𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡 .ᐟ

❛ the girl ❜

  𝗖𝗛𝗨𝗖𝗞 stands by himself silently in front of the maze doors as they open the next morning. he stares into the maze, trying his hardest to see through the doors as they slowly open.

"hey, guys!" chuck shouts, "get up!" he says, waving on the rest of the gladers as they lay on the grass behind him.

newt and archie jog over beside him, with wick and zart following behind, along with the rest of the boys as they get up off of the ground.

they all stare into the empty entrance, hoping to find any sign of movement from inside. the sounds of machinery get quieter as the doors open all the way.

"i told you, chuck." newt sighs sadly as he looks to chuck, "they're not coming back."

archie feels his stomach drop as the boys surrounding them watch the maze, still finding no movement, before they all begin to turn around, walking away from the maze.

chuck stands there, watching them all walk away.

wick turns to take one last glance at the doors.

a soft grunt echoes quietly off the maze walls.

"no way." wick says, turning back toward the maze.

all the boy's turn around. chuck's eyes widen, a smile quickly spreading across his face.

"yeah!" chuck cheers, pointing to emilia, thomas, and minho as the two boys carry alby's arms over their shoulders, walking directly toward the rest of the gladers.

all of the boys smile out of shock, reaching forward to take alby as they exit, resting him softly against the ground.

"you saw a griever?" chuck asks out of pure curiosity.

thomas nods softly, "yeah," he pants, "i saw one."

"he didn't just see it," emilia adds, taking a deep breath in.

"he killed it."

𖧷

   𝗔𝗟𝗟 the gladers hurry over to the meeting building, excitingly entering and taking their seats in the open room.

"things are changing." gally says, causing all the boys chatter to come to a cease, "there's no denying that. first, ben gets stung in broad daylight, and then alby." he recounts before turning toward thomas, who is sitting silently behind him, "and now our new greenie here has taken it upon himself to go into the maze."

thomas looks up at him softly, not speaking a word. he stares at gally, until his attention is pulled away from him, spotting emilia peaking around the corner in the doorway.

"which is a clear violation of our rules here." gally continues, looking around at all of the gladers.

"yeah," frypan speaks up from beside newt, "but he saved alby's life."

"did he?" gally says, looking from frypan to newt as newt shifts in his place.

"gally, come on-" archies attempts but gally cuts him off.

"for three years," gally continues, holding up three fingers, "we have coexisted with this these," he turns and points at thomas, "and now, you've killed one of them. who knows what that could mean for us?"

"well, what do you suggest we do?" newt says in an unamused tone.

"he has to be punished." gally states.

thomas hangs his head as the boys all speak up in protest.

"minho." newt says, looking away from gally, "you were  there with him. what do you think?"

minho sighs, as all the boys go silent.

"i think," minho finally says, "in all the time we've been here, no one's ever killed a griever before."

thomas glances up toward minho as he continues.

"when i turned tail and ran," minho turns to thomas, extending an arm toward him, "this dumb shank, stood behind to help alby."

thomas hears this and glances toward emilia. she swallows hard, making eye contact with him.

he silently mouthes, "i'm sorry" to her.

she shrugs softly, before she mouthes an, "it's okay" back to him. he nods sympathetically at her.

"look, i don't know if he's brave, or stupid. whatever it is, we need more of it." minho continues, "i say we make him a runner." he says, causing thomas' eyes to widen, his head tilts up toward minho in confusion.

"a runner?!" fry shouts over the rest of the boys as they begin shouting, "what? minho, lets not jump the gun here!"

"thomas! thomas! thomas! thomas..." chuck starts to chant.

gally lets out a huff of air, "look! if you wanna throw the newbie a parade, that's fine." gally shouts over the boys, "go ahead! but if there is one thing that i know about the maze, it is that you do not-"

a loud rumbling cuts gally off mid-sentence. a low bellow blares through the glade. the sound being extremely familiar to thomas, as he watches as the rest of the gladers look around at each other in confusion.

newt and gally glance to each other, worry and confusion filling their expressions. the blonde gets up first, running directly to the door, gally following quickly behind.

emilia steps to the side, hiding against the wall of the building as the rest of the gladers flood out the door right past her.

thomas walks out of the building last. he looks to his side finding emilia as she stares at all of the boys run toward the box.

"w-why do i know that sound?" thomas asks her in confusion.

"the box is coming back up." emilia says blankly before turning to him with worry filled eyes, "it shouldn't be coming back up." she says before running toward the rest of the boys.

thomas rushes after her, the two watching gally and newt step up to the box. they glance to eachother before opening it up. the gladers begin to surround the two, newt jumps down into the opening in the ground.

thomas and emilia run up to them, and the dark haired boy pushes through to the front.

"newt what do you see?" wick asks.

silence covers the group as newt looks up to them, "it's a girl." newt says.

"a girl?" the gladers all say collectively.

"move!" emilia shouts, pushing through the crowd, "excuse me, coming through!" she says before coming up to the box right beside thomas.

she looks down into it, finding a slender girl with long dark hair sprawled out across metal floor. a smile spreads across her face.

"i think she's dead." newt says.

"what's in her hand?" gally says.

all the boys glance to her hand, seeing a small piece of paper laying softly in it. newt reaches down, pulling it from her hand gently. he unfolds the paper quickly, tilting his head as he reads it.

She's the Last One
EVER

"she's the last one..." newt says before looking up at the rest of the boys, "ever." all the boys look around in confusion, "what the hell does that mean?" newt furrows his brows.

the girl suddenly gasps loudly, her eyes shoot open, catching every one of guard.

she gasps for another breath of air, "thomas." she manages to get out, before closing her eyes again.

all the gladers heads turn toward thomas quickly. he looks up from the box, scanning everyone as they stare at him directly.

gally nods, crossing his arms, "you still think i'm overreacting?"

𖧷

   𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗧, thomas, emilia, and minho walk into the infirmary. alby's grunts and gasps for air fill the building.

"wick, jeff..." newt says, "what's going on? what's the matter with her? why won't she wake up?"

"hey, man, i got my job the same way you did." jeff sighs before walking over to alby.

newt rolls his neck, "wick?"

"hm?" wick hums.

"what's going on?" newt asks.

"i'm not really sure." wick says genuinely.

"so i finally got another girl in here," emilia speaks up, "and now she won't even wake up."

"i'm sorry, em." wick apologizes, gaining a soft smile from emilia.

"it's alright," she says, "it's not your fault."

newt turns toward thomas, finding him as he stares at the sleeping girl.

thomas' bites the skin on the inside of his cheek, trying to figure out any possible explanation as to why she knew his name. most of the gladers were already suspicious of him, and this new girl coming up in the box was definitely not helping his case.

"well, do you recognize her?" newt says.

thomas shakes his head softly, "no."

"really?" newt says, "cause' she seemed to recognize you."

"newt," emilia says, "stop that."

thomas ignores the two, "what about the note?"

"yeah, we'll worry about the note later." newt replies.

"i think you should worry about it now." thomas retorts.

newt turns to thomas in frustration, "we've got enough to deal with at the moment."

"he's right, newt." wick speaks up, "the box isn't coming back up. how long do you think we can last?"

newt bites him bottom limp, "no one said that," he says, "let's not jump to any conclusions. we'll just... we'll just wait until she wakes up and see what she knows." he sighs, "somebody's got to have some answers around here."

thomas glances between the three standing beside him, "okay." he says before turning around and heading toward the door.

"well, where are you going?" newt asks.

"back into the maze." thomas replies.

emilia watches with a smile on her face as he walks out the door. newt turns to minho, motioning for him to follow thomas.

minho nods before turning and heading toward the door, running over to the boy as he walks away from the infirmary.

"hey. hey, thomas." minho says, "hey, hey!" he shouts walking up beside him, placing a hand on his chest to stop him, "what is this with you, huh? a death wish? you just got out, and now you want back in?"

thomas inhales, "look, we all saw a griever, and we lived to tell about it, and now emilia's done it twice." he explains, "well, minho, now we have one. we literally killed one. you're telling me you're not even a little bit curious?"

minho glances to the maze before turning to thomas and softly shaking his head, "not really, no."

thomas lets out a breath of air before stepping forward away from the boy in front of him. minho takes another step with him, this time stepping in front of him, placing his hand back on to thomas' chest.

minho inhales, "so, what's the plan?" he sighs, "you're gonna go out there and dissect that thing all by yourself?"

"i will if i have to." thomas says, "have the other runners left yet?"

"the other runners quit yesterday." minho says motioning toward a group of boys sitting and talking to one another, "after ben got stung they're not in any hurry to get back out there, and i'd doubt they'll ever want to after what happened with us." he explains before turning to thomas, "why are you?"

"i- i think it's fime we find out what we're really up against." thomas explains taking another look at the maze.

"all right." minho nods, "but you're not going back out there alone. meet me in the woods in half an hour."

thomas nods as minho runs off. he glances over toward the group of ex runners minho had mentioned just a moment before, this time, finding gally standing talking with the group.

gally's head turns toward thomas. he stares directly into thomas' eyes with a very visible anger spreading across his face.

"hey," a voice says from behind thomas, causing him to break the eye contact he held with gally. he turns around to find a smile.

"i'm coming with you." emilia says.

𝗔𝗩𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 !

im not a fan of this one bit 😋
also i hope you know that every single chapter of this book is unedited so ignore all the mistakes if there are any

[ 2k words ]