Sacrifice

Chapter Twenty

When everyone was done eating they were led back to their rooms. As the Gladers were shown their room, one of the guards stopped Claire. 

"We have a place for you to stay right down the hall, miss."

"She can't stay with us?" Newt said. A few of the boys snickered. 

"I think that would be a little inappropriate," the guard said. "Don't worry, there's a bed set up for her in one of the girls' bunks, she'll be fine." 

Newt didn't like the idea of Claire being alone with a bunch of people they didn't know. Then again, if they all came from one of WCKD's mazes, he supposed they were all in the same boat. 

"It's okay," Claire said. "I'll see you guys in the morning." 

"Alright," Newt said, not wanting to let go of her hand. "Good night." 

Before she left Claire lingered for just a moment and gave Newt a quick good night kiss before walking down the hall. As she left she heard the other Gladers cheering behind her. 

**************** 

Claire entered a room where there were seven other girls waiting. Some were sitting in their beds, others were standing around chatting. They all stopped what they were doing to face Claire as the door closed behind her. 

"I heard we might be getting the newbie with us," one of the girls said as she approached Claire and held out a hand. "I'm Natalie." 

"Claire," she said, shaking Natalie's hand. 

"You can have Alyson's bunk," Natalie said, pointing to one of the bottom bunks. "She was called tonight so it's all yours." 

"Thank you." 

Claire made her way over to the bed, not knowing what else to do. The mattress was so soft she felt like she was gonna sink into it. 

"I heard you were the only girl in your maze," one of the girls said. 

"Uh, yeah I was for about a year until Teresa showed up." 

Claire wished her friend was here with her now. Apparently the doctors had to run a few more tests. She hoped everything was alright. 

"How many of them did you kiss?" one girl asked. 

"Karen," another snapped. 

"Oh come on, she was alone with a bunch of cute boys for an entire year, she had to have had some action," Karen whined. 

Claire didn't know how she felt about Karen's question. On the one hand, the memory of her first kiss with Newt was still fresh in her mind and made her smile. She couldn't imagine doing anything like kissing any of the other boys, they were like brothers to her, and they had always treated her like a sister. Then she remembered the way James forced himself on her. 

Don't think about that, he's gone now, it's over, Claire told herself. 

The only person who seemed to take notice of Claire's discomfort was a small, red-haired girl who sat across the room from her. 

"This is Gwen," Natalie introduced. "She was the last one to come to our maze, she's also mute." 

"She also had this thing going on with this guy Brandon," Karen said, sitting down next to Claire. "But he died in the Maze." 

Claire wondered if Karen was aware that just because Gwen couldn't speak didn't mean that she was also deaf. 

"How long have you guys been here?" Claire asked, wanting to change the topic for Gwen's sake. 

"Just a couple days," Natalie answered. "Some of our friends have already left for the safe place. Anyway, we should probably get some shut-eye, plenty of time to talk in the morning. These guys are pretty strict about curfew and we don't want to cause trouble, right girls?" 

The other girls muttered in agreement and climbed into their beds. Claire laid awake for a while before falling asleep. 

*************** 

Thomas couldn't fall asleep. Instead, he was stuck laying awake for what felt like hours. He was tempted to wake Newt, who was sound asleep in the bunk above him. Talking to Newt always always helped, made things seem clearer to Thomas. But then he remembered the happy look Newt had earlier with Claire. Newt had been through hell in the Maze, Thomas didn't want to spoil his friend's happiness with his worries that could be nothing. 

"Pst." 

The noise was so faint, Thomas almost missed it. 

"Pst." 

Thomas sat up and looked around the room. From what he could tell, none of the other Gladers were awake. 

"Down here." 

Thomas looked under his bed. On the wall there was an open vent, and inside was a boy. Thomas recognized him as the one that came from the all girl maze, the one who'd been at this place the longest. The boy signaled for Thomas to be quiet and to follow him. Thomas didn't think, he just trusted his gut and followed the boy. 

For a while the two boys crawled through the vents in silence, the boy leading Thomas with single-minded determination. 

"Where are we going?" Thomas asked. 

"Hurry or we'll miss it." 

What the hell am I doing? Thomas wondered. He knew what Newt and the others would say about this, that he was being ridiculous and following this person he didn't know alone, and in the middle of the night was completely stupid. Even Thomas could admit this was insane. But all the same, he kept following this stranger. 

Eventually they came to a stop. The boy had stopped them at an exit that looked down into a hallway. 

"What are we doing?" Thomas asked, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible. 

"Watch." 

A moment later, Dr. Crawford, the one who'd been with Teresa, came into view. Nurses were behind her pushing carts that were covered with sheets. Whatever was under the sheets looked suspiciously human sized. Dr. Crawford swiped a key card and opened a door, she and the others disappeared on the other side. 

"What the hell was that?" Thomas asked. 

"I don't know, this is as far as I've ever gotten," the boy answered. "The vents don't even go into that section. But once they go through that door, they don't come out. I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place." 

"Why'd you show me this?" Thomas asked. 

"Cause maybe the others will listen to you. There's something weird going on here, and I know you think so too." 

Thomas thought he was just being paranoid, that being in the Maze put him on edge. But now knowing that someone else felt the same way made him think that perhaps there was something to be worried about. 

"Come on, we'd better go before someone notices we're gone," the boy said and began crawling away. 

"Hey wait, what's your name?" 

"Aris."