More than 4 Walls (The Maze Runner)

Offering

I was sitting in the cell with him. He was still out cold. God, he's so stupid.

He was muttering things in his sleep and I leant down to hear better.

"Teresa."

"Why did you do it?"

"Why'd you get stung?"

He thrashed violently for a minute and then he calmed down.

"Ravyn."

"Ravyn, we did this. We did this to them."

"I promise."

"W.I.C.K.E.D is good."

He stopped talking and went completely still.

I looked up at Newt, Chuck and Minho. They shrugged.

I looked down again and his eyes were open.

"Hey, how are you doing?" I asked.

He was silent.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck asked.

Thomas sat up and looked at the four of us.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Gally's taken control. He gave us a choice. Either join him or get banished at sundown with you." Newt explained.

"And the others agree with that?" He asked. I sighed and he looked at me.

"He's got everyone convinced that your the reason all of this has happened." I explained.

Thomas sat up and turned to put his back against the wall.

"He's been right so far." He said sullenly.

"What are you talking about?" Minho asked.

"This place . . . it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison, it's a test. It all started when we were kids. They'd give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us and then people started disappearing. Every month, one after the other like clockwork." Thomas told us.

"Sending them up into the Maze." Newt said in understanding.

Thomas nodded.

"Guys, I'm one of them." Thomas confided.

"The people who put you here, I worked with them. I watched you guys for years."

The rest of us were silent.

"The entire time. I've been on the other side of it. Helping them."

"So were you. We did this to them." He looked at me.

"I know." I said quietly.

They all looked at me like I had shoved a bomb in their face, which in a way, I guess I had.

"What?" Newt spluttered.

"You knew this whole time and you didn't think it was important?" he asked incredulously.

"You know what? It doesn't even matter because the people we were before the Maze, they don't even exist anymore. These creators took care of that." Newt calmed down.

"What does that matter is what happens right now. What we do right now. You went into the Maze and you found a way out." He continued.

"Yeah, but if we hadn't, Alby might still be alive." Thomas argued.

"Maybe." Newt agreed.

"But I know that if he was here, he'd be telling you the exact same thing. Now, pick your ass up and finish what you started because if we do nothing, that means Alby died for nothing and I can't have that." Newt finished sincerely.

Thomas nodded.

"Okay but we have to get through Gally first." He reminded us.

"I have an idea." I said finally.

<**#**>

There was a long haired boy shoving me forward every two steps and it was really annoying.

Thomas was doing his job really well. He could be an actor.

The rest of the group were following behind us with the rest of the Gladers except Chuck. He was getting our things.

I could see Gally crossing names off the wall.

When we reached the doors, the two boys dragging Thomas dropped him on the floor. I looked up and saw the two wooden pillars standing side by side and a feeling of unease washed over me. This isn't right.

Gally stepped over to us and muttered something about a waste.

"Gally." Winston spoke up from the back of the crowd. Gay turned and looked at him, waiting.

"It doesn't feel right, man."

"Yeah, what if Thomas is right? What if he can lead us home?" Jeff asked.

"We are home, okay?" Gally stressed.

"I don't want to have to cross any more names off that wall." He continued.

"You really think banishing us is really going to solve anything?" I spoke up. Gally turned to me.

"No, and this isn't a banishing. It's an offering." I felt dread wash over me. I knew it.

"Tie them up!" Gally ordered.

The boy holding me grasped my hands and placed them on the wooden beam. He then grabbed the rope and tied me there.

I saw Newt look at Minho in the crowd. I also noticed Chuck had arrived with our stuff and was watching on in confusion.

The two boys who had dragged Thomas began to lift him up to tie him to his beam when Thomas punched one in the crotch and quickly grabbed the banishing pole in the other kids hand and whacked him over the head with it.

Thomas pointed the pole at Gally and stood back.

"If you stay here, the Grievers are going to come back and their going to keep coming back until your all dead." I told the onlookers.

Frypan cut my bindings and followed the lead of Minho and Newt who had gone to stand by Thomas. Chuck was running around the Gladers.

"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Gally asked Thomas and I.

"You bet." I smirked, grasping the knife that Frypan had given me.

"You don't have to come with us but we are leaving." Thomas told the group.

"Anyone who wants to leave, now's your last chance." Thomas stressed.

"Don't listen to him. He's just trying to scare you." Gally argued back.

"We're not trying to scare you, you're already scared. We're scared." I said.

"But we'd rather risk our lives out there than spend the rest of it in here." Thomas finished.

"We don't belong here." Newt told them.

"Exactly. This place isn't our home, okay? We were put here. We're trapped here." I added.

"It just means you have to make a choice and we can make it out of here. I know that." Thomas told them.

"You just have to choose."

Winston and Jeff were the first to join us and were quickly followed by many of the boys that were left.

"This is your last chance." I said.

"Just come with us." Thomas said.

"Good luck against the Grievers." Gally told us.

Thomas sighed and turned around. I gave Gally one last look and followed the rest of the boys.

We were going home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well guys. We are drawing near to the end.

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