Murder In The Maze (Maze Runner Fanfiction)

Chapter 24: Nick

     "Tanya, hold up!" Thomas hollers from across the Glade, his words echoing from the walls.  

     Halting in my tracks, I turn towards him. "What?"

     He jogs beside me, sweat beading over his forehead.  As he pants, Thomas begins to speak, "Newt said to talk to you about a job trial, something about trying for med-jack?"

     Reluctantly, I push forward, continuing my journey to Nick. "Just try it out for a day and see what you think, any day suits me fine unless you get a different job."

     Thomas shifts his gaze to me. "I want to be a runner."

     I lunge forward, choking on the air.  Clearing my throat, I stop in my tracks. "You what?"

     "I want to be a runner!" Thomas repeats, his voice laced with enthusiasm.

     Raising my brows, I roll my eyes.  "It's not like there's a much choice.  Runners are specially chosen from the best, Minho's not in the habit of getting the Greenies to do the job."

     Thomas shrugs, furrowing his brow.  A brief moment of silence falls over us.

     Turning to Thomas, I begin to speak, "Give it a couple of months, work hard, ask Minho, then see what happens.  That's about all you can do."

     Arriving opposite the slammer, I stop, hesitant to approach.  My hand automatically reaches to my side, tracing the outline of the wound.

     Thomas glances at the slammer, his eyes freezing in place as if suddenly hit by a realization.  "You're not seeing him, are you?  Nick, I mean."

     "Let's just say I didn't come all this way for the exercise, Thomas," I remark, lightly resting against my crutch.

     Thomas' eyes widen immensely.  He cocks his head towards the slammer door, then back to me.  "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

     "I need to know why, or at least hear what he has to say.  He's getting banished soon.  I just don't want to have any regrets, or leave any stone unturned," I reply.

     Thomas wrinkles his nose, casting his eyes around him.  After a brief moment of thought, he continues, "Just be careful."

     I wave my hand dismissively through the air.  "I could say the same for you, Greenbean."

     Thomas nods, squinting at the slammer before swiftly returning to the Homestead.  Taking a deep breath, I amble towards the slammer door.

     A dark figure lingers through the bars, Nick's outline barely visible.  He approaches the cage door, covering his eyes at the sunlight creeping through the bars.  He lowers his hands as he creases his forehead.

     "What are you doing here?  Come to gloat?  Maybe ask why I did it?" Nick snaps, his arms crossed over his chest.

     The light illuminated the blue and purple bruises lining his neck, presumably from Gally.  Dirt clings to his skin, a putrid stench radiating off his sweat-stained clothes.

     "Something like that," I mumble nonchalantly.  Hatred or fear was the reaction I had expected from myself, but, seeing him like this, I don't feel anything.

     Nick clutches the barred hatch as the blood drains from his knuckles.  "I can't."

     "You're getting banished either way, what's there to lose?" I ask.

      Nick sighs, pushing himself off the bars.  "I can't tell you because I didn't do it!  I didn't stab you, and I didn't kill anyone!"

     "Then who did?" I growl.

     He pauses, his eyes meeting mine.  A glint of recognition lies in them, quickly snatched away as he turns.  Nick rubs the back of his neck as he paces around the room.  "It's not like you'd believe me anyway."

     I lean closer to the door.  "Then give me a reason to."

     Shaking his head, Nick retreats to the far corner of the room.  "You're smart, right?  Figure it out."

     "Excuse me," a voice asks from beside me, unlocking the slammer door.  He tugs at the latch as the door swings open.  Another boy follows as they enter the cage.  As one of the boys approaches, he begins to speak, "It's time, Nick."

     I turn away, heading in the opposite direction.  A crowd of Gladers gathers by the West Door.  I stare down, my gaze unmoving from the ground beneath me.  Is he telling the truth?  Did someone plant my necklace?  What if the killer is still out there?  Nick will be banished soon, but who's to say if he did it?

     Whatever the case, it's too late to turn back.  I cannot stop what is about to happen, even if I did believe him.   All I can do is tread carefully.  If there's a possibility that the murderer is out there, he could be after anyone, if not me.  He tried once before, who's to say that he wouldn't do it again?

     I break through the crowd, pulled from my thoughts by the clamouring Gladers.  Newt, along with the rest of the Keepers, stands by the West Door, his shoulders slouched.

     Gally lingers beside him, nodding to me as I get closer.  His hand clings to a slender, wooden pole.  The other Keepers all have one, along with Newt and Alby.  A collar of weathered leather drops down from the top of the poles.

     Newt rests his pole against the Maze wall, jogging over beside me. A quick look of dread appears on his face before being quickly snatched away.

     "Have you done one of these before?  A banishment I mean." I inquire to Newt.

     Newt glances down to the ground.  "Couple of times.  It's not pretty, but it's gotta be done, can't have it any other way.  You'll have to do one eventually, but not today, with you still injured and that."

     "Yeah..." I mumble, trying to spot anything over the height of the other Gladers.

     A blanket of silence falls over the gathering, mere whispers the only sound that is made.  Newt shuffles through the crowd and back towards the Keepers.  Alby emerges from the center, his face solemn.

     I scurry to the edge of the throng of Gladers.  Two boys tug at Nick, leading him through the crowd.  Nick stares at the maze doors, his gaze unwavering.

     After a brief moment of quiet, Alby begins to speak, his voice booming across the Glade, "The Keepers have agreed that you, Nick, for the killings of Clint, Wyck, Billy, and trying to kill Tanya here, are to be banished from the Glade."

     The two guys beside him shove Nick closer to the Keepers who are now in a semicircle.  Nick pushes through the people, colliding with me before continuing.  The Keepers grab the poles from earlier, fastening the leather collar around Nick's neck.

     "Do you have anything to get of your chest?" Alby continues.

     Nick refuses to speak, still staring out at the Maze.  The doors thunder as the stone wheels begin to turn.  I glance at the ground, taking a deep breath before looking back.

     The Keepers dig their heels into the ground, forcing their poles into the Maze as the doors grind closer to shutting.  Nick falls, scrambling inside the doors just before they slam together.  A piercing shriek from a Griever ricochets off inside the Maze's winding corridors, sending a cold chill down my spine.

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     "Who are you?" a feminine voice asks from behind me.  Cocking my head around, I turn towards the voice.

     The new girl stands behind, her piercing gaze fixed on me. "What's happening to me?"