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

62. Chaos

At some point the gladers stopped screaming and the sounds of the Grievers also became quieter and quieter, as if they were retreating and disappearing back into the maze. Gally carefully straightened up, his arms still wrapped around me, and then peeked out of the flap of the box.
"They're gone," he whispered, now helping me to climb out of the box.
It seemed as if everybody was gone, or rather dead. Fires were burning all over the glade and in their glow I could see motionless bodies lying in the grass. Victims of the attack.
We slowly crossed the glade and I only now noticed that the boys who were with us were Alex and Tim. Strictly speaking, though, I didn't care, all I could think about was Newt. And Chuck. And Minho.
Every body we walked past I looked at and prayed it wasn't one of them. When I recognised Zart, I put my hands over my mouth and had to stifle a sob. Gally put an arm around my shoulders again and led me on. Now I realised where we were heading to - the meeting hut, the place where he was most likely to expect survivors.
When we were only a hundred metres or less from it, a group of gladers stepped out of it. I immediately looked among them for those I wanted to find - and there I saw them.
Fry Pan, Thomas, Teresa, Winston, Clint, Jeff.... and Minho and Chuck. And finally I saw him too - Newt.
I broke away from Gally and ran, completely ignoring the fact that my back still hurt. Long before the other three reached the group, I fell into Newt's arms and kissed him as tears ran down my cheeks.
"I thought I'd lost you," I sobbed, taking his face in my hands.
"I'm here, I'm fine," he brushed a strand of hair out of my forehead. My makeshift scrunchie was gone and my hair was now loose.
Suddenly I heard quick footsteps coming closer and turned around.
Thomas said, "Gally..." but that was when the latter struck and hit him square in the face. Thomas fell to the ground and immediately we all tried to keep Gally away from him.
"This is all you, Thomas, huh?" he shouted and everyone talked in confusion in an attempt to calm him down. "Look around!"
"Back up! Back up, Gally! It's not Thomas's fault!" Minho shouted.
"You heard what Alby said, he's one of them!" Still he tried to break through our wall and take another swing at Thomas.
"Gally, please, calm down!" I shouted, somehow trying to get a grip on his hands, but he was flailing wildly. Newt held me tightly and pulled me aside a bit so I wouldn't get hurt.
"... He's one of them, and they sent him here to destroy everything, and now he has! Look around, Thomas, look around! This is your fault!"
"Hey, back off, Gally! This is not Thomas's fault!" But even Minho's words didn't help to calm Gally down.
"Calm down! Calm down. What are you talking about?" Fry Pan kept asking.
I looked at Thomas and realised too late what he was up to. He reached for something Chuck was holding, pointed its tip at himself and said something to Teresa before stabbing it into his stomach. - The sting of a Griever, I now realised.
"No, don't, what are you doing?" Chuck shouted.
"Thomas!" Teresa cried, and then, "Chuck, get the other syringe! It's okay. Thomas, I'm here."
We all rushed towards him, who was already on the ground, rolling his eyes as he passed out. While Chuck ran to the sani hut to get the needle with the antidote, we knelt beside Thomas and tried to keep him conscious, but he dozed off more and more until he was completely out.
I looked up and could see Gally standing next to Tim and Alex looking down at us, aghast.
"Why did you do that, Gally?" I asked loudly so that everyone could hear and look at me, standing up and walking slowly towards him. At that moment I felt nothing but anger towards him. "Why did you tell him it was his fault? Minho and I were just as much out there causing this shit! None of us wanted this to happen! Look around, everyone is dead! Our friends are dead! And we will be soon, if Thomas doesn't get us out of here, because I guarantee you won't. You're far too cowardly for that!" I literally spat the last words at his feet.
He stared at me in horror and I held his gaze, putting all the hate and anger I felt for him right now into my gaze. That was when I saw his eyes fill with tears before he turned and ran away. He literally fled from me.
I stayed behind and watched him go. Now I felt tears welling up in my eyes as Chuck came running up behind me and put the syringe in Teresa's hand.