THE MAZE RUNNER • labyrinth

31 : let's go shank

gally heard his name being mentioned and walked over to them. he inspected her two wood pieces and crossed his arms. "it'll do," he shrugged and walked away. he was clearly angered that he didn't get to tease her about the wood.

hayley sighed with relief and hugged ashton. "thank you! thank you! thank you! you literally saved me from torture."

ashton hugged back tightly, like he knew her for a very long time and smiled his usual boyish smile. "hey, that was all you. i just stood next you."

"still," she said, pulling away to look at him. "i probably wouldn't have done it if you weren't there standing next to me. i'm glad i met a builder who doesn't hate me. plus that wasn't the only time you've saved me. you intervened when gally was about to do whatever it was he was going to do. no one else did. i owe you, ashton."

"tell you what," he said. "give me your piece of dessert during supper and we'll call it even."

she grinned and nodded. "deal."

after two hours of cutting wood pieces, she finally managed to gather 30 boards which was what gally had wanted. ashton stayed with her for a little, before leaving to join the others. she was the last one to finish her share and the builders were gathered around in a circle, cheering on two people in the middle.

haley set down her axe and walked over to see what was happening. she couldn't get passed the 6 ft boys and she certainly couldn't see passed them. she dropped down to her knees and crawled through their legs. for once she was happy to be smaller than everyone there. she weaved through their legs until she reached the front.

she stood up and brushed off her jeans, which didn't make a difference, they were still horribly dirty. she glanced up to see gally and ashton pushing each other. her eyes widened and was about to jump in and stop them when a boy beside her yelled, "get him out of the circle, gally!"

she looked down to find a white circle around them and everyone else was standing outside the line. this was a game. it looked like the first person to leave the circle lost the game, claiming the other champion. she thought it just looked like a giant waste of time.

ashton fell down right in front of her, making her and everyone else jump back. there was blood trickling down from his lip and sweat glazed on his forehead.

she kneeled down beside him. "what are you doing? are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"it's a game, shank," gally said from inside the circle. he looked perfectly fine compared to ashton. the only wounds gally had were from when newt attacked him during the gathering.

"oh really?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "you think hurting someone is a game?"

"hayley, don-" ashton began to say but she was already standing up and walking into the circle.

gally chuckled as he watched her enter the circle. "you're going to try and beat me?" he taunted.

"i'm not going to try," she said strongly. "i am going to beat you."

her heart was beating rapidly. she knew she didn't really have a chance, but she would rather play than watch her new friend get beaten down. she cringed whenever she saw the blood on his face. soon, hers would look like that too.

gally's face reddened and his eyebrows furrowed together. he pushed up his sleeves, giving her a clear view of how muscular he was.

"let's go shank."

normally i would've combined the next chapter with this one to make it longer, and deleted the next chapter but i don't want to lose the comments from the old version of this book. i'm conflicted.

please please please vote guys!
this story is getting the reads but not the votes.
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