CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
• Alec •

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THOMAS AND EVONY raced down the hill, their feet carrying them as fast as they could to get back to the Glade. At the sound of the scream, both teens had rushed to stand up and move towards the sound. Now, they were about halfway down the hill, Evony in the lead as they followed the chattering voices.

They heard more screams once they reached the bottom, except these were different. These were painful, horrid, and shocking.

They were Newts.

She had a corrupted idea of what could've happened, but the denial in her mind wasn't letting her to believe anything of the sort. She didn't know how she was to cope if she saw what she was thinking.

"Evony-" Thomas called from behind her, but her feet made no move to stop or slow down.

They reached the bottom of the hill, and that's when she was able to peek through the trees to see the gathering of Gladers in a circle. Most were standing, a couple were kneeling down, and one person was almost completely flushed to the floor. It was Newt, and he seemed to be hovering over someone who was also laying in the grass.

For one long moment her heart stopped.

No. No. No.

She made it to the clearing surprisingly quick; once she did she pushed past the boys who were blocking the view of her friend. It was for the most part easy, as most of them looked too stunned and out of it to complete normal actions.

Evony saw Newt first. His head was lowered while his arms wrapped around Alec's chest. She couldn't see his face; his hair covered most of his forehead, but she could sense his emotions just from the painful words leaving from his lips.

"Alec," he muttered, gazing down at the boy he loved in shock. His hands moved so that one could help lift the boy's head off the ground. The other wove through the slicer's curly hair. "Alec, please wake up."

She saw Alec next. His limp body laid in the blondes arms, his eyes closed. His body was covered from blood, the majority of it leaking from the wide slit that was visible across his neck.

Next she saw the knife laying on the ground next to him. It was about two feet long, the perfect length for it to be used as a weapon. It was glossed in a thick red substance that ran all the way from the tip of the blade down to the hilt of the knife.

Finally she saw Minho, who-in a desperate attempt-was holding Newt's sides as he tried to pull him off from the boy's body. The friends struggled against each other, the blonde refusing to let the runner drag him away from his boyfriend.

"Newt," she said gently, bending down to place her hand on his back. He only pushed her away, bending down lower so he could be closer to the ground.

His thumb rubbed at Alec's lips, desperately hoping for only a sliver of air to escape from them. His head rested on his chest, waiting for the thump of a heartbeat that never was to come.

"Come on, love," Newt begged, "You got to wake up; we need you."

Then his voice softened, and if she wasn't so close to him she never would've heard his next words.

"I need you."

Evony and Minho made eye contact, and with a nod of the head the two of them reached under the blonde's arms and attempted to pull him off the body. She felt awful doing such a thing, especially when she knew Newt wanted to stay and hope for his boyfriend to wake up. But hope was a dangerous thing, and the longer they let him stay the more it would end up tearing him apart later.

"No!" he exclaimed, reaching his hands back out, "No, please. Evy!"

Minho hoisted him up so that he was standing. The Keeper kept one arm around the blonde's shoulder while the other one went to catch his legs. Evony watched in guilt as Newt was thrown over Minho's shoulder so his head was still facing the horrendous scene. His fists banged on his holder's back, crying out calls of release as he did everything he could to unravel himself from the runner's grip.

Newt was eventually carried out of sight, which left the matter to be dealt with.

Evony turned back around to see Alec's lifeless body. His eyelids being closed helped; it made him look like he was asleep. That he was simply resting his eyes after a long day of work. Him being covered in blood only worked against this; everyone could tell he was gone if not from the still figure but from the blood loss.

She was still in shock herself, but she knew that the only way to get the Gladers away from the scene would be to take charge. So, she pushed out the two boys in her way and squatted down to where Alec's body was. However, just before she could start giving orders, Albys voice cut through the air, and since he was the designated leader, everyone decided to listen to him.

"Builders, I want you to take Alec into the med-hut for one final check. Sloppers go get a tarp, Track-hoes go start digging a big enough hole, and everyone else can help with covering up this patch of blood." He pointed at each of the groups. Evony felt small as she backed away from the talk boys who practically rammed her out of the way to get to Alec. She ended up next to Thomas and Max, both of them standing fairly close together.

Actually she would've been surprised seeing Max with his arm around the brunet if it had been any other situation. Though, that wasn't the case, because when she finally looked up at Thomas she could see the drastic amounts of fear that was showing on his face. He was frozen, staring at Alec's lifeless body with wide eyes.

"hey," she whispered, coming up to the two boys and wrapping a hand around Thomas' waist. They both glanced at her with heavy expressions, obviously still trying to take in everything they've witnessed in the past few minutes.

Evony made eye contact with Thomas; she could only guess the thoughts that were running through his mind. She knew that at least one of them had to be his own fate. Personally, she couldn't imagine watching something happen to someone else that was soon going to affect you in the same way.

His eyes switched between Alec and herself. "Evs, I don't want to die-"

"I know.." she mumbled, seeing Max look down at the ground at the same time she said those words. He released his hand from Thomas' shoulder, leaving only her hand around his waist.

The three of them stood off to the side from everything else that was happening around them. Even against hers and Max's pleas for Thomas to leave the scene, he refused to, saying he felt it was only right if he stayed out of remorse. She respected his decision, though she was certain she could still see the fear that was lurking deep in his eyes. His stance was also quite tense, which made Evony continuously rub his waist in hopes of relieving at least some of the resentment.

She wasn't sure how long they stood there, but they stayed until Alec was fully picked up by the Builders and walked off into the woods. That's when it finally hit her. She had lost one of her friends. Newt had lost his boyfriend, the person he loves.

She wanted to cry, yet no tears came. She decided that maybe that was for the better; she needed to act strong.

If not for herself than for Thomas.

Yeah, she would be strong for Thomas.

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It was two days later when she finally got a chance to speak to Newt.

She had been asleep after a day of running, curled up under the covers while Thomas layed next to her. She wasn't sure if he had been awake the entire time, or part, or maybe even had been asleep, but she knew that when the door to her hut opened both of them shot up in embarrassment.

Her head had been resting on his chest, their legs intertwined under the blanket. So, at the first sign of someone seeing them in such an intimate position, the pair did all they could to unravel themselves as quickly as possible.

Newt couldn't seem less bothered by the fact they were cuddling under the sheets, in fact he acted like it was completely normal as he moved to take a seat on the bed next to them. Evony sent Thomas a look, and he complied by standing off the bed and heading to exit the hut. She figured he knew that she would want to talk to the blonde alone. After all this was the first time she was able to speak to him after the incident.

"You go straight to Minho, okay?" she asserted. Evony knew that her tone was harsh; she hated herself for it, but she knew she would hate herself even more if she let something happen to him. "Or do you want me to walk you there?"

One thing about Thomas: he hated being told what to do if he didn't want to do it. So, she could tell he was annoyed with her basically hoarding him like a prize possession for the past few days. She hadn't wanted to leave his side, afraid that if she stepped away for even a moment that he would be put in danger.

"I'm fine," he assured, a bit harsher than she would've expected. He casted her a smile and Newt a nod before he exited the room. She wanted to tell him to be safe, but she knew that would be taking her overprotectiveness to the next level. She settled on giving a half smile back and letting him leave to find the Keeper.

Neither she nor Newt spoke for a while after he left; she didn't know how to approach the conversation. She also didn't know how open he would be to talking about the sore subject, and the last thing she wanted to do was overstep any lines that were not yet ready to be crossed.

She was thankful when he spoke first.

"You have to keep doing that," he monotoned, his voice dry and vague from emotion. Evony glanced over at him, clearly showing signs of confusion as to what he was hinting to.

Newt ran a hand through his hair, resting his elbows on his knees. "Watching over him-all the time. That's the mistake I made with..." His voice died at the end and Evony took it upon herself to grab onto one of his hands.

"Newt," she said softly, just loud enough so that it would catch his attention. The blonde boy shifted his gaze over to her, his eyes quickly averting her own at the first sign of contact. Instead, they fell to the floor.

"I came here-" he paused to inhale a deep breath, "I came here to tell you to not be stupid." He blanked again, "To not be stupid like me."

Evony kept her voice low, making sure her hand was still holding as tightly onto his as his was only hers. "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

Then his voice rose. "Two minuets!" He pulled his hand out of here, letting it tug at the roots of his overgrown hair. "I swear it was two bloody minutes that I left him! He said he wanted to take a shower, so of course I let him, but I got distracted by something else and when I came back-"

Evony pulled herself closer to him, wrapping the other in a firm hug.

"He was dead.." he finished, fully letting the tears fall out of the corners of his eyes. Evony always admired how Newt could keep his emotions in check, but it seemed that he had met his breaking point. And she couldn't blame him in any way, because he had lost the person he loves. His favorite person.

The two had shared many hugs in the twoish years they had been in the Glade, yet only one other one had been like this. This hug wasn't to cherish a friendly moment, or even to provide a bit of comfort in a down time.

This was a lifeline hug. A hug to show that no matter what happened that the two would always be there for eachother.

"It's not your fault; you had no way to know that's when it was going to happen." Evony felt Newt tighten his grip on her, his head burying itself in the fabric of her shirt.

He shook his head, "But I still left him. I should've done better."

"Newt-"

"I mean bloody hell for all we know Thomas is out slicing his throat as we speak," he exclaimed, throwing one of his hands out in front of him.

Evony felt herself recoil, but she made no effort to justify his words; he had every right to be mad. Though that still didn't dismiss the ache in her heart at the thought of Thomas being in pain.

Newt's sudden outburst quickly faded, replaced by a sorrowful expression that stretched across his entire face. "I'm sorry- that was- course I don't want Tommy to die."

"I know," she muttered, "I know."

The two remained silent for the next few minutes, allowing themselves to enjoy the relaxing comfort of being in each other's presence. Evony thought back to yesterday, when they hosted the funeral for Alec. It had been the largest attendance yet, with almost half of the Glade coming to grieve the loss of the Slicer.

While the boy might've been extremely shy and self conservative, he still managed to make friends from each of the different jobs. She had come to the conclusion that nobody really disliked Alec. He was overall a good hearted person who worked hard and liked to stay to himself. So, while not everybody had a strong relationship with the boy, not one person was able to point at him and name a time where they felt resentment towards something he's done.

People like that were what helped the Glade to run smoothly, and everyone knew that. Such, the reason his funeral had been the most depressing one yet.

Again, she didn't know how long it was, but Newt broke the silence. "IS," he mumbled, his voice so low that she almost missed him saying anything at all.

"IS?" she repeated.

Newt nodded, "His wrist. The letters were I - S."

"Oh." Her voice dropped. Evony had completely forgotten to look at Alec's wrist to see if there were any carved letters. She probably wouldn't have thought of it at all if the blonde hadn't brought it up. Then she felt the guilt of how hard it must've been for Newt to not only see his loved one take his life, but force himself to check for clues at the same time.

Then Newt stood up, abruptly leaving the space as he made an exit to the door. She instantly followed behind him, startled by the sudden movement from the boy. "Newt. Newt, hold on."

He turned back to look at her, his eyes a painful red from holding back tears. "I don't want to talk anymore," he affirmed, closing the door on his way out.

A few minutes later he returned back to her hut, except this time it wasn't to talk. She had been confused at first until Thomas walked in a couple feet behind the boy. Newt then waved the brunet into the room and told the two of them goodbye.

That was the last she heard from him.

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The next day five of her friends went running in the same section of the maze. Evony had made the mistake of filling Minho in on one of the nightmares Thomas had-the one where she got left in the maze-and insisted that he ran with the two of them. However, that made Ben upset, as he was Minho's partner, so he joined as well. Then finally Max had felt left out, and after minutes of begging she agreed to let him tag along too.

Thomas didn't seem bothered by it, and if he was he wasn't showing it. He actually seemed to be enjoying the extra company. The four boys had gotten themselves into a continuous game of "pin the other person to the wall", or however else that seemingly platonic game could be called. While one of the others were running they would slam them to the side and fight against them to push them to the wall.

It was stupid, but it helped to get her mind off of Newt and Alec.

She enjoyed watching the times when either Minho or Ben would pin eachother up. Their cheeks would go all red and they would scramble to get out from the submissive position.

Max didn't enjoy it; she could tell by the way his face stiffened when he would hear the simultaneous chuckles coming from the pair. Once again she felt bad; Max deserved to have someone. She knew that he would be the best boyfriend if ever given the chance.

Currently they were sat down for lunch, which she was thankful for because she wasn't going to able to stand watching Thomas get pinned against the wall for the hundredth time that day. It was no secret that he was overall smaller-and younger-than the rest of the boys, so he usually was the targeted one when it came to pushing around. Honestly she was surprised he hadn't cracked a rib.

The five of them were eating the beef sandwiches that Frypan had made for dinner last night. Minho had already slobbered down his, while the rest of them continued eating in silence.

"You know guys," the Keeper started, "I think we should invest in runner undies that don't wedge up our asses."

Evony wanted to gag. "Really?" she exclaimed, eyeing him from a couple people down, "That's what you had to say to break the silence?"

Minho only shrugged; she rolled her eyes in return.

"Actually," Max pondered, "That makes sense; I think I can feel them itching up my ass now." He then reached over to try to pull down his pants, and that's when Evony stood up to walk away from their conversation.

"Ay, Evy. Where are you going?" Minho whined.

"Away from you."

She heard her friend let out an offended gasp, but it was quickly covered up by a laugh she could easily recognize as Thomas'. Though, when she turned back to look at him, he instantly stopped, giving her an innocent smile.

Evony shook her head with sigh, "I hate you guys."

"No you don't," Ben countered. Then in a sing-song voice, "You love us."

Against her better judgment, Evony sat back down in her spot, hugging the side Thomas was on more than the one the other three were. Her strategy didn't work, because Minho initiated a hug that sent the other two boys on her right to lean in aswell. The three of their sweaty bodies touched her skin, and their grip was so firm that she wasn't able to push them off.

Thomas was holding back a smile at the deadpan expression on her face. She guessed he thought it was funny-to her it wasn't. "You shanks done?" she muffled through one of their shirts, "Cause any longer and I might suffocate from all this testerone."

Max awkwardly laughed and shook himself off of her; Minho and Ben followed in suit.

"I guess we should get back running anyway," The Keeper declared, pushing himself off the wall while slipping his pack on at the same time. The rest of them completed the same process, except Thomas who still needed to clean up his lunch.

"Shuck, Tom. Can you get the apple next to you; it was mine but it rolled away," Max pointed to the piece of fruit that was sitting a couple inches away from his feet.

The brunet reached for the red fruit, but came up short due to the lack of his ability to stretch. His hands waved for the food, "I'm so inflexible," he muttered, evidently failing to reach the fruit and instead moving to his knees to get it instead.

"Oh, really?" Minho jested, nugging Evony in the shoulder. She refused to look at him; just by the teasing tone in his voice she knew he was displaying a cocky smirk. "I wonder how that'll work out for you."

Her eyes went wide, instantly shooting over to Thomas to see if he had heard. The confused look on his face while he tightened his strap said otherwise, and she silently thanked his lack of awareness.

"You got it?" she chuckled, watching him continue to struggle with the shoulder straps. He nodded his head and within seconds got it positioned where the pack could lay comfortably.

"Yea, let's g-"

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Ben urged from in front of them.

"We're coming," she called back, trudging along with Thomas in a fast jog to catch up to their friends.

Very manly giggles erupted from the three boys. Max looked back at them, wiggling his eyebrows ever so non-subtly. "I didnt know youve already screwed."

Evony didn't try to hide it this time. The blush that rose to her cheeks only enhanced the laughs that came from the boys. She turned to look at Thomas, with a desperate hope of him producing the same cherry red color on his cheeks.

He was, and somehow that only made her flush harder.

She chose to save herself from the embarrassment by forming up another conversation. One that she had originally been planning to start from before they entered the maze. If it wasn't already perfectly clear, Evony was worried. Worry and stress seemed to be the only two emotions she relied on lately. Perhaps there might've been a bit of guilt mixed in also

Those emotions stuck to her tighter than how the boys had been hugging her earlier. They were such overwhelming emotions at that too, but all for a reason.

She was scared to death or something happening to Thomas-that something behind him taking his own life. Sometimes at night she would try to think of a life where her and Thomas never met. Never interacted. She came to the conclusion that that was simply how things were before he arrived in the box. She hadn't known any different back then, because back then Thomas didn't exist. He was nothing but a past feeling.

Looking back to those previous two years of her life, Evony realized that she was a lot happier now with Thomas by her side. Before she felt like she was lacking a purpose, but now she accepted that even if they didn't get out of this hell-hole, she would always be able to provide him with her love.

At the moment that had been enough for her, until the suicides started happening. Then she just felt an extreme level of guilt fill her system, overpowering any other sense of emotion. She hated the feeling, and she hated that she wasn't able to help any of those Gladers.

Then Alec's death happened, and she was feeling herself already starting to crumble more. She didn't know why she got like this. Maybe it was because she thought with her heart instead of her head. Or maybe it was because she couldn't stand to see her friends in pain.

Evony was pretty sure if this pattern continued on that she would become numb to all sense of sadness. She would become blank, unaware.

Maybe that's the real reason she cared so much. She didn't want to lose herself, but then again that just made her sound selfish.

So, she settled on asking her question. The one to help her friend. "Have any of you talked to Newt since, you know.."

The boys stopped running, now moving to a slow jog. Minho looked over to her, shaking his head in solem. "Only right after it happened," he concurred, "But it was mostly to try to calm him down; he was crushed."

Evony nodded, his answer along the lines of how her own talk with the blonde had gone.

"I haven't spoken to him," Ben replied disappointingly.

"Me either," Max added, "I don't think he's really talked to anymore. I mean, even Alby says he hasn't heard a word from him."

Evony nodded again, their responses not doing justice to calm her racing heart. She felt her heart was always racing, nowadays. Ever since the first time Thomas had a nightmare.

Thomas coughed, "Um, he hugged me. If that counts. We didn't say anything, but he still did that."

"That's good," Evony smiled faintly, "I mean, none of us should be expecting him to be okay so soon. Not after that."

The four boys chorused in agreement, their answers either being dull or barely loud enough to hear. She was aware that the conversation had taken a dark mood. She was also aware she had caused it, but she had to ask. There was no way she was going to waste the opportunity while she had four of her friends with her.

They made it back to the Glade fairly early. Minho, Max and Ben all headed for the showers, then being exhausted and ready to get the mucky sweat off their bodies. Her and Thomas had begun to go there also, but her walk was cut off by the boy spinning around to face her.

"So, do I have to wait for them to be done?" he asked, "Or will you let me be alone for two minutes?"

His words didn't necessarily affect her; it was the way he said them that hurt. His tone was rather sharp, something that was rare when it came to the puppy-like brunet. His eyes bored into hers, waiting for a response. The urgency made her feel threatened in a way. Was he mad at her? What had she done?

"I don't see why you couldn't," she replied, hating herself for the questionable tone she was using. "I'll just wait outside until your-"

"That's okay," Thomas cut off, "Minho will be there. He'll watch over me."

With that he stalked off towards the showrooms, leaving Evony in a state of confusion.

Why was he so upset?

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MAE's FUN NOTES
the audacity I had to think this
chapter would be under 3000
words

anyway get ready for a fight 🤭
and lots of drama next chapter.

things are about to get really
fun 🤩