LIMERENCE ﹐ the maze runner.

25

Just after Clara heard the stone walls grind and rumble as they closed for the night, Alby showed up with the key to release them.

The cell door opened with a slight creek as the metal of the key and the lock jingled.

"Ain't dead, are ya, shank?"Alby asked.

"Um, dude, I almost fucking died,"Clara told him.

Alby sighed, then said,"Well, klunk happens, shuck-face."

"Oh my God,"Clara muttered in annoyance.

"Anyways, c'mon out, ya shanks." Clara and Thomas did as Alby said, and stepped out of the building. Alby closed the Slammer door and locked it, then turned to face them.

Thomas was staring at Alby. Once Clara noticed, she understood why - Alby looked much better than the last time she had seen him : his skin was back to full colour, his eyes no longer criss-crossed with red veins, and he didn't appear to be in nearly as much pain.

"Shuck it, boy, what you lookin' at?"Alby asked Thomas, also noticing him starting

"Wha-? Nothing. Just seems crazy you healed so quickly. You're fine now?"

"Never been better,"Alby stated, flexing his right bicep. "Actually, nothin' but a lie. I feel like a piece of klunk twice crapped by a Griever."

"Yeah, you looked it yesterday." Clara giggled at Thomas's remark, and looked at him for a second before he covered it up by saying,"But today you look brand-new. I swear."

Alby put the keys in his pocket and leaned back against the Slammer's doors. "So, quite a little talk we had yesterday."

"Uh... yeah, I remember."

"I saw what I saw, Greenie. It's kinda fadin', but I ain't never gonna forget. It was terrible. Tried to talk about it, somethin' starts choking me. Now the images are gettin' up and gone, like that same somethin' don't like me remembering."

Clara looked over at Thomas, eager to hear his reply.

"What was it about me? You kept saying you saw me. What was doing?"Thomas asked Alby.

Alby stared at an empty space in the distance for a while before answering. "You were with the... Creators. Helping them. But that ain't what got me shook up."

Alby paused for a minute, taking a deep breath, before he continued,"I hope the Changing doesn't gives us real memories - just plants fakes ones. Some suspect it - I can only hope. If the world's the way I saw it..." He trailed off, leaving an ominous silence.

"Can't you tell me what you saw about me?"Thomas asked Alby.

"Thomas, didn't you see what happened to me?"Clara told him. "I know you wanna find out who you were before The Maze, but we can't risk this again."

"Good that,"Alby agreed with Clara. "Sorry, shank."

"Well, if I'm evil, maybe you should leave me locked up,"Thomas stated.

Clara bit her lip and shot Thomas a sympathetic look as Alby said,"Greenie, you ain't evil. You might be a shuck-faced slinthead, but you ain't evil." Alby showed the slightest hint of a smile, a bare crack in his usually hard face. "What you did - you and Clara riskin' your butts to save me and Minho - that ain't no evil I've ever heard of. Nah, just makes me think the Grief Serum and the Changing got somethin' fishy about 'em. For your sake and mine, I hope so.'

"How bad was it? Your memories that came back,"Thomas asked Alby.

"I remembered things from growin' up, where I lived, that sort of stuff. And if God himself came down right now and told me I could go back home..." Alby looked to the ground and shook his head again. "If it was real, Greenie, I swear I'd go and shack up with the Grievers before goin' back."