Time passed. It could have been minutes or hours. I'd never know.
We ended up in a room somewhere, with bunk beds. Real beds. With mattresses and sheets and blankets everything. Then those guys who "rescued" us brought us food. Pizza. When I saw it, I nearly died. Actual, hot, gooey, pizza.
Whatever all of us were thinking, Minho said it all in seven words. "I've been shucked and gone to heaven."
And whatever was going to happen next, none of us particularly cared at the moment.
I lay in bed. Alone. The people had separated me from the boys for whatever reason, locked in a separate room. I thought it was ridiculous. I'd been living with them for... What was it, weeks? Months? I didn't know. It felt like I'd known them my entire lives. I sighed and turned, the mattress making a groaning sound under me. I missed Newt. I missed Minho and Thomas.
And I missed Chuck.
The poor kid.
Why had Gally done that? Why had he followed us? Mostly, why had he tried to stop us? The Maze is my home, he'd said. Sure. I wouldn't have minded if he'd stayed in the Maze. It would have done all of us good. But why had he tried to stop us? And why kill an innocent boy while doing it?
After hours, I managed to shove thoughts of Chuck and Gally out of my head. Despite them, I knew that we'd succeeded in more than way. We'd escaped the Maze, like we were always meant to. I'd gotten Newt out. The thought brought a tiny smile to my face. It vanished as suddenly as it'd appeared. For all I knew, this could be another test. I might never see him again.
I wish I'd told him what was tearing up my heart from the inside out.
What I felt for him, the searing fire that scorched my blood whenever I looked at him, the fiery passion that burned through my veins, was inexplainable. Deep down, I knew we weren't safe, despite the warm beds and food. And I knew dark days were ahead. The experiment wasn't over yet. It couldn't be. They were going to separate us to find their cure. I should have told him. Three words, struggling to break free from their cage. The locked cage that was my heart. The words that had always been there. The words I hadn't realized were true until that night...
I wanted to cry, let my tears pour until all that was left of me was a shriveled shell. But I didn't. I was strong, unbreakable. I wouldn't shatter. Not now, when I'd endured so much. When I'd gotten my friends out of a prison they'd been in for years.
I was still lost. Lost in a maze--not the physical one we'd escaped--but a maze of conflict, of feelings, of things I could never put into words.
But with each passing day, I got closer to finding the way out.
