Why Can't I Hate You?

~15~

Me, Newt, and Minho sat at the door of the slammer, which Teresa and Thomas were shut in. Thomas still hadn't woken up.  

The sky was bright now, and the wreckage of the glade looked even worse. Smoke drifted into the air, casting a gloomy shadow over us.

"Hey." Teresa said, but not to us. Thomas finally opened his eyes and started to sit up.

"What happened?"

"Gally took over. He said we had to join him or get banished at sundown with you." Newt explained.

"He has everyone convinced you're the reason all this has happened." I bit the inside of my cheek.
 
"Well, he's been right so far."

"What are you talking about?" Newt asked.  

"This place, it's not what we thought it was. It isn't a prison. It's a test. It all started when we were kids. They would give us these tests, and they were experimenting on us. Then people started disappearing every month like clockwork."

"They'd send them up into the maze."

"Guys, I'm one of them." His voice cracked."All this time you've been here, I was on the other side of it. " Then he looked at Teresa."So were you."

"What?"

"Teresa, we did this to them."

A tear fell from her glistening eye, down her pale cheek. "No, no, it can't be true."

"It is, I saw it."

"Why would they send us up if we were with them?"

"I don't know, but It doesn't matter."

"Thomas is right." Newt chimed in."It doesn't matter. None of that matters, who we were before the maze they're gone now. What matters is who we are now and what we do now. You went in the maze and found a way out."

"But if I didn't, Alby might still be alive."

The very mention of Alby's name sent chills down my spine.

"Maybe, but I know if he were here, he'd be saying the exact same thing. Pick up your arse and finish what you started. Otherwise, he died for nothing, and I can't have that."

"So what do we do? Gally's planning to banish them." Minho pointed out.

"Get Chuck and Fry to gather weapons." I told him."We can attack him by surprise, and anyone who wants to join us can."

Minho nodded, then jogged off to find Chuck.

"Thomas, I suggest you play dead."

"Dead?"

"Well," I grinned. "Sick."

Teresa was forced to walk to the maze, and Thomas, playing sick, was dragged by his arms and flung to the ground.

"Gally." Winston held his arms to the air."This doesn't feel right, man."

"Yeah, what if Thomas is right. What if he can lead us home." Jeff said.

"We are home." He pointed to the wall."I don't wanna cross any more names of that wall."

"And you think banishing us is gonna do anything?" Teresa sneered.

"No, because this isn't a banishing. It's an offering."

"What? Gally!" She was dragged to the wooden pole in front of the maze, her hands tied above her head."What are you doing!"

"Look at our glade! They did this. The grievers will take them, and everything will go back to the way it was."

"Are you listening to this? Why are you all just standing there he's crazy!"

Newt swiped his jaw twice. That was the signal to get ready. I gripped the handle of my knife from my trousers.

"Will you shut up."

"The grievers are going to come back  and they're gonna keep coming back until you're all dead!"

"Shut up! Tie him up, " He ordered, but no one moved."Did you hear me? I said tie him up!"

Thomas got up and bunched the guy in the face. I swung around and jabbed my elbow into the person behind me, then ran over to Teresa to cut her free. Lining up in front of the maze, holding our weapons out, we had won.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Gally defeated.

"You don't have to come with us, but we are leaving." Thomas said.

"Don't listen he's just trying to scare you."

"No, I'm not trying to scare you. You're already scared, I'm scared. But I'd rather risk my life out there than spend the rest of it in here. Anyone else who wants to come with us now's your chance."

I looked over at Jeff, who was already looking at me. I prayed that he would move. The thought of leaving him here made my heart hurt. I'd be leaving him for dead.

He walked over and stood next to me, and I released my breath in relief. So did Winston, Clint, and some others.

"Gally. Just come with us, " I begged.

"Good luck against the grievers."

There was no changing his mind. We were wasting time standing here. So we set foot in the maze, Thomas at the front leading us to the way out. We stopped by a wall, and he peeked around the corner.

"Is there a griever?" Chuck asked.

Thomas nodded. "Alright, we can do this. We make it out, or we die trying.  LET'S GO!"

We charged towards the griever, which saw us and galloped towards us. Then we made an impact, slashing and stabbing at its blubbery body. Chuck had a hold of the key. We needed to get to the griever hole.

"Teresa! This way!" I pointed to her."Take Chuck."

She nodded, grabbing Chuck and steering him past the griever. Even though we outnumbered it, the griever was winning. It had already taken out two of us. That's when I spotted the ledge. "Push it over the ledge!"

They understood, and everyone began to force the beast towards the ledge. It was so close to falling, my arms were getting tired, but I refused to give in.

"PUSH IT!" Thomas yelled.

It fell into the abyss with a shriek. Exept the shrieking wasn't the griever. Chuck and Teresa were running back towards us, yelling behind.

More grievers. Not just a couple, loads of them. This was going to be a challenge.

"Thomas!" Teresa shouted."There's a code! Eight numbers!"

I slashed my knife into a metal leg. Clanging, but doing no damage. It was like armour.

"Minho! What's the sequence!"

"What?"

"The eight sections of the maze, what's the sequence!"

"Uhhh, 7! 1! 5!" He was so occupied with the griever in front of him and trying to shout out the code that he didn't see the griever above him. "2! 6!"

"Minho, look out!" I yelled.

It landed directly on top of him, his spear holding its mouth away from his face.

"MINHO!" Before I even had the chance to move, Jeff hollered forward, jabbing his spear deep into the grievers thick flesh.

I grabbed Minho's hand, pulling him out from underneath it. "4! 8! 3!" The grievers surrounded Jeff, taking him for prey.

"JEFF! NO!" I couldn't run. Minho had his arms locked around me. Jeff's cries stopped as quickly as they started.

The ground beneath me shook with impact. Behind us, the doors were closing, crushing the grievers beneath them. We all moved back into the griever hole. Thomas threw his spear into the last remaining griever before it was squashed.

Then the hole closed. Engulfing us in darkness.