Chapter 13

Newt refused to talk to anyone since Thomas pushed him in the trough. Minho's little comment made its way to Newt and he got so flushed in embarrassment that he was avoiding everyone's gaze. They all shared the same knowing smirk, so either they heard it or Minho was telling everyone what he heard.

After some tough persuasion, the three boys and the other runners all followed Thomas to where he found the crack in the wall, planning to spend today finding out what exactly was behind it. For all they knew, it could be a glitch in WICKED's system and the crack would be gone by the time they got there.

With different tools each, they spent the whole day hammering away at the wall, slowly making the crack wider until it was sizeable enough to be called a hole and they found a keypad. "We're going to have to clear the rest of this door before we trying entering anything. It probably won't open otherwise." Gally said, trying to be in control."

"So shut up and continue." Thomas retorted, whacking his hammer at the wall and making a large chunk fall down.

"No, it's late, we need to head back if we're all going to beat the walls." Minho said, starting to pack away his things.

"Then I'll stay overnight."

"Oh no you don't." Newt grabbed his arm, "not after last time. For all we know this is also where those grievers live in the day, they can't just magically vanish when the sun comes out."

He had a point, he could stay overnight and not even be able to do anything to the wall. He nodded, making Newt's body relax a little. "Let's go back then."

~*~

They all returned again the next day, and managed to uncover the whole circular door by lunchtime. The keypad sat directly in the middle, a narrow display on top of it. Not even a handle, so hopefully this door would open on its own. "Okay, we've got in uncovered. Let's pack up, head back, grab the others, and come straight back." Minho ordered, everyone agreeing and hastily shoving things into their rucksacks.

The walls closing was their time limit, that was the maximum time they had before needing to leave but with a plan of escape, but arriving at the wall before grievers appeared would be preferable. One Mourney was eaiser to avoid than countless grievers; Thomas had never confirmed how many there were, just that 'they kept coming'.

With everyone virtually healed, even Newt as he managed to keep good pace with the others, it shouldn't be too hard to get everyone together. Since Thomas and Gally volunteered to round everyone up, they headed back first at a faster pace, a good couple minutes ahead the others. "So.. Thomas, eh?" Minho asked, giving Newt playful nudges.

Newt jabbed his elbow into Minho's ribs. "You just had to mention it, didn't you?"

"Your reaction was priceless." Newt scowled at him. "But even those kisses of yours couldn't muffle it. Congrats anyway, you dirty shank. Can't wait till you reach third base."

"Minho!" Newt looked away, his face gone bright red.

Minho laughed and they continued running in silence.

~*~

They were almost back when Gally slowly came to a stop round a corner, making Thomas stop as well. "What?" Thomas went quiet. "Do you hear the Mourner?"

"You can't leave the maze."

Thomas frowned. "What? Why not?"

"Things are only going to get worse."

"What are you on about? What could possibly be worse than this place? Stabbed by the Mourner? Stung to death by grievers? WICKED won't supply this place forever and with all the klunk that's been going on I think things are only going to get worse if we stick around."

Gally only seemed to get angrier and lunged at him, knocking Thomas to the ground. "You're not going anywhere! Even if it means I have to kill you." He punched Thomas in the jaw, his head flying back and hitting the stone path.

"Well if that's how you want to do things.." Thomas spat, raising an arm and pushing Gally off of him and jumping up.

They circled like two boxers in a ring, just like when Thomas accidentally ended up fighting him on his first night in the glade. Except now, he wasn't going to let Gally win. Gally was the first to charge, crying out and headbutting Thomas' stomach, forcing him to stumble back until he hit the wall. Thomas hissed in pain and brought up his knee, getting him in the groin.

Gally's face paled and he loosened his grip, giving Thomas the chance to push him away and try running again. Gally was too strong, Thomas wasn't going to win this fight unless the others backed him up; but Gally was faster too and jumped on him again, once more crashing to the ground. Thomas managed to roll them over so that he was on top.. But Gally did just the same.

He sat on Thomas' legs and wrapped his hands around his throat, pushing down with his palms. "I can't allow you to leave, Thomas! If you knew why then you'd thank me!" He hissed, arching his body away so Thomas couldn't grab him, but Thomas was more focused on trying to get his hands off.

"I know more than you think..." He wheezed, "it's o-only inevitable... I don't know what it is, but you're going to die if you stay here! We're all going to die un-unless you help..."

"You're wrong!" He squeezed him tighter and Thomas squeaked, trying to kick around but he was completely stuck. "It's a fate worse than death. You'll rue the day you left this maze!" Thomas' face had drained of colour now, he was losing it.

"You shank..." He coughed, trying to push him off, his vision starting to go. "Minho'll kill you..." His voice turned into a high pitched whine at the end, shaking his head.

His grip on Gally's wrists fell and he choked out his last few breaths. "Tommy!" He heard a distant cry, then an angry, "hey! Get off! Gally what are you doing!?"

Thomas saw Minho flash by, ripping Gally off of Thomas and the two were on the ground beside him. Thomas' eyes had closed and he was only taking in small breaths, but he could hear what was going on.

When he became more aware, Thomas suddenly gasped and stumbled over himself, then hearing two other people stumble too. He looked to his left and saw Newt, a runner on the right; they were back in the glade now, heading towards their camp. "Feeling okay?"

"Been better.." His voice was hoarse, and it hurt when he tried to clear it. "Where's Minho? And Gally?"

"Minho's already back, got Gally locked up in the slammer. You wouldn't respond to me calling your name and you blacked out for a couple minutes, but when you came to and could kind of stand, Rick and I carried you back. You alright now?"

Thomas nodded. "Yeah I can walk.." The two boys let go of him and Rick walked away before Thomas could thank him. "We really need to get everyone together and all our supplies to that door.. What time is it?"

Newt looked at his watch. "Not long gone midday, we have plenty of time, right?"

"Yeah, should do.. We should hurry anyway; anyone's who's still injured should be patched up as best as we can while everyone else gets things together. We don't know what's on the other side of that door, but WICKED wouldn't make it dangerous.. at least I don't think they would. They wouldn't put half dying people into anything more dangerous..." Thomas looked unsure of himself, but Newt just put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a soft pat. "Let's just do this."

An hour later, everyone carried a rucksack full of their own equipment, food, water, and a weapon in hand. The Mourner would still be on the prowl at this time of day, even though since Chuck's death they'd been lucky enough to not see it. Yet.

With the sun still high in the sky, the remaining twenty or so boys set off. Newt knew Gally did something horrible and he should pay for trying to kill another glader, especially his Tommy, but locking him in the slammer and leaving him behind..? It didn't seem right.

Thomas lead at the front, Minho was at the back, and Newt was in the middle; everyone else was spread out in-between with the mostly injured back by Minho since he wasn't allowed to leave them behind; but even with the injured, they still managed to get to the door in just half an hour. "Who remembers the code?" Newt asked.

"I do," both Minho and Thomas said, coming up to start entering it in the keypad.

Thomas was about to press in the numbers when a howl made him freeze. Everyone turned slowly, a long casted shadow appearing from around the corner. Metal scraped against the ground. A fleshy hand gripped the wall. Quiet grunts... Thomas was completely frozen in fear, having flashbacks to when Chuck died. All he could see in front of him was Chuck screaming in pain, blood spurting out of his chest, the tip piercing through his body-

A scream brought him back to his senses as the first glader was taken captive, quickly cut short as the tip pierced their heart. "Enter the code!" Newt shouted at him, holding out his weapon in defense as did everyone else, pressing closer to the door.

Thomas' hands were shaking, he fumbled to even get his fingers hovering over the correct number. "Move it!" Minho shouldered him to the side, punching it in himself. "7,4,5,2,3,9,2..."

Everybody had to move forward as the door creaked open and began to lift, rising above their heads. "Everyone get in!" Thomas yelled, pushing people towards the open doorway.

Another scream as the second glader was taken. In Minho went, the medjacks, Winston, Thomas waiting for everyone to go through and he felt Newt pull him, but he stood in place. Thomas waited for the last one, but as they ran towards him the Mourner pounced, engulfing his head in its mouth and biting straight through.

Thomas didn't even know how to react, he was half pulled inside the hatch and he grabbed a handle on the other side of the door, pulling it down and engulfing them all in darkness.