ℝ𝕌ℕℕ𝔼ℝ: 𝔸 ℕ𝕖𝕨𝕥 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

𝟐𝟎. 𝐈 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫

The next day when I woke up I was face to face with a peaceful Newt. I decided to let him sleep in a little longer so I placed a light kiss on his cheek and got out of the bed as silently as I could, grabbing my running shoes and putting them on before quietly leaving the hut and jogging over to the map room. Minho and Ben had become my main runner buddies so whenever I was running it was most likely with at least one of them. We entered the maze as usual and were taking our normal route when Minho said he wanted to check something out and for us to stay on our normal route. We agreed and continued running as Minho split up from us. Ben and I joked around for a bit until I heard the familiar noise. I told Ben to run but he laughed it off, cocky as ever, and told me that I was being paranoid. I told him to shut up and the noise got closer. I told him to run and he continued to tell me I was being paranoid. Maybe I was but I didn't wanna take the risk and get stung again. I sped up, unintentionally leaving Ben in the dust. I ran until I smacked straight into Minho. He saw the panicked look on my face and realized that Ben wasn't with me. He asked what was going on and I managed to breathe out "griever" suddenly Ben came around the corner and Minho asked if he'd gotten stung. He said he was good and that he managed to outrun it so we all headed back to the glade for the day. All the while I kept wondering why the grievers were attacking so much more often until we finally got out of the maze and I walked over to the deadheads and found a tree to sit against. I slid down the trunk of the tree and shakily ran my fingers through my hair, trying to keep my breathing calm. Normally I was able to keep myself together but panic had set in and I was unable to keep it controlled anymore. I started sobbing as my brain tried wrapping around everything that had been happening lately. Suddenly I heard footsteps and tried my best to calm down and act like I was fine, wiping the tears off my face as best I could. Thomas came around the corner and noticed me instantly, to my dismay. He crouched down beside me and asked if everything was okay so I told him about everything that had happened and the dreams I'd been having. He looked surprised before saying he'd been having them too, about me and another girl as we were working on something. I was about to say more when we heard more rustling. We both looked up to see Ben standing there breathing heavily. Thomas asked Ben if he was okay and I grabbed Thomas' sleeve tugging on it as I told him we needed to run. That's when he tried to attack us. We ran as we both screamed for anyone to hear us. He tackled the both of us to the ground as we tried desperately to pry him off of us. Newt came as he heard my screams and hit Ben knocking him off if us as he grabbed me pulling me close to him, discarding the shovel and checking to make sure I was okay. I said that I thought Ben got stung so they pinned him down and lifted up his shirt to reveal that he had in fact been stung while we were in the maze that day. He was put into the pit as Newt held me close to him, trying his best to calm me down. I was shaking out of fear as I tried to figure out why Ben would attack Thomas and I after he got stung. Alby let Newt go from his duties for the day to calm me down until Ben's banishing so him and I sat against a tree in the glade to help with my nerves. Eventually Minho came to get us and said that it was time to go so Newt and I got up and went to the maze entrance. Thomas, Chuck and I stayed a safe distance away incase something were to happen as Minho untied Ben and threw a sack of supplies into the maze. The doors already starting to close. Chuck headed back but Thomas and I stayed to watch. It hurt a bit because Ben and I had been good friends and he was a good runner. But I still couldn't understand why he had attacked us. The doors finally closed, leaving Ben to the maze as a moment of silence was held for him. Afterwards Alby made a little speech about how he belonged to the maze. Afterwards Newt came up and wrapped an arm around my shoulder to reassure me that things would be okay now. There was a quiet ceremony for Ben that night as Gally crossed off his name on the wall. Neither Newt or I were able to sleep well that night.