Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

18. The consultation

"And then there was this corridor from which the Griever came. You can even hint at it when you're drawing. We know it exists, after all."
"I'd rather we didn't know," Minho murmured, but drew a turnoff.
"There you go. I'm really curious to see how big this thing is." He put the pencil aside and looked at me. "I'm glad we're doing this together. I probably would have shit my pants in there if it wasn't for you."
I had to laugh, even though he meant it completely seriously. Or maybe that's why.
"I'm glad I'm here to change your nappies if necessary."
"What a clownish thing to say."
Minho had got up and thrown the pen at me, which didn't stop me from laughing.
"What are you doing here? Getting the pencils?" someone asked and I turned around. Gally came towards us and he was not alone - Newt was with him.
A smile spread across my face as I read that the two had reconciled. I got up and knocked the dirt off my pants.
"Did you have a good morning?" I asked, as the four of us set off for lunch, with Newt putting an arm around my shoulders.
"I'm making really good progress with Newt's hut. It would help if someone would finally come up with the box who was also qualified to be a builder, but maybe we'll be lucky in a month's time. This time there were only cloned runners with us."
He winked at me, but reaped an elbow blow for his remark.
We reached the kitchen and got ourselves each a plate of potatoes and something that looked like spinach.
"Looks delicious, Fry," Gally said sarcastically as he looked at the green porridge. The chef ignored his remark and playfully rolled his eyes when he opened a portion for me.
We looked for a seat and sat down with Winston and Clint. The two were just talking about how they thought the sting of a Griever was working its way out of their bodies, and fell silent when they saw me.
"You don't have to stop talking because of me. I'll be all right," I said.
They hesitated for a moment but then seemed to decide that I was right and went on talking. It wasn't very appetizing and reminded me again of last night, but it was okay. After all, it had to be, how else could I get by here? Something like that didn't seem to be rare.
After we ate up, we made our way to the meeting room, just like everyone else. I was a bit nervous because I had to tell them what had happened last night, but I pulled myself together as best as I could.
When everyone had a seat, Nick stepped into the middle of the room and looked around.
"Welcome, gladers. We are here today to talk about what happened yesterday between Stan, our keeper of the runners, and Anna, our newbie. As you all know, Stan was stung by a Griever two days ago, which is why he transformed, as we call it.
So now I ask Anna to come forward and tell us what happened when she was alone with him in the sanihut."
He nodded at me and I got up. My knees were soft, but I tried not to let show that I was afraid to look back on the whole thing again.
I stood where Nick had stood a moment ago and looked around. All eyes were on me. When I met Newt's gaze and he nodded encouragingly, that warm feeling came over me again and I swallowed once before I began to speak.
"When Minho and I came out of the maze yesterday, I was not feeling very well. My wound on my ribs had burst open again and Clint had to sew it. So I was taken to the sanihut afterwards so that I could rest. Stan was there too, he was tied to his bed and unconscious. Newt was with me, but when he started to move, he ran outside to get help. He went to find Clint so he could help Stan, so I was alone with him in the cabin."
I took a short break, because now the thing I was so afraid of was coming.
"From then on, everything happened so fast, I don't know if I can give it back to you one-by-one... Stan started to resist his bonds and scream and somehow he managed to free himself a little bit. I knew I had to get out of there, as if I was trying to get up, but my body was so weak from the sprint in the maze that I didn't make it. So I dropped to the floor and tried to crawl to the door to call for help, but Stan grabbed me by the foot and held me down. Then the couch simply collapsed and he was free. I didn't know what to do, I -" Tears came to my eyes and I had to suppress a sob.
"All of a sudden he was above me, shouting something about 'Wicked is not good' and then he started to choke me until I thought I was about to really lose consciousness. I didn't know what to do, I just knew that if I didn't do something soon, I'd be dead..." - Again I had to sob. - "There were these scissors and I didn't want to use them to kill him, I... I just wanted to fight back. I must have hit something, in any case there was so much blood and his eyes... They were clear for a second, just a boy's eyes. And then he just collapsed on top of me and he wasn't moving. I..." I sighed. „I killed him." I couldn't control myself anymore. I broke out into uncontrolled sobs and wished I was far away, when suddenly someone was there and took me in his arms.
I recognized immediately who it was, because I would recognize his smell again and again. Newt stroked my back and pressed me against him so that I could hide my face from the other gladers.