Finality | The Maze Runner / Newt ³ ✓

{2.4}

Disclaimer:

Chuck: I made this friendship bracelet for you

Alby: I'm not really a jewelry person

Chuck: You don't have to wear it

Alby: No, I'm gonna wear it forever. Back off.

-✼-

Minho led the way, of course. Being back in the Maze seemed to have some sort of cathartic effect on him, which was the opposite of what one would expect. I could see the confidence trickling back into him as he sprinted along the looming corridors lined with ivy-covered stone.

Memories came crashing into me uninvited. There was where we'd waited for the Grievers to move and where Alby had sacrificed himself. I caught sight of where I had fallen after Thomas and I had tied our leader into the ivy. No matter how hard I tried to push the familiarities away, they kept coming back.

It was silent the entire time. Even as we approached the crack in the stone that made up the East Door of the Glade, it was deadly quiet. There were hundreds of people milling around the grassy area that had once been my home— far more than had ever been there at once. There had only been fifty or sixty boys by the time Thomas and I showed up. It made the Glade appear much smaller.

I blinked and every eye was on us. It made my skin crawl to see people, young and old, from elderly people to even infants, trapped in there.

"Did you know there were this many?" Minho questioned Thomas, who was standing beside him with his jaw slack. I couldn't blame him. The Glade brought back even more memories than the Maze, and I knew that if I dwelled on it too much, I would be trapped in them.

This was the Door that Theo had emerged from after he'd volunteered to be a Runner. This was where I had nearly tackled him in a hug in thanks that he was alive.

"Hey, daydreamer." Minho snapped his fingers in front of Thomas' face. "I asked you a question."

"Huh? Oh... There's so many— they make the place look smaller than it ever did when we were here."

"I'll be shucked," Garret said, stepping beside me and pointing to something in the Glade. "Look!"

I followed his finger to find Frypan running toward us at top speed. Others were behind him— a few girls from Group B, Flo included. Even she looked relieved to see us.

I couldn't hide the burst of joy I felt upon seeing the Cook again. He hugged me with much enthusiasm, his towering frame nearly swallowing me whole. Frypan had broken many rules in order to make my short stay there comfortable. I wondered if I would ever be able to pay back that debt.

Afterward, he swatted my brother playfully on the arm. "Can you believe they put me back in this place? They wouldn't even let me cook, just sent us a bunch of packaged food in the Box three times a day. Kitchen doesn't even work— no electricity, no nothing."

I tried to do the math. No real sky for who-knew-how-long. No real air. Processed food. These people deserved better than that.

Thomas' laughter broke me from my thoughts. "You think you were a lousy cook for fifty guys? Try feeding this army."

"Funny man, Thomas. You're a funny man. I'm glad to see you." The Cook's eyes widened once he recognized the other two boys. "Gally? Garret? They're here? They're alive?"