If There Is A Light

Chapter 56

Newt had gravitated towards the opening of the maze, once a faint alarm sounded. It was barely audible so for a few moments it was only him waiting on Thomas and Minho to rejoin the Glade. Shortly after the alarm, there was quite a lot of rumbling and following that a series of crashes and loud bangs. Needless to say, it did not take very long at all for the other Gladers (at least a good few of them) to join Newt.

"What the hell is going on out there?"

"The hell you done now, Thomas?" Gally's version of Newt's question was a little more vicious and directed to only one of the runners (neither of which had stopped rather than just started walking instead of running).

"We found something, a new passage. We think it could be a way out." Thomas at that point was not put off by Gally's tone and accusation. Instead he ignored it and focused on Newt.

Newt was... impressed and intrigued and dangerously hopeful. "Really?"

"It's true." Not that Newt did not believe Thomas, but it sounded much better coming out of Minho's mouth (if anyone knew their way around the maze it would be him), "We opened a door, something I'd never seen before. I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day."

"Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Chuck had been struggling to keep up with the older boys in front of him, "You're saying you found the Grievers' home? And you want to go in?" The kid had a point.

"They're way in could be our way out, Chuck." Newt supposed Thomas had a point too, but if he were being honest his plan did sound just a wee bit mental. Of course, no more so than willingly being held captive when there was a chance of escape.

"Yeah, or there could be a dozen Grievers waiting on the other side. The truth is, Thomas doesn't know what he's done, as usual."

"Yeah, at least I did something, Gally. Yeah, what have you done? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?" Thomas was now turned around and confronting Gally directly. Newt knew this would end badly, but the Glade had never been a dictatorship and there was nowhere in the rules where it said: thou shall not have a disagreement with another Glader. It would be best to see how it played out and intervene only when necessary.

"Let me tell you something, Greenie. You've been here three days, all right? I've been here three years-"

"Yeah, you've been here three years and you're still here, Gally! All right, so what does that tell you? Maybe you should start doing things a little differently."

"Maybe you should be in charge, what about that?"

Newt was not too proud to admit that he was caught up in the two boys' argument, but he supposed that was kind of part of his job now. He did not notice Teresa walk towards the group of Gladers who were gathered in a rather crooked circle around Thomas and Gally. "Hey! Hey! It's Alby!" She waited until she finally had everyone's attention, "He's awake."