Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

32. Gally's fear

"What was that about?" asked Minho at one point, but I could only shrug my shoulders.
"He's not quite clean anymore, is he? We're not supposed to have looked properly? I'm sure the maze is thinking it'll just open up somewhere, for sure. Such a slinthead."
"Minho!" I admonished him in dismay.
"What? He threatened to banish us if we said anything! Is that all right with you?!"
"No... But the bad thing is, I wouldn't even put it past him. That's why I don't feel much like messing with him. Or would you like to meet a Griever?"
Again we were silent. At some point we left the hut and made our way to dinner. We were the first and Fry Pan sat down with us.
"Are you all right? You found Alfred's things today, didn't you?" he asked anxiously.
I nodded and continued eating silently.
"I'm really sorry about what happened to him. If there's anything I can do for you..."
"Thank you, Pan, that's sweet of you, but we'll be fine." I smiled gratefully at him.
"If there's anything you want to do for me, try making that cake you made a few months ago again, Fry." I looked up and saw Gally walking towards us with his builders in tow. My mood lifted a little when I saw him and I scooted a bit so he could sit next to me.
He seemed to sense that something was up and sent his boys to another table without asking what was going on. I smiled at him and waited for him as I had already finished eating.
"Shall we go for a walk together?" he asked me and I nodded.
"Let's go for a swim," I suggested abruptly.
So we made our way to the lake.
Once there, I took off my shirt and shorts and slowly entered the pleasant water. Gally did the same and when we were so deep in that I could barely stand we were silent for a while at first until I broke the silence.
"Nick doesn't think Minho and I are doing our job properly enough."
Gally looked at me in confusion. "Excuse me? What makes him think that?"
I shrugged my shoulders as I let the water make little waves with my hands.
"You guys are doing great. What happened to Alfred wasn't your fault, you know that too, right?"
"Yes, I know that. But it's also more about the fact that we haven't found an exit, yet. Alby told us he's all tense right now anyway."
I tried to tell him as much as I could without saying that we were sure by now that there was no exit.
But then Gally said something that both astonished and frightened me.
"I don't think there is an exit you could find. And I think that's a good thing, too."
I looked at him with wide eyes. I agreed with the first part, but that he didn't want to find an exit at all - how could he think like that?
"Gally..." I began, but he interrupted me.
"I know what you're thinking now. I'm stupid for saying something like that. But think about it. What if we get out of here? How do we know there's anything out there for us to find? Who's to say there's no one waiting for us there, only to lock us up again? We're doing good here, we have food, drink and above all each other. Imagine someone separating us out there. Imagine someone dying out there."
"We die in here too," I groaned and he fell silent. "How can you not want to know what's out there, Gally? How can you not care why they locked us in here? Don't you even want to remember before?"
"I remember everything that matters." He looked at me piercingly. "And I actually thought you were happy here, too."
"I am... But we can't stay here forever, locked up and with no memories. You have to see that, too."
He just shrugged his shoulders. Again we were silent until I decided to leave the water.
I slipped into my clothes and was about to leave when he held me. Expectantly, I turned around and looked up at him. We stared at each other for a moment before he broke the silence.
"I understand what you mean when you say you don't want to stay here forever. But I think that's the difference between us. If it was up to me, we'd stay here forever, most of us could leave for all I care, under whatever circumstances -" here he paused for a moment because I gave an indignant snort - "The main thing is that I have you with me and maybe Fry and Minho and a few others who are all right. I'm just scared that there's something out there waiting for us that we can't control and they'll separate us or do something worse to us than the maze, you know?"
I nodded slowly, still processing everything he had said.
"Well, you'll probably get your wish and we'll actually never get out of here. Just know that this is not a punishment for me, of course. But you're right, that's what makes us different. I would like to find an exit. That's also the reason why I run into this maze every day and run the risk of being caught and stung or possibly even killed by a Griever."
For another time we were silent and just looked at each other.
"We should get some sleep. I have to get out there early again tomorrow or Nick will give us hell. Come on, let's go back."
Gally nodded and got dressed again before we made our way together to the keeper's huts. We stopped in front of his and I hugged him to let him know once again that I was really glad to have him. Because if I was honest, my biggest fear was losing him or Newt one day. And I didn't want Gally to think that I saw it as a punishment to have to live here with him.
He pressed me against him and I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying his warmth. Then we disengaged from each other again and wished each other a good night.
I slipped quietly into my hut and could already hear Minho breathing calmly. Just like me, he seemed to have decided to go to bed on time in order to go out into the maze early again tomorrow.
As silently as possible, I lay down on my cot and curled up before I too fell asleep. When I wasn't lying next to Newt, I found it a little harder, but today I was especially tired from the exciting day, so it didn't take long for me to slowly slip into a restless sleep.
27 months and 12 days.