𝘽𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨 walks in between the guards as he returns from Janson's weird questioning, his mind wondering why Janson had only questioned him and not the others.

The guards guide the boy as they walk past huge windows when a cafeteria of boys and girls around his age comes into view.

Thomas' feet stop as he looks around the cafeteria, confused.

"Hey, Thomas!" Minho yells, walking at a fast pace towards the boy.

"Minho, what's going on?" Thomas asks confused

"We weren't the only maze." Minho says as he backs up to lead the boy. As they walk over to the others, Thomas notices all the boys are there except for Blake and Teresa.

"And these guys came out of nowhere. Started shooting up the place," A boy tells the others as they all lean in to listen.

Thomas looks around the boys as he grows more worried. "Where's Blake and Teresa?" He asks

Minho shrugs at the boy's question, "I don't know, I haven't seen them. They took Blake to go see Janson for some reason."

Thomas sits down next to Newt and Minho as they listen to the boy in front of them.

"It was intense." A boy beside the other says while he brings his cup to his lips.

"They pulled us out of the maze and brought us here." The other continues telling the new boys.

"What about the rest? The other people left behind in the maze? What happened to them?" Newt questions

"I don't know. I guess wicked still has them." The boy shrugs

Thomas and Newt glance at each other before Newt opens his mouth again. "How long have you guys been here?"

"How long? Just a day or two. That kid over there.." the boy turns to another boy sitting alone at the table."He's been here the longest. Almost a week." The boy turns back around and sees a girl walking into the cafeteria. His eyes follow her every move as she walks towards them.

"His maze was nothing but girls." Another kid beside him says

The boy keeps his attention on the girl walking over, raking his eyes over her figure.

"Really?" Minho questions, unaware of his best friend.

"Guess some guys have all of the luck." The boy responds as the girl walks up.

The other boys turn their attention to where his head is turned, furrowing their eyebrows in confusion but quickly jumping up as they see their friend.

Thomas stays in his seat, glaring at the boy across from him. His eyes burn holes into the side of the new guy's head as he watches him check Blake out.

"Nice to see my boys again, finally." Blake says as she hugs each of them.

"Who's this?" The boy across from Thomas asks, nodding to the girl.

"This is Blake." Newt says as he scoots over for Blake to sit. Blake sits in between Thomas and Minho as Thomas gives her a small smile.

"She was the only girl in our maze." Newt continues.

Thomas watches as the boy's eyes flicker between Blake's face and her chest. Thomas' body stays stiff and tense as bubbles of poison rise in the boy's stomach, continuing his glare at the other boy in front of him.

"I see you guys had some luck, also." The boy responds with a smile to the girl.

Blake's eyebrows furrow at the comment, "And who are you?" She asks blankly

"Name's Eric...nice to meet you, beautiful." The boy says with a smirk.

All the glader's shoulders stiffen and square as they glare daggers at the new guy. Eric notices the thick air and turns his attention back to the girl.

Blake's face only remains blank as she cocks her head to the side. Gears in her head turn as she's about to retort to the hormonal boy, but a voice beside her cuts her short.

"Hey 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙚—" Thomas' voice sounds from beside her, making Blake stiffen with confusion as she meets Thomas' eyes. The boy across the table's smirk fades as he meets Thomas' frown.

Before Thomas can ask his question, a voice from behind the teenagers rings out.

"Good evening, gentlemen, ladies." Janson speaks, "Y'all know how this works; if you hear your name called—please rise in an orderly fashion. Your new lives are about to begin."

Janson starts to call out names as Blake elbows Thomas' ribs when Eric turns around. "What was that?" Blake whispers as she leans into the boy, "Hey babe?" Blake's eyes widen, tilting her head.

"He was hitting on you—saw you were uncomfortable, so I helped you out. That's all." Thomas whispers back

"Justin, Peter.., Allison."

Blake's heart sinks, 'I just helped you out, that's all.'

𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴.

The girl scoots away from the boy as they listen to the names being called out.

𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘵-

Blake gulps as she shoves down the weird pain in her chest.

"Now, now don't get discouraged, if I could make more of you, I would. There's always tomorrow..your time will come..go on..eat up."

Clapping sounds around the cafeteria as the teenagers are led out of the cafe. "Where are they going?" Minho questions from beside Blake.

"Far from here," Eric says, turning back around. "Lucky bastards."

Another one of the boys shifts in his spot, moving towards the gladers. "Some kid of farm, safe place. They can only take in a couple of people at a time." The boy says.

Thomas shifts his gaze over to the glass, seeing Teresa being led to the other end of the hallway.

"The hell." Thomas mutters, getting up from his seat. Blake's eyes follow Thomas' eyes as she spots the girl.

"Hey, Teresa!" Thomas yells as he walks quickly, following the girl on the other side of the glass.

Blake's heart pings as she watches the boy run after another girl. Her gaze falls down to her lap as she fiddles with her hands.

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵.

"Teresa!" Thomas shouts as a guard stops him by pushing him back. "Hey."

Minho lightly taps Blake with his elbow from underneath the table with an eyebrow raised. "You good?"

"Yeah." Blake breathes out as she lifts her head to meet Minho's concerned features.

"Just tired." She smiles softly at her best friend.

"All right, boys, follow me this way. Blake—this nice gentleman here will show you to your room." A guard's voice brings the girl back from her deep thinking.

"Wait, why can't she come with us?" Newt asks from beside the girl.

"Because we can't have boys and girls mixing." The guard says blankly.

"Why can't I just stay with them? I mean, I was in the glade with them. They're my 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨." Blake emphasizes the word friends as her eyes flicker to Thomas, who has a frown resting on his face.

The boys stand beside the girl with glares on their faces as a guard comes beside Blake and grips her upper arm.

"Hey." She yelps as he pulls her away from her boys.

"Get your hands off of her!" Thomas shouts, reaching forward.

The other guard stops him, pushing the boy back as the other guards start to move beside him in aid.

"We can't have boys and girls mixing. Sorry, buddy."

"Why?" Minho questions, pushing forward as his glare connects with the guard.

"She needs to stay with us." Fry adds angrily as the boys continue trying to get through the small wall of guards.

Blake digs her heels into the ground as the guard drags down the hallway.

She can't leave her boys.

They are her only family and the only people she loves.

They sent her into the maze with nothing but boys, and she managed—so why are these people making it such a big deal?

She turns back to the boys as she feels herself being dragged farther down the hallway.

Blake squirms as she tries to get out of the guard's grasp, but it only results in him gripping her harder.

Blake hisses at his grip on her arm. "Holding me a little tight there, 𝙗𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙮." Her voice echoes through the hallway as she continues squirming in his grip.