CHAPTER THIRTY
• gone, gone, gone •

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"OKAY, BUT WHY would Alby go in the maze?" Thomas asked, "I mean he's not a runner. Why not Max or something?"

"Excuse me?" Max replied, offended.

Evony looked up from her lap where she had been weaving two large leaves together. She caught his eager glare; she sighed. "Newt and I discussed this with him last night. There's no need to worry; he knows what he's doing."

"What Evony said,'' the blonde added on quickly, taking a momentary break from using his machete. "Alby went to retrace Bens footsteps before sundown."

"So he's going to go back to the spot Ben was just at?"

"Yes," everyone replied.

"Okay," he paused, "but why him?"

"Thomas," she urged, glaring at him to indicate he needs to stop asking questions. The brunet sunk in his seat, eyes drifting over to where Chuck was carving a piece of wood. His fingers then went to his throat, rubbing over a bruise that was still as prominent as the day before.

Evony noticed the action and moved to take a seat next to him on the log. She settled for reaching her hand to his neck, fluttering her fingers over the light bruising that was already taking place near Adam's apple.

"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.

"Only when I talk."

Evony cracked a smile, "It's a good thing you're not Max then; he never stops." Thomas smiled fondly at her, and she glanced over to her left to see Max's reaction.

He was standing with his arms crossed, mouth agape. "I can't believe you would say such a thing."

"The truth hurts," Newt piped up, "Doesn't it?"

Chuck stifled a laugh.

"Why does stuff always happen to my throat?" Thomas redirected, voicing his inner thoughts like he happened to do quite a lot. Evony forced a smile at the dry humor, while Max choked out a laugh

"Maybe it's a sign from the universe that you need to shut up," he snarled, pointing the blade of the knife in his direction.

Evony stood back up, kicking Max in the shin and forcing him back to work. She continued with her leaves, folding over the edges as she listened to Thomas and Chuck betting about what Frypan would be making for dinner.

The rest of the day carried on as normal, the Gladers did their jobs and most of the runners returned to the maze at the expected time. However the clouds soon turned gray, and the once pillow-like objects in the sky turned into looming shadows. They hung over the Glade for a while, that was until raindrops started to spew down from above, drenching anything in sight.

Everyone ran to take cover under the tarp sections that had been prepared for any instances like this. Evony sat with Thomas and Chuck under a small covering that hosted one hammock beneath. Currently Chuck was the one laying in it, while Evony sat with her back against a tree with Thomas in between her legs.

"There's only five more minutes," Thomas pointed out, quickly checking his watch.

"I know," she deadpanned, trying to put on a sarcastic front but failing with the crack in her voice. The tension in the Glade had grown substantially over the past hour; each of them eagerly waiting for Minho and Albys return.

When she couldn't take the nerves anymore she pushed the boy off her legs. Standing up, she took a stance next to Newt, who was also clearly in distress from the current circumstances. Thomas followed shortly behind her, him followed by Max and Max followed by Chuck.

They should be back by now," Newt said, stating the obvious. His arms crossed over his chest, his eyes set firmly on the opening of the North entrance.

Thomas looked between the four of them, "What do we do if they don't?"

Evony bit down on her nail.

Max clenched his jaw, "They're gonna make it."

"But-"

He glared at the brunet, "They're gonna make it."

Suddenly her legs started to move; they carried her towards the entrance. She could hear the sounds of stampeding feet following behind her and sense the boys at her shoulders. They looked out into the maze, eyes searching for the blur of bodies. Evony didn't know why they wouldn't be back by now-they should be back by now-she was worried that an incident had taken place.

Thomas was on her right, while Gally was on her left. She could see the tension in both of their faces-more the older boy-at the fear of losing two people dear to them.

"Come on, guys, can't we send someone after them?"

"That's against the rules," Newt asserted, though she knew he wished for another fate, "Either they make it back or they don't. You know that, Tommy."

"We can't risk losing anyone else," Evony added, her voice distraught. As much as she tried to deny it her eyes kept wandering over to the entrance, hoping to see her friends emerging into the Glade. She checked her watch-there was only three minutes left now before the walls closed.

Time passed by; there were two minutes left.

One minute.

At the thirty second mark the doors began to rumble. Her heart dropped at the familiar noise, knowing exactly what it was indicating was about to happen.

"There!" Thomas yelled, making her snap her head up at the loud shout. Then she saw the two figures making their way through the maze, one on the others came back as he carried him along.

Minho and Alby.

"Wait, something's wrong," Newt exclaimed, his eyes growing wider with the statement. Though Evony didn't need his clarification to know what had happened. Alby was hurt, and Minho didn't seem to have enough strength in him to carry them both back to safety in time.

The walls tumbled again, shaking the ground that the Gladers stood on. The walls seemed to close faster, but time remained still. Everything felt so slow: the realization, the dread, her heart rate.

"Come on, Minho, you can do it!"

"They're not gonna make it.." Evony muttered, only loud enough for her to hear.

Inside the maze the Keeper scrambled to grab onto Albys leg, attempting to lift him back onto his back.

"Come on!"

By now all the Gladers were in panic, shouting pleas of encouraging comments when in reality they were only hoping for them to survive.

"Come on, you can make it."

" Minho," Gally yelled, "you gotta leave him!"

Evony glanced at Newt, who was already looking directly in her direction. "They're not gonna make it," he mouthed; she returned it with a blank stare.

The final moments were upon them, the doors were only a couple feet from closing. There was no way they were going to make it. She was going to lose another one of her friends. First Alec, then Ben, and now two of the people she's known the longest.

She felt Chuck's hand grab onto her arm, but it did nothing in the moment to comfort her.

Seconds; that's how long they had, and that's also how long it took for the boy next to her to pull away from the crowd.

Thomas tugged himself out from the cluster of Gladers, and in a split second decision sprinted for the maze. Both her and Newt's arms reached out to grab him, clinging onto anything they could to pull him back to safety. But the moment passed too soon, and the brunet managed to slip past them just in time to take off through the small opening.

He patted his hands against the walls, pushing himself through with all the adrenaline he had built up.

Evonys heart dropped for a second time, as she watched helplessly as the boy she loved committed heroic suicide.

With a final blow of wind the walls slammed shit, enclosing three of the people she loved and taking their lives with it.

She didn't move for the first few seconds. She didn't speak for the first few seconds. She wasn't sure if she felt anything during those first few seconds.

She was numb.

Then, once her senses had come back to her, she turned around and slowly began walking back towards the Glade. There was no other way to put it than that she was in shock.

Evony didn't understand; she was a good person-or so she thought-so why was the universe punishing her in this way. Why was it taking away two of her friends and the one she loved.

Walking away, she didn't realize how she had started to hold her breath. Her fingers were trembling along with a sharp pain that was stinging in her chest. Quickly she lost focus of the world around her, the voices in her ears going muffled as she felt herself being dragged away.

"Evony, Look at me," someone ordered. She felt the back of their palm press against her forehead. Her eyes tried to find the source of the voice, but she was distracted by her legs threatening to give out from underneath her.

The person went down with her, and it was on the ground that she was able to see Newt kneeling in front of her. His hand left her face and moved to grab onto one of her shoulders.

"Evony, can you hear me?"

She nodded, but shook her head in agony right after.

Newt's face twisted, "Can you tell me what I look like?"

Her eyebrows arched, shaking her head with confusion. Her throat was starting to burn from the lack of air; they both knew she needed a way to gather a breath to refuel her system.

"Uh..."

"What color of hair do I have?"

"Blonde," she responded shakily.

He gripped her shoulder tighter, "What color is my shirt?"

"..tan."

"Tell me five things you see."

She paused for a second, glancing around at the scenery in front of her. It was hard to speak, but she managed to get a few short sentences out to answer his question. "I see Chuck-"

"Good," he encouraged, "keep going."

Evony looked to her right, "Grass...clouds...Gary...and uh-" she shook her hands frantically.

Newt clasped his hands over hers, stopping the shaking so she could focus back on breathing. "It's okay, you got this. What's one more thing?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head in disobedience. "I- I can't-"

"Yes you can. Tell me the first thing you see when you open your eyes."

She did as he asked, opening her eyelids and peering down at the first object she saw.

"My watch," she said, releasing a breath of air. She felt her body relax as she slumped her body into itself, and pulled her hands out of her friend's hold, using her fingers to comb a hand through her hair.

They sat in silence for the next minute, Newt wanting to let her regain her composure before they tried to talk through anything.

It was only a few more seconds before she was calm again. "I don't know what happened-" Evony admitted, "I freaked out."

Newt nodded slowly, "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm good now," she confirmed, though it was mostly a lie; she could still feel slight dizziness from the loss of air. Nonetheless, she still stood up, clumsily making her way on her feet while the blonde stuck out his arms for support.

She saw the concerned look upon his face. "I'm fine, I promise."

He didn't seem too sure, but before he was able to say anything about it Max came up from behind him. The runner's face was void from emotion as he approached them; his hands were held in clamps by his side.

"Max," Newt acknowledged.

"Why?"

Evony and Newt turned to him.

He threw one of his hands out to the side, pointing to random air as he spoke. "Why us? Why them? Why any of this?"

A pause.

"I mean first Alec died and then- then Ben and now Minho and Alby are gone too."

"and Thomas," she added quickly.

Max shot her a glare, "Right, your boyfriend or whatever."

Now she glared at him.

Newt sighed, "Let's not take this out on eachother."

"I'm not," Max quickly defended. His arms crossed in front of his chest.

Evony rolled her eyes, "I'm not either."

The silence between them left the three in an awkward atmosphere, so she did the one thing she could. She left. However as she was able to shake the boys, she gained another follower. They stayed on her heel, complaining in her ear about the unfairness of their situation. She could easily tell who it was from the voice. Aaron. And he talked like that until she met Chuck at the edge of the forest.

The little boy wiped his eyes. He went to stand up but Evony simply took a seat next to him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and leaning them against a tree.

Aaron stood in front of them, watching intently as Chuck placed his head on her shoulder.

"They're not coming back?" Chuck sniffled, sucking his nose and eventually wiping it on his shirt. Evony wrapped her arm around him tighter, "There's always a chance..." she stopped herself. It wouldn't help either of them if she lied, but then again the boy needed some comfort in a moment like this.

The little boy dug his head in deeper, gripping to her shirt to keep tears from flowing out. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aaron raising an eyebrow at her; she didn't know what that was supposed to indicate.

"Do you need something?"

"Yea," Aaron quickly responded; he tapped his foot against the ground, "You know there's not a chance they're coming back. They're dead. "

She squinted her eyes, failing to produce words. She motioned over to Chuck, shaking her head to try to communicate for him to leave this conversation for later. Either he wasn't listening or Aaron really didn't understand what she was trying to say, because he decided to voice his opinion despite her rejections.

"Alby was obviously hurt, so he's dead. Then Minho who got stuck along with him-"

She clenched her teeth together, "Aaron."

He laughed manically, "Right and then your idiotic boy who decided it would be a good idea to commit suicide even though he's barely escaped death once already."

"Will you shut up?" she exclaimed, "Thomas did what he thought was right."

"I'm just stating the truth," he shrugged, "and I think we both agree Chuck should know what's going on too."

"I do know," he piped up, "You guys talk very loudly in keeper meetings. I know the Grievers are going to get them." He choked out his words, eyes threatening to glisten with tears once again.

Evony felt the rage boiling within her. She hastily stood up grabbing the older boy by the collar of his shirt and shoving him back. She pointed back to Chuck, "You see what you did?"

Aaron's lips twitched.

"Was your goal to make him more upset?"

"Of course not," he said sympathetically, "I came to ask what your plans were regarding new leaders."

Evony was baffled at the question. Just five minutes ago she recovered from a panic attack and now she was having to deal with the most aggravating person in the Glade.

"Excuse me?"

"Well you know," he hinted-she didn't know, "with the loss of Alby and two runners I think some new leaders will need to be established."

She still wasn't understanding what he was trying to communicate.

"I was wanting to come here to volunteer myself as Keeper of the Runners."

Evony would've broken into a laugh, but her emotions were too haywire at the moment. She ended up concealing her sly grin. "I didn't realize you gained a sense of humor since the last time we talked."

The veins on his arms started to bulge out. Then without another word he spun on his heel and stalked away from her with heavy steps. Her chest deflated as he left, and she allowed her walls to crash back down. She went back over to where Chuck had been and retook her position she had been in before.

Neither had to speak to sympathize with the other. Both had lost people that were important to them-even though that term was meant in different ways. Of course Alby was both their leader; he had been somebody to help them through any external struggles. Minho-her best friend. And of course, Thomas. Chuck had lost his brother figure and she had lost her...boyfriend? She was pretty sure she could call him that. If not, than he was still her favorite person. But honestly, it didn't matter anymore. He was gone. He died before they were able to establish what they were.

Evony wondered why everything had to be so unfair. Maybe it was the universe showing her it was her time to experience true loss. Newt had lost Alec; Minho and Max lost Ben. So was it only fair she lost someone in return.

She just wanted to be happy, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

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MAE's FUN NOTES
ha surprise!! I am alive

this is rushed and whatever
but i just need to get through
this so scorch trials can start
bc it'll get much better from
there

thank you to everyone who
has stuck with me so far ❤️
I love y'all <3