Without A Choice // The Maze Runner [Book 1]

ELEVEN

It took a moment, but I managed to convince Teresa she could come down. I took her to the eating area for dinner. Frypan had made pork stew with cauliflower. I sat across from Teresa and next to Thomas. I knew that it was really risky, but I couldn't help reaching for his hand under the table and intertwine our fingers. My heart warmed when I saw a smile tugging at the end of his lips. 

"So, do you remember your name?" Thomas asked Teresa.

"Teresa," she replied. 

"Do you remember anything else about yourself? Where you come from?" he then asked her. She shook her head, averting her eyes to her plate. 

Minho joined our conversation and we ended up talking about the cylinder they had found inside of the Griever.

Newt leaned forward to look at Thomas. "Hey, Tommy, ready for your night in the pit? It's a whole lot less comfortable than it looks."

"As ready as I'll ever be. I'm sure I'll survive," Thomas said with a grin.

"Alright, let's get going." Newt got up and took Thomas with him. I instantly missed the warmth of his hand. 

"Hey, Newt," I called. Newt turned around. "I'm going to check up on Alby." He nodded in response.

I got up and made a beeline for the med-jack shack. I went to Alby's room and sat down on the stool by his bedside. "Hey, Alby," I said softly. He didn't respond. He never did. The Griever sting got him to fall into a deep sleep. He never woke up. His body was sweating and black veins travelled across his chest and arms.

"How's it going? The Glade is a bit of a mess now that you're not there to keep those testosterone-filled boys in check." I paused, thinking of what to say. "Another girl arrived, has anyone told you that? Her name is Teresa. I'm not so sure what to think of her yet. She kept saying my name over and over while she was asleep, but I don't remember knowing her. But apparently, she knows me."  

"That's not true," a voice spoke up. I whipped around and saw Teresa standing in the doorway. I offered her a soft smile before I turned back to Alby, taking his hand in mine. "I don't know you. I don't know why I kept saying your name in my sleep," she told me as she sat down on the stool next to mine. "But you're the one I kept seeing."

 I turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"When I was asleep, I had these dreams. At least, they felt like dreams. But later, after I woke up, I realized they were memories. You were there, Thomas too. And a woman, saying these three words over and over," she told me. I looked at her, expecting her to continue. 

When she didn't, I asked, "What words?"

Teresa looked up before turning to me. "Wicked is good."

***

It was dark outside, yet I wasn't asleep. I was thinking about Teresa's words. I kept going over them in my head. Wicked is good. What is Wicked? Why are they good? The word wicked literally means evil so why would they be good?

I thought about Alby. We got him back but he wasn't going to survive the Changing. No one survives that. Once you're stung, you're a dead man. Or woman. 

I twisted around the tube Teresa had given me earlier. It was made of metal and had a blue, glistening liquid inside of it. Teresa thought it was a syringe. I hadn't shown it to Newt yet. I don't know why.

I sat up and looked around. Everyone was soundly asleep. Every hammock was filled with a snoring boy, except one. Thomas was in the Pit, alone. I made up my mind and swung my legs over the edge of my hammock before putting on my boots. 

I carefully and silently escaped from my hammock and fled the hut. I walked through the Glade for a few minutes before I found it, the Pit. I looked inside and found Thomas sitting against the back wall, his head slumped to the side as tiny snores left his mouth.

"Thomas," I whispered. He mumbled a few inaudible words and turned his head the other way. "Thomas!" I repeated. He shot awake.

"Who's there?" 

"Who do you think, dummy?" I said with a giggle and unlocked the door. He crawled out and instantly grabbed the sides of my face to kiss me.

I pulled back seconds later, only to grab his hand and drag him with me. Once we arrived at the tree, we climbed the branches until we reached the nest. As we were covered by the full branches of the tree, I pulled his head close to mine to remove the gap that had been in between us.

His hands travelled down my sides and settled on my hips. Our lips moved in sync perfectly, like a dance that we had been practising for months. Thomas's hands were tugging at the hem of my shirt and in one swift movement, I took it off. His soon followed.

His lips started to travel down my neck and to my collarbone and that was when I came to my senses. I pushed him away from me. "We shouldn't be doing this," I breathed. 

"No, we shouldn't." He dipped back in and started pressing soft butterfly kisses to my shoulders.

I knew I had to stop. We were violating one of our rules and by doing that, I put both myself and Thomas in great danger. One side of me was screaming at me to push him away, but the other side was telling me to give in because I wanted him so badly. 

"Why not?"

"What if someone finds out? They could banish us."

"I don't care."

"Thomas-" He shushed me by pressing his lips to mine again. "Thomas, I'm serious." I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away. "We can't be banished into the Maze. You survived once, but we might not walk away from that again." 

"I realize that, but you know what? This risk we're taking is completely worth it because you get to be mine all night," he spoke in a low, husky voice and that broke any strength I had built to push him away. I wrapped my arms around his neck and wove my fingers through his hair. I slowly laid back and completely surrendered myself to Thomas. His body was straddling mine as he lowered himself to capture my lips again. 

He was mine and I was his and no one was going to come in between us.