EVIE STOMPED OFF INTO THE WOODS. When she was somewhere in the middle of the forest, she sat down against a tree in frustration. The bark scratched her back and the ground she sat on was damp. Hardly any sun came through the dense canopy and the cool air gave her goose bumps.

Shitty place, shitty people.
Why was she here?
She wanted to get out of here. She wanted to go into the maze.

The girl felt a certain attraction to the maze and she wondered if the others did too. She heard branches cracking, not far from her. She immediately picked herself up and looked around.

"Who's there?"

She didn't get an answer, what did she expect? The ice cream man?
Evie turned in circles, afraid that an animal might attack her from behind.

"What are you doing here?" The girl whirled around. There was a boy in front of her. Brown curly hair and maybe a head taller than her, with a lot more muscles.
She was sure she had seen him with the builders but she wasn't quite sure. She didn't answer his question, cause she wouldn't have been able to answer anything sensible anyway.

"Gally's right." The boy continued to talk.

"What's he right about?" Evie asked, thinking of the keeper of the builders with the short blond hair and funny eyebrows.

"It's weird that they're sending a girl up." he said, taking a step closer.

Who were "they"?

"He told it to be a warning or a test. He thinks you're evil."
Evie paused with her thoughts as she realized that she really was the only girl here. In a meadow, an area, in a maze, whatever, with only boys.
At the thought, that horrible uneasy feeling crept over her shoulders again.
Before she could say anything back, he was already talking.

"But I don't think it's too bad that they sent a girl," he said, scrutinizing her and giving her goose bumps.
He walked a little further forward and now stood in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Evie said, the tremor in her voice barely audible. His grin widened and he leaned forward towards her.
This was too close for Evie and she backed away from him, but the tree she had been sitting against was unfortunately behind her. She slid past the bark and tried to get as far away from him as possible.

"How about you leave me alone now, huh?" she suggested.
Evie felt the bark cutting into the skin on her back and hissed.

„Mm, not what I thought." The girl felt sick to the stomach.
When he again stepped forward, her first helpful reaction was to kick him in the leg with all her strength. He hissed and the girl used the distraction to push him away from her and took off running. When she looked behind her, the guy had quickly caught himself and was running after her. She felt a few branches hit her in the face.

As fast as her legs could carry her, Evie ran out of the woods and screamed for help. She saw a couple of boys coming towards her. She felt herself trip over something, something like a root or a rock, which caused her to fall to the ground and the guy caught up with her.

"GET OFF YOU MORON!! HEEY!!" she screamed, so that the others would finally take notice. The guys came running towards them and dragged him off her. The other 'gladers' as Alby called them, stopped working too and came towards the scene. Evie scrambled to her feet and took a few steps back to be safe. Her heart raced from the scramble as she tried to explain the situation, but only heavy breaths came out of her mouth.

"What's going on?!" Newt asked. Evie propped herself up on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

"Jason what's going on why are you holding him?!" He turned to this ,Jason', who was holding her attacker by one arm.

"She ran out of the woods and screamed for help." Jason nodded his head towards Evie. Newt's gaze flitted to her briefly.

"Dylan was after her and threw himself on her." the other boy added, he was the one who had stopped her from running through the gates.

"I didn't do anything! She attacked me!" He said, breathing heavily.

"Put him in the pit, I need to talk to Alby." Newt said.
Evie's gaze wandered to her arm, which was now aching. There was a gash on it and she immediately felt sick.
The boy with the black hair came up to her.

"I'm Minho." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Hi," she answered, as it was difficult for her to introduce herself.

"Getting yourself into trouble right at first day, eh?" he teased her but Evie didn't laugh at all. She nearly got harmed by a guy because she was apparently the only girl in this whole place with only boys. Anything could happen to her at any moment.

"I'll take you to the medics," he said. Evie said nothing in reply. He took her to a small hut.

"Alright let me see." The first of the two paramedics said. He had long, dark hair and brown eyes that were scanning her arm. Evie learned that their names were Clint and Jeff.

"I think we should amputate!" He the turned around to the other one, who was probably Jeff. he was a lot skinnier and taller than Clint.

"What?!" Evie gasped and immediately started to panic.

"Stop it Clint, it's her first day!" He hissed and walked toward them. He then looked at her arm.

"It looks fine. Don't worry. He always wants to amputate." He then said, smiling at the girl kindly.
Jeff was very nice, that was Evie's first thought as he tended to her wound. Unlike the others, he didn't look at her in that strange way or ignored her.

"Your first day and already this, ey newbie?" he grinned, looking up at her. Evie smirked and hissed the next moment.

"Sorry." he mumbled. They fell into silence.

"How did that happen?" he asked, nodding to her arm.

"I don't know, I don't remember, myself." she shrugged. Her wound was just a few scratches that she had probably gotten from the bark or a branch in the meadow when she had fallen. Jeff, however, looked at her as if she had her hand chopped off.

—

After treading her wound, he took Evie to 'Frypan', where she was given something to eat. She talked to Minho and Jeff, after all, at least they had to give her answers.

"I don't get it. Why are you the only one allowed in the maze? Why doesn't everyone run in?" she asked Minho, who looked at the gates, then back at Evie.

"Come on." He jerked his head towards the gates. They stood up and Evie followed him. She watched his movements, wondering what he was up to now. Suddenly she was afraid what she had let herself get involved, that she was leaving alone with him.
After all, she had just been attacked.
They arrived at the large gap between the ends of the wall and Minho stopped in front of it.

"And now?" Evie asked after a short but, for her, far too long period of silence.

"Wait." Minho simply said, his eyes fixed on the sight in front of them. Evie stood right next to him, trying to see what the boy saw. But there was nothing different from what she had seen an hour ago.
Apart from the fact that it was getting dark, the ivy vines were still lying lifeless on the hard, cold-looking stone tiles.

She flinched violently as loud noise broke out. It was a deep roaring sound, so painful that the girl had to cover her ears. A wind came out of nowhere from the maze, without any sense of where it was coming from and as if someone was holding a hairdryer to their faces. She held her arms protectively in front of her face to shield it from the leaves and small branches that got whirled up by the wind.

"What the-?" she asked when the stormy wind stopped. She looked at Minho, who also held his hand loosely in front of his face to protect it.

"Wait." he said again. Evie clicked her tongue in annoyance and crossed her arms. There was another sound, the sound of a quarry collapsing. She looked at the gates and thought she was hallucinating. Her jaw dropped as the two huge stone walls rose out of the stone and moved towards each other against every law of physics.
She didn't notice Minho's gaze on her, she was far too focused on staring in disbelief at the gate whose name she now understood.
The gap between the walls grew smaller and smaller, the sound of rock rubbing against rock scratched her ear. Evie watched the distance between the ending walls grow shorter until it was gone. The gate was closed and suddenly the silence seemed far too quiet without the sound of the gates. Evie was still silent and just couldn't believe it.

"..How-?" was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

"If you're not back in time. If you don't make it to the glade.." He hissed so intensely, his eyes boring into her, so that Evie felt a shower running over her body.

"Then you'll stay out there all night and get to cuddle with Grievers!" said Minho and then simply ran off.

"What, wait-.. MINHO!" Evie didn't get another word from him that night. She ran to the hammock Newt had hung up for her when it got dark and lay down in it.
This was all just one day?
She was tired but couldn't sleep a wink.

What the hell was a 'Griever'?

-◖◗-

—

"NEWT! NO!!" Evie heard her own screams. The image of her vision was distorted, in front of her she recognized water, a boy in it. Dark blond hair looking green because of the water, brown eyes and a thin figure. He banged in panic against the wall that separated the two of them. She didn't move an inch and saw her hands on the glass. The lifeless body of Newt sank to the floor in front of her eyes. "NO!" Evie heard her last scream. 'They couldn't do that'. She thought. She saw a hand grab her arm and she was dragged away. "How could you do that Thomas?!"

—
The girl woke up gasping for air and looked around. Her surroundings were completely strange to her as she remembered where she was, who she was with and what had happened. She wanted to go back to her dreams or die right away.

To be dead.
Was that why there were so many graves here? How bad it must be to wake up every day and still be in a 'glade' with no memories and surrounded by a 'maze'.

She got up carefully, hearing loud snoring all around her. She put on her shoes and started walking further away from the hammocks and looked around. Moonlight filled the clearing with a cold light, making her surroundings look beautiful.
Evie desperately tried to remember something. Her name, a face, how she had gotten here, something. However, it was just this fog in her head that she couldn't penetrate.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Evie turned around. It was Newt. She thought of the boy in the water, but couldn't see his face anymore. She looked at Newt. His face was relaxed and a small grin graced his cheeks.

"Do you think I'll run through the gate?" Evie asked. The boy took a step closer to the girl.

"The gates are closed, you'd have to run through the wall, you're not that insane, are you?" he laughed softly and his thick accent sounded soft in her ears.

"No, I'm more worried about you." He said after a brief moment of silence.

"Why?" she asked.

"Everyone's scared for the first few days. That's normal." His voice was soft and caused Evies body to run a shiver down her spine.
The girl wondered if he was scared too when he first arrived in this place. She couldn't imagine that with him.

"Oh really? Well, I'm not." She said simply.

Liar.

Of course she was afraid. She was frightened. But she would never admit that to him.
To distract herself from her lie, she carried on talking.

"What are you doing here anyway? Are you following me?"
He pulled the corners of his mouth up slightly, she could even see his teeth.

"Maybe." That was the first time he didn't look serious and despite of that he even grinned. Every point of seriousness was washed off his face.

"I don't need a babysitter!" Evie hissed the words a little. He stepped closer.

"I don't believe you, Greenbean."

"Don't call me that." Evie said. He took another step closer, so that Evie was now looking up at him a little.
He leaned down to her.

"We've been through this before, but I'd like to ask again. What should I call you then instead?" a confident smile crept onto his lips.

Dipshit.

The girl fell into silence. At some point he interrupted her.

"So this is the time for you to cry about not remembering anything, not knowing where you come from, why the bloody hell you're here.. we all know that." She looked at him blankly, said nothing, did nothing. She was surprised that he could mirror her thoughts so easily and wondered if she was really that transparent. After a while, Newt nodded.

"Well then.. You'd better go back to bed."
He turned to leave, but Evie held him back.

"Newt?"

"Huh?" The boy turned around.

"I'm sorry about your nose," she said, looking at his nose, which now looked normal again.
He grinned.

"It's okay." He turned to leave but she stopped him again.

"What.. what's going to happen to Dylan?" His gaze was tense now, just like it had been all day.

"There was supposed to be a party today in honor of the newbie, but the trouble has thrown everything off. We'll hold a meeting tomorrow and decide what happens. Alby has made it clear that no one is allowed to touch you unless they want to cuddle with Grievers."

There it was again. ‚Griever'.

"And the party will take place tomorrow evening," he added.

"What is a Griever?" Evie asked confused, Newt looked down to the ground and up to her again. He looked behind him before walking towards her.

"Okay I'll show you." he walked past her and she followed him. He ran to some part of the wall but checked regularly to make sure Evie was still following him. The two arrived at the wall and he pushed aside a few ivy vines. A black window appeared.

"Look out there!" said Newt and Evie put her head against the window. For a while, she saw nothing but blackness.

"There's nothing there," she said, wondering if Newt was fooling her.

"Wait." he said. Just like Minho had a few hours ago. She concentrated on the darkness in front of her, slowly recognizing a few ivy vines. Suddenly, something whizzed past her eye. She flinched, a shriek could be heard and Evie fell backwards against Newt, who caught her. Her cheeks started burning when he helped her to stand straight again.

"What was that?!" She tried to remember the black figure that had rushed past her and went to the window again. There was clearly something moving inside, but she didn't recognize the figure and didn't know if she wanted to recognize it.

"That my dear is Griewer, the reason no one is out there at night AND the reason no one is allowed in the labyrinth except the runners. Because if you're not fast enough.." his eyes were fixed on Evie's.

"Just a moment too late.. you'll sit in there all night until the gates open again in the morning. But no one has ever survived until then." His tone had become cold and so serious again.
Then he turned away and simply left. The girl stayed behind alone. After a while, she also went to her hammock and lay down. She closed her eyes, but fell asleep with the feeling that she was being watched.

—

"Ey! Newbie. Come on, get up!" Evie was gently shaken on the shoulder. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw a grinning Jeff looked down at her.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty."
The girl only answered him with a mumbled

"Morning." and yawned profusely.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast."
Together they walked to frypan. Something occurred to her on the way there.

"Jeff?"
"Huh?"
"When's the meeting?" The smile he'd given her earlier disappeared and he looked down.

"After breakfast," he replied.

"What do you think will happen to Dylan?" Evie continued to ask.

"I don't know, I almost hope he gets the banishment."

"What's the banishment?"

"You're sent into the maze just before the gates close." He explained without showing any emotion.
Evie drew in a sharp breath at the thought of the critter from last night and Newt's words.

"So you wish him dead?!"
Now Jeff stopped and looked at her.

"He attacked and hurt you, and I don't want to know what he was doing in the woods before that!" His eyes darted back and forth between hers, as if he was searching for the answer.

"He's disgusting, an arrogant asshole, he deserves punishment, maybe not death but he has to learn." he said stubbornly. She recognized hatred in his eyes.
Evie stared at him open-mouthed.
Obviously Dylan had done things before, that she didn't even wanted to know.
Had he killed someone?

"Listen, this is a damn hole, where they've locked a bunch of teenagers in. Guys whose hormones are going crazy and who've never seen a girl in their lives. They tick like Dylan, you have to be careful. Do you understand that?" Evie nodded and looked down. Suddenly she felt uncomfortable in her skin. She felt idiotic for not having thought about this before. Jeff sighed.

"Let's go get breakfast."

—

After breakfast, the keepers gathered in the 'meeting hut'. Evie recognized Gally and the boy who had come from the blood house. She was allowed to be there, after all, she was the victim. She sat down with Jeff and barely noticed how she nervously grabbed his hand out of instinct. He released it only to place it on Evie's shoulder the next moment.

"It'll be fine," he said, nodding vigorously.

"We're here because we're discussing the incident between Greenbean and Dylan." Alby's loud voice gained attention. His eyes met hers. 

"Newbie! Come forward and tell your side of the story." Evie rose from her seat.
She walked forward and felt the eyes of the keepers on her. In the middle of the room, she recognized Newt, leaning against the wall. She felt his gaze burning on her and began to tremble as she saw the eleven faces scattered around the room, which seemed much more than eleven to her. She told them what had happened in the forest and when she had finished, the boys began to whisper.

"SHUT IT!" Alby shouted and the whispering stopped.

"Dylan come forward and tell your side of the story." Dylan came forward. Evie ran back to her seat next to Jeff, who gave me a smile.

"The truth is." he looked around.
And the things he said made her jaw drop.

"I didn't bother her or push her to anything. I might have asked a few cheeky questions. But she threatened me." He paused dramatically and turned in a circle to look at everyone in the room.

"She wants to run into the maze and destroy our order. Who knows what she'll do with the Grievers? She says it'd her mission from the creators! I'm warning you, she'll end up siccing these ass-shuck-grievers on us."
Evie couldn't stand it any longer and stood up with a jerk.

"That's total nonsense!" she shouted and heads turned towards her.

"Sit down, newbie," said Alby calmly.

"BUT-..."

"SIT. YOUR. SHUCKASS. DOWN!" the leader said loudly, emphasizing each word and looking at the girl admonishingly. She obeyed, since Alby was the only one she really had any respect for. Evie sank back into her seat.

"That's enough Dylan." Alby then said calmly again and Dylan went back to his seat.

"Anyone else want to comment?" Alby asked, looking around the room.

"Here." said none other than Gally. He had raised his hand.
He stood up.

"Isn't it weird that they send up a girl who first punches Newt and then wants to run into the maze? Besides, she still can't remember her name even though everyone remembers it within a couple hours."

"But that's not my fault, is it? Besides, I was scared!" Evie had now stood up again.

"GREENIE YOU HAVEN'T BEEN CALLED UP!" Alby shushed her again.
Gally sat down.

"Dylan, I have a question for you." Newt spoke up and walked back to the center before continuing.

"If you didn't threaten her, why did she run out of the forest screaming and you after her?"
He emphasized the 'you' and 'she' in every sentence.

"Think about it, damn it. That was just for the show!" Dylan answered annoyed.

"Show?!" Evie growled and tried to jump up again, but Jeff held her back.

"Stop it, he's not worth it."
The boy shook his head. Evie caught Newt's gaze.

"We'll discuss this now, give us a moment. Newt?" Alby said and Newt averted his eyes from the girl.
They went into an adjoining room to confer. Evie was getting more and more nervous as they took their time. Then they stepped out again and announced their verdict.

"Newt and I have a decision." He looked at Newt, who now stepped forward.

"Since we have different accounts of what happened in the forest, we can't decide anything."

Is he kidding?!

"But what we can all clearly testify to is that Dylan chased the newbie out of the forest and, above all, injured her. And that's a clear violation of the rules."
Murmurs went around.

"Thank you." Evie said and dropped back, relieved. Dylan stood up.

"I didn't attack her!" The girl jumped up before Jeff could stop her.

"You don't even believe that yourself, do you, dipshit?!" she shouted at him

"SHUT UP, both of you!" shouted Alby and they both fell silent.

"Dylan, your past stands against you." Alby now said calmly.

His past?

„You'll be put in the pit for 3 days as punishment and work at the sloshers for 1 week!" Newt said next to him.

"What?!" shouted Dylan. Alby turned in a circle.

"Just to be clear again and you tell everyone else that too. I know she's the first girl and that's unusual. But if only ONE of you touches her, he can go and cuddle with the Grievers. The meeting is over." Alby shouted and the room emptied.

Evie was shocked at what he had said and didn't want to think about what was going on in the minds of these boys. She thought about what Jeff had said and goose bumps came over her.

"Newbie!" She was about to walk out at that moment, but turned around again and recognized Newt in the middle of the room. She turned to Jeff.

"Go ahead, I'll be right there." Jeff nodded, exchanged another look with Newt and then left. Evie turned around and stood in her place.

"What is it?" she asked, but the boy gave no answer.

"Newt I don't have all day!" she said, annoyed. He raised his eyes and looked at her insistently. Then he came a little closer.

"What's this about Jeff?" She looked at him, confused.

"What about Jeff?" she asked.

"Remember what Alby said. Don't do anything stupid newbie, stay away from him!" Newt said now.

"I don't think Jeff is someone who's like Dylan. He just stopped me from ripping that guys head off earlier, it wouldn't have taken much more with the lies he was serving!"
Evie's gaze held Newt's. He seemed to think for a moment, then he shook his head and took a step closer.

"If he wasn't like Dylan, he wouldn't have looked at you like some trophy and taken your hand at every chance he got!" Newt was standing too close for her liking.
Unable to answer, she stared into his eyes.
The blonde broke out of his pensive stare and took a step back.

"Sorry." he mumbled.

"Jeff's not like Dylan." she said. Newt's head shot up and he took another step closer to her.

"And you don't mind him?" Evie didn't understand what problem Newt had. She was about to ask him, when the wooden door slid open.

"Are you finished I-.."

"I'll be right there. I told you to go ahead." Evie snapped annoyed. Jeff stood still for a moment without saying anything, staring from her to Newt and back again. A thousand question marks had been drawn on his face.
Then he left and carelessly let the door fall shut behind him.

"Oh oh. He didn't like that." Newt said in a low tone.
He was standing only a few inches, right behind the girl.
She turned around and pushed him roughly away from her. He stumbled a little.

"What was that for?! I can protect myself!" She looked at him in anger.

"Yeah like you did earlier with Dylan." Newt scoffed.

"I just wanted to help you Greenie. Be careful who you hang out with." He then said in his usual petty tone. As if he didn't care.

Evie couldn't make sense out of him.

"Asshole!" she then hissed, turned around and walked out the door.

The worst part was, that for a moment, she actually thought, Newt would care about her.

Authors Note:
No one will ever understand my love for Jeff and how angry I am that they let him die in the movies!

And for those people who are hating because they think I'm overreacting with the whole only boys thing-..
-I'd just like to remind you that in the books, the boys were making 🍇-jokes about Teresa.

-
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