Gladiolus ~ The Maze Runner

1~5: Heyyy One Question: What the Hell

Thomas

She had been in the Maze for three years. Three years ago, she had been taken from him. 

Now seventeen, Thomas had watched as Hanna welcomed the newest Greenie: Chuck. Thomas had seen him 12 hours ago, right before he was about to go into the Maze. Chuck was very, very, scared. 

Thomas had grabbed the younger boy by the shoulders and called him out of his thoughts.

"Chuck, buddy, hey," Chuck was too busy blabbering about being eaten by a Griever, "Dude look at me," Thomas said firmly. 

Chuck stopped talking and looked at Thomas earnestly.

"Hanna will take good care of you, I promise," Thomas said, holding Chuck's gaze. "Obviously, you're going to forget everything, including this conversation, but I promise you that she will help you out. It's going to be just fine. Newt and Alby will look out for you too. They all will. Okay?"

Chuck nodded hesitantly. Thomas continued, "Besides, I'll be watching you. Anything happens, I promise I'll take care of it."

Chuck brightened a bit at that and hugged Thomas tightly before leaving. That was the last Thomas had seen of Chuck until now, where he watched through the screen as Hanna comforted him and coaxed him out of the woods, where he had been hiding. She was so beautiful. Her eyes, her hair, her smile, her laugh, hell, even her crying face was perfect.

She wasn't supposed to even go into the Maze. She was the smartest kid in the program, smarter than even him and Teresa. Why they decided to throw her in there, he had no idea. He tried to find out, but WICKED kept it quiet. 

All they had said regarding her case was, "Open insubordination and a threat to our medical programs."

Whatever the hell that meant. He hated them. He hated everyone. He helped design the Maze because he thought that he could save the world. Now he was watching his friends suffer and die every day as a result. He watched her suffer and constantly try to save everyone with no regard for her own well-being. He wanted to be there with her. Comfort her, hold her, tell her everything would be just fine.

But he couldn't. And there was nothing he could do. He felt powerless. He had once asked Teresa why they were doing all of this. She gave no reply. Teresa was like that; she was always zoned in on her work and data. 

Losing her best friend, Hanna, to the Maze turned Teresa into a machine, constantly working and only focused on the task at hand: find a cure. She seemed to be used to watching the scene in front of her, but Thomas wasn't. He couldn't grow used to it. He was tired of watching everyone die.

This was his testimony to Mary Cooper, a woman working with the Right Arm. When she asked him why she would give him every last bit of WICKED's information, he laid all the cards out in front of her. 

His betrayal would ultimately destroy him. He did not care. What WICKED planned to do with him, he did not know. But when the sirens began blaring in the lab and the guards came for him, he didn't fight but was dragged out smiling. 

Teresa was shouting, trying to stop them, but Doctor Paige held her back. Thomas was rather elated at this new sense of rebellion. It was freeing. When he felt the jab of a syringe and heard the words, "Put him in there with the rest of 'em," his heart leapt excitedly. 

They were putting him in with her. His Hanna.

***

Hanna

I heard the Box siren ringing. I didn't bother leaving to join the others. I could welcome the Greenie later. Chuck, on the other hand, left his perch in the corner of the Med-jack hut and went to go watch. "You're not coming?" he asked me.