┗━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━┛

I sit kneeled down in front of Thomas, carefully placing the stick with wax on the wound on his arm that he got after Ben attacked us.

"That looks nasty," Chuck says, leaning over and staring eagerly at Thomas's arm.

Thomas winches in pain, throwing his head back as I place the stick on the deepest cut. He curses under his breath and I look up at him, forcing my grin off my face. "Sorry."

"How is it?" Jeff asks, sitting down next to Thomas on the log.

"He's probably gonna have to amputate." I shrug making both Thomas and Chuck widen their eyes.

"Really?!" Chuck asks making me giggle.

"Don't be rude." Jeff scolds me before turning to Thomas. "She always wants to amputate." He says with an eye roll.

"Bandage," I order, reaching out to grab the roll of bandage that Jeff left to get. I wrap it around Thomas's arm, feeling a slight shiver through his body at the touch of my fingers grazing his bare skin. Without paying any mind to it, I keep rolling the bandage around his arm, adding a bit too much pressure to make him hiss in pain. That's for sneaking up on me earlier.

I stand, brushing my hands over my pants. Thomas looks up at me, sending me a quick appreciative smile as he mouths 'thanks'. I shrug telling him it was nothing.

"How's he holding up?" Alby asks as he appears behind me.

"He's gonna amputate for sure. Other than that he's fine." I shrug jokingly, earning a light punch in the side from Jeff. "Kidding." I sigh. "He'll be fine. Unless it gets infected. Make sure it doesn't or I'll have to chop that arm right off."

"Be serious for once, please," Jeff says before walking off.

"I am serious!" I drag out my words and place my arms in the air. Jeff smiles at me over his shoulder as he walks off and I return my attention back to Thomas and Alby, sinking down on the stump next to them.

I have nothing better to do for the rest of the day except to wait for the dreaded moment when we have to force Ben out into the maze, like we always have to do when someone gets stung.

"You okay?" Alby asks Thomas. The boy mumbles something in response, glancing back to his arm.

"Yeah, it's a lot to take in." Alby continues.

"Oh please, it's a scratch. I think you'll be fine. At least you're not the one being pushed into the maze." The words slip out of my mouth before I have any time to stop them. I don't mean to sound rude but for me, Thomas has no reason to feel bad for himself. He got a scratch, so what? Ben is being banished into the maze and the people around him, his friends and family, have to watch. Thomas doesn't know Ben. He has been here one day and has no idea what it is like.

Alby glares down at me. After a moment of silence, Thomas speaks up.

"So, what happened to him?"

"It's called the chancing." Alby begins to explain. "It's what happens when someone gets stung. We haven't been able to get a clear word out of Ben since it happened. He's not making any sense. And it's only gonna get worse. The infection is spreading. He's dangerous."

Alby looks down at me. "What did he say to you two?"

"Nothing. Just screamed like a damn maniac." I tell him.

"He told me it was my fault," Thomas says. I furrow my brows. I didn't hear Ben say anything when he attacked us but he could've been speaking when he jumped on top of Thomas. His words send a wave of unsettling emotions through me and I stare at him with deep wrinkles on my forehead.

"How could all this be my fault?" Thomas asks, his words lingering in the air for several moments. His words leave me in an unsettled discomfort like I somehow know exactly what he is talking about but can't figure out what it meant or how I remember. Like distant fragments of memories that I can't puzzle together or wrap my head around.

"It's time," Alby says after a moment of silence.

All four of us stand up walking silently to the entrance to the maze along with the rest of the boys. Newt hands me a long wooden T-formed pole. I send him a sad nod, sharing the grief of having to banish a fellow glader. It doesn't matter how close you are to the person, seeing them leave is like seeing family leave. Because the Gladers are family.

My head hangs low, staring at my feet to avoid looking at my friend as he is being dragged towards the doors of the maze. All of us stand gathered around them, forming a circle around the boy who pleads and begs for his life.

I look up, locking eyes with Bens. Only they don't belong to him anymore. They are dark, full of anger. His skin is pale and almost blue. Dark veins stretch over his skin making him look so inhuman, that I barely recognize him. Minho pushes him to his knees and cuts his arms loose, freeing him from the ropes.

Ben hunches over and coughs violently until black liquid oozes from his mouth. I bite the inside of my lip when he looks up at me with tears in his eyes. He tries to crawl over to me but Minho quickly grabs hold of his collar, forcing him back into his old position.

"No, please. Please don't do it." Ben pleads. Minho throws his bag into the maze, just as the towering walls begin to slowly move toward each other, closing the doors to the maze. A harsh wind sweps over us as the doors begin to close which is Albys que to signalate to the rest of the group to lower their poles.

Before I move my pole, I glance over my shoulder at Chuck. "Don't watch," I whisper only loud enough for him and Thomas to hear.

Chuck's lips form a thin line and he nods before walking off. My eyes graze over Thomas figure as he stands next to Chuck before I lower my pole just as Ben rises to his feet, shuffling his way toward me. Luckily I managed to hold him off, pushing him away with the end of my pole.

"Move in!" Alby orders. The gladers step forward, closing the circle around Ben giving him no other choice than to move backward toward the doors of the maze, also the entrance of his own death.

Ben cries out, struggling against the poles in a desperate attempt to escape. But soon, the boy is pushed in between the doors that are slowly closing. He cries out louder, knowing that he is stuck with only two options. Either he stays there and gets squeezed to death by the doors or he runs into the maze to face whatever hell breaks loose at night. I know exactly what he would be facing, spending a night in the maze.

Ben stumbles away from the poles and I watch him as the doors close. He cries out, his eyes flashing around in panic and fear. Soon, the crying is muffled as the doors close, locking Ben in his own horrible fate.

I toss my pole to the side and walk off, passing Thomas who stares in horror in front of him, frightened by the scene that just played out.

I am angry. Ice-cold fury pulses through me. It isn't right. It isn't fair. We aren't supposed to be locked in here. It is inhuman. Ben would be fine if he hadn't been locked in this t place in the first place.

┗━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━┛
Thomas

I can't bring myself to sleep. The memories of today's events flash through my mind, leaving me in an abyss of unsettling despair. Me and Vanya were attacked by the boy who seemed to have been completely fine only hours before.

Infected. That's what Alby told me that Ben was. Stung. By a Greiver. In the middle of the day.

The panicked thoughts threaten to eat me up from inside, gnawing in me, prickling my skin and I force myself to sit up in my hammock, rubbing my hands over my face. My eyes attach to the closed doors allowing horrifying images of what is going on in these, pass my mind. I shrug, feeling a sudden wave of nausea.

"Do you think he might make it?" I ask Chuck in an attempt to think positively.

"Ben?" Chuck asks. "No. No one survives a night in the maze."

"But Vanya did," I say shortly.

"Vanya was either extremely lucky or very smart and strong." Says Chuck. "Whatever it was, Ben has none of that. Not in this state of mind, after being stung."

I ponder silently. "What happened?"

"With V?" Chuck asks and I nod. The boy seems to be hesitating before he speaks again. "No one really knows. I went to look for her and she wasn't there. Every Glader was up all night searching for her and..." he pauses and draws a sharp breath. "Anyway, next morning when the doors opened, there she was. Had taken out a Greiver and all. She was covered in Greiver goo and dirt and refused to tell anyone what went down. No one knows except for Minho."

I stare at Chuck with great interest as he speaks. He then shrugs and places his feet into his hammock. "Ask her yourself if you want the whole story." He says. "Actually don't. She'll curse you out for bringing it up."

The boy shrugs once again and rolls over to sleep, leaving me with nothing but my own thoughts. I glance over to the tower where I spent the night before.
It is empty.

I sigh and lay down in my hammock.

𝟏𝟔𝟕𝟑 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
┗━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━┛

𝐚𝐯𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬!!
Vanya is so fun to write.

also, the maze plots of Vanya's first night in the maze is so interesting and I love it. can't wait for u guys to learn more about it