" WHITE BLOOD " T. MAZE RUNNER¹

twelve.

[CHAPTER TWELVE]
rule number three

~

Time seemed for slow for Eleanor as she forced herself not to look at the body. Her entire body shook, muffled sobs falling from her lips as she buried her face into Newt's shoulder. The blonde boy held her in his lap and ran a hand through her hair, a silent attempt of comforting the panicking girl, as he, too, tried not to look at the body.

Alby and Nick stood over George, staring down at his corpse with eyes wide and mouths agape. It seemed as though the two boys were in a state of shock as they stared down at their friend, dead from a stick pierced into his throat.

Alby was the first to react, a single vein popping through the skin on his forehead as he stared at the sobbing girl with eyes full of rage. He stormed past George's body, latching on to Eleanor's shoulders and, despite Newt's quiet protests, pulled her to her feet.

"You killed him!" He screamed, loud enough for the entire Glade to hear, as he shook the girl angrily.

Eleanor didn't speak- she couldn't. She could only allow herself to be shaken violently by the dark-skinned boy, staring down at the bloody boy that she had taken the life of only minutes before. She had no choice- that's what she kept on telling herself. George was going to hurt her, possibly even kill her, if she hadn't acted.

Oh, how she wished she hadn't acted so quickly, though. If she had just given herself time to think, maybe she could have avoided killing the boy. Though George was leaping for her, arms outstretched and ready to attack like some feral animal; if she hadn't acted then, she wasn't sure if she would have gotten another chance to.

Eleanor's head pounded against her skull as Alby continued to shake her, spit flying from his mouth as he screamed nonsense into her face. By then, Newt had risen to his feet, and he and Nick were trying to pull Alby away from the unresponsive girl.

"You shuck monster- you killed him!"

Boys were beginning to crowd around the scene, drawn by the screaming of Alby and the shaken sobs coming from the Newbie. For the second time that day, a feud was going on between two Gladers, and the boys were excited at this- that was, until they saw the bloody body of the sick boy named George.

"I... I-" Eleanor forced herself to speak, though no other words fell from her lips as she struggled to catch her breath. She felt as though she couldn't breath, as if someone had their hands wrapped tightly around her throat, restricting any air from passing through. Tears brimmed her stinging eyes, and she longed to wipe a splatter of sticky blood from her cheek- though her hands were too busy desperately trying to pull Alby's strong hands off of her.