The Maze Runner (my version)

Chapter 20

Thomas's POV

I was sore. I opened my eyes. And saw Teresa's face. "Hey," A warm smile spread across her face. "Are you okay?" 

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck's voice. I sat up. There were bars, and behind the bars were Newt, Minho and Chuck. And Blair was not there. Disappointment spread along my body. It was now morning and bright. "What happened?" I asked. 

"Gally's taken control." Newt said in a flat voice. "He said we had a choice. Either we join him... or get banished at sundown with you." They looked down, tiredly. I rotated and groaned. My back was stiff. "And the others agreed to that?" I asked. My whole question was about Blair. If she really cared about me, she would've been here. "Gally has everyone convinced, that you're the reason all this happened." Teresa said. I nodded and swallowed. I remembered my memories. 

"Well, he's been right so far." I said. Newt and Minho looked confused. 

"What are you talking about?" Minho asked.

"This place... it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison, it's a test." I glanced around. " It all started when we were kids. They would give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us." I looked at Teresa. She looked close to tears and frightened. "And then people started disappearing." I continued. "Every month, one after the other, like clockwork." 

"They were sending them up into the Maze." Newt realised. 

"Yeah, but not all of us." I said. They looked confused again.

"What do you mean?" Newt asked. I stared back at them. The shame was heavy, it was almost impossible to get the next words out. 

"Guys, i'm one of them." I said. "The people who put you here, I worked with them." I glanced at Teresa. She stared back at me with watery, blue eyes. "I watched you guys for years." Newt and Minho looked away from me. The response I expected. The disgust and shame I felt. "The entire time you've been here... I was on the other side of it." Teresa looked down and back up. "So were you. " I said to her. Her face looked sad, and broken. 

"What?" She said. 

"Teresa, we did this to them." She started shaking her head and the tears in her eyes welled. 

"No." She said. "That can't be true." She looked down. A tear slipped down her cheek. 

"It is. I saw it." I told her. More tears spilled down. 

"Why would they send us up if we were with them?" Her voice cracked. 

"It doesn't matter." I shook my head and looked down. 

"He's right. It doesn't matter." Newt said. I looked up. "Any of it. Because the people we were before the Maze, don't even exist anymore. These creators took care of that." I glanced at Teresa. She looked ashamed. "But what does matter is who we are now, and what we do...right now." 

I kept my gaze on Newt. "You went into the Maze, and you found a way out." His gaze was heavy. 

"Yeah, but if I hadn't, Alby would still be alive." I said, sadly. He just stared. 

"Maybe." The gaze was getting intense and sad. Alby was gone and dead, because of me. And Zart. And most of the boys were gone. Because of me. And Chuck could've been too. "But I know that if he were here, he would be telling you the exact same thing." I was stunned. Newt was giving me a serious talk, while Gally could be planning to kill me. "Pick your ass up and finish what you started." I looked down, trying not to smile. He never swore. I kept a serious expression on. "Because if we do nothing... then that means Alby died for nothing, and I can't have that." I looked back at him, sadness and regret weighing me down. I just couldn't get over the fact that Alby was dead. I nodded. "Okay." I thought of the obstacles we had to go through to escape. "Okay, but we gotta get through Gally first." And Blair was with Gally. LIke I wouldn't notice them holding hands yesterday. Anger panged in my chest. At myself, at Gally, and at Blair. I didn't want to hurt Blair, if she didn't want us to leave. But I would do anything to get these guys out here, and myself.