Fast As A Bullet {Maze Runner}

n i n e

  

"She did the thing she thought most logical.
She waved goodbye."

•••

THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT, Leanne has not been able to sleep. Mainly out of fear that the Griever's would return, but also because of the pain in her ankle.

Now, she sat outside the pit between Minho and Newt, having finished giving Thomas the serum earlier in the night. "What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck demands as Thomas sits up quickly, turning to face them.

"What happened?" He asks them, confused.

"Gally's taken control." Newt tells him. "Said we had a choice: either join him... or get banished at sundown with you."

Thomas sits up. "And the others agreed to that?"

"Gally has everyone convinced that you're the reason all this has happened." Teresa says.

"Well," Thomas says as they all watch him expectantly. "He's been right so far."

"What are you talking about?" Minho asks.

"This place... its not what we thought it was." Thomas confesses. "It's not a prison..."

"It's a test." Leanne finishes for him. Everyone turn their heads to look at the girl, confused. "It all started when we were kids. They would give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us." Leanne clasps her hands in her lap.

Thomas nods, keeping eye contact with her. "And then people started disappearing." It's Leanne's turn to nod, remembering vividly how people would disappear randomly. "Every month, one after the other, like clockwork."

Next connects the dots. "To send them up into the Maze."

"Yeah, but not all of us."

"What do you mean?" Newt asks.

"Guys, I'm one of them." Thomas tells them. "The people who put you here, I worked with them." Chuck looks over at Leanne, confused. She simply nods, confirming what Thomas is telling them. "I watched you guys for years." Leanne sighs, running a hand through her knotted hair. This situation was getting worse and worse. She knew she'd have to come clean soon, it was all just a matter of how they would take it. "The entire time you have been here... I was on the other side." His gaze lands on Teresa. "So were you." His eyes shift to Leanne. "And you, for a little while." She nods.

Teresa looks between the two. "What?"

"Teresa, we did this to them." He tells her.

"No." She shakes her head. "That can't be true."

"It is." Leane adds. She knows it for herself, because she truly remembers everything. During her sleepless night, she had figured it all out. She pieced together all of her memories, and although everything was still fuzzy and confusing, she understood the overall idea of it all.