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SAMSON WASN'T INVITED TO THE GATHERING. And that would've made sense, considering he wasn't a Keeper. But, as he watched Thomas run into the Homestead behind the rest of the Keepers, he couldn't help but wonder if Newt was keeping him in the dark on purpose. He was their leader now, and he made the rules. Samson scoffed at this. He believed Newt's decision to keep him away was childish of him. Samson wanted to get out of the Maze just as much as the next person. And besides Thomas, he was the only one who understood the codes.
Deep down, Samson wished he could talk to him, try and apologize, but Newt was making it hard. Since that morning in the Deadheads, he'd kept his distance. Samson knew it was his fault, he understood now that Newt was only trying to protect him. He had also begun to realize that he had serious anger management problems, so serious that it seemed not even Newt could get through to him anymore. He had ruined everything between them, and had no idea how to fix things.
Thomas found Samson right after the Gathering had finished and explained the premise of the meeting to him and Teresa. The plan was that they were all going into the Maze as soon as possible. They'd fight their way down into the Griever Hole, and it'd be Thomas and Samson's job to punch in the codes. The Keepers decided that for the next hour, everyone would pack up what they needed and by midnight, they'd be gone.
Samson couldn't really believe it was all real and happening. They were finally leaving the Glade. He'd only been in the Glade for four months, but because he had no memory of his life before the Maze, those four months had dragged on for what felt like years. For this reason, he could only imagine how excited the rest of the boys, especially those who had been there since the start, were. His mind wandered back to Newt. His eyes followed him as he came out of the Homestead, wearing a solemn expression, and his heart sank.
The Maze doors were still not closed, which meant that the Grievers would return that night. Thomas explained that they would slip away just as the Grievers arrived in the Glade to attack. There were a fair amount of boys, including Leo, who wanted to stay behind. They all sat in the grass by the Deadheads, looking defeated.
When Thomas left to go help the others pack things up, his watch read 11:30. Samson decided that he wanted to try and talk to Leo. It couldn't hurt to try and get through to him one more time. Besides, Samson didn't have much to pack. Other than the clothes on his back, he had nothing to his name.
Before he went after his friend, Samson snuck into the woods behind the Glade and headed for the Map Room, praying that all of the Runners were long gone. He slipped inside the stone walls and carefully shut the iron door behind him so that it didn't make a sound. He quickly pulled a backpack from off the hooks on the wall and shoved a water canister inside of it. He opened up the wooden trunk where all of the other running supplies were kept, and found that there were still dozens of digital watches and shoes stored away inside. Samson nabbed one of the watches and shut the trunk. He figured it didn't matter anymore that he wasn't officially a Runner; the Glade had fallen apart, which meant that the watches were up for grabs. He strapped it to his wrist and turned it on. The screen read 11:50. There was no time to find Leo and Clark. It was time to go. Samson pulled his backpack up onto his shoulders and left the Map Room without looking back.
