Gally's laughter ran through my head.
I glared at him, tapping my foot on the ground. He thought my idea was ridiculous. Of course, so did half of the other Keepers. It was all I could do not to give them vulgar gestures. They didn't see why anyone would experiment with us; innocent teenagers who didn't remember anything. Well. Neither did I, but they couldn't come up with a better theory.
At least Newt took me seriously. And Minho. And the other half of the Keepers who weren't looking at me like I'd sprouted a pair of antlers. Mostly, the people I actually gave a shuck about. The others? I wouldn't particularly care if they all got eaten by Grievers. Really, I didn't see why we needed a Gathering for this. I didn't care whether the other shuck Keepers agreed with me. They all seemed to be idiots. If they weren't willing to listen to my theory, fine. Their loss. Did they not want to escape this place?
I supposed some of them didn't. It'd been their home for two years, after all.
"This is so stupid," Gally said for the hundredth time, and I shot a glare at him. He scoffed in return, shaking his head. Once again, I wanted to punch his annoying face.
"Get out, then," I said flatly. "If you're going to be useless, as usual, you might as well keep your bloody mouth shut."
Newt shot me a warning glare, while Gally fumed. I grinned at both boys and leaned back in my seat, swinging one leg over my other knee.
"But listen," Gally snapped. "Why would they experiment with us? What's so different about us?" He narrowed his eyes. "Wait a second. And you. Who are you? How do we know you're not trying to trick us? I belong in the Maze, shank. You're trying to trick us into leaving so we'll all get killed by Grievers--"
"That's ridiculous," I interrupted, casting him another dirty look. "Now do us all a favor and shut up."
He stood up. For a second, I thought he was going to walk over to me and punch me in the nose. He actually did take a few steps towards me. But he turned at the last moment and walked out of the Gathering, steam shooting out of his ears. I scoffed at his retreating back. Good riddance. He hadn't said anything useful.
At that moment, I hadn't known that I'd soon be following the shank. The other boys started uselessly arguing all over again. I'd already said all I'd needed to say, so after losing all my patience, I got up and walked out without a word.
After pacing outside for five minutes, not really knowing what I should do, I decided to go to the Deadheads, the tree area, where I'd never actually been before.
Alby had told me that the graveyard was at the back of it. The graves of people who had gotten killed by Grievers--apparently, the things always left the bodies by the Doors for the Gladers to find in the morning. And, I'd overheard Newt telling Thomas, the half-skeleton of a boy who had tried to go down the Box-Hole with a rope. Something had sliced through the air and cut the poor shank clean in half. Real pleasant.
Before going to the forest area, I nicked an apple from the kitchens.
Chuck would be proud.
Sniggering, I dashed from the Homestead as Frypan's footsteps sounded through the hallway.
As soon as I was among the trees, I sat down against one. It was peaceful here. Very unlike the rest of the Glade, where the sound of boys talking always drowned out everything else. There was also an ominous feeling hanging in the air. Perhaps it was knowing that there were dead corpses buried in the ground just a few yards from where I was sitting, but I felt like I was being watched. Then I scoffed and told myself off. It was impossible. Ghosts weren't real. At least, I hoped.
