"I think she's dead."

VI ~ Harriet

Disclaimer: all characters apart from Peyton and Alex belong to James Dashner.

"As leader of the Gladers, I declare this Gathering begun," Alby said, his voice silencing the Keepers. "We all know why we're here, I assume?"

"Two Gatherings in two days," Winston said. "I'm guessing it has to do with those shanks." He pointed at the Icers.

"Why are they back? I thought they were going into the Maze and 'Not coming back,'" Gally mocked.

"We were, until Sonya got stung." Harriet crossed her arms. "So now we're waiting until she gets better."

"And if she doesn't? If we have to Banish her?" Gally asked.

"'Banish her'?" Harriet asked. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It's when we have to throw someone into the Maze just before the Doors close, and no one survives a night in the Maze." Gally looked at Newt and Alby expectantly. Alby sighed.

"Sometimes, when someone goes through the Changing, they're..." He thought about what to say. "...not the same as they were before."

"What do you mean?" Harriet seethed.

"He means they go crazy and try to kill people," Gally said bluntly.

"What?"

"It's only happened once, don't worry."

"But it still happened!" Aris yelled. He and Harriet started walking out of the council room, but Newt stopped them.

"We won't let that happen, don't bloody worry," he said calmly. "It only happened once."

"And? How can you be sure that won't happen to Sonya?" Aris asked. "How can we be sure that you guys aren't going to purposefully kill her to get rid of us?"

"Why would we do that?"

"So you can scare us into not going back out there and keep us here to seduce us," Harriet said angrily. "We all know what you Gladers intentions are. You've never seen a girl before, then three of them show up in your stupid Glade. Now we're stuck here while you slowly kill Sonya and you're trying to tell us that she might not get better and we'll have to throw her into the Maze to die?"

"That's not what we're saying." Newt's voice wavered.

"Oh yeah? Then what are you trying to say?"

The Gladers were silent, not knowing what to say. Harriet sighed.

"Look, I became leader of the Icers when Ximena died. I hardly knew what I was doing when Aris came. No one knew what to do about the fact that a boy showed up, and everyone looked to me for answers I didn't have. Then bad things started to happen to the Icers and no one knew why, and whoever was left of the Icers left the Spring. We got up and left the home we'd had for three years, still grieving about everyone that died, not knowing how far we'd make it - if we survived at all. I'm still learning about this whole leadership thing, and since I don't know who I can trust, I take the route I think is best: Don't trust anyone." Harriet kept her eyes on the floor. "Then we show up here, surrounded by boys when we've only seen one for as long as we can remember, and you guys claim to have a story identical to ours? Now can you see why I'm hesitant to trust you?"

"We understand where you're coming from-" Ably began. He was cut off by the leader of the Icers.

"Do you though?" she asked, taking a step forward. "Three years ago, I showed up in the Spring and spent the next three years with people who recently died right in front of me. I could've saved them, but I was too scared to. Not anymore. I'm not letting another Icer die before I do."