Chapter Text
Chapter 8
Straight after the Gathering, Minho comes round and traps Newt in an enormous hug. Thomas stands awkwardly to the side, until Newt grabs him as well, creating a messy embrace of arms and legs.
"Unf, Newt," says the muffled voice of Thomas, "You can let go now."
Smiling widely, Newt ruffles his hair and reluctatly lets go. A pressing issue repeatedly bounces in his mind and Newt will do something about it.
Alby. The Serum.
During the Gathering, Newt had been wondering whether to announce it, but decided against it, seeing as the storeroom it was found in was obviously out of bounds.
They return to the common room, tension from the Gathering wearing off. Still, Newt is far from placated.
"Minho," he says, "Get over here, you bloody shank." Minho's about to open his mouth, no doubt to retaliate with some snarky remark, but Newt yanks him over. His patience is gone.
"I might have a way to cure Alby-" Before Newt finishes, Minho grabs him by the shoulders and starts shaking him roughly.
"Why the shuck didn't you say it in the Gathering, you idiot?" hisses Minho, "Instead of interrogating everyone?" Although Minho didn't intentionally try to hurt Newt, it stings all the same.
"Well I'm sorry for not being as good as Alby," he spits sullenly, refusing to look at Minho.
"Newt," pleads Minho, "That's not what I meant. It's just Alby being Stung and all, has me crankier than Gally."
Newt realises how 'Isaac' he's being right now. He'd been so caught up in everything happening and bloody Thomas that he had forgotten his friends were suffering just as much as he was.
"Sorry," apologises Newt and the tight grip Minho had on his shoulders loosens slightly. "I was being an arse."
From the other side of the room, Thomas peers curiously at them and abruptly turns around when he sees how close they're standing.
"So how do we help Alby?" says Minho quickly.
"Do you remember when we sneaked into the Box in first form?" replies Newt quietly.
"Yeah, what about it?" says Minho impatiently.
"There were boxes of syringes in there," explains Newt, "And labeled 'Grievers', but at the time we didn't know what they were. I think that they could help Alby or at least let us find out more about damn Grievers."
Minho stares at Newt incredulously. "You shuckface, what are we waiting for? Let's go now!" Always rash and loudmouthed when emotional, that's Minho.
"We can't just sneak into the Box again," snaps Newt, rolling his eyes. "It has fifty million locks and cameras and ID klunk there for a good reason!"
"We can't plan it all out!" snaps back Minho frantically. "We already have hardly any time left."
"It doesn't do any good not to tell anyone. We need to tell the other Keepers. Order in the Glade, remember?" Minho shuts up at this and then he nods affirmatively.
"KEEPERS! GET YOUR UGLY SHUCK FACES OVER HERE!" hollers Minho and the whole common room looks at him. Thomas catches Newt's eye and gives him a questioning look.
Newt grins apologetically because Thomas absolutely cannot find out. He'd decided this because Thomas would insist on going no matter what. And because Newt kind of had a soft spot for him, he'd let Thomas go, to the chagrin of everyone else.
With quite a few noisy groans, the Keepers, annoyed at being disturbed, walk over to Minho.
"What is it?" moans Frypan immediately.
"A possible cure for Alby," replies Newt calmly.
Granted, this has a silencing effect on all the Keepers. Then Gally opens his mouth.
"What? What is it?" he frantically splutters, talking so fast that he's practically incomprehensible.
"Gally, calm the shuck down," snaps Minho unsympathetically, clearly still hung up about the Gathering.
"But we need to sneak into the Box to retrieve it, and even then we're not sure if it'll work," says Newt and people's faces fall.
"Why can't we just ask Jorge?" Zart says, voice only slightly above a whisper.
"He'll never let us, that's why!" Gally rounds on poor Zart, who looks like he'll klunk his pants.
"We'll discuss this at the official meeting," shouts Newt over the hubbub and aware of all the curious glances directed at them. "You are not to tell anyone."
Surprisingly, the Keepers don't tell anyone. Minho doesn't even breathe a word to any of his beloved Runners so Newt and Minho do some research of their own, much to Thomas' disappointment.
"Where are you guys going?" he asks them and gets no proper reply. It's always something like 'Ask no questions, we'll tell no lies, shank' or 'Just Keeper business'.
It brings up Thomas' many insecurities and after some thought, he follows them.
It's a klunk thing to do, but Thomas feels like he deserves to know. It'd been made clear that he wasn't an outsider - he was going to be a goddamn Runner. Part of was also wondering if they were...doing what they did last time again.
I-i-it's not like he's jealous or anything! Thomas pushes that thought aside. He is kind-of dating Brenda. Who is smart, witty and an excellent actress. Newt is just one of his best friends.
Then guilt hits Thomas. Maybe he should trust them enough to not have to sneak around following them. Thoroughly regretting his decision, Thomas still follows them.
Newt and Minho are talking softly so Thomas can't hear and every now and again, their eyes dart around and Thomas has to flatten himself against the wall more than once.
He has no clue where he is. Newt and Minho start descending down a flight of stairs, the air growing darker around them as they do so. Thomas regrets his rash decision but his curiousity overtakes him and he finds himsef still following them.
"How do we get in?" Minho asks and then he grunts in pain.
"Shut up, you bloody klunkhead!" Newt snaps in a whisper. Upon hearing Newt's voice, Thomas' legs suddenly cease to function and because of his jelly legs, he trips.
With a horrendously loud crash that has Thomas wincing, he tumbles down the last flight of stairs and lands right at Newt's feet.
Shucking amazing. Great. Pain lances through his whole body and Thomas groans, because it shucking hurts.
Slowly, with his heart pounding wildly, Thomas looks up and awaits his iminent death. Newt and Minho are both staring at him silently.
"C-could you, um...say something?" asks Thomas, increasingly worried about what was going to happen next.
"What the shuck are you-" Minho begins hollering before a sharp and effective jab in the ribs from Newt shuts him up.
"But seriously Tommy, what the shuck are you doing here?" asks Newt sternly.
"B-because no one would tell me what all those secret Keeper meetings were about!"
"Shank!" whisper-screams Minho furiously. "All the other idiots in the Glade just kept their traps shut and let the Keepers do what they do? Why are you any different?"
Thomas realises with a sinking feeling that Minho is absolutely right and he's starting to feel like the worst person in the world. They had no obligation to tell him at all because Thomas is a shucking Greenie, for crying out loud.
He looks frantically from Minho, who is spluttering with rage to Newt, who is wearing a calm look of disappointment. Thomas is such a bag of klunk. A lengthy, uncomfortable silence ensues as Thomas stares at the floor.
"I think Tommy's realised his mistake," says Newt after a while. "And Minho, slim it."
"Yeah, the shank's learned his lesson," agrees Minho, "Now let's do something, instead of waiting around doing klunk." Thomas hovers uncertainly, unsure of who Minho is talking to.
"But how are going to get in?" asks Thomas. Newt smiles smugly.
"Minho isn't all sass and sarcasm you know," says Newt, with that ever so irritating smile. "People tend to forget Runners are the highest quality combination of brains and brawn, so to put it bluntly, Minho is a genius." And he is, because while Newt was talking, he had disabled three CCTV cameras and busted open the door, which had a startling amount of security on it. Thomas nearly chokes on his tongue. What the shuck is Minho?
There is thrilling sense of anticipation as door opens and Thomas expects to see some kind of high-tech dangerous-looking facility but instead some dusty brooms fall to the floor. And then as his eyes adjust to the dark, Thomas sees the...buckets, bleach and vacuum cleaner.
"Are we in the cleaning cupboard or something?" hisses Thomas, already back to his normal self. Newt chuckles and Thomas bites back a smile frantically.
"To Greenies like you it may be," he explains, still wearing that endearing angelic smile that makes Thomas want to rip out his eyeballs. "But for other Gladers, this is the Box. All the school supplies are in here, as well as some old secrets."
Thomas only understood about half of what Newt was saying because that shucking smile was doing things to his stomach.
"Oh...OK," he replies absentmindedly, still feeling pleasantly nauseated. "So what're you guys looking for anyway?"
Thomas watches Newt shift uneasily and glance cautiously at Minho.
"W-we might find something to cure Alby..." Whatever Thomas was expecting, it wasn't something like that.
Newt and Minho really go far for their friends. Would...would they do the same for him, if Thomas was Stung?
Before he can answer that question, there is an ominous creak and a small beam of light seeps into the room, indicating another person.
"Shuck!" hisses Minho and they freeze in the darkness, praying desperately for a miracle. The man entering the room is tall and bold, face framed by steel-rimmed glasses - Rat Man.
Thomas is suddenly extremely aware that if Rat Man catches them, they are dead meat. He attempts to even out his increasingly erratic breathing and glances towards Minho and Newt. They are both stock still, although it is clear they are thinking about how they can solve this ridiculous situation. Shuck that. They need to focus on staying goddamn alive.
Another person's presence emerges and Minho, Newt and Thomas all inhale. It's that Aida (Ava?) Paige person from the play rehearsals, the one with thin lips and a permanent disapproving glare etched upon her face. She knows Rat Man? Now that Thomas thinks of it, they were pretty buddy-buddy during the auditions.
By the creeped-out look on Minho's ugly face, he has already figured out how they are connected because he is an amazing nerd.
"They must both be W.C.K.D inspectors," he mouthes slowly and Newt nods in confirmation, as he is also very intelligent. Thomas wonders why this makes him very happy.
"-how has the Sting been working?" demands Ava, crisp American accent echoing off the walls of the dingy cellar.
"From the effect it has, it has been proved to be a powerful weapon. Although certain people have been able to resist the effects of the drug on their bodies. This school, out of all the ones across the country, appears to have the highest 'immunity' rate." Thomas is aghast. Not only being aware of the Sting, but also experimenting with it? Are they really school inspectors? Teachers?
Vivid, horrifying images of Ben screaming, crying and those bulging green veins flash through Thomas' mind and he shakes his head firmly. Tell me that this isn't happening right now.
"-have been working on a cure. Test batch #63 has proven to work the best, although the success rates are not high as I wanted." continues Rat Man, luckily still unaware of the three Gladers.
A cure, thinks Thomas, hardly daring to believe it. They continue to listen to Rat Man's scientific drivel and it becomes clear to all three of them that they've somehow, somehow out of all chances, struck gold.