The Glade Walker

Chapter 15

The screen went hazy. Thomas turned to look over at an area- and sure enough, there lay Ava Paige. Dead. The room went silent, and the Gladers and Shailene just stood there.

There was a door nearby, and the Gladers made there way over to it.
"What do we do now? She said we were important?" Questions whispered throughout the room.
"I dont know." Thomas said. He took a step forward, and then a voice said "No."

The Gladers turned around. It was Gally. A gun was in his hand, shaking, pointing at Thomas. Chuck was beside him, looking frightened.
"We cant leave." Gally whispered. Tears streamed from his face, and his veins were popping out.
"He's been stung." Newt said. Shailene knew that must mean he got stung by a Griever.
"Gally, we made it. Come with us. We'll be safe. Just put down the gun" Thomas said calmly. Gally put his hand on the trigger.
"I belong in the Maze." He said, his lip quivering.
"We all do." And he pulled the trigger.

"No!" The boy- Chuck jumped in the way of the bullet and Thomas. It hit him- right in the heart. Gally dropped to his knees and sobbed.
"Chuck? Chuck! CHUCK! NO! Chuck, we made it! Come on! Get up!" Thomas was kneeling by Chuck, holding him in his arms, sobbing into his chest.
"Take.... This..." Chuck whispered. He handed him a wooden doll.
"No, Chuck. You're gonna give it to them. I promised you. I PROMISED!" Thomas tried to give it back, but Chuck resisted. He wheezed out his last breath, and stopped altogether.
"CHUCK!" Thomas screamed. Tears moistened Shailene's eyes as she saw Thomas in pain. Newt put a hand on Thomas's shoulder. Tears moistened in his eyes too, and Shailene was sure that she had never seen anyone look that sad.

The doors began to open. People began rushing into the room, grabbing the Gladers one by one. It was all a blur for Shailene, as she was dragged across the floor. She finally got up and began running with the other Gladers. Thomas refused to leave, sobbing and grabbing ahold of Chuck. Screams echoed throught WICKED headquarters as Thomas was dragged away. The only people who were left behind was Chuck and Gally.

Outside, desert was everywhere. The sun shown brightly above, and cast a bright glow from the sand. Newt grabbed Shailene's hand, and she took it gladly, and squeezed it.

There rescuers lead them over to a bus, which took them to a large building. WICKED HQ was far behind them, and the worst news was yet to come
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A man in a white suit told them something Shailene would never forget.
"You all have done well in surviving. Now, we will see who is the strongest of you. All of the friendships you had, must be forgotten in order to survive this Trial. You will all be put into an arena to fight to the death, and only 1 of you can come out alive. You will be placed with a partner which you can either become allies with or enemies with. Your choice. Your partners are:
Thomas and Shailene
Newt and Minho
Frypan and Winston
James and Stewart
Frank and Jack
Timmy and Jim..."
The list of names continued till everyone was placed in a pair of two.