Alby's body squirmed while black veins were spreading across him. Saddening weeps came out of his mouth nearly every second. I looked at him in sorrow but then happiness when this bottle of liquid could save him.

"We don't even know what this stuff is." Newt said, "We don't know who sent it or why it came up here with you." Blondie looked at Chris before looking back at me and Thomas, "I mean, for all we know this thing could kill him."

"Newt do you not have eyes, he's already dying!" I exclaimed.

"How could this possibly make it any worse?" Thomas asked, "Come on it worth a try."

Newt gleamed at the nearly lifeless body of the leader, not taking any more of Alby's scream. "Alright. Do it." He handed the tubes to Thomas.

*no one's pov*

Thomas grabbed the viles and went to Alby's side, Taylor on the other side. He looked up at Taylor, a look of reassurance was sent his way and a nod.

"Okay," he sighed deeply

Suddenly, Alby's hands were scrunched up in Thomas' shirt, "You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be here!"

Taylor reached her arm out to try and get Alby's hands off of Thomas while everyone else was trying to pull Thomas away. The girl looked behind her and saw the syringe, she quickly picked it up and moved everyone out of the way as she immediately stabbed it into Alby.

Few moments had passed and he grew calmer. Taylor rushed to Thomas' side and linked her hands around his arm, asking if he's alright. A hint of jealousy grew in Chris' eye.

"Okay from now on, someone stays here and watches him around the clock." Newt demanded.

"Hey,." A voice called quietly from the door, Gally's eyes went to Alby then to Thomas, "Sundown, Greenie. Time to go."

Taylor's pov

Night had fallen and the only light was a torch of fire that I was holding. The three of us walked to the pit, Thomas' hand curled into mine. Crickets chirping into the distance, not that we find many of those.

"Hey, what is your problem with me?" Thomas spoke, his voice slightly croaky.

"Everything started going wrong the minute you showed up. First Ben, then Alby and now we have a Greenie showing up two days after you." He explained before opening the latch to the pit.

Thomas let out a sigh and let go of my hand before jumping in, Gally now locking it.

"Gally, you know we can't stay here forever, right?" Thomas questioned, only getting silence in return.

"Get some sleep Taylor." The builder said before trailing off to his hammock.

I slumped myself down and crossed my legs, facing Thomas. I sent him a small smile before he began speaking. His eyes brightened by the fire yet everything else around him was dark. My crush on him grew bigger each moment.

"What do you think of the new guy. What's his name again?" Thomas wanted to know the answer mainly to the first question.

"His name is Chris and I think he is a sexist piece of clunk." I chuckled, earning a small laugh out of Thomas.

"I've asked Chuck if he could bring you some food later." I said.

"Thanks Taylor." He replied, "Why did everyone look at you when Gally ran out of the hut earlier?"

I sighed, "Because I'm the only person Gally will properly listen to when he's in one of his 'moods'." Using quotation marks around moods.

Thomas nodded, "You know, your really pretty."

"And I have you to remind me." I smiled greatly, as did he.

Footsteps were coming our way with and another set of light was also coming.

"Who's there?!" Thomas asked spooked, I contained my laugh.

"It's just me." Chuck spoke, Thomas sighed in relief.

"Sorry Chuck."

The young boy knelt down next to me and handed food to Thomas through the gaps of the bamboo. He placed his torch on the opposite side of mine above the pit. Something was in his hand that Chuck continuously fiddled with while Thomas chewed on his food.

"Right we'll I best be off, we got running first thing when the sun comes up." I said, Chuck nodding in understanding.

"Goodnight Taylor." Thomas called out as I began walking away.

----

I woke up ten minutes earlier to my surprise, usually I'm the one that always wakes up late. It was still dark outside but lighter than it was when I left Chuck and Thomas last night. I was already dressed into some shorts and a shirt that covered the waist band of the shorts. Putting my running shoes on, I stumbled out of the door to go see Thomas.

Suddenly, something grabbed me by the hand and began pulling me into the forest.

"Chris what are you doing?!" I asked in a hushed tone.

I whipped my hand back from him and remained still, my arms out in questioning on why he randomly brought me here. Surrounding us was nothing but tall trees and a lake which shimmered, he had taken us pretty far into the forest.

He turned around and stood there, his hands twitching at the side of him.

"This is weird, I'm gonna go." I spoke.

I turned to leave but his hand grabbed my wrist and pushed me against a tree, its bark scratching my back.

"Chris-."

His lips connected onto my neck. Trying to squirm free, his hands tightened my wrist so much it burned.

"Chris stop it hurts!" I cried, water flew down my cheek. My hands shaking to get free but it didn't work.

But he didn't stop, he pushed himself on me more.

My knee soon flew up to his stomach, making him loosen his grip on me. I pushed him to the side and began running out of the forest, I looked behind me to see if he was following but he wasn't.

As I got closer to the main part of the Glade, my hand held onto my wrist, smoothing the soreness. It had burn marks and nail scratches all across it along with tiny splatters of blood. I wiped away my tears and ran to the Maze entrance where Thomas and Minho were waiting.

"Didn't see you at breakfast. Wake up late again shank?" Minho smirked.

I couldn't bring the words to speak so I just nodded. Minho looked at me for a second before turning his head back to the Maze.

"All right...Lets go." He spoke enthusiastically before running into the Maze.

Before I could also, Thomas had gently grabbed my wrist, making me hiss slightly from the pain. His eyebrows furrowed before he turned my arm over, his eyes laid on the marks.

"Taylor what happened?!" He asked worried, his thumb brushed over the marks, sending me a flush of feeling safe.

I pulled back my arm and cleared my throat, "Fell over, we need to go catch up with Minho."

"Wait-," But he got cut off by the sound of me running, him soon following right behind me.

----

The run was silent, my head filled with thoughts which made a tear fall from my eye. Thomas kept his eyes on me, whenever he was going to say something I ran even further. I felt bad ignoring him but I didn't want to speak about it now.

"This way. Not much further until the inner ring. Lets go." Minho said, mainly to Thomas since I already knew the way.

We ran past section five then six until I began slowing down, Minho noticed the reason why I stopped so he did the same.

"That's strange." Minho said.

"What?" Thomas questioned.

"Seven's not supposed to be open for another week." Minho answered.

"Weird." I mumbled under my breath before heading into the open section.

"What the hell is this place?" Thomas asked.

"We call them blades."

The blades were rusty and old yet they worked perfectly. Jogging down the pathway, there was something on the floor. I reached out to grab it, as I did that, Minho glanced at my wrist before giving Thomas a look of concern.

The item I held up was a vest, drenched in blood. I let out a sigh.

"It's Ben's" My voice echoed.

I stood back up and brushed my hands against my shorts.

"A Griever must've pulled him down here." Minho announced.

All of a sudden, something started whirring. A glitching sound was coming from behind us until I realised it was closer than I thought. I turned Minho around and grabbed into his backpack, pulling out the device we found in the Griever's body. It was making more of a clicking sound now. I took a few steps behind me and the sound stopped, a few more steps in front of me and it began again, accelerating this time. Thomas took the device from my hands, a sarcastic pout spread on my face which made him smile.

"I think it's showing us the way." Thomas said, I nodded in agreement.

We walked even further down the path, the device taking us wherever.

"Wait, wait, wait." Thomas spoke.

"What?" Me and Minho both asked.

Thomas turned diagonally before walking again, me and my best friend following behind.

"I think it's kinda unfair how you guys decided to match outfits today with out me." I said sarcastically, pointing out the fact that Minho and Thomas were both wearing blue tops.

"Aw is someone jealous?" Minho rhetorically asked, hints of sarcasm coming back at me. I chuckled before we walked around a corner.

We were in front of an alley, its pathway cracked and warning tape was put on the edges of the walls while the letters W.C.K.D was imprinted on it as well. I leaned slightly over the edge, "Damn, we need to put some barriers up so Zart don't go tripping again."

Minho shook his head as he took in his surroundings, shocked that we haven't come across this place before.

"Taylor, you ever see this place before?" Thomas asked, his voice echoing also.

"Nope" I replied as we walked down the hall.

The clicking noise went rapid.

"Ah, it's just another dead end." Minho claimed.

I placed my hand on the wall in front of us, cracks were at the same place on either end, as if it was a door. The device beeped and something began rumbling. I took a few steps back to watch the wall in front of us open. Thomas' arm wrapped around my waist. A spiral leading into a hole opened also. I began walking towards it, leaving the two boys where I was previously.

"Taylor hang on." Thomas called out but I just waved my hand at him.

"You sure about this?" Minho asked Tom.

"If she is," Thomas nodded towards me, "then I am."

As they walked in, they looked up, the wind blew down a breeze and clear sky was all they could see. I was standing next to the hole, my hand touching the side of it until I jumped in disgust.

"What- what is it?" Thomas asked protectively, his hand resting on my back. Butterflies were circling in my stomach by his gentle plus protective touch.

I turned to face him before wiping the goo off my hands and onto his shirt, "Grievers."

A red beep flashed, catching our attention. Soon something was scanning us.

"What the hell was that?" Minho questioned. The walls began rumbling as the hatch creaked shut.

Thomas chucked Minho the key to the hatch and put it in his runner bag before we started running. The walls closed tight behind us.

Getting out of the dark hallway, the blades began shutting quickly.

"We gotta go. Run. We're gonna get trapped!" Minho yelled.

We ran and ran, nearly getting sliced in half by the blades. Letting Thomas run in front of me, a blade crashed, blocking my way. Sweat formed at the top of my head. I began running down the isle, Thomas and Minho on the other side.

"Guys!" I yelled, hoping that would do something. Thomas started running faster than Minho, now at my speed. His eyes filled with worry.

"Come on, let's go, let's go!" Minho yelled.

I pushed myself sideways and tumbled into the lane they're in. Thomas grabbed onto my waist so I wouldn't fall any further before we exited the blades for good.

As we got to the inner ring, the floor opened and escalated into the air. Tall metal was slowly falling. Turning around, we started running again. More of the ground started coming up as dust flew into our eyes. The walls next to us too began falling.

"Come on, don't look back!" Minho shouted.

The maze was crashing in on us. We jumped onto a closing wall to get out of this section. Crawling through, I kept my head low as my arms scurried across the stone.

Just as it closed, the three of us landed on the floor. Groans of hurt but also relief were now the only thing we could hear.

----
nine completed
2193 words