The Ending

For the rest of the night Thomas was telling me about the new section that they found, section 7, which could potentially be our way out and made plans to get ourselves ready to leave within the next three days or so. Thomas went to go talk to Newt and Alby, who was now up and walking around, but still seemed distant.

      I sat with Chuck, Winston, Minho and Frypan, just chatting about inconsequential things and trying to get to know each other better. It's funny how we lived in the same place and knew each other as Gladers, but not as people on a more personal level. They swapped stories about the Glade and other Gladers that have happened over the years, and a little about what they could remember from their lives on the outside. I stayed silent, not knowing my past and not being in the Glade long enough to have any stories to share. So, I just listened. 

      I glanced over to Minho every now and then who kept glancing down at his watch, then at the doors to the Maze, but I didn't bother asking why. I stood up, excusing myself from the group and started crossing the Glade until I heard people arguing and came to a halt. I looked over to see Gally, Thomas, Jeff and Newt all getting in one another's faces. I ran over to see what all the fuss was about and as I got closer, I heard what they were fighting over.

      Thomas and Gally were yelling at each other about the Maze and about how Gally still didn't trust Thomas. Jeff took Gally's side and pretty much hated Thomas, yelling at him too. Newt was in the middle trying to break them apart and remind them that they have a purpose and a responsibility to protect the rest of the Gladers and lead them to safety. I stormed up to them and got in between Gally and Thomas, pushing them apart with all my strength.

       "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut uuuup!" I screamed at them with their shirts balled up in each of my fists, as they looked at me with slight fear in their eyes. "You two are acting like babies." I turned my head to the right and looked at Gally. "I don't care if you have trust issues." I then turned to the left to Thomas. "And I don't care that we may have done something bad before all of this, but if there's a way out, we need to take the chance and go before something else changes. So can I let go of you guys now and trust that you will knock it off!?"

    They both nodded with the look of shock still plastered on their faces. "Good that." I said, letting them go and pulling down my tank top that got wrinkled in the scuffle. The boys just stood there silent, which I was thankful for, but I could also see the anger continuing to build within them. Newt just stared at me with his arms crossed, smiling; clearly impressed by my intervention.

         Suddenly, Frypan, Minho, Chuck, and Winston all came running towards us.

    "Meg! Meg!" Chuck yelled at me, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Meg!"

     "What, Chuck? What's the matter?" The boys came to a halt in front of me, eyeing me. "Guys, what's wrong?" I asked again.

       "You said that you triggered something right?" I nodded at Chuck. "What did you trigger in the Glade?"

       I shook my head. "No, I...I didn't trigger something in here, I triggered something out there with the Creators. I triggered something even before I came here. I don't remember what I did but I did something that they didn't want me to do. Why do you wanna know?" Chuck looked to all the other boys with a worried look on his face, and they returned the same look to him. "Chuck, tell me what's wrong."

       Newt turned to look across the Glade then swallowed harshly. "Oh no." He said, his face turning pale with fear.

        I turned to Newt, then to Thomas, feeling my heartbeat quicken. What was going on? "What's wrong?" No one answered me and I was getting angry. "Someone please tell me what's wrong!"

        "The time." Newt replied softly, biting his thumbnail nervously. "The time for the Doors." His hand dropped from his mouth and motioned for me to look at the East Doors. "Look at them."

        I glanced up and noticed the doors were still cracked open, when they should have been closed five minutes ago. Then a loud noise sounded throughout the Glade. My body froze when I realized exactly what was making the grinding noise that I became so familiar with. I turned to see the West Doors, going from three feet, to five, to seven feet; followed by the South and North Doors. We all huddle together facing the walls that surrounded us with all the doors now open; leaving us vulnerable to the creatures that lurked within the Maze. We all knew that we wouldn't be safe for much longer.

       "Tom." I whimpered, looking over at him and he gave me a look that worried me. He slid his hand down my arm until he reached my hand, intertwining our fingers. "I know." He said, directing his eyes back to the dark gap between the Doors.

       "It's her fault!" Gally yelled, causing me to turn to him. "She's the reason why the doors ain't closing. It's her shuckin fault!"

       "What are you talking about? Gally, you can't-" Thomas started defending me, until Gally shot him a death stare. Thomas positioned himself in front of me, not letting go of my hand. "But...how could you possibly blame her for the walls not closing?"

         Newt stepped in front of Gally, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him back lightly before peering over his shoulder.

        "How could we not, Tommy? Even if I don't want to believe it...she bloody admitted it herself that she triggered something."

        "Newt." I whined at him, and he looked at me with pain and regret on his face, but quickly turned away. Tears threatened to break through my eyes; everything was already changing... falling apart. The only thing that I could think about was what the lady in white and Alby said. Everything is going to change.

         Thomas turned around to face me, a feeling of sadness taking over my whole body. I just wanted to break down and give up, but something in me wouldn't let that happen. He placed his hand softly on my cheek, giving me a hopeful smile before turning back to Newt.

       "Newt, you have to listen to me." Newt gave him an annoyed look that made Thomas pause for a moment.

        "Make it quick." He said with a wave of his hand. "We need to get things ready for when the Grievers come."

        "Don't blame Meg, she didn't know about this."

        "Don't waste my time, Tommy."

        "Listen to me!" Thomas said sternly, letting go of my hand and grabbing Newt by the arm. "There's something about her...about us. I think that Meg and I were sent here to help end this whole thing."

          "Yeah, end it by lettin' the bloody Grievers waltz in here and kill us? I've heard some shitty excuses in my day, Greenie, but that's got 'em all beat."

            Thomas groaned in frustration loud enough for everyone to hear. "No, I don't think that's what it means; the walls not closing."

            Newt folded his arms, fed up with Thomas's defense. "Greenie, what're you yapping about?"

         "I think we're here as a part of some weird experiment, or test, or something like that. But it's supposed to end somehow because we can't live here forever. Whoever sent us here wants it to end. One way or another."

Newt rubbed his eyes, clearly not wanting to hear anymore. It broke my heart to see that the boy I trusted, the boy that was so kind to me, and took care of me, was now convicting me of this.

"And that's supposed to convince me that everything's jolly, that Meg didn't cause this? Because she had her vision and now everything is suddenly do-or-die."

         "No, I came up with her too! Whatever you accuse her of, you're also accusing me. And you're missing the point about Meg. I don't think she has anything to do with us being here. I think she's a pawn, she was sent here because of something very important. Maybe she finds the clues and I'm the one that solves them. And maybe we both triggered something. She may have triggered the ending, but I might have triggered something else."

         I smiled, happy to have at least someone on my side. Newt glanced over at me and pulled Thomas closer to him, whispering something. I then heard a noise coming from behind me, but I was the only one hearing it. I slowly walked towards the East Door with no one even noticing that I was missing because they were too busy fighting with one another.

          Once I made it to the doors, I placed an ear to the stone, hearing the familiar metallic clanks against it. Then there was a moan that sounded in the darkness of the Maze, and it was close...too close. I backed away from the wall and that's when I saw the glistening metal claws reaching out into the light from the torches that emitted from the Glade, followed by the rest of the ugly robotic animal. A Griever. I slowly took a few steps back, not even daring to breathe. The Griever dropped down so that its eyes fixed on me, as I continued to back up.

      "Uhhh... guys." I could see from the corner of my eye that they were still fighting and not noticing the creature standing in front of me. "Guys!" I said a little louder this time, only taking my eyes off the monster to see if they heard me. Thomas finally stepped out from the rest of the crowd and his eyes grew wide. The rest of them stopped and stared with their mouths hanging open. Newt stepped up next to Thomas, looking between both me and the Griever. I sighed, shaking. "We have company."

      The Griever let out its shriek as loud as it could and lunged towards me, but I dove to the ground underneath its legs as it ran over me and towards the others. Two other Grievers came out from the other doors and started attacking the boys across the Glade. Thomas ran over and picked me up from the ground, looking me over for any injuries. Frypan handed him a torch and Thomas bent down to talk to Chuck.

             "Head to the Homestead, board it up and stay by the door to let us in." Chuck nodded quickly; the poor kid probably scared out of his mind. "Go! Go!" Chuck took off running towards the Homestead.

         Newt grabbed himself a torch and one for Frypan. Thomas took my hand and guided me, Minho, Newt, Winston and Fry in the direction of the Homestead. As we ran, I saw Jeff and another boy, struggling to help Alby. "Thomas." I said letting go of his hand. He turned to see me looking in Alby's direction and we both started running over to them.

        "Alby!" I shouted. He had his arms around Jeff and the other boy's shoulders and was slumped over a little. "Are you alright?" I looked at his face and he gave me a slight nod.

        "What's going on? The one boy asked looking at Thomas and me.

         "They're here" Thomas said simply.

          Jeff looked at him in disbelief. "Grievers?"

         Thomas didn't need to answer, as a boy screamed behind us, followed by the shriek of a Griever. We all turned to see the horror that was unfolding. Thomas reached over and grabbed a spear that was leaning against a fence as we all backed up.

          "Thomas, Meg, what do we do?" Jeff asked. Thomas looked at me and I looked back at him; neither of us having an answer. Before either of us could reply, the boy that was right beside me was pulled back by the Griever's claws and thrown into the air. Thomas pulled me back from the horrific sight and pushed me behind him. Then I felt another hand pushing into my back, moving me forward and away from another attack that was happening behind me. "Go, go, go! Run!" Newt screamed, pushing me to run as Thomas ran beside me; making a mad dash for the Homestead.

        I could hear the oh so familiar sound of metal claws fast approaching, but could not see where it was coming from. "Wait stop!" I yelled placing my arms out to stop the others. There was a small wooden shed just ahead of us until a Griever burst through it, shredding it to pieces as it rolled over it. I pushed them all backwards. "Run the other way!"

       We skidded on the dirt, and continued to run as moans and screams rose from every direction. My adrenaline was pumping and my legs begged me to stop, but I knew that if I did, I would be dead. Thomas was now on my left with Newt to my right. Minho, Alby, Fry and Jeff all ran close on our heels.

      I spotted Chuck up ahead in the doorway to the Homestead, holding the door open for us. "Come on! Hurry!" He yelled, as I looked back and pushed Alby up ahead of me. Thomas handed the spear and torch over to me so that he could help him. Frypan and Minho ran up to the front and another boy joined our group but was quickly smashed by another Griever that rolled in our direction. I stopped running and turned to face the beast.

       "Meg!" I heard Thomas yell. I glanced back and saw everyone running inside the Homestead except for Thomas and Newt. "Meg, get in here!"

       The Griever screeched at me, and I planted my feet into the ground as I ripped a piece of my tank top off and wrapped it around the head of the spear. Using the torch I had, I set the cloth on fire. "Come on!" I taunt. "I'm ready." It accepted my challenge and started to pounce at me as I planted the butt of the spear into the ground and ducked, sending the sharp point into the monster's head. It screamed in pain as the flames started to engulf its body. With one last shriek, it fell to the Glade floor...dead.

      "Hurry, Meg!" I heard Newt yelling at me now. I took a couple gallops backwards, holding the torch out in front of me, then turned on my heel and sprinted towards the door. I ran into the Homestead and Newt, Minho, and Thomas started to board up the doors and windows. I walked over to Chuck and wrapped my arms around him, trying to comfort him. The three boys finished up and moved to the center of the room where Alby, Winston, Jeff, Frypan, Chuck and I stood. It was quiet except for the Gladers yells and screams coming from outside.

Suddenly, wooden planks and sticks came flying in towards us, causing Chuck and I to crouch down from the explosion of wood; the sound of a Griever rumbling up the side of the Homestead.

      More chunks of debris flew across the room, followed by silence. My arms loosened their grip on Chuck and I started moving towards the door, when suddenly, the ceiling caved in and I heard Chuck scream. I turned to see him being lifted up by a Griever's metallic arm.

      "Chuck!"  Thomas screamed grabbing his hands, trying to pull him back to the ground. "Hang on!"

      I frantically looked around the room for anything that might help and saw that Frypan was holding an axe. I grabbed it from him and ran over to Thomas and Chuck. The Griever exposed one of its stingers and went for Thomas, but I ran over and hacked it off, sending it falling to the floor. It let go of Chuck; Thomas catching him as he fell. Then another part of the ceiling came down, only this time it was Alby being taken away. I quickly grabbed his wrists and tried to pull him back down, hanging on him with all my weight. He stared at me for a second as I held onto him tightly.

     "Alby, hang on!"

     "I can't."

     "What?!" Tears fell from the corners of my eyes. "No, Alby--"

    "Get them out." he whispered to me before being yanked out of my grasp, disappearing from the hole in the ceiling and into the darkness.

      "Alby!" I cried. I started to run towards the door with Thomas yelling at me not to go outside, but I didn't care. I ripped down the barriers and pushed the door open, running out. Once I was out, I looked around and took in the sight of the destroyed Glade... our home. Boys stood randomly around the Glade, looking confused. All the Grievers were completely gone.

         They all looked at me, as I dropped to my knees and started to cry.