The Outcasts

               The next morning, I felt myself gently being shaken awake. I opened my eyes to see Chuck standing in front of me. He always seemed to find Thomas and me no matter where we were. I stretched with a groan and that's when I noticed that a couple of blankets had been placed on me during the night. I just smiled at the small act of kindness and looked back up at Chuck. "What time is it?"

     "You're almost too late for breakfast." He tugged on my arm, trying to get me to my feet. "Come on, get up. You need to start acting normal or things will just get worse."

I stood and looked down at Chuck in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Ben said it. Gally said it. Alby said it. Hell even you and Thomas were saying it last night." He raised his eyebrows. "You two are different and everyone already knows it, but right now isn't the time to show how different you two really are. For now, be the most normal people that you can be." He pulled on my arm again. "And that starts with breakfast."

"Okay, okay." I said as I gave in and followed him, trying to act as normally as I could. "Let's eat, I'm starving."

"Good that." Chuck said, slapping me on the back.

We headed over to Frypan's kitchen and on our way over Chuck was yapping the whole time. I didn't complain though because it was the closest thing to normal.

"Hey Chuck," I interrupted. "Thank you for covering me up last night."

"What do you mean?" he looked up at me.

"When you woke me up, I was covered in blankets. I didn't go to sleep like that." I said looking at the ground, shuffling my feet through the dirt.

"Must have been Newt." My head perked up and I glanced over to Chuck who just kept his eyes straight forward. He looked towards me and noticed me staring.

"Newt found you last night against the wall; told everyone to let you sleep and not to bother you. After that, I saw him going back in the Homestead and bring them out. I just thought 'Oh, he got some more blankets for himself'."

I smiled to myself at the thought of Newt making sure I was comfortable and not bothered by anyone. Chuck and I kept walking and finally made it to the kitchen and grabbed a quick breakfast, taking a couple empty seats at the big table closest to the South Door. Every Glader that walked by seemed to either give me the evil eye, or a smile and nod.

"Chuck, where's Thomas?"

"He's running with Minho, they headed out a couple hours before you got up."

"You should have woke me up sooner! I wanted to congratulate him on his first day as a Runner." I picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite. "Might have been the last time." I pushed out from the table and placed my empty plate on the counter. "All I want is a normal day."

"Then your wish is granted." said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see Newt standing there, smiling. His grin sent a warm wave through my body. I smiled back at him, moving in and giving him a hug.

"Thank you for the blankets."

"You're welcome. Can't have you bloody freezing to death." I let him go and he nodded at me. "So today is your day, you can do whatever you want."

"Does that include breaking rule number three and going out into the Maze?"

"Nope. You have no reason to be out there. Besides, I would be having a bloody heart attack the entire time you were gone like the last time."

"But Thomas is out there."

"He has Minho out there with him, they'll be fine."

"Newt," I grabbed his arm lightly. "Things are changing. The Glade, the Maze, everything. Ben and Alby already got stung during the day, who says that it won't happen again?"

"And who says it will?"

"I do." I said, then shook my head realizing I didn't mean to say that out loud. "I did something, Newt. I know I did; I can feel it. I feel the guilt and I feel responsible. I arrived in the Glade with Tom, not anyone else. There has to be a reason for that. If something happened to him, to Chuck, or to you...I'll carry that with me to my grave."

I dropped my hand, and slowly looked toward the East Door. Newt was silent and Chuck just sat there, watching us argue.

"Look, I just don't want you to get hurt. You are the only girl here and that puts you more at risk than anyone else. You need to be protected."

"I protected myself just fine when I was out in the Maze alone, just me and two Grievers. I'm sure I can handle it."

Chuck walked up to me, poking my side trying to get my attention. I turned to look where he was pointing and saw that the Runners had all come back. I waited to see Thomas and Minho run through the doors, but they didn't show. I started to panic just a little. I know he can take care of himself out there, he proved it when he first ran into the Maze.

Before I could speak and ask where they were, Minho and Thomas both run out, completely out of breath and exhausted. The both of them were covered in sweat and dust with dirt smearing their faces. Thomas glanced up from his heaving and saw me staring at them. He started jogging over towards me with his arms open, wrapping them around me when he reached me and spinning me around. I was curious as to why he was so happy but hugged him back as he moved his lips up to my ear. "I think we just found our way out."

I leaned back so that I could look at his face, and he just smiled down at me. "With the clue that you found from the Griever; it opened a new section in the Maze. A section with a way out." I jumped back into his arms, squeezing him tighter, not minding how sweaty he was. "We can make it home."