One of Us [Maze Runner]

grieving to keep the grievers away. (13)

As soon as she knew it, Alaynah and the others were outside the maze, waiting for the runners, who came out 2 minutes later of the gladers being here.

Newt, the mother of the glade, was the first one to speak. "What the hell's going on out there?"

"Hi, Tommaso and Queen-ho." Alaynah said. Everyone started walking, so Alaynah followed.

Thomas nodded towards Alaynah's direction (probably gesturing 'hi') while Minho looked at her, whispering, "Hey, shank."

"What the hell have you done now, Thomas?" Gally interjected.

"Shut up, Gally." Alaynah told him. Gary looked like he wanted to flip her off with the middle finger. It sucked to be him right now.

"We found something, a new passageway. We think it could be a way out." Thomas replied. "A way out of the maze."

Newt looked like he couldn't believe it. "Really?"

Minho spoke up. "It's true. We opened a door, something I've never seen before."

Alaynah huffed. "Awesome. Cool. Mind-blowing. This is boring."

"I think the door we opened must have been where the grievers were going the other day." Minho ignored her.

Chuck butted into the conversation. "Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you saying you found the grievers' home?.. And you want us to go in?"

Minho was smiling for whatever reason, and Thomas answered the question. Alaynah found this boring, probably because she knew it all. She was the All-Knowing. "Can we talk about something else? Guys, I've got a riddle. When is a door not a door? When it's ajar. Everyone has it, but no one can lose it. What am I? A shadow." She looked at Thomas, who looked back.

Thomas responded to Chucks question. "Their way in could be our way out, Chuck. Also, Alaynah, this is not boring. This could change our lives."

Gally had to ruin it, though. "Yeah, or the griever hole could have a dozen grievers on the other side."

"Gally. No one wanted to hear your mouth speak. Tell it to shut up, Eyebrows Man. Gally, your eyebrows aren't straight. They're gay." Alaynah may have been making cringe insults right now, but she was actually annoyed a lot.

"Oh, shut up, Alaynah. It's always you or Thomas causing destruction. You two don't even know what you're doing. And you, Alaynah, you're the one who's always laughing, and you're carefree. Why can't you just act normal? You're not funny." That did hurt... a lot, even though it was true. It was 100% true.

"Yeah, well, at least she did something, huh? She survived the maze. And I think I've found a way out, so stop ruining it." Alaynah stayed quiet this time. "What have you done, huh? Besides hiding behind the walls the entire time."

"You two have been here for what? Three days? Well, I've been here for 3 years." Gally hissed.

"Yeah, you've been here three years, and you're still here! So maybe that says something." Thomas silenced Gally.

Teresa's quiet voice spoke up. She was walking towards them. "Guys. Hey, it's Alby!" Everyone turned to look at her. "He's awake."

***

"Has he said anything?" Someone asked.

"No." Teresa replied. She looked at Alaynah. The tension between them wasn't too bad. Alaynah just gently smiled at her, and Teresa smiled back.

Neet walked up to him. "Alby. Alby. Are you all right?"

Alby didn't respond at all. Thomas took his chances and walked up to him. "Hey, Alby." He crouched. "Alby, we might have just found a way out of the maze. Do you hear me? We could be getting out of here."