Sanction -Minho-

Chapter 28

They never left Thomas's side. As a Med-Jack, Grace felt a responsibility to stay by his side. She had done the same with Alby. Deep down, Grace knew there was a different reason. Everyone in the Glade had turned on Thomas and Teresa. They willingly went along with Gally's plan to Banish them. He wanted to do the same to her, and people agreed. Grace didn't want to be near that.

So, she stayed by Thomas's side through the night. She dozed off a few times, Minho was there to catch her each time. He stayed by her side. He stayed awake.

It was morning now, or possibly mid-afternoon. Grace wasn't entirely sure. "Hey." It was Teresa. Grace looked up, her eyes on Thomas. He was finally awake. "Are you okay?"

He stared at Teresa, blinking a few times. He then looked at them. "What the hell were you thinking?" The question came from Chuck.

Thomas sits up, a confused look on his face. "What happened?" A lot had happened.

"Gally took control," Newt explained. "He gave everyone a choice. We can join him or get Banished at sundown with you two."

Thomas groaned as he stood up. "And everyone agreed with that?" He quickly sat back down. Grace wasn't sure if agreed was the right word. They were scared. Grievers had killed over half the Gladers.

"Gally convinced everyone that you're the reason this happened," there was sadness in Teresa's voice.

"Well." Thomas rubbed his hands on his pants. "He's been right so far."

That wasn't what Grace expected Thomas to say. "What are you talking about," Minho questioned.

"This place," Thomas stared up at them. "It's not what we thought it was." Grace listened carefully. She wanted to know what the Glade truly was. "It's not a prison. It's a test." For some reason, that didn't surprise her. "It started when we were kids." Thomas went into more detail. "They would give us challenges. They were experimenting on us." It was a lot for all of them to process. "Then people started disappearing." Birds chirped in the distance. "One after the other, like clockwork."

"They were being sent into the Maze," Newt realized.

"Yeah, but not all of us."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm one of them." Grace wasn't sure how she felt. "The people who put you here, I was with them. I worked with them." They remained silent. "I watched all of you for years. The entire time, I was behind it." The brunette looked at Teresa. "We both were."

Teresa shook her head. She didn't want to believe it. "What?" Grace looked between them.

"Teresa, we did this to them."

"No." There were tears in her eyes. "That can't be." Grace knew she should be angry, but she wasn't. Teresa and Thomas were who they were, that much was true, but Grace had no idea who she was. She could have been one of them, or something worse. Who they were before didn't matter. That was gone. Grace trusted Thomas. He helped Minho survive in the Maze. He went back for her in the Med-Jack hut when everyone else ran from the Grievers.

"It is," Thomas said. "I saw it."

Teresa was still trying to process what she had learned. "Then why were we sent up here?"

"It doesn't matter."

"You're right," Newt spoke up. Grace glanced at him. "It doesn't matter. Any of it." They all listened to what he had to say. "The people we were before the Maze are gone. They don't exist. The Creators took care of that. What matters is who we choose to be and what we do right now." Grace agreed with Newt. "You went into the Maze and found the way out."