I called a meeting as soon as I could but not with all the gladers, only a few. Gally eyed me angrily but didn't say anything. Newt, Thomas, Minho, Winston, Zart and I piled into the meeting hall. Minho passed Newt what we found in the griever and he inspected it.

"We found this. It was inside a griever." Thomas pointed at the object.

"These are the same letters we get on our supplies." Newt looked up at us all.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Whoever put us here obviously made the grievers." I tried my best not to notice Gally's agitated face.

"This is the first real clue, the first anything you've found in over three years, right, Minho?" Thomas turned.

"Yep." Minho nodded from behind him.

"Newt, we gotta go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us?"

Gally stared intensely at Newt.

"You see what he's trying to do, right?" First he breaks our rules and then he tried to convince us to abandon them totally. The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together. Why now are we questioning in that?" Gally waved his hands around.

"Why do you care so much about the rules, Gally?" Thomas' voice got angrier.

"Because last time people broke them y/n got hurt!" He shouted loud enough the whole Glade could here.

I gasped and my eyes widened knowing what he was talking about. Thomas would be sure asking me about that later and I would have to relive the horrific memory. Everyone in the room knew about what happened except Thomas. Newt looked up at me, making sure I was okay and I nodded.

"S-sorry." Gally's voice hitched. "But if Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me. This shank needs to be punished." He gripped onto a beam. I could tell he was trying to ignore what he had just said.

Newt took a few moments to respond and passed Minho the device back.

"You're right. Thomas broke the rules. One night in the pit and no food."

"Oh, come on, Newt. One night in the pit? You think that's gonna stop him from going into the Maze?" Gally shook his head in disbelief.

"No. And we can't have non-runners running into the maze whether they feel like it." Newt inhaled, "So let's just make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're a runner."

I wanted to celebrate because it was a good call on Newts behalf but I knew it would only make Gally angrier and I didn't want that.

"Wow." Gally murmured and walked for the door.

"Gall-" Fry said and I stuck my arm out trying to stop him.

"Nah, guys." He dismissed us and stormed out.

I looked at Newt and he smiled reassuringly, telling me to go. I nodded before running after my boyfriend.

Gally was sat in his tree. He hadn't been here in a while. His knees were tucked to his chest and his head was down. I clambered up and straddled the branch he was on.

"Hey, Gall." I whispered and he lifted his head. I expected there to be tears but there wasn't. Just anger.

"Go away, y/n."

"No."

"Go."

"No. Gally, I know your annoyed but maybe Thomas is right."

"He's not."

"And how do you know." I tilted my head.

"He broke the rules. Anyone who breaks the rules is always wrong."

"Are you referring to who I think you're referring to?" I shuffled forward.

"Yeah and y/n, I'm so so sorry for bringing up you getting hurt. It just... slipped out."

"It's okay. Is that why you enforce the rules so heavily? Because you're scared I'll get hurt?"

"Maybe.." he mumbled.

I moved around him so my back was against another branch. I pulled him down so his head was in my lap and he stared up at me.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you more."

We talked about nothing in particular for a few minutes until I heard voices and footsteps behind us. Gally sat up alerted and we peered round the tree trunk to see Minho and Thomas walking across the bridge.

"I suppose I should go. I think Minho's planning on telling him about the map room." I turned back to Gally.

"I- yeah."

He jumped down and held his hand out like a gentleman. I took it, even though I didn't need it, and I jumped down onto the dry leaves. He pecked my lips and said goodbye before running back to the glade. I smiled but then remembered I should be catching up with Minho.

I followed close behind them and eventually reached Thomas' side. He jumped and then tried to hide it by itching his arm and I laughed to myself.

"Where you going?" I asked looking at Minho's back.

"You know where." He mumbled and I nodded.

"I don't. Where are we going?" Thomas questioned.

"You'll see."

"How come y/n knows and I don't?"

"Because y/n has been here for a while. She knows much more than you."

"Thanks, Min Min." I smiled.

"I wasn't calling you smart."

We reached the Map Room. It was a wooden hut deep in the forest that had a model of the maze inside. Not many people know of it but it's where we work on how to escape.

When we walked in the model was covered with a large white cloth. There was paper and scribbled writing everywhere. The writing was mainly just the numbers of the sections.

Thomas looked around at everything and Minho pulled the cloth of the hand-made maze. He leaned on the table and sighed. I stood beside him and Thomas got into the same leant over position as Minho.

"It's the maze." I told him. "All of it."

Thomas' head snapped up.

"What do you mean 'all of it'? I thought you were still mapping it."

Minho shrugged, "There's nothing left to map."

"I've run every inch of it myself. So has Minho. Every cycle, every pattern." I shook my head in frustration. "If there was a way out, trust me, we would have found it by now."

"Why haven't you told anyone this?"

"I told Gally." I pointed out.

Minho stood up straight, "It was Alby's call. People needed to believe we had a chance of getting out. But maybe now we have a real chance." He handed Thomas the metal cylinder.

"Take a look at this," it was my turn to lean on the table, "About a year ago, we started exploring these outer sections. Alright? We found these numbers printed on the walls, Sections One through Eight. See, the way it works is every night when the maze changes it opens up a new section. So today Section Six was open. Tomorrow it will be Four, then Eight, then Three." I explained. "The pattern always stays the same."

Thomas ran his finger over where it said '7' on the metal object.

"What's so special about seven?" He asked.

"We don't know." Minho answered.

He walked past Thomas to stand near where Section Seven was on the model.

"But last night, when you, Thomas, killed that griever in between the doors, Section Seven was open. I think it must be where it comes from. Tomorrow, y/n, you and I are gonna take a closer look."

"We are..?" I tilted my head.

"Yes, y/n, we are."

I groaned and then Clint and Jeff ran up to the door panting. I walked round the table to stand between Thomas and Minho.

"Hey, what are you guys doing? You aren't allowed here."

"S-sorry." Clint heaved as he leaned on the door catching his breath.

"It's the girl." Jeff told us.

"What, is she awake?" I took a step forward.

"You could say that." The boys shrugged and we jogged back to the glade.

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I was reading the first few chapters and I just realised how bad they are. But I can't change them lmao 😫

Thank yall for all the love  <3