The Maze Runner

Chapter Sixteen

  "He's not looking so good," Clint says. I roll my eyes.

"What did you expect, he's been stung and knocked out, dragged through the maze all night. Did you think he'd look strong and healthy?" I sass him. He glares at me and I look down.

"Sorry. I'm just, this is difficult. He's our leader. Everyone's going to expect me to, like, cure him. I don't think I can do that. The pressure's on, Clint. We've got to figure out how to handle this," I explain.

"It won't be easy," He says.

"Understatement of the year," I sigh, sitting down on a wooden chair next to the first cot in the tent. I glance at Alby on the third cot from the entrance. His head is bandaged, thanks to me, from being knocked out by Minho. His breaths are quick and sharp, looking almost as if it's painful to breathe. The roped blue and purple veins have begun sticking out of his skin, and his eyes are squeezed shut. I put my head in my hands.

"We're screwed. We're officially screwed-"

"Beth?" I hear a voice ask. I look up to see Minho and Thomas standing beside each other at the tent entrance.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I greet them.

"Um, you said to come back here with you to get treated," Thomas says. I bite my lip and shake my head up and down.

"Right, yes. Sorry, I'm just a little preoccupied, I guess-"

"Everything alright, Beth?" Minho asks me.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine, I'm fine-" He grabs my right arm.

"Beth," He says. I look up into his eyes and sigh.

"I'm just a little stressed out. I mean, Alby's pretty much on his deathbed and I'm the one who's supposed to save him and I don't even know how to-"
"Beth, breathe." Minho puts his hands on my shoulders. "No one expects you to magically cure him. Gally was a special case-"

"Then why the hell did they bring him back here if they didn't expect him to be cured?" I interrupt viciously.

"It's okay, Beth. We brought him back here because we couldn't just leave one of our own, especially our leader, there for dead," He tells me. I sigh.

"Minho, he's as good as dead anyways right now. I don't think I can fix this," I try to level with him.

"I know. But if anyone can, it's you. If you can't that's okay. We'll figure it out. We always do, Beth," He tells me. My eyes start to water as he pulls me into his chest. I take a shakey deep breath before pulling away.

"Let me bandage you guys up, you look pretty bad," I slightly laugh as I grab a box from under the cot with gauze and bandages in it. I slowly wrap up Thomas' left hand as he looks up at my face.

"Beth, can I ask you something?" He says. I laugh.

"That didn't go very well last time," I say. He frowns and looks down while I roll my eyes. "I'm kidding, shank. Of course you can ask me something."

"How did you learn all these skills?" He asks me.

"Honestly, Thomas, I have no idea. I assume I probably did something before the maze that gave me the ability to do these things well because I certainly didn't learn them here. No offense, Clint," I smirk at him. He glares at me.

"Do you ever wonder why you're the only girl?" He asks. I laugh.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I do. Being stuck with a bunch of teenage boys isn't exactly a dream of mine," I snark.

"What I mean is, do you ever think about your purpose? You must've been sent up here for a reason, if you're the only girl."

"Well, yeah of course I do. Most of the gladers just assume it's my medical skills but I'm not so sure. I still think maybe I was a glitch or something," I open up.

"Why do you think so little of yourself? You're really special and important, you shoudn't sell yourself short," He tries to get me to realize. I smile.

"Thanks, Thomas."