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

56. In court

When we reached the glade, we looked for Newt. We found him in the meeting hut, together with Gally. They seemed to be talking about something, but it didn't look like an argument. When we came in, they fell silent and looked at us questioningly.
Minho held out to Newt the flashing thing he had pulled out of the Griever.
"What's this?" he asked, turning it over in his hands.
"Yeah, we found this. It was in a Griever," Thomas explained and I saw Gally's expression change abruptly as he realised we had all been in the maze.
"These are the same letters we get on our supplies!" Newt noted, looking at us in amazement.
"WICKED," I nodded.
"Yeah. Whoever put us here obviously made the Grievers. And it's the first real clue, the first anything you've found in over three years, right, Minho, Anna?" Thomas asked excitedly.
Minho and I exchanged a look again. That wasn't quite true. We had long been sure that WICKED meant something, and also that the Grievers were sent by those we called the Creators. But none of us said anything.
"Right," Minho just said and nodded. We agreed that we should continue to keep our speculations to ourselves.
Now Thomas addressed Newt, who was still looking at the thing in his hand, directly.
"Newt, we got to go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us?"
Newt looked at him seriously, then looked over at me and then at Gally. The two exchanged a look and Gally looked at him uncomprehendingly.
"You see what he's trying to do, right? First he breaks our rules - and then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally? What...? The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me." He paused and now looked at us and then at Thomas. "This shank needs to be punished!"
Now he looked again at Newt promptly, who still looked seriously into space before looking at Thomas. The two looked silently into each other's eyes for a few seconds, then Newt handed the flashing something back to Minho and began to speak.
"You're right. Thomas broke the rules. One night in the pit and no food."
Now Gally was no longer calm. "Oh, come on, Newt! A night in the pit, you think that's gonna stop him from going into the maze?!"
"It can get pretty cold in there," I muttered and Minho had to stifle a laugh.
"No," Newt stated matter-of-factly. "And we can't just have non-runners running into the maze whenever they feel like it."
Thomas nodded and looked down at the ground. Gally crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at him expectantly, as we all did.
"So let's just make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're a runner."
At these words, Newt looked at us. We nodded in agreement.
There was silence for a moment, then Gally shook his head.
"Wow."
He made his way past us and was about to leave in a huff.
"Gally..." Fry Pan tried to hold him, but he slapped his hand away.
"No, Fry." With those words he left the meeting hut.
Fry Pan looked at me, seeking for help. "Anna..."
"Yes, Pan. I'm coming." I turned too and left the room behind Fry Pan.
At the door, I turned again and looked at Minho.
"Show him," was all I said, meaning the hut in the forest, before following Gally and Fry Pan out to the glade.
Once outside, we looked around searchingly. I saw Gally crossing the meadow at a fast pace, apparently on his way to his hut.
"Gally!" I shouted and ran after him, Fry Pan beside me. "Gally, wait!"
But my best friend paid no attention to me, just kept walking. I reached him and tried to cut him off. He made a beeline for me and this time I tried to hold him, but he slapped my hand away painfully.
I looked at him in horror. I had never seen him like that before.
When he still just wanted to keep running, I screamed so loudly that some gladers turned to us.
"Gally, for fuck's sake, slim it now, you shank!"
Now he stopped, but didn't turn to face us. We walked the few feet to him and I stood up in front of him, which wasn't impressive because I was almost two heads shorter than him.
"Now please calm down. Newt decided as he saw fit and Minho and I agree with him. Thomas is a good runner."
"Oh, is that what you think? The greenie is messing things up here and Newt is not only letting him do it - he's actually supporting him!"
Again he wanted to keep running, but this time I reached for his hands and held them. At that touch he stopped struggling and looked at me in anguish.
"Newt is just trying to find a way out of this maze, just like the rest of us. And Thomas is the first one who really seems to have found something."
Fry Pan, who had been standing silently beside us until now, now spoke up too. "Anna is right, Gally. I was also suspicious at first about this greenbean, but he seems all right. He wants to help us get out of here, man."
"You know we have no idea what's out there. At least here we're safe." Now he looked me in the eye and I could see he was scared. Gally was indeed afraid.
"But we have to at least try to find out, don't we?" I asked gently, squeezing his hands.
He didn't nod. He just looked at me and kept silent. I knew it wasn't easy for him to show us that he was afraid of something, but we were his two best friends. If he couldn't talk to us, who could he talk to?
He seemed to decide, though, that he didn't want to say anything more. Again he let go of my hands and tried to walk past us.
"Gally..." I tried one last time, but I didn't know what else to say.
"I just want to be alone for a bit." With those words he left us standing and disappeared into his hut.
"We tried," Fry Pan said, putting a hand on my shoulder. Then he muttered something about "checking on Chuck" and disappeared towards the kitchen.
I was left with my shoulders slumped.