"i'm sorry," he said. "it's my fault this is happening to you."
"We'll find a way," she repeated.
When Thomas falls in love with an immune, will he be able to let her go and send her up to Group A?
All rights go to the brilliant author James Dashn...
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thomas was given the tour before hayley, so after he watched her leave he found himself wandering aimlessly around the glade. he had to physically force himself not to go find hayley and try to convince her that they weren't strangers because the voice in his head kept telling him that they were more than that.
but how do you convince someone with no memories?
a metallic clicking sound from the branches above grabbed his attention, made him look up; a flash of silver and red light caught his eyes just before disappearing around the trunk to the other side.
he scrambled to his feet and walked around the tree, craning his neck for a sign of whatever he'd heard, but he saw only bare branches, gray and brown, forking out like skeleton fingers—and looking just as alive.
"That was one of them beetle blades," someone said.
thomas turned to his right to see a kid standing nearby, short and pudgy, staring at him. he was young—probably the youngest of any in the group he'd seen so far, maybe twelve or thirteen years old. his brown hair hung down over his ears and neck, scraping the tops of his shoulders. blue eyes shone through an otherwise pitiful face, flabby and flushed.
"a beetle what?"
"beetle blade," the boy said, pointing to the top of the tree. "won't hurt ya unless you're stupid enough to touch one of them," he paused. "shank." he didn't sound comfortable saying the last word, as if he hadn't quite grasped the slang of the glade.
he held out his hand. "my name's chuck."
"thomas," he barely heard himself say it. he was too busy scanning the glade for hayley.
"she's over there," chuck said as if reading his mind, pointing to the maze doors.
he looked and felt his nerves calm down when he saw her. she was with newt and another boy he hadn't met yet. "i wasn't looking for her," he lied.
chuck wiggled his eyebrows and pretended to zip his lips up, throwing away the key.
thomas rolled his eyes and walked away. chuck ran to catch up with him. "you seem to care about her," said chuck. "so imma tell you something i heard from the other guys. they don't trust her, not yet. newt has grown a liking to her but he doesn't hear what the other guys are saying. when people feel she can't be trusted, she'll be banished."
thomas stopped dead in his tracks. "banished? banished where?"
"where do ya think? the maze. ain't nobody survived a night in the maze."
thomas suddenly felt sick. "we can't let that happen, chuck. i was with her in the box, i would know if she knew something. she was scared half to death when i woke up. she was crying."
"don't have to convince me," said chuck. "i like her, haven't met her yet but i like her. there's a gathering later. it's when the keepers meet—they only call one when something weird or terrible happens. that's where they'll decide what to do with her."
"just the keepers?" asked thomas. "but what about everyone else who has an opinion?"
chuck shrugged. "i wouldn't worry about it too much. newt's already in love with her. he's second in command so he'll be at the gathering."
that did nothing to calm his fears. he still didn't know how the other keepers felt about her. whatever was decided, he knew he wouldn't let her go out there alone.
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