The Link // Maze Runner Fanfiction // Book 1

chapter nine

"Everything is going to change," she said. Her gaze settled on me and she relaxed. "Thomas. Ellie."

Newt and I exchanged concerned looks. I noticed something crumpled and white in her hand and pointed to it. Newt managed to pry it out of her iron grip and read it out loud.

"She's the last one ever. What's that supposed to bloody mean?"

"I don't know. You can take her now. Put this over her," I told the two doctors, handing them my blouse.

They each grabbed an end of her and lifted her out of the box. The Gladers cleared a path for them as they carried her towards the Homestead. I turned around and addressed Thomas.

"Seems to know the both of us. Do you recognize her?" I asked.

He shook his head and stared shamelessly at my old scars. "What are those?"

"Those are scars from the maze," Newt replied, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and lightly kissing one. "Do you recognize her, El?"

"Yeah. I saw her and Thomas when I got some of my memories back. I'm going to sound a bit loony here, but I think we knew each other from before. I think I have an identical twin too. That would explain why Thomas and the girl knew me."

Newt looked worried, but passed it off with a shrug. I noticed Thomas staring almost wistfully at the spot where she had laid and smiled. I had only seen that look one other time and it was when I caught Newt staring at me. Newt must've seen it too and passed me a knowing smile. Despite how much the situation surrounding the girl unnerved me, I couldn't help but smile whenever I caught Thomas staring at the Homestead with longing.

"Has anyone ever tried climbing to the top?" Thomas asked while we worked. Questions seemed to be his way of distracting himself.

"Tried it. Ivy doesn't go the whole way to the top," Newt grumbled. I gave him an apologetic look, but he passed it off with a grim smile.

"What about the box? If it goes back down, couldn't we-" "Tried it."

Newt was getting more and more frustrated. I could tell the stress from the mysterious coma girl and the box not going back down was getting to him. He seemed to work harder and get less and less sleep. Thomas, apparently, did not know when to shut his shuck mouth.

"Okay, well, what if we-"

"We tried it alright? Twice. Anything you can think of, we've already tried it," Newt snapped. Thomas hung his head and worked in silence. Newt was generally a nice person and he was only acting out of frustration and stress. Still, Thomas didn't deserve to be snapped at for trying to help.

"If you want to be helpful, come with me to dig up some fertilizer," I said, tossing a wicker basket to him. He trudged after me to the Deadheads, where the soil was fertile and perfect for the plants.

"Don't mind Newt, things have been rough. He's stressed out because of the girl and the box not going down. I'll talk to him about it later, but for now, you best slim it," I told him.

He nodded and bent down to help me fill the basket with rich fertilizer. As I finished up, Thomas saw something and went to check it out. I glanced over and saw that he was looking at George's headstone.

"That's George. One hell of a dude, his death was a shame. Frypan was close with him. He was so distraught over his death that he burned whatever he was cooking until Alby took over for him. Hard to believe, huh? Frypan burning something."

Thomas chuckled and watched a beetle blade skuttle up a tree. A twig snapped behind me. I jumped up and crept towards Thomas. Another twig snapped to the left of us. Ben emerged from the shadows with a murderous expression. He had dark bags under his eyes, his breathing was ragged and heavy, and his fists were curled tightly at his side. I pitied him until he sprung forward with surprising speed and gasped his hands around my throat.

I gasped and fell to the forest floor. I clawed at his face and hands, desperately trying to free myself, but his iron grip did not relent. I was starting to white spots when Thomas hit Ben hard in the temple with a rock. Ben let go of my throat and I scrambled up. Ben chased us through the woods, screaming curses and calling us bad people.

The trees thinned and the ground evened out. Even without any more tree roots to slow us down, Thomas managed to trip. His hand shot out and he grabbed the back of my shirt. I dropped like a rock and stumbled across the field. Ben took his chance and leaped on top of me. I felt a rock dig into my back as he pinned me down. At some point, a shard of glass had appeared in Ben's hand.

"Don't do it Ben," I warned, eyeing the sharp edge of glass.

The Changing had changed him though. I knew the awful process was the reason for his irrationality and I knew that whatever happened, I would not hold him responsible. Ben traced the edge of the shard along the side of my face. I hissed in pain and felt the hot trickle of blood running down my face. The handle of a shovel collided with Ben's head. He rolled off me and struggled against the Gladers holding him down.

"What happened?" Frypan demanded.

"He came out of nowhere and attacked me. Jumped on me and tried to strangle me. Thomas saved me," I told the crowd of Gladers, my hand massaging my sore throat.

I glanced over at Ben. He had tears filling his eyes and they were locked on my face. "Ellie, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry, the memories," the poor boy whimpered.

I bent down and brushed his blonde hair off his forehead. "I know. It's okay Ben. It wasn't me that you saw. I forgive you."

Ben thrashed around, yelling the words "help" and "so sorry" over and over. I tried to block out his yells as Newt, Gally, and a handful of other Gladers carried him away. I walked over and enveloped Thomas in a hug, murmuring my thanks in his ear.

"Anytime Ellie. You should go get that checked out," Thomas suggested, pointing to the gash on my face. I shook my head and pressed my blouse to the side of my face to stop the bleeding.

As much as I had been through, I couldn't bring myself to participate or watch Ben's banishing. His screams echoed in my head, even after the walls had shut.