~Sara~

They shared a look and rushed out to begin searching for her.

Really? Now where did she run off to?

They spotted a bit of a commotion going on near the north opening of the Maze, and Minho and Alby looked extremely concerned as they jogged over to Newt and Sara.

"What's going on?" Newt asked, nervously gripping Sara's hand tighter.

"See for yourself," answered Minho. "Check the time."

Newt held his arm out to his own face, and Sara peeked over to look at the time on his watch.

They both shared a glance full of terror before they carried their eyes over to the massive stone walls.

It's 5:47 p.m, and the doors haven't closed for the night.

"M—maybe they're just running a little late? That's what happened with Thomas's arrival," Sara suggested.

Alby gave her such a piercing glare that it actually frightened her. "It's been almost twenty minutes since closin' time. What makes you think it's all good when everything about Thomas has been and still is different?"

"Dude, we're shucked for good now," Minho muttered in a much more serious tone. Minho being serious meant they were dead screwed. Sara didn't like where any of this was going.

"What are we supposed to do now? The Grievers are gonna start coming anytime soon." Newt's voice was shaking a bit, and he stared at the walls, the nerves and panic creeping over at him once again.

Sara wrapped an arm around his waist as she stood beside him and rubbed his back, trying to ease his tension a little.

"It's them. Always has. The girl... Thomas... it's their fault," Alby muttered angrily as he walked back and forth, repeating his words like an old chant.

"We have to find them. Teresa's still missing," Sara blurted out, and that got everyone going to continue the search. Clint and Jeff came and joined them as well.

After only a couple minutes of searching, they found her near the deadheads, and she was happily chit chatting with Thomas.

"Having a blast?" Sara asked humorlessly, crossing her arms.

"What in the... how did you...?" Newt asked as he stared at Teresa, whilst Alby and the rest of them stood behind him. "How'd you get here? Med-jacks were with you, and Jeff said you were there one second and buggin' gone the next."

They were both sitting on the ground, but Teresa stood up with confidence, surprising Thomas, who was next to her. "Guess he forgot to mention the little part about me kicking him in the groin and climbing out the window."

Whoa there.

They all turned to Jeff, and the guy's face was covered in sweat beads.

"Congrats, Jeff," Newt took the words right out of Sara's mouth. "You're officially the second guy here to get your butt beat by a girl."

Sara knew it was because of her. In her defense, she was defending Newt on that occasion.

Teresa didn't keep her little mouth shut, however. "Keep talking like that and you'll be next."

Excuse me?

Sara stepped in front of Newt defensively, even though she knew he didn't need her to. "Yeah, I don't think so, darling."

Newt patted Sara's shoulder, and he tried to calm her down with a look in his eyes as she turned to him. He was probably scared there would be a repeat of last time. She would totally throw hands with Teresa, and nothing else would've stopped her had it not been for that calming, endearing stare of his.

Hence she retreated.

Newt's eyes left Sara's, and his stern countenance didn't falter in the least as he simply stared back at both Thomas and Teresa with a look that could clearly be considered a death glare.

Alby stepped forward, throwing his arms up in the air. "I'm sick of this! I wanna know who you guys really are. 'Cause everything fell apart after you two came along!" He inched his face closer to Thomas and pointed to his chest aggressively.

Thomas was visibly going to pieces. He was exasperated. "I swear, I don't know who she is—"

"We all know you do! That's what—" Alby looked over at Sara, but Newt placed a hand on his shoulder to shut him up before he could even mention her.

"Alright! Sure, we know each other—used to at least. But that doesn't mean anything!" Thomas went off all of a sudden. "Neither of us remember!"

Ha, and my name's not Sara.

Alby glared at Teresa. "What did you do?"

Confused, Thomas glanced at her, but she remained silent.

"What did you do?!" Alby screamed this time. "First, the shucking sky, now this."

She remained calm all throughout. "I triggered something. Not on purpose, I swear. The Ending, but I don't know what it means."

Oh shuck.

Thomas walked over to Newt and Sara. "What's going on, guys?"

Sara was furious, and she couldn't help but be angry at Thomas even though the poor shuck had no idea what was going on. Newt didn't answer his question either. Alby did.

"I'll tell you what's going on, shank! Too busy with your girlfriend to bother lookin' around? Do you even know what freaking time it is?!"

Thomas looked at his watch, then looked back up at them as he realized the terrible truth everyone had known except for him.

"I want her locked up. Now," Alby muttered, then got two Gladers to grab Teresa by the arms.

She looked back at Thomas and—strangely enough—at Sara for help, with the saddest eyes ever, like a lost puppy.

But dear old superhero, Thomas, had to jump in like always. "No, wait. You can't just lock her up. It's not her fault the doors aren't closing."

Alby gave him a look so full of anger that Thomas almost retracted himself.

Newt slightly pushed back on Alby's chest to calm things down. "Tommy, she said it herself. There's nothing else we can do."

"Sara." Thomas moved on to her, pleading, "You know I wouldn't ask for anything if I wasn't sure of it. Can you please do something?"

She wasn't having it. No—correction—she was fuming. Teresa wanted to try to act all innocent and use Thomas in her favor to help herself out? No way. All Sara needed was to find out what Teresa had been telling Thomas, and that was it.

"No, absolutely not. And I'm not even sorry, Thomas," Sara replied. They all looked at her with their mouths wide open.

"You don't believe me either, do you?" Teresa had the audacity to ask her in such a soft and meek little voice.

"Shuck no!" Sara went off, and Teresa flinched. "Listen here, you little Miss 'WICKED-is-good.'" Teresa's eyes widened and several gasps were heard among the guys. "Yeah, don't think I didn't see that written on your arm the first time I saw you. There's something rotten about you, and I'm not gonna stop until I figure out what it is." Teresa looked embarrassed for the first time. She had better be.

"S—Sara?" Thomas questioned her as if she weren't acting like herself anymore.

"Hey," Newt called, touching her arm and turning her around to face him. "Calm down. We all know there's something strange here, but like you said, we can't jump to conclusions." He frowned at her with concern.

She didn't like how everyone kept staring at her like that. There was nothing wrong with her; she was perfectly fine. No trouble.

"Didn't you hear your leader?!" Sara shouted at the Gladers who grabbed Teresa. She'd never agreed more with an order coming from Alby, which was really saying something. "Lock her up already!"

Alby gestured at them with his head so that they would take her away.

"Sara, what the shuck was that?" Thomas muttered, moving in front of Sara once they left.

"What the shuck was what, Thomas!" she shouted back, facing up to him. "How about you tell us what she said to you?"

He shook his head and scowled. "No, I'm not gonna tell you if you're just dead-on against her like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, placing a hand on her chest mockingly. "Did I hurt your girlfriend's feelings? Bummer," she sneered. "She's—a—fraud! She's lying. So you better start talking..." Sara snapped her fingers in front of his face, "...or I swear, Thomas, I'll turn this place upside down until you're crying for your mother and finally decide to talk."

Newt stepped in between the two of them. "That's enough. Let's talk about this calmly, yah?" he tried to reason with Sara as best as he could. She didn't know what came over her, but she couldn't stand being lied to—everyone being lied to—by some girl that they never trusted even before the Maze.

"Move." She softened her voice for Newt's sake. He sighed in defeat after seconds of pleadingly looking into her eyes to no avail.

"You don't know that," Thomas said, looking hurt. "She's scared. And you guys are accusing her of something she probably didn't even do. Isn't that what everyone did to you? I heard all the stories—how these guys nearly killed you. Why are you doing this now? Is this your way of getting back?"

"Getting back at who?" she lashed back at Thomas. "Everyone had to be skeptical about me because they don't remember. But guess what? I still have my memories! And I remember how none of us trusted Teresa before. And I paid your girl a little visit, remember? Well—shocker—she already knew who I was..."

Sara told him all about her talk with Teresa, and he looked even more stressed. She couldn't tell if he was scared of her, or of the current situation, but either way, she needed the boy to talk.

Newt led Sara away from everyone else. After a good deal of trying to calm her down, he was able to convince her to focus on the safety precautions to be taken, so they all got down to business given the imminent situation.

Alby ordered all the Builders—without Gally because he was still missing—to build all types of barricades in the homestead. He wanted everyone to meet in there, and that was supposed to be their only chance at surviving a night when all the Grievers showed up. Since everyone usually slept outside in hammocks, they'd all have to squeeze in together.

The selfish side of Sara wanted to suggest she and Newt locked themselves in their hut, but her cautious side warned her that it wasn't a good idea. They wouldn't have enough time to put barricades around it since they had their hands full with the homestead, and a Griever could easily break through. If they all stuck together, there was a higher chance of survival.

Soon after, Newt, Minho, Thomas, Alby, and Sara were all huddled together in the homestead, along with as many Gladers that could fit inside.

Alby kept going on and on about Thomas, and he wouldn't stop complaining like a little kid. It was driving Thomas and the rest crazy, but Sara was still pretty ticked off about earlier. Thomas tried avoiding as much eye-contact as possible with her, and the fear he now felt towards her was almost exquisite to her.

Minho began to discuss some of their next moves and plans. If they survived the night, they were all gonna separate into groups the next day, and take care of a specific task so that they could prepare sooner.

Since Thomas finally decided to tell them that Teresa insisted the Maze was a code, Newt and Sara would help look at the maps to see if there was any hidden code they were missing. Others were gonna continue building barricades while the rest would hand out the weapons that they kept in the map room.

Everything seemed to sit well with Alby until Minho mentioned that he and Thomas planned to go to the Maze and stay out there all day and all night.

She would agree with them if there weren't any other options, but she was still waiting on Rebecca to give her a sign—anything—to let her know what the next step was. Sara didn't want her friends to risk their lives out there when everyone already knew what they were gonna find. It was pointless.

"You guys shouldn't do this. I told you already, we know what's out there. Don't go and die for nothing," she said to Minho.

"Thanks for the happy wishes. What else are we supposed to do?" he snapped at her. "Wait for good old Rosetta to spread her fairy godmother wings and come save us all?"

Sara groaned with frustration, clutching her hair. "Ugh, you don't understand—!"

Her yelling was interrupted by the demonic screeching of the Grievers. Everyone fell completely silent as they closed their eyes and listened to the metallic scraping noises, and the terrible moaning that only kept getting louder and louder.

Newt and Sara were huddled together, and she buried her face in his chest, his chin resting on her head. She could feel his heart thumping rapidly.

Sara was actually really scared. She almost died because of the Grievers while Rebecca was helping her out. But would Rebecca be able to help them now? Was she even okay—what if something happened to her? The thoughts made Sara drift back to Minho constantly asking about the woman.

"We should've hidden in the map room," Alby blurted out.

"Yah, you're probably right, but it's kind of too late now," Newt warned him.

Alby suddenly mustered a determined expression. "I'm going anyway. I'll start analyzing those shuck maps."

"No!" Minho yelled. "Feeling like Thomas today, shuck-face?"

"Are you out of your bloody mind?" added Newt.

But as he got up on his feet, Alby ignored everyone and rushed out of the homestead.

"Alby, come back!" Sara yelled in vain.

The sound of metal grinding against metal and stone became even louder, meaning the Grievers were beginning to scatter all over the Glade. Sara could hear the horrible metal spikes clashing and clanking against each other and making clicking noises on the ground.

"Hey," Newt nervously whispered to Sara. "I don't mean to question you, but... is she gonna help us, or are we on our own?"

Desperately wishing she had the telepathy Thomas and Teresa had with each other, Sara mentally tried to reach out to Rebecca, despite knowing it'd be impossible.

Where's Rebecca when you need her?

She turned to look at Newt, not bothering to hide her apprehension. "I don't want to lie to you. I honestly don't know."

Things continued to break and snap in the background until they heard grinding metal and whirring noises right outside the homestead. They held their breaths until they heard a crashing sound on one of the corners of the small building where they were hiding. The door swung open, and everyone gasped in horror.

It was Gally.

His features were stained with lunacy, and who knows where he'd been this whole time without getting killed.

He started mumbling things over and over, continuously blaming the well-known culprits.

Then he said something that put every single hair on Sara's arms on edge.

"They'll kill you!" slipped out of his mouth. "The Grievers will take one of you a night 'till it's all over!"

He suddenly fixed his crazy eyes upon Thomas and lunged at him, attacking him, and blaming everything on him.

"That's what they want. The Maze... the Grievers... the stupid Variables." He stopped struggling with Thomas, facing everyone. "They'll kill you one each night—you're all gonna die... maybe it's better this way."

Many Gladers, including Newt, stepped forward to get him to be quiet to drive the attention away so that the Grievers would leave.

It was a terrible idea.

Gally went rabid-banshee-mode, screaming and slamming against the window, ripping off the wooden boards in the process.

"Stop!" Newt screamed and tried to grab him, but Gally swung the board back with both hands and struck Newt in the head, sending him tumbling backwards.

Sara screamed in panic and rushed to him just in time to lessen his fall, since she wasn't strong enough to catch him without any effort. She cradled his head in her arms and examined his forehead, which was already bleeding. He was passed out, so Sara took off her t-shirt in one swift movement and was left in her tank top.

She used her shirt to clean the blood on his head, and she momentarily closed herself out from the chaos surrounding them.

All she heard was Gally screaming at Thomas non-stop, and Thomas just stood there like an idiot.

A loud crash startled everyone, and a Griever forced its bulbous body halfway through the window, sending a flying wave of glass shards everywhere.

Everyone ran to a corner for cover, and Sara only turned her back on the Griever, hopefully shielding an unconscious Newt from the creature. She glanced up at Thomas, and his eyes widened.

Sara saw him charge toward her and use a wooden board to bat away the Griever's spikes clawing and trying to slash at her in all directions. One of its spikes made slight contact with her back like a whip, and she yelped in pain. She only clutched Newt in her arms, hugging him as closely to her body as possible, keeping him out of reach.

"No one understands! She was right!" Gally pointed at Sara, a haunting look on his face. "But it's much worse than you put it!" he screamed, then with one last glare at Thomas, he threw himself at the creature, and Sara watched in horror as the slimy ball of flesh absorbed his body.

The Griever retracted from the window, carrying Gally's body in its flesh, then disappeared.

Thomas ran up to the window and pressed his fingers onto the sill. "It's going into the Maze! They all are!"