"NOW, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON out there?" Newt questioned as Thomas and Minho came running out of the Maze and toward them. The Gladers had no clue what was happening, but they had heard the Maze shifting and a little bit of yelling. 

As the two kept walking, a bunch of people crowded around them. Gally raised his eyebrows in question, waiting for the Greenie to have done something wrong so that he could gloat. "What the hell you done now, Thomas?"

"We found something, a new passage," the boy in the blue shirt informed them, causing Alex's eyes to widen. She had gone a while now thinking that there was no way out because of what Minho had told her. Now, there was hope. "We think it could be a way out."

"Really?" the girl asked in shock. That was most certainly news.

Minho nodded, glancing at her with a small smile. "It's true. We opened a door, something I'd never seen before. I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day."

"Wait! You're saying you found the Grievers' home?" Chuck quizzed in confusion. Why the hell would they want to go to a place infested with the things that were trying to kill all of them? "And you want us to go in?"

"Their way in could be our way out, Chuck," Thomas pointed out hopefully. He had a good point. The Grievers had to come from somewhere, and they had to go somewhere during the day. So, that hole led to a place that was not the Maze or the Glade. It might be worse, but it may be better.

Gally scoffed, rolling his eyes and finding some stupid excuse to argue. "Yeah, or there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side. The truth is, Thomas doesn't know what he has done, as usual."

"Yeah, at least I did something, Gally," the other boy challenged, turning around to face the Keeper of the Builders. "I mean, what have you done? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?"

"Let me tell you something, Greenie. You've been here three days, all right? I've been here three years!" he yelled, telling them of something all of them were aware of already. Alex just sighed, knowing that this was not going to end well. Why did Gally have to be like this?

Thomas argued, "Yeah, you've been here three years and you're still here, Gally! What does that tell you? Maybe you should start doing things a little differently."

"Maybe you should be in charge, what about that, Thomas?" the boy suggested sarcastically.

"Hey!" the new girl, whose name was Teresa as they had figured out, shouted to interrupt them and stop the fighting. They all looked over at her as she informed them. "It's Alby. He's awake."

Newt nodded at her, confirming that he heard and understood what she said. He turned to the rest of them. "Thomas, Minho, Gally, come with me. Alex, you're in charge until we get back."

"Got it," she replied, offering a mock salute that causes him to smile a bit before they all ran off to check on Alby. She turned back to the crowd. "Okay, everyone. I know we're excited about the possible way out, but for now, we need to get back to work."

"Hey, Alex, aren't the Doors supposed to be closing right now?" Winston asked her, gesturing to the Maze that was still wide open. It was starting to get a little late, but sometimes the Doors were a few minutes off.

The girl waved him off, shaking her head at her friend. "The Runners just got back. I'm sure they'll close any minute now."

But they didn't.

Over ten minutes had passed, and the Doors still had not closed. Everyone was beginning to panic because it was starting to get dark. The Grievers would be out and about sooner or later. People were shouting and running around with torches when it caught the attention of the people talking to Alby inside the Med-jack Hut.

"Hey, Winston, what's going on?" Thomas questioned in confusion as they stepped out of the building and noticed the chaos that was happening all around them.

Alex was the one to answer as she ran over to them. "It's the Doors. They aren't closing." At that, them and several other Gladers ran over to the Doors and stared up at them in panic.

What made everything even worse was when the other Doors that were not supposed to be open that day opened up, causing the entire Glade to shake as they rumbled. They flinched every time the Walls moved.

"Okay, Chuck, go to the Council Hall and start barricading the doors. " Thomas shouted orders to each of them, taking over when no one else did. They needed to do something fast.

Newt added, "Winston, you go with him."

"Get the others. Tell them to go to the forest, go hide. Now!" Gally piped in, yelling after the two that were already running away and toward the Council Hall to do their job.

"Minho and Alex, I want you to grab every weapon you can find," the boy in the blue shirt told the two to his left. They nodded and took a couple of other people with them to help them carry the weapons including Frypan and Newt. "I'll meet you at Council Hall."

They sprinted in the direction of the Weapons Range when they heard the somewhat familiar screeching of the horrible monsters of the Maze, causing all of them to pause and look toward the Doors.

"They're here."

The Grievers were there, which meant they had to move. They took off again toward the Range as screaming and the sound of destruction met their ears. Frypan stopped for a second, yelling, "We have to go back and help them!"

"I don't know about you, but I don't think I could fight a Griever with my bare hands," Alex pointed out before reaching for his arm and pulling him along with them. "We're no good without the weapons. We have to go. Come on!"

"Where are the keys?" Minho asked frantically once they reached the Shed, reaching his hand out so that he could unlock it and get all of the weapons out.

The girl fumbled through her pockets, and her stomach dropped when she realized that they were empty. She muttered, "Shit. They were here a couple minutes ago. I must have dropped them on the way here." She sighed, staring at the shed. "Time to do this hard way. Step back."

"What are you doing?" Newt questioned, but she answered by picking up a nearby rock and taking three big strides to the lock before slamming the stone down on it as hard as she could. 

It fell to the ground, broken, and she wasted no time in ripping open the door. She carefully but quickly began grabbing spears, bows and arrows, sword, machetes, axes, and anything else that might be helpful against the Grievers and throwing them to the boys.

Once their arms were full of everything they could carry while still being able to run, she turned back around to them. "Now, let's go kick some Griever ass."

As they ran back to the open part of the Glade, they handed out weapons to everyone they saw until they reached a Griever that was about to attack a group that included Thomas and Teresa. They launched some of the spears into its side, distracting it so that the others to get away. Dodging the creature, the weapons group ran after them and into the Council Hall where Thomas slammed the door shut behind them.

"Lock down the doors," he said as people began to barricade the door with everything they could find. There was some grumbling as they watched the Griever through the cracks. Then, it climbed onto the ceiling, causing all of them to back up.

They waited cautiously until the tail of the creature burst through the roof of the Hall. snatching one of the beams that kept the ceiling from caving him. It swung toward them and knocked  some people over, distracting them for long enough for it to pull some people out of the wreckage. It came through the ceiling again, and this time, it grabbed not a beam but a person.

"Chuck!"

Thomas lunged for the boy and grabbed his hand to keep him from being pulled away. The others quickly joined him, tugging on the young boy with all of their might. "Chuck, don't let go!"

"No shit!" Chuck shouted back. Just as the Griever was about to sting him, Alby lunged and uses his machete to chop of the syringe part of the tail. He then began hitting the tail with the weapon until the creature released Chuck who fell to the grounf, coughing. "Thanks, Alby."

"Alby! Watch out!" The Griever did not give up because it grabbed Alby next, but he was able to grab onto the roof. Thomas rushed to his aide, but the two of them were not strong enough, and none of the others could reach him.

Alex pulled Chuck away from the attack so that nothing else happened to him. The last words that their leader said before being dragged away were, "Thomas, get them out."

Then, they were gone.

The Gladers were cautious as they exited the Council Hall, but when they stepped out, the Grievers were no where to be seen. There was fire and destruction everywhere, though.

"Gally?" Alex called once she got out of the Building and realized that the boy was not there with them. She spun around, scanning her surroundings frantically. "Gally!"

She was so relieved when she saw a figure running toward them, and she realized that it was the boy that she was looking for. She sprinted toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing him. He seemed a little shocked at first, but he still put his arms around her waist. 

"Oh, don't scare me like that again," she muttered as she pulled away, but then she furrowed her eyebrows when he began storming toward Thomas. She did not realize what was happening until it was to late to stop.

He punched him in the face.

"This is all you, Thomas! Look around!" the Keeper of the Builders yelled as the other boys pulled him away and held him back. "You heard what Alby said! He's one of them! He's one of them, and they sent him here to destroy everything, and now he has! Look around, Thomas! Look around! This is your fault!"

As they tried to calm the boy down, they did not even notice what was happening behind them until Chuck yelled, "Thomas!" They spun around to see the Greenie almost unconscious on the ground, and the stinger that they cut off of the Griever lying next to him. Alex's eyes widened in realization.

He stung himself.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

i just realized that the Gathering Hall is actually the Council Hall, and I have been calling it eh Gathering Hall or Room this entire time. So, please, just ignore that minor detail.