LIMERENCE ﹐ the maze runner.

13

Clara couldn't remember the Glade ever being as silent as it was that day. No one made a sound.

Newt stood up, the note crumpled in his fist, not saying anything as well.

"Med-jacks!"Alby yelled, breaking the silence.

"What do you want us to do with her?"Clint asked.

"How should I know?"Alby said, the annoyance in his tone obvious. "You shanks are the Med-Jacks, figure it out."

"Don't worry, we've got it, Alby,"Clara reassured him.

Clint leaned down next to the girl, feeling for her pulse, then leaning over to listen to her heartbeat.

"Who said Clint had first shot at her?!"someone yelled from the crowd. "I'm next!"

"Girls are not possessions that you can call dibs on, ya slinthead!"Clara told them.

"Clara's right! If anyone touches this girl, you're gonna spend the night sleepin' with the Grievers in the Maze. Banished, no questions,"Alby agreed with Clara. "Ain't nobody better touch her! Nobody!"

"She seems fine,"Clint told Alby. "Breathing okay, normal heartbeat. Though it's a bit slow. Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd say she's in a coma. Archie, Jeff, Clara, let's take her to the Homestead."

At first, Clint and Jeff struggled to pick the girl up, but then Archie scooped the girl in his strong arms and carried her to the Homestead.

"I must say,"Archie whispered to Clara when they were a fair distance away from the others. "She's kinda hot."

"Archie, you're an idiot sometimes,"Clara replied.

But Archie still smiled.

And Clara couldn't help but smile as well. "Actually, you're an idiot all the time."

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"Hey,"Thomas greeted Clara after talking to Chuck. "So, um, I just wanted to say thanks, for earlier."

"What do you mean?"Clara said, smiling.

"For standing up for me, earlier, when that girl came up in the Box."

"Oh, you're welcome,"Clara replied. "Where ya goin'?"

"Exploring,"Thomas asked.

"Mind if I join?"she asked him, although regretted it the second after she had said it, the fear of being rejected settling in.

"Yeah, yeah, of course,"Thomas replied. "I'd like that."

Clara and Thomas spoke on the way to the southwest corner, and Clara couldn't shake the feeling that she knew Thomas.

And then it sank in. On her first day in the Glade, when she had heard those voices, she was certain that the girl had called the boy Thomas.

She didn't know what to do. Should she tell him?

No, she decided. Thomas already had enough to worry about.

"Hey, isn't that a beetle blade?"Thomas asked as a beetle blade scurried past his feet in a blur of movement, startling him.

"Yeah,"Clara said. "Nasty buggers. How the Creators watch us."

Without a warning, Thomas sprinted after the beetle blade, leaving Clara behind.

"Hey, wait up!"Clara called and tried to catch up with him.

But of course she couldn't, not being as unfit as she was.

"Dammit,"she muttered to herself, leaning aagainst a tree.

She actually had gotten pretty deep into the forest, she realized.

Suddenly, she heard a snap, and she got a fright.

"Who's there? Thomas, where are you?"she called. "Thomas, if this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny!"

"Thomas,"she repeated, this time her voice trembling in fear.

She heard someone standing behind her and she turned around.

But it was too late. Whoever it was had already used a branch to knock her over the head.

She gasped, and fell on the damp forest floor, and looked up.

"Ben?"she said, trying to grip on the last bit of consciousness.

"I'm sorry, Clara,"he said in a whisper. "I didn't want to do this, but you would've ruined everything."

And with that, she fell unconscious, feeling as if she was falling into complete and utter darkness.

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"Clara!"Thomas called as he wondered through the forest, Archie by his side.

It was bad enough that Ben had attacked Thomas, but Thomas couldn't baer to think that Ben might have hurt Clara as well.

"Clara!"he called again.

It took a while for them to find her, but when they did, she was lying near a tree, but she seemed awake.

"Clara!"Thomas said, relieved, dropping down next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine,"she answered. "Ben, he knocked me out."

Thomas nodded. "We know. He came after me as well."

"What happened to him?"Clara asked.

Thomas bit his tongue, then looked at Archie, as if he was pleading him to tell her instead.

"Alby shot him with a freaking bow and arrow,"Archie replied. "He's dead."

Clara was stunned. She didn't know what to say - she hadn't exactly been close to Ben. In fact, she hadn't even spoken to him much. But he was a Glader.

And now he was dead.

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gif is archie talking about teresa

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