Sonya decided to hold a Meeting as soon as Gwyneth and Amelia got Harriet settled in and taken care of. Maeve admitted that Harriet had been stung by a Griever and that she hit Harriet on the head to avoid any further problems such as Harriet spazzing out uncontrollably. We all crowded into the Homebase, at the same place we had the last Meeting, and let Sonya be the first to speak up.

"Well, things are changing around here. There's no denying that," she said. "First, Claire gets stung, then Harriet."

"And now our Newbie here..." Beth intervened, standing up and pointing at Rachel that was sitting in the corner.

"Only Keepers are allowed to talk, Beth," Sonya stated. "We let it slide last time..."

"I know, but just hear me out," she protested. With hesitation, Sonya motioned her to continue. "So the Newbie here has taken it upon herself to go into the Maze, which is a clear violation of one of our rules here."

"Yeah, but she saved Harriet's life," Esther pointed out.

Beth scoffed, raising her eyebrows. "Did she?"

"Well, Harriet's not still in the bloody Maze, right?" Maeve spat out.

Beth rolled her eyes and continued. "For two years, we have coexisted with these things, and now the Newbie has killed one of them. Who knows what that could mean for all of us."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Sonya asked, sounding almost annoyed.

"She has to be punished," she replied.

The girls began to protest, standing up from their seats and shouting all over the place.

"Come on!" Cora yelled.

"She killed a Griever for crying out loud!" Nancy added.

"Okay, stuff it, everyone!" Sonya commanded, letting the room quiet down. She looked at Maeve. "You were there with her, Mae, what do you think?"

Maeve walked up to the front and glanced at all of us, exhaling. "I think, in all the time we've been here, no one has ever killed a Griever before. Believe it or not, when I was out there, I ran. I was terrified."

Beth snorted.

Maeve shot her a glare, then went back to telling her story. "But this dumb stick..." She pointed at Rachel. "She stayed behind and helped Harriet. Honestly, I don't know what her deal is, but..." She paused for a moment, then stated, "I say we make her a Runner."

The chattering among the other Glenners increased once more. The protests and arguments were beginning to rise up again when Sonya got them to keep their mouths shut.

"Look, if you sticks want to throw the Newbie a party, that's fine. But if there's one thing that I know about the Maze is that--"

"Beth, I don't bloody care what you have to say. You're not even a Runner," Maeve cut her off.

Then, abruptly, the alarm from the Box went off. We all exchanged glances in confusion, then followed Sonya and Beth out of the Homebase and to the Box.

The alarm shouldn't be going off. What the hell was going on?

We all surrounded the Box as Sonya jumped inside. "What is it, Sonya?" Esther called out.

She looked up at all of us. "It's a boy."

Lillie and I exchanged looks of shock and confusion to each other, then we turned back down to the Box.

"Is he dead?" Cora asked.

"I don't know..." Sonya replied, looking at him more closely.

"What's in his hand?" Beth questioned, nodding towards the piece of paper in his hand.

Sonya, with a shaky hand, grabbed the piece of paper from the boy's hand and opened it up. "'He's the last one. Ever.'"

Gasps and more chatting came about from the Glenners. "Bloody hell, the last one?" Maeve spoke up, looking at the boy with such complexity written all over her face.

"Wait, so that means--"

The boy woke up with a gasp all of a sudden, startling us. He began to pant fast, then it slowed down once he looked up at us. "Rachel..." He paused, still panting. "Everything is going to change." He huffed one long sigh before passing out again.

We all looked at Rachel, who was just as confused as we were. She looked at the boy, knowing that she possibly had some explaining to do, even though she wasn't sure what she had to explain.

Beth raised her eyebrows at everyone, crossing her arms. "Well, do you sticks still think I'm overreacting?"

*******

The Medics got the boy and placed him in a bed, getting him as comfortable as possible. While they were keeping an eye on him, Harriet was also a priority as well. She was tied down to the bed, shaking and groaning from the Changing. Sonya, Esther, Lillie, Rachel, and I were upstairs with Gwyneth and Amelia, checking up on the boy.

"How is he doing?" Sonya asked Gwyneth, who was dealing with Maeve's injuries.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothin' has changed, Sonya. Waitin' for him to wake up is like watchin' water boil."

"Ow!" Maeve shouted in pain. "That hurt, Gwyn!"

"Well, stop movin'!" she retorted.

Maeve began to moan a little. "Could this process be any more painful?"

"If you don't stop that moanin', I'll shove a wad of gauze down your trap, hun. Then you'll die of suffocation before this infection," Gwyneth muttered haughtily under her breath. "You should have come to me days ago."

Maeve rolled her eyes, sighing. "I was a little busy."

"So, do you know why he won't wake up?" Rachel asked the Medics.

Amelia tried giving him some water. "No idea, Newbie."

Sonya turned and looked at Rachel. "Do you recognize him?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, I don't."

"Really? Because he seemed to recognize you," Maeve said.

"Do you always have to make some kind of sassy remark?" Esther inquired.

"I was not being sassy. Besides, what are you even doing here? Do you like to put your nose into everything that goes on around here?"

"Maeve, at least I'm trying to be helpful, instead of just yelling at people for no reason," Esther snapped.

"Stuff it, you two," Sonya intervened in a more serious tone.

"What about the note?" Rachel asked, changing the subject.

Sonya sighed. "We'll worry about the note later."

"I think we should worry about it now," Rachel retorted, raising her eyebrows.

Sonya faced Rachel, leaning against the wall. "We've got enough to deal with at the moment."

"Sonya, she's right," Amelia spoke up, making Sonya look at Amelia. "If the Box isn't coming back up, how long do you think we can last?"

"No one said that," Sonya pointed out. "Let's not jump to any conclusions." She stared down at the boy. "We'll just wait until he wakes up and sees what he knows."

"Yeah, somebody's gotta have some answers around here, and maybe it's him," Esther added.

Rachel nodded her head, then proceeded to walk out. "Okay..."

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

"Back into the Maze," she replied.

"What? No, wait a second, Ra--" Maeve began to say, trying to stand up before Rachel walked out.

"Don't move, crackface! I'm almost done!" Gwyneth ordered, pushing her back down in the chair. Once she was done with the last injury, she leaned back in her chair. "There, you can go now."

"Thanks," Maeve muttered, shooting up from the chair and catching up with Rachel.

Sonya bit her lip and looked back down at the boy. "Keep me updated on his condition," she told the Medics, then she turned around and looked at Harriet. "And hers as well." Gwyneth and Amelia nodded their heads. "Let's go, girls." The rest of us followed Sonya downstairs and out of the Homebase. Sonya didn't give us any more orders. Instead, she went to the Gardens and got back to work with the other Planters.

Before the rest of us could go our separate ways, Maeve approached us. "Can you sticks meet me in the Deadheads in thirty minutes?" The three of us looked at each other, then back at Maeve, nodding our heads. "Okay."

"Wait, why?" Esther asked.

"We're going back out in the Maze with Rachel and Jane, that's what," she replied.

"Okay, but why us?" I inquired, pointing at Esther, Lillie, then back to me.

"Because believe it or not, you sticks are pretty useful and you're the only ones around here that I can rely on at this point," she admitted. "Bring some knives if you can. We might need them." We all nodded our heads at the Runner. "Fancy that. See you then." With that, Maeve ran off again.

"Well, I think going in the sticking Maze will surely be interesting," Esther stated.

"You know what's more interesting? Maeve actually trusts us to go into the Maze with her," I said in a playful tone.

Esther and Lillie smiled at this. "Yeah, that's more interesting, I think."

*******

Thirty minutes went by a lot faster than we expected. Before we knew it, Esther, Lillie, and I were heading to the Deadheads with knives, meeting up with Maeve, Jane, and Rachel. I wasn't sure what we were going to be doing in the Maze, but I was hoping that we wouldn't get stuck out there.

When we arrived at the Deadheads, the other three were standing around, talking to each other. Maeve spotted us and folded her arms over her chest. "You sticks ready?" We nodded our heads. "Okay, then, let's go."

So the six of us jogged out of the Deadheads and back into the Glen, heading for the Maze. I could feel my heart pumping, my nerves getting more worked up. Then, when I stepped foot onto the stone, I almost chickened out and turned around. It was when we turned the first corner that there was no turning back now.

Being inside the Maze was a weird change for me since I hadn't left the Glen in a little over a month. The Maze had a darker mood to it, the Walls all covered with ivy in strange patterns. I was beginning to get creeped out the more we ran.

"Come on! We're almost there!" Maeve shouted.

After running for a few more minutes, Rachel and Maeve slowed down, staring at the dead Griever that was crushed between the Walls. We made our way towards it, while I looked at it in disgust. "You killed that?" I asked.

Rachel nodded her head. "Sure did, Piper."

"That's disgusting," I responded, getting nauseated from the look of its guts.

"There's something in there..." Rachel stated, getting a better look at the Griever.

"You mean, besides a Griever klank?" Jane retorted.

Maeve didn't hesitate to walk to the dead creature. "Woah, what are you doing?" Esther asked.

"Stuff it, Esther, It's dead," Maeve muttered, sticking her hand in part of the Griever, where the space in between the Walls were at. After messing with it for a few seconds, one of the spikes on it moved, causing us to jump back in surprise, startling all of us.

"I thought you said it was dead!" Jane protested. "It better be, or I'm out."

Rachel calmed down and motioned the others towards the spike. "Come on. Let's try and pull it out." We all grabbed a part of the spike, getting firm grips on it. "Okay, ready? On three. One, two, three!"

We all pulled on it as hard as we could, grunting loudly. After straining ourselves, we finally got it, resulting in more Griever guts spilling out and us falling on the ground. Panting, we all stood back up as Maeve grabbed the object that Rachel noticed.

"That really is disgusting," I repeated.

"What do you think it is?" Jane asked.

Observing it more, Maeve slowly pulled the object out of the Griever guts, wiping the slime off of it. She threw the guts to the ground and took a closer look at what she was holding. "I have no bloody idea what this thing is," she confessed.

"Well, whatever it is, we should take it back to the Glen and let Sonya look at it," Esther said. "Besides, I don't think any of us want to meet this Griever's friends."

Maeve nodded her head in agreement. "Esther's right. It's getting late, anyway. Let's go." With that, Maeve began to run back to the Glen, followed by the rest of us. Whatever the object we found, it had to be the first step to getting the hell out of this place.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Ayeeee the last Glenner is here!

I'm so pumped for this story, it's not even funny. I think I should have this done by the end of March.

Song above is Way Down We Go by KALEO.

Comment, vote, things are about to get crazy!

-A