I'm a Keeper (Gally and Thomas Fanfic) [#Wattys2016]

Chapter 18

"The doors, they aren't closing!"
Manon looked confused. "Wh-what does that mean?"
"If the doors aren't closing, that means—" Annabel hesitated.
"It means the shuck Grievers are gonna come in and devour us all."
Annabel saw Manon go rigid at the sound of his voice.
"Gally?" she breathed, turning around. "Gally, please, just listen to me, I can—"
"There's no time for explanations, okay? Just follow me."
Annabel saw the confusion on her friend's face, but she knew Gally was right. If the doors really weren't closing, they had to find shelter. And they had to find it soon.
"We should follow him," she whispered to Manon, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
Manon nodded absent-mindedly, and they followed Gally.
The closer they came to the Homestead, the louder the shouts of the Gladers became. Annabel could hear the panic in their voices.
"What are we supposed to do?" she heard a Glader ask.
"I think everyone is going to spend the night in the Homestead," another Glader replied. "But I don't think it matters," he added glumly. "The Grievers will find us anyway."
Annabel shook her head. How could they be so negative? Sure, the odds weren't exactly in their favour, but that didn't mean they didn't have a chance to survive the night.
"Bells?"
Annabel snapped out of her thoughts and saw Manon waving a hand in front of her. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
"Everyone has to go to the Homestead immediately. If we hurry, we might be able to get a good spot for the night."
Annabel nodded mutely and they walked to the Homestead together.

Night had fallen over the Glade, and it had gotten quiet in the Homestead. Everyone was huddled together and besides an occasional whisper, no one dared to speak. They were probably afraid the Grievers would hear them.
Annabel looked at the tense faces of the Gladers when she spotted Gally sitting a little further up ahead, staring her way. It was a sad stare, which confused her. She hadn't done anything wrong, had she? It took her a moment to realize Manon was sitting next to her, and that he was probably looking at her.
She glanced sideways and to her surprise saw Manon staring back at Gally.
"Talk to him," she whispered, nudging Manon.
"W-what?" Manon replied, sounding startled.
"You have to talk to him."
"But it's clear he doesn't want to," Manon retorted, her startled expression making place for a sad one.
"Yes he does, believe me on that."
Manon shrugged, clearly not planning on talking to Gally anytime soon.
"If you're not going to stand up yourself, I'm going to drag you to him."
"Fine, fine, I'll go." Manon stood up and carefully made her way to Gally.
Annabel let out a satisfied sigh and closed her eyes. That went better than expected.

"Annabel?"
Annabel opened her eyes and noticed Newt sitting beside her. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, realizing she had fallen asleep.
"Hi, Newt."
At the same time she felt someone put an arm around her. She didn't need to turn around, as she already knew it was Thomas.
"Sorry I didn't come to find you sooner," he whispered in her ear. "Had to help set up barricades around the Homestead.
Annabel nodded in response. She was glad he was with her now though. "What do we do now?" she asked curiously.
"We wait here until the wake-up," Newt said simply.
"Tomorrow we should explore the Maze again," Thomas said, eyeing Annabel.
"Why? Do you think an exit will miraculously pop up overnight?" Newt rolled his eyes.
"No, but I think that whoever sent us here wants it to end. That's why the doors didn't close tonight."
"I'm with Thomas," Annabel added. "First thing in the morning we need to assign people to study the maps full-time, while we go back in the Maze."
"Whatever," was all Newt replied.
A tense silence fell between them. Annabel wished she could comfort Newt, as it was clear he was upset about the whole situation, but she didn't quite know how.
Suddenly the silence was interrupted by an eerie moan coming from the Maze. It was almost immediately followed by the rolling clicks of a Griever.
Annabel perked up at the sound, as did most of the other Gladers.
Newt was the first one to rise, waving his arms wildly and putting a finger to his lips, shushing the room. He slowly tiptoed to the only window in the room, and peered outside through the cracks of three hastily nailed boards.
After a couple of seconds he pulled away. "Must be three or four of 'em," he whispered.
Annabel felt fear grip her heart as memories from the night out in the Maze with Manon swam in her mind. They were trapped like birds in a cage.
The clicks went on for a couple of minutes, until everything went quiet.
Annabel was frozen with fear. She was sure the Grievers were now outside the building. She shrieked when suddenly a metal arm stuck through the boards in the window and tore a board off, followed by another arm that did the same thing.
"We need to get out of here," Newt whispered, then yelled: "we need to get out of here!"
The next moments were a chaos as everyone stood up at once and huddled to the only exit.
"Everyone get to the woods," Newt yelled, not caring anymore if the Grievers heard him.
Annabel tried to get to the exit, but was roughly pushed to the wall. The wood of the wall grazed her skin, and she yelped in pain.
Someone grabbed her hand and before she knew it, she was forced though the door and felt the cold air whip through her hair.
"Thomas!" she yelled, but her voice got lost in the shouting of the other Gladers. She looked around frantically in search of her friends, but only saw Gladers move to the woods, and Grievers rolling and clicking her way.
"Manon, where are you?" Annabel tried once more, but she couldn't find a sign of her best friend. She spun around when she heard someone scream, and watched in horror as Thomas threw himself on a Griever.

~

A/N

Thank you all for reading and voting for my story!
I really enjoy writing it, I hope you enjoy reading it :)

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Also this chapter is dedicated to a fellow reader, @Ceceherondale, thank you so much for your support, it really means a lot to me!