." She answered with a slight smile. It felt good being the one answering the questions for once, and not being the most clueless one in the Glade.

"Won't hurt ya unless you're stupid enough to touch one of them." Chuck paused. "Shank."

Another shrill scream echoed through the Glade from the Homestead, making all three heads turn to the shaken building. Mara looked back at the greenie, his skin paled and white. She didn't blame him, the boy's screams were long and painful to listen to.

"What's going on over there?" The boy said, pointing towards the Homestead and the screeching.

"Don't know," Chuck shrugged, but he seemed to know more than he was letting on. Maybe Alby had told him not to tell the Newbie anything. "Ben's in there, sicker than a dog. They got him."

"They?" The newbie asked, but that wasn't what Mara wanted to ask, and it wasn't what had surprised him.

"Ben's in there?" Mara remembered him, he was the boy that was friends with Minho, a runner. She had only talked to him that once, but everyone she had met so far that had gone through the changing hadn't greeted her friendly.

"Yeah. Didn't you know?" Chuck questioned her, doubting what she had said. Ever since everyone had found put about Mara's dreams the Gladers had given her a higher status, treating her the same way they treated Alby and Newt. Maybe it was because they thought it was a sign, but it wasn't. She knew that.

She was just Mara, if she was even that.

"Who's they?"

"N- yeah. Well, I knew someone was in there, but I didn't know who. So... no, I did not know Ben was in there." She stuttered. Chuck gave her a stupid look, telling her he knew she was trying to cover up her mistake in front of the greenie.

"Who are they?!" Newbie practically shouted, his eyes were bloodshot and wet but his restraint was working. Mara turned to the boy with those eyes she felt she knew. Why had she been so selfish? She needed to be there for the boy, not try to discover how she knew him. He needed someone to be there for him.

"Better hope you never find out." Chuck said, but his gaze drifted to one of the four gaps in the walls. He didn't know what lay beyond them, and neither did Mara. Sure, she knew what the grievers looked like, and they weren't pretty, but that was from the safety of the wall between them, being out there with them... It wouldn't be right. She shook her head, focusing back on Chuck and the greenie. Chuck held out his hand. "My name's Chuck. I was the greenbean before Mara showed up, but then you showed up. So now that's you."

"Why is everyone calling me greenbean?" He asked, his voice was frustrated and tired.

"Because you're the newest in the Glade. The newest newbie." Chuck giggled at what he had said, but that wasn't the only sound passing through the Glade at that moment. Another piecing screech filled the Glade, a screech which was now known to belong to Ben.

"How can you be laughing?" The boy furrowed his brows, fear filling his eyes for Ben, a boy he didn't even know. "It sounds like someone's dying in there."

"He'll be okay." Mara reassured the boy, gently rubbing his knee for comfort. The greenie shifted, losing contact with Mara completely. Most people probably would have been upset by that, but she wasn't. She understood. It was hard, waking up somewhere without your memories. They had all been through it. Of course, she didn't have an identical situation, but it was similar enough for her to understand the poor boy's actions.

"No one dies if they make it back in time to get the serum. It's all or nothing. Dead or not dead. Just hurts a lot." Chuck shrugged, but he didn't know how it felt. Only a handful of people still alive knew how the changing felt, including Gally.

Mara hardly knew anything about the serum or the changing, just that it stopped you dying after being stung by a griever. She definitely didn't underestimate the pain those people went through though, after hearing their screams and cries of agony you couldn't believe it wasn't the least bit painful.

"What hurts a lot?" The curious boy asked innocently, it seemed as if he was aware he was treading on ground he wasn't supposed to be treading on.

"Chuck..." Mara warned the boy. Although it wasn't because she didn't want the greenie finding out, in her opinion he should have been told everything on the first day, it was because she didn't want Alby and the keepers finding out Chuck had told the greenie something. If they did he'd be punished, and not lightly.

"Um, gettin' stung by Grievers."

"Chuck. How's 'bout you go get Newbie here something to eat? Oh and me, I'm starved." Mara said, pulling Chuck to his feet from where she was sitting. She couldn't risk him saying anything else. The boy sighed and rolled his eyes before brushing himself off and turning away from Mara and the greenie.

"Mara, how old do you think I am?" The boy asked, catching the attention of a certain Glader who was supposed to be getting food from Frypan.

"I'd say you're sixteen. And in case you were wondering, five foot nine... brown hair. Oh, and ugly as fried liver on a stick." Chuck giggled as he stood by Mara and looked down at the boy he was describing, who seemed more confused that upset at what Chuck had said. This time, it was Mara's turn to sigh.

"Chuck that's called talking, and you've done enough of that. What you should be doing is busting your ass over to Frypan to get me a sandwich." Just to make her point clear, she made the effort to direct Chuck to the Homestead, where the food was served.

"Are you serious?" The newbie asked Chuck, not helping Mara at all. "How-"

"Fine. Don't get my bloody sandwich. Just don't complain when you have to deal with cranky, hungry Mara. If you think I'm messed up on a good day good luck..."

"Don't worry." Chuck began, choosing to ignore Mara completely. "You'll be whacked for a few days, maybe even settle in quicker like Mara here, but then you'll get used to this place. I have, Mara has. We live here, this is it. Better than living in a pile of klunk." By the boy's expression he realised that he had ended on a word that neither Mara nor the greenie understood. klunk. She had heard it, but it was one of the words she had never asked for the meaning of. "Klunk's another word for poo. Poo makes a klunk sound when it falls in our pee pots."

And then she wished she'd never wanted to know.

"That's nice." The newbie awkwardly looked down, obviously uncomfortable at the topic of Chuck's choice. That told Mara to change the topic immediately, surely the poor kid was uncomfortable enough in the Glade already without Chuck talking about poo. Or, klunk

"Okay... now you should be glad I'm not eating. What's your name greenie?" She tilted her head to the right slightly as she asked him, how had she forgotten to ask the boy's name? It was stupid, normally your name was the first thing you told someone.

"What?" The boy asked, taken back by the sudden question.

"Your name." Mara repeated. "You haven't told us yet and everyone remembers their name. You remember your name, right?"

"Thomas. It's Thomas."