匚卄卂卩ㄒ乇尺  乇ㄥ乇ᐯ乇几
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"If death has no cost, then life has no meaning."
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Newt, Thomas, Minho and Aife walked into the Med-jack hut to check on Alby and the new greenie. She furrowed her eyebrows as Newt and Minho looked at her with curious faces, "You recognize her?"

The girl shook her head and glanced up at Thomas, who seemed to be looking at the passed out girl in deep thought.

He knows something.

Aife felt a sense of familiarity when she looks at her, shes seen her when she went through the changing. But she cant pin point where she recognizes her from.

"Really? 'Cause she seemed to recognize you two."

Thomas ignored his words and asked, "What about the note?"

Aife shook her head and clenched her jaw, "We'll worry about the note later. We've got enough to deal with at the moment."

"He's right. If the box isn't coming up, how long do you think we would last?" Jeff asked with a shaky breath and fidgeting hands.

"No one said that. Let's not jump to any conclusions," Newt spoke out, trying to calm his nerves. "Let's just wait until she wakes up and see what she knows. Somebody's gotta have some answers around here."

Thomas slightly nodded his head and mumbled incoherently under his breath as he grabbed Aifes hand and led her away from the hut.

"Hey, Where are you goin'? " Minho asked skeptically.

"Back into the maze.." Thomas spoke, not bothering to stop walking.

"Woah woah woah, you shanks got a death wish or somethin'? We just got out and now you want back in?" He asked, he observed their faces to see if they were kidding but once he saw Aifes, he knew.

"Newt said no ones ever seen a griever and lived to tell about it, right? We have. And we've got one. Aren't you just a little bit curious?" Thomas ranted and she gave an eager smile with fake puppy eyes that Minho could obviously see through. He then replied,

"Not really, no."

Aife huffed and started to walk away before Minho grabbed her wrist to stop them. Minho looked deep into her eyes as he whispered., "So what's the plan? You go out and dissect that thing all by yourself?"

She looked up at him, meeting his gaze with a challenging look, "I will if i have to. Have the other runners left yet?"

"The other runners quit this morning." He said as he stepped to the side to let the two see the ex-runners.  They were sitting there. Doing nothing.

"After Alby got stung, they're not in any hurry to get back out there. Why are you two?" He asked as his eyes flickered back and forth between the two of them

"I think it's time we find out what we're really up against." Thomas said and Minho nodded and caved, "Alright."

"Meet me in the woods in half an hour."

*

Thomas and Aife are now waiting in the woods for Minho to show up. She heard footsteps come from her left and she turned her head to see him, Frypan, Winston and Zart.

"Would this be enough?" Minho asked.

The girl smirked at him and looked up at Thomas who nodded his head. She then spoke, "Okay, let's go."

They took off and ran quickly across the glade and walked through the maze doors. Once they reached the corridor where the dead griever was, Frypans face scrunched up in disgust while Zart let out a gag. Winston just looked at it with his eyebrows pinched.

The grievers legs were sticking out and there was brown and red liquid that surrounded it. There was pink and red coming out of the walls that looked to be like guts and liver.

"That's disgusting." Zart broke the silence and she put a hand over her own lips to muffle her chuckle.

"Gah' damn."

Thomas moved closer and narrowed his eyes slightly, "There's something in there."

Frypan looked at him like as if he was insane, "You mean besides a griever pancake?"

Aife nudged Frypan in his side and snorted as she laid her head on Winstons shoulder. She couldn't deny the fact that it looked absolutely disgusting.

Minho took a step forwards and slowly reached his shaky hand towards it.

"Woah! What are you doing?" Minho ignored Zart and reached his hand between the wall. They watched in silence until all the boys yelped jumped back due to the grievers leg moving.

"Woah!" Thomas yelped.

"I thought you said it was dead." Frypan raised an eyebrow, judging Minho's words.

"Was it reflex?" Zart asked cautiously.

"You hope!" Winston replied. Aife rolled her eyes and took a step forward as she grabbed onto the leg of the griever. The boys immediately helped her and counted down from three, they ripped out the leg and she picked up what looked like a heart, off of the floor.

She heard beeping, so she gripped the metal that was inside and tore it apart, there was brown slime all over her bruised fingers.

She heard the groans of disgust from the boys. 

W. C. K. D.

It looked like a metal tube, it had the number seven on it that was blinking red.

"What the hell is that?" Thomas asked her as she wiped some off of the slime that was on the strange object.

"I don't know, but can we take this back to the glade? I don't wanna meet this guys friends." Frypan mumbled in fear as the rest of them nodded in agreement.

"Fry's right. It's getting late. We should head back. "

*

As soon as they entered the glade, Chuck was waiting for them near the doors. He walked over to them and said, "Gally found out about you leaving. He's pissed. He's waiting for you in the council hall." He warned. Aife thanked him and they walked over to meet with Gally and hear whatever nonsense he has to say this time.

As soon as Aife stepped in, she didn't take the time to listen to Gally and his bull. So she simply handed Newt what they found.

"It was inside a griever." Thomas said. Newt furrowed his eyebrows as he ran his thumb over it.

"These are the same letters we get on our supplies."

"Yeah. Whoever put us here obviously made the grievers." Thomas said and she nodded, "This is the first real clue, the first anything we've found in over three years. Right Aife?"

Aife shared a knowing glance with Minho and sighed. She then nodded, "Right."

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

"He's right." Aife muttered in a agreement.

Newt looked up at Gally who stood with an irritatedlook on his face, his arms crossed, "You see what he's trying to do, right?"

Aife rolled her eyes and huffed at his words.

"First he breaks our rules and now he tries to convince us to abandon them totally wha- The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together, why now are we questioning that?" It was silent after that.

"If Alby was here you know he'd agree with me."

That set her off.

"Alby isn't in charge right now." Aife mumbled defensively.

"He might as well be." He replied smugly. She clenched her jaw and tilted her chin up to show that she deserved her spot. She noticed his eyes widened for a split second. But it went away just as fast.

Aife stood up and slow walked over to him, her fists clenched by her sides, she looked up at him and narrowed her eyes as he looked back at the girl, she spoke through gritted teeth with a hateful glint in her eyes . "If you've got something to say to me Gally, Say it now. Otherwise, shut the hell up."

He was silent.

"That's what i thought." Aife smirked as she walked back over to Thomas. Minho dropped his hand by her side and gave the girl a discrete fist bump and they blew it out as they mumbled quietly, 'beeeww' making an explosion sound.

"Look, what i'm saying is. This shank," He pointed to Thomas, "needs to be punished."

"Okay, you're right. Thomas broke the rules. One night in the pit with no food." Newt said as he let out a small sigh.

Aife smirked at that, ever since Nick, Albys been her second. But Newt as well. He's her third.

Gally did a double take and his jaw dropped.

"What?! Oh, come on Newt! Aife and Thomas need to be punished. One night in the pit- You think that's gonna stop him from going into the maze." Gally waved his hands around.

"No. And we can't just have non-runners, running into the maze whenever they feel like it." Newt said and he looked to Aife to continue for him, so she did.

"So, let's just make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're a runner."

Newt nodded in agreement, as well as Minho and all the other keepers.

"Wow." Gally said angrily and defeated.

"Gally-" Frypan tried to get him to stop but he was shaken off by Gally as he waved his hand.

"Nah, Fry."

All the other keepers left and it was just Thomas, Newt and Aife.

"Thanks guys." He mumbled. Newt nodded in response as she clapped his shoulder and gave him a sharp nod.