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THAT MORNING, WHEN Atlas was getting ready to run out in the maze, he could tell something was off about that day.
and it was different than thomas's first day, no, this wasn't excitement, this was fear.
for the first time in 4 months, Atlas had felt fear.
he was running with Ben and Minho—Ben being one of the elder runners.
He kept glancing at Ben, seeing his sweaty, pale face. He was breathing heavily, and he looked like he was struggling.
Eventually, they sat down to eat lunch. Atlas backed up towards the wall, laying his head against it. He felt too anxious to eat.
Minho lightly kicked him with his foot. "What's eating you up?" he said, mouth full of food. Atlas winced, disgusted.
"Nothing just—thinking." he said, kicking a rock around. Ben suddenly stood up, like a rocket, before bolting down one of the corridors.
"Hey—what!?" Minho said, tugging Atlas up onto his feet.
"Cmon!" he said, turning and chasing ben down the maze hallway.
Atlas fell in step behind him, their line of sight getting cut off every now and again when he took sharp corners.
They kept a steady pace, and Atlas hadn't felt adrenaline like this before. his chest was burning and he struggled to breath. He kept pushing, eventually gaining traction next to minho.
they continued their chase, until eventually, Ben just—collapsed.
he took heaving, gasping breaths, trying to get back up. Minho pinned his arms to the ground.
"Just calm down!" Minho said. He tugged him up by the shirt.
"Cmon, Atlas, we're bringing him back to the glade." he said.
Atlas truly didn't know what to do when he wasn't running. right about now they'd would have been starting a new section of the maze for that day.
Newt met up with his outside the Map room.
"What happened out there?" he asked.
"I don't know. everything was fine when were were eating and then suddenly Ben just took off down a corridor. He wouldn't slow down and Minho and I had to chase after him." He said, glancing at the maze doors.
"Yeah, that's what Minho said. know what's wrong with him?" He asked. Atlas shook his head.
"It was crazy, it was like chasing a wild animal, i don't know how he didn't get tired, i couldn't breath after—"
but suddenly something cut him off. someone.
someone was screaming for help somewhere in the glade, Atlas turned quickly, running out of the forest.
Across the glade, he saw two people running, Ben and the greenie. Ben was chasing after Thomas, yelling, screaming something.
as atlas got closer, he began to make out pieces of words.
"It was you! i saw you!" And that sentence made Atlas stop cold in his tracks.
him? Ben had seen him too? but what did he do wrong?
Newt had eventually caught up to him, stumbling a bit, and stabilizing himself.
Ben had chased Thomas all the way out near the middle of the glade, and everyone had caught up to them.
One of the builders hit him over the head with a shovel, making him drop. Thomas scrambled away from him, behind the group.
Minho had gotten his hands pinned to the ground, and Newt ran up to hold his legs down.
Alby looked grimly onto the scene. "Pull his shirt up."
"What? no! i'm sorry! i'm sorry it was a mistake!" he cried, thrashing around. Minho pulled his shirt up, and what laid underneath made Atlas almost gag.
A large, open gash, dried blood around the edges of the wound. Large, black and blue veins, like tendrils on an octopus spirited from it, reaching and curling up around his upper torso. Ben sobbed fitfully.
"He's been stung? in the middle of the day?" Newt asked.
whispers surged around them.
Alby had a dark look on his face. "put him in the pit." he said, gesturing towards Ben. Minho nodded over gally, who tied up his hands and began walking him down to the pit.
"What—what's wrong with him?" Thomas asked. Alby shook his head, walking away from the scene. Newt got up, and walked Atlas away from it.
"What happens now?" he asked in a small voice, rubbing his hands up and down his arms.
Newt was quiet for a moment. "Well, he attacked another glader. I guess it really depends on what the keepers decide but, usually, it ends in banishment."
my phone doesn't have autocapilizaxtjon i'm literally going insane
