❝but i'm hungry for blood❞

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Chuck exclaimed when Thomas finally woke up after stinging himself. A couple days had passed, and it was the day that he and Teresa were going to be Banished.

The boy in the blue shirt sat up when he realized that it was not just Teresa in his presence. Newt, Minho, Chuck, Iris, and Jem were there as well. He questioned with furrowed eyebrows. "What happened?"

"Gally's taken control," the girl above him outside of the Pit informed him, glancing around quickly to make sure that the boy they were talking about did not hear their plan or theories. "He said we had a choice. Either join him... or get Banished at sundown with you."

"And the others agreed to that?" Thomas asked, and it was clear that he did not really understand how much people tried to avoid getting Banished because it was a terrible death by Grievers and running. Everyone was terrified, and Gally was taking advantage of that.

Teresa sighed, looking at the ground. "Gally has everyone convinced that you're the reason all this has happened."

"Well, he's been right so far," the boy told them, causing all of their jaws to job in conclusion. What the hell did that mean? Because it did not seem like anything good.

Minho was bewildered along with the rest of them. "What are you talking about?"

"This place... it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison, it's a test," Thomas explained to them. "It all started when we were kids. They would give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us. And then people started disappearing. Every month, one after the other, like clockwork."

"Sending them to the Maze?" Newt guessed.

Thomas nodded, as he crouched down on the ground next to the bed that he had been laying on. Teresa took a seat on it instead, taking his place. He replied, "Yeah, but not all of us."

"What do you mean?" Jem asked him with raised eyebrows. Now was not the time for him to be so cryptic. They needed really straightforward answers for this.

"Guys, I'm one of them. The people who put you here, I worked with them. I watched you guys for years. The entire time you have been here, I was on the other side of it," he announced before turning to Teresa. "So were you. Teresa, we did this to them."

The girl shook her head frantically, and Iris did not blame her for not wanting to believe that she was one of the Creators. "No. That can't be true. Why would they send us up here if we were with them?"

"It doesn't matter," Thomas sighed, shaking his head.

"He's right. It doesn't matter. Any of it," Newt piped him after a moment of contemplating. "Because the people we were before the maze don't even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that. But what does matter is who we are now, and what we do right now. You went into the Maze and you found a way out."

The boy in the Pit sighed, "Yeah, but if I hadn't, Alby would still be alive."

"Maybe. But I know that if he were here, he would be telling you the exact same thing. Pick your ass up and finish what you started. Because if we do nothing, then that means Alby died for nothing, and I can't have that," the blonde boy responded.

"Okay. Okay, but we gotta get through Gally first," the boy in the blue shirt pointed out before glancing over to Jem suspiciously. "What about him?"

He raised her eyebrows at him, confused and slightly offended, although it was not totally crazy to think that he would side with his best friend, no matter how crazy he was being. "I'm right here, you know? I can hear you."

"He's with us," Iris assured her friends. Jem shot her a grateful look.

In about an hour, it was time for the Banishing, and they decided that it would be best if Thomas pretended to be unconscious so that they could gain the element of surprise. He flopped to the ground as Gally muttered, "This is such a waste."

"Gally," Winston spoke up, glancing over at Iris who he trusted more than he trusted Gally. She just looked at the ground, though. She had spoken to him before, and he said that if she went, he would go as well. "It doesn't feel right, man."

"Yeah, what if Thomas is right? Maybe he can lead us home?"Jeff pointed out.

"We are home. Okay?" Gally informed them firmly, and Jem sighed when he pointed to the wall of all of their names, using it to guilt the people into agreeing with him. Everyone's worst fear was having their name or someone they love's name be crossed off. "I don't wanna have to cross any more names off that wall."

Teresa scoffed as she asked, "You really think Banishing us is gonna solve anything?"

"No. But this isn't a Banishing. It's an offering," he announced with a sigh, and Iris's eyes widened when she realized what he was doing. He was going to tie them to the pole and use them as Griever food. Jem was already aware of said plan, but she had not been informed of it.

Teresa seemed to realize it too as one of the goons began tying her tightly to the pole. "What? Wait! Gally, what are you doing?"

"You really think I'm gonna let Thomas back into the Maze after what he has done? Look around you! Look at our Glade! This is the only way. And when the Grievers get what they came here for...everything goes back to the way it was," Gally concluded.

"Are you listening to this?" the tied up girl asked the Gladers. "Why are you all just standing there? If you stay here, the Grievers are going to come back. They're gonna come back, and they're gonna keep coming back until you're all dead!"

"Shut up! Tie him up!" he yelled to some of the boys next to Thomas. When they did not move, he repeated, "Do you hear me? I said tie him up!"

That was when the boy stopped pretending and elbowed both of the boys holding him in the stomach. Teresa kicked the boy in front of her while Jem, Iris, and Newt handled the other goons. Frypan untied the girl on the pole while Minho stopped Gally from doing anything with his machete.

The seven of them, including Chuck, made their way to the front so that their backs were facing the Maze and they were looking at all of the others. Gally's eyes scanned over them, lingering on Jem with a hurt look. When he refused to meet his eyes, he looked back to Thomas and scoffed, "You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

"You don't have to come with us, but we are leaving. Anyone else who wants to come, now is your last chance," Thomas announced to the other boys around them.

Gally held out a hand to stop them. "Don't listen to him. He's just trying to scare you."

"No, I'm not trying to scare you. You're already scared. All right, I'm scared," the other boy informed them. "But I'd rather risk my life out there than spending the rest of it in here. We don't belong here. This place isn't our home. We were put here. We were trapped here. At least, out there we have a choice. We can make it out of here. I know that."

After that, Winston, Jeff, and a few other Gladers joined their side, earning glares from the Keeper of the Builders. Winston joined Iris's side, following through with what he had said earlier. He trusted her, and if she thought that this was the best way, then it was all right with him.

"Gally, it's over. Just come with us. Please," Jem begged, his pleading eyes finally landing on the boy's. His face held a betrayed expression, and he felt bad. However, he knew that this was right, and he just really wanted him to come with them.

They stayed like that for a long moment before he said something else, and his next words caused Jem to sigh, trying his hardest not to cry right there in front of the entire Glade. "Good luck against the Grievers."

They took off into the Maze, and once they reached the part where they had to turn, Jem and Iris paused and took one last look at the Glade. They sent it a sad smile before running out of sight to catch up with the group. They made it to where the Griever hole was, and they all backed up against a wall when they heard the familiar chittering of the monster of the Maze. Thomas took a peek to confirm what it was.

"Is it a Griever?" Chuck questioned.

Thomas just nodded as a response as he panted a bit. Minho handed the device that they found inside the dead Griever, the thing that they referred to as 'the key,' to the boy. "You take this, Chuck. Stay behind us."

"Once we're through, it will activate and the door will open," their leader explained to them. "We stay close, we stick together, we get through this. We get out now, or we die trying. Ready? All right, let's go!"

They all bellowed as they ran down the path and toward the Griever, weapons held out in front of them. The monster ran toward them, and it was like a game of chicken, one that they were not going to back down from. It squealed and thrashed as their weapons pierced its skin, but it never wavered in the slightest. Its tail was flying everywhere, so they had to duck. It grabbed someone and threw him off the edge of the path and down into the bottomless pit below.

As they kept fighting, more of the creatures joined them. Seeing that they were coming for the group from behind, Iris ran toward one of them and swung at it with her sword. She reached into her belt and grabbed one of the axes. She aimed before throwing it and hitting the Griever in the eye perfectly. That just made it mad and blind, causing its tail to swing and knock her over.

A pain shot through her arm as she was thrown. She landed somewhere, and she was so out of it that she did not even notice that the top half of her body was hanging off the edge until someone pulled her up. She looked up, and her blurry vision cleared so that she could see Jem holding her up. She breathed out, "Thanks."

"No problem," he responded, and he shot her a concerned look, asking if she was okay in the midst of all the chaos. She waved him off before running back into the fight, him on her heels. They were somehow able to get around the Grievers and into a hallway. Now, they were just trying to keep the monsters out.

Teresa called to them, "Thomas! There's a code! Eight numbers!"

"Hey, Minho, what's the sequence?" he questioned after whispering something to himself. When Minho just grunted in confusion while fighting, he cleared up, "The sections of the maze, what's the sequence?"

"Seven! One! Five! Two! Six! Four!" He almost got Stung, but they kept yelling at him to continue. "Six! Four! Eight! Three! You got it?"

"The door opened!" Teresa screamed, and more people were getting killed since they were in closer quarters with the creatures and nowhere to run or dodge. Iris and the others were trying their hardest to keep the creatures back and away from her friends that were getting them out.

All of a sudden, the large stone doors above them began closing, and each one of them squished a Griever, causing the slimy goo from them to splatter all of the people in the front. Unfortunately, that included Iris and Jem. They were not really focused on that, however, because something else got their attention.

They were out.