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THE NEXT DAY, it came and went quickly. the afternoon swished by and blended into an evening full of crickets and tense situations.
Atlas, realized that banishings were never easy, despite never have seeing one. he felt uncomfortable, but he didn't even know ben like that.
it made him feel kind of guilty, like he was supposed to know about him while watching him die. Mo joined him in his spot.
the keepers all stood, tall staffs in hand. Minho had Ben tied by his hands, lugging him across the glade. he was pleading with Minho.
he deposited him in front of the open doors, cutting of the ropes that tied his wrists. Atlas saw thomas approach the group.
"please, please no!" ben said, pleading and crying. Atlas saw alby nod, before minho tossed his sack into the maze.
the maze began to rumble, creak, and moan. the doors were about to close.
"Poles!" Alby said, adjusting his hand on the spear. the keepers lowered their staffs, pointing them at ben.
he whipped around like a wild animal, eyes manic.
"no! no please i can be better!" he cried, standing.
"Move in!"
the keepers all began moving slowly towards him, cornering him into the maze.
the walls began to close as they pushed ben farther and farther into the maze. Atlas put an arm around Mo, feeling him tremble.
the gap between the doors was closing fast, ben never once stopping his pleas.
eventually, he had been pushed so far back he would risk getting crushed between them, pushing himself back to avoid them.
the keepers all returned their spears to neutral position. The maze doors rumbled to a close, and bens cries were immediately cut off. It was silent for a moment, deafening, ringing. Atlas shivered a bit, feeling sick. crickets chirped in the back.
Alby turned towards everyone, a defeated look on his face.
"He belongs to the maze now." he said, before glancing at thomas, and walking off. the keepers behind him followed. Atlas caught newts gaze, but for some reason felt like he needed to be ashamed, and looked down. he hugged Mo.
That night, Atlas watched as they crossed off Bens name on the wall, feeling a crushing weight in his chest.
The next day, Alby had pulled Minho and Atlas to the side.
"I'm gonna be coming with you guys today, i wanna see how this happened." He said, and the two of them nodded.
When they descended into the maze, Minho had brought Alby along the section ben was running when he was presumably stung by the griever. They were calmly running along when suddenly, the sky began to rumble. They looked up, and the clouds formed a dark grey cover. everything seemed so much more dark.
"Cmon, we should hurry up." Minho said, and Alby nodded. They began retracing their footsteps when another rumble sounded—and this time, it sounded quite a lot more like a roar.
What turned the corner at one of the corridors had scarred Atlas, it was horrifying. a large, mechanical monster bounded from the other corridor, slime and goo melting off its bulbous body. It whirred and creaked as it ran towards them. it had pinchers, like a crab, but a snail like body.
"Run!" alby yelled, grabbing their arms and turning and running, as the monster behind them began to catch up. Alby growled.
"Go! i'll distract it!" He said, but Minho shook his head.
"We're not leaving you!" he said, as the sky began to cry above them, letting out large water droplets.
"Go!—" he tried saying, before the monster behind them had penetrated his chest with a thin, silver needle. Atlas' breath caught up in his chest, and he choked a bit. The needle retracted, and the giant monster retreated back the corridor it came from.
"Alby—" Minho said, watching as he fell to his knees, holding the spot where the monster struck him. Atlas rushed forward, supporting him.
"We have to get him back to the glade!" He said, and Minho nodded before offering his support carrying Alby.
They had to drop several times, the weight of alby slowing them down.
Minho glanced at the watch on his wrist.
"Cmon! we don't have much time!" he said, rushing, Atlas swallowed and pushed farther. Suddenly, the maze doors came into view, slowly closing, taunting them. a group was gathered, yelling, shouting, but Atlas was far too tired to even realize what they were saying.
"We're not gonna make it." Minho said, and Atlas growled.
"Yes we are." He said, pulling Alby more on his shoulders. The maze doors begin to close farther and farther, like jaws closing in on them. The gap became too small to get through, and Atlas had then lost all hope. Until, Thomas, the greenie, with the curiosity lurking in his eyes, had escaped through the gap, pushing through into the maze.
the doors slammed close, rumbling throughout the maze. silence fell upon them.
