The Glade Girl (Maze Runner Fanfic)

Chapter 11: Ben and the Banishing

I walk out of the deadheads, toward Homestead. As I'm walking, I see Thomas out in the woods. "Hey! You were making all that noise. Thank goodness, I thought it was something dangerous." Thomas greets me, relieved about, something. "What? I didn't think I was making that much noise." I reply. He smiles, and we start walking back together.

Suddenly, we hear a twig snap, to our right. "What was tha-" I'm cut off as a boy jumps on Thomas. "Aaaah! Run! Billie run!" Thomas screams at me, telling me to save myself. Of course, I do the exact opposite. I grab the thickest branch I can find on the ground and smack the boy off Thomas. I get a good look at him and see his veins are discolored, and his skin has a green tinge to it. He looks up at me and Thomas, and says, "Billie, go. Thomas put us here. He's one of them!" He lunges at Thomas again, and Thomas takes off running. I look to the boy, and say, "Who are you? How do you know my name?" He cocks his head to the side, standing up. "You don't recognize me? It's me! Ben." I look closer. It is Ben! The veins and the skin threw me off. "But, if you don't recognize me, then what if your one of them in disguise? Aaargh!" He throws himself on me, clawing and biting at me. I manage to throw him off of me. I take off running, Ben hot on my tail. I run and run right into Newt. "Billie! Thom-" I cut him off, saying, "Run! He's coming!" Newt looks at me, his eyes widening. I get thrown to the ground and tackled. Newt grabs a pole and smacks Ben off of me, and Thomas runs up. Ben grabs Thomas by the ankle, and Newt smacks him again. Someone comes up and grabs Ben, holding him down. Newt drops the pole and helps restrain the crazed boy. I pick up the weapon, just in case. Newt and the other boy drag Ben into the slammer, and Newt tells Thomas to get Alby. 

Alby calls a gathering and tells Thomas and me to stay outside. Thomas looks at me and asks, "What was wrong with that boy?" I shrug, saying, "I dunno. He looked like a crazy zombie or something. Why did he want to kill you?" Thomas looks over to the slammer, where Ben is wailing. "I dunno, but when Alby went through the changing, he said something similar," Thomas replies. "What the heck is the changing?" I ask. "When you get stung by a griever, that's what happens to you. Well, as long as you get the serum. We found out that you don't have to get it straight away, since Alby, Minho, and I got stuck overnight." Thomas explains. "Wait what? I thought that if you were stuck outside at night, you were practically dead! You survived?" Thomas nods. 

After the gathering ended, I go and ask Newt about what's going to happen to Ben. "He's gonna be banished, Billie," Newt says, seeing me walking over. "What does that mean?" I ask. "He's gonna get pushed into the maze, at night." I gasp. "What? I mean, can't he just stay until he's better? He got the serum right?" Newt looks at me, anger written all over his face. "No! He tried to kill you and Tommy! He doesn't deserve mercy!" Newt yells at me, and storms off. 

Dinner is eaten in silence. No one wants to talk about anything. Even Chuck is quiet, which is saying something. Newt gets up, along with Minho, Alby, Winston, Zart, Gally, and some others. They walk to the shed, grabbing a very long metal pole with a collar on it. Gally and Alby grab Ben out of the Slammer, dragging him to the door. They strap him into the collar, and the doors start closing. Everyone gets up and walks over to the banishing. Thomas grabs my hand and leads me over. "I can't believe this. He doesn't deserve this. He was not thinking," I babble, walking towards the horrible sight. Newt and the others are shoving the metal pole into the maze, Ben with it. Ben is screaming, tears, flowing down his face. I put my soundphones on, pressing play.

"There's no good times

This impossible year
Just a beachfront of bad blood
And a coast that's unclear
All the guests at the party
They're so insincere
They just intrude and exclude
This impossible year"

At the last second, right before the doors close, the boys disconnect the collar from the metal pole, leaving poor Ben to his own defense against the bloodthirsty Grievers. I break down and cry. Thomas engulfs me in a hug, and I cry into his chest. I feel another person adding to the hug. Looking up, I see Newt. I push him off, angry. Ripping off my sound phones, I yell, "You didn't have to do that! You could've kept him in the Slammer until he was all better!" "Wait, Billie!" I hear Newt yelling my name, but I ignore him, stomping into the deadheads, over to Gally's Cave. I climb up, flinging myself onto a giant beanbag that I didn't notice the first time I was there. I hear someone else come up. "Hey. I know what you feel. He was one of my friends." I look up and see Gally. He smiles. "Hey, do you think Thomas could come up here?" I ask. He frowns. "No," Gally says. I nod, fine with that. "That's fine. I was just wondering. I know this is your safe haven. I put my soundphones on, realizing I hadn't stopped the music. 

"Whether near or far

I am always yours
Any change in time
We are young againLay us down
We're in love
We're in loveIn these coming years
Many things will change
But the way I feel
Will remain the same"
I drift off to sleep, crying about the day's events. I don't like crying, but if you bottle up your emotions, they're gonna eventually overflow.