𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙄𝙎 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙎𝙏𝙍𝙐𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

★ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 "——" 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙.

★ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚.

★ 𝙎𝙤, 𝙞𝙛 𝙮'𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙛𝙞𝙭 𝙞𝙩. 𝙇𝙢𝙛𝙖𝙤.

★ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙯𝙚 𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙬𝙛𝙪𝙡. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨.

★ 𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝...𝙨𝙤 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙚. 𝙄 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧.

𝙊𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙨

A sudden gasp escapes from the boy, his eyes snapping open as he looks up to see Teresa hovering over him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"What the hell were you thinking?" The youngest glader questions in disbelief, shaking his head.

Thomas shoots up out of Teresa's lap to look around him, noticing they're in the pit. His eyes lift to see Chuck, Minho, and Newt all hovering by the gate, but Where's Blake?

His brown eyes shift around him to spot Blake on the other side of the pit, looking up with her hands wrapped around her knees.

Blake's eyes cast down to meet Thomas' as she watches him move up from Teresa.

"Good. You're alive." Blake says dryly, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"What happened?" Thomas asks, turning his attention back to the boys by the door.

"Gally's taken control." Newt responds from the other side of the gate. "He said we had a choice: either join him or get banished at sundown with you."

Thomas groans. "and the others agreed to this?"

"Gally, has everyone convinced you're the reason all this has happened." Teresa says.

"Well, he's been right so far." Thomas answers as his focus turns to Blake.

"What are you talking about?" Minho asks

"This place...it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison. It's a test. It all started when we were kids. They'd give us these challenges, and they were experimenting on us. And then people started disappearing, every month like clockwork, one after the other." Thomas explains

"Sending them up into the maze." Newt concludes

"Yeah, but not all of us." Thomas shakes his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Guys, I'm one of them." Thomas admits. "The people who put you here, we worked for them. I watched you guys for years. The entire time you've been here, I...I was on the other side of it." Thomas continues as he shifts his attention to the girls in the pit.

"And so were both of you." Thomas reveals as Blake's eyes widen at his revelation.

"No" Blake whispers, shaking her head in disbelief.

"What?" Teresa questions, her face scrunching in confusion.

"Teresa, we did this to them. They sent Blake here because of me." Thomas says, looking over to the other girl.

"They thought—" Thomas pauses, "Blake was never supposed to be sent here."

"They sent you here because you leaked information to the resistance group. They gave you a choice of either being executed or sent up into the maze. You chose the maze. You couldn't stop—you couldn't watch as the rest of our friends kept dying. And I couldn't—" Thomas starts to say but gulps, not wanting to relive the painful memory.

"This can't be true." Teresa cuts the boy off as her eyes well up with tears.

"But it is. I saw it." Thomas quickly looks back to the girl in front of him, noticing Blake's eyes tear up as she takes in the shocking news.

"Why would they send us up here if we were with them?" Teresa questions

"It doesn't matter." Thomas says, shaking his head.

"He's right." Newt cuts in, looking over to Blake and then back to Thomas. "It doesn't matter—any of it. Cause the people you were before the maze they don't even exist anymore..but Alby would tell you the exact same thing. Pick your ass up and finish what you started. Cause if we do nothing, we'll that means Alby died for nothing, and I can't have that."

"Okay. Okay, well, we got to get to Gally first." Thomas presses his lips together, nodding slowly as he flickers his eyes between the group around him.

Newt and another boy carry Thomas, Jeff holds onto Teresa, and Minho leads Blake to the middle of the glade with her hands tied behind her back as they make their way toward Gally.

Blake's eye catches three poles at the entrance to the maze. You're joking...The small brunette scoffs, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion to what the builder has planned.

"It will be okay." Minho whispers softly in her ear, comforting his best friend as they near the crowd formed.

Leading Blake and Teresa to the middle as the other two boys drop an 'unconscious' Thomas to the ground, Minho shoots a glare at the builder.

"This is such a waste" one of the boys say, cutting through the tension wavering in the thick air.

"Gally. This doesn't feel right, man." Winston adds, snapping Gally's attention away from Thomas to the boy.

"Yeah, what if Thomas is right?" Jeff questions, "Maybe he can lead us home."

"We are home." Gally grumbles, sending the boys a warning look before raising his voice. "Okay. I don't want to have to cross any more names off that wall!"

"You really think banishing us is going to solve anything?" Teresa questions, shaking her head.

"No. But this isn't a banishing. It's an offering." Gally says lowly, glancing between the two girls as their eyes widen.

"You shank!!" Blake yells, thrashing in Minho's 'grip. "I'll kill you!!" The small brunette seethes as Minho pushes her up against the pole gently, tying her arms above her head. Quickly slipping a small knife into Blake's hands as he ties them, Minho sends her a small nod as he steps back.

"What...What?" Teresa shakes her head, pushing against the other boy as he ties her hands over her head. "Wait! Gally, what are you doing?"

Gally scoffs as he quickly spins around to face both girls for different reasons. "You really think I'm gonna let Thomas back into the maze after what he's done!"

"You fucking shank!" Blake yells, thrashing in her restraints.

"Look around you! Look at our glade! This is the only way!" Gally says, nearing Blake. "I didn't want to do this to you, Blake—But you left me no choice. And when the grievers get what they came here for, everything goes back to the way it was."

"Are you really listening to this shank?" Blake yells, looking between the boys behind Gally in disbelief.

"Why are you all just standing there!" Teresa yells

"He's fucking crazy!" Blake continues shouting, growing angrier by the second as Gally walks up to stand a few inches away from the small brunette. "Shut up, Blake! I'm sick of hearing you talk!"

Behind the boy, Gally turns to a fuming, Minho, Newt, and Frypan all glaring holes into the side of the boy's head, the anger visibly rising from the three boys, making the air grow impossibly thick with tension.

Nobody gets to disrespect their favorite girl.

Trying to control his breathing and the rage flowing through his body so he still appears unconscious, Thomas squeezes his eyes shut impossibly tighter, seeing stars dancing in his vision.

"Get the hell away from her." Minho yells angrily, not liking the way Gally is lingering around his best friend.

"Oh hush, Minho, you're just pissed your little girlfriend is about to die." Gally taunts, pressing his lips together as he spins around to face the angry keeper.

"If you stay here, the grievers are gonna come back!" Teresa speaks up, taking the attention away from Blake, who finally rips her glare away from the builder.

"Shut up!" Gally snaps, turning to Teresa.

"They're gonna come back? And they're gonna keep coming back until you're all dead." Teresa continues, trying to stall.

Gally shakes his head violently as he angrily shouts at Teresa again. "Shut up! Tie him up!" He points to Thomas.

Turning around to realize the boys haven't moved to grab Thomas, Gally's face scrunches in confusion. "Did you hear me?! I said tie him up!"

The boys around the builder slowly move to grab 'unconscious' Thomas by the arms and lift him, but suddenly, Thomas slams his elbow into one of the boys ' torsos, resulting in him dropping Thomas back to the ground with a grunt.

Taking the pole and shoving the boy down, Thomas gets the upper hand as Newt whips his knife out, pointing it at anyone who tries to stop them. Teresa kicks the guard in front of her in the groin, making him double over as Minho rushes to Blake's side, quickly helping her get free as she cuts through the restraints above her.

Raising his fist above his head to stop the small brunette, Gally freezes mid-air as cold metal rests on his back.
Slowly turning around, Gally frowns as Minho points the machete at the builder, daring him. "Try me." Minho cocks his head to the side, nodding to Blake as Newt ushers the small girl behind him to safety.

"Why am I not surprised you would be the one to give Blake a knife." Gally scoffs, shaking his head as he turns to the girl who grips her small pocket knife tighter. "You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

"You don't have to come with us, but we're leaving." Thomas shakes his head, aiming the spear at Gally. Reaching behind him and grabbing the girl's machete in his pack, Minho tosses Blake the more efficient weapon. Catching the handle of the machete with ease, Blake spins her favorite item around before pointing it towards Gally, letting her lips pull into a taunting smirk.

"Anyone else who wants to come, now's your last chance!" Thomas yells, looking between the few boys behind the builder, obviously debating on switching sides.

"Don't listen to him." Gally warns, shaking his head.

"No, I'm not trying to scare you. You're already scared. Alright, I'm scared. But I'd rather risk my life out there than spending the rest of it in here. We don't belong here. Okay? This place is not our home. We were out here. Okay. We are trapped here. At least out there, we have a choice; we can make it out of here. I know that.." Thomas admits softly, looking between the boys as some of them shift uncomfortably.

After a moment, Winston and Jeff slowly make their way over to the group, whispering sorry to Gally as they pass.

Gally looks around the boys, as only a few stand behind him; turning back towards the maze, the builder glares at the large group.

"Gally, it's over. Just come with us." Thomas pleads, waiting for the boy to answer.

"Good luck against the grievers." Gally scoffs, turning on his heels.

Pressing his lips together before nodding, Thomas turns towards the group and ushers them towards the maze.

(Badly rewritten till this point. Just fixing the grammar and smoothing out sentences and descriptions. After I finish rewriting these last two chapters I plan on going back through the whole book to rewrite descriptions and make everything flow better.)

The group runs through the maze as they cross the different sections. Blake eyes the familiar numbers, flipping them each off as she runs by, causing a smile to form on Minho's lips as they run. Never gotta see this place again.

The group runs past the blades as they come to a stop around the corner, by the place the runners had found the 'griever nest' as Minho liked to call it.

Blake leans up against the wall between Minho and Thomas as Thomas looks over the corner to quickly turn back.

"Griever?" Blake asks

"Yeah." Thomas says

"Shit."

"Take this, Chuck. Stay behind us." Minho says, handing the key over to Chuck.

"Just stick with me." Terese says with a smile, squeezing Chuck's shoulder for comfort.

"Once we're through, it'll activate the doors to open. All right, we stay close, we stick together, we get through this. We get out now—or we die trying" Thomas says confidently

"Ready?" He asks the group as they all nod.

Blake takes her knife back out of her pack, sliding it out. She nods at the boy in front of her.

"Let's go!" Thomas yells as the rest of the teens scream from behind him, all sprinting towards the griever with a newfound confidence.