LIMERENCE ﹐ the maze runner.

37

By Thomas's watch, it was midmorning when he , Clara and Minho stepped through the West Door back into the Glade. Thomas was so tired he wanted to lie down right there and take a nap. They'd been in the Maze for roughly twenty-four hours.

Surprisingly, despite the dead light and everything falling apart, the day in the Glade appeared to be proceeding business as usual-farming, gardening, cleaning. It didn't take long for some of the boys to notice them standing there. Newt was notified and he came running.

"You're the first to come back," he said as he walked up to them. "What happened?" The childlike look of hope on his face broke Thomas's heart-he obviously thought they'd found something important. "Tell me you've got good news."

Minho's eyes were dead, staring at a spot somewhere in the gray distance. "Nothing," he said. "The Maze is a big freaking joke."

Newt looked at Thomas and Clara, confused. "What's he talking about?"

"He's just discouraged," Thomas said with a weary shrug.

"And he's got reason to be,"Clara added. "We found nothing. Nothing. The walls haven't moved, no exits have appeared, nothing."

"Did the Grievers come last
night?" Thomas asked.

Newt paused, darkness passing over his face. Finally, he nodded. "Yeah. They took Adam."

A wash of relief flooded through Clara. She was worried that Archie might've been taken, but was glad that he wasn't. If he had been killed... she wouldn't know what to do with herself. She hadn't spoken to Adam except for the odd occasion when he came to the Med-House, and didn't feel much remorse for him. Maybe he was better dead anyways.

Thomas didn't know the name, and felt guilty for feeling nothing. Just one person again, he thought. Maybe Gally was right.

Newt was about to say something else when Minho freaked out, startling Thomas. "I'm sick of this!" Minho spat in the ivy, veins popping out of his neck. "I'm sick of it! It's over! It's all over!" He took off his backpack and threw it on the ground. "There's no exit, never was, never will be. We're all shucked."

"Minho!"Clara called, but he was already stomping off towards the Homestead.
If Minho gave up, they were all in deep shit.

Newt didn't say a word. He left Thomas and Clara standing there, now in their own daze. Despair hung in the air like the smoke from the Map Room, thick and acrid.

❀✿❀

The other Runners returned within the hour, and apparently none of them had found anything and they'd eventually given up as well. Glum faces were everywhere throughout the Glade, and most of the workers had abandoned their daily jobs.

"The code of the Maze is our only hope now. It has to reveal something. It has to,"Thomas told Clara as they aimlessly wandered the Glade to hear the other Runners' stories.

"Yeah,"Clara agreed. "Do you think everyone's still in the basement?"

"I'll ask Teresa,"Thomas suggested.

Teresa? he said in his mind, closing his eyes, as if that would do the trick. Where are you? Did you figure anything out?

After a long pause, he almost gave up, thinking it didn't work.

Huh? Tom, did you say something?

Clara closed her eyes and bit her tongue at the sound of Teresa calling Thomas that nickname.

Yeah, he said, excited he'd made contact again. Can you hear me? Am I doing this thing right?

Sometimes it's choppy, but it's working. Kinda freaky, huh?