Count On Me ➵ Newt [1]

TWENTY-FOUR | bloody inspired

"How's Thomas?" Newt said, crouching down next to Minho as he glanced down into the Slammer cell.

"Still sleeping, the lazy shank," Minho replied. "He stopped screaming about an hour ago."

We waited for Thomas to wake up then, leaning against the Slammer door. None of us said much, not even Chuck, who was the most bubbly and talkative among us. I peered into the Slammer, where Teresa and Thomas were lying on the dusty stone floor, their chests rising and falling gently as they rested. I found myself wishing that I could talk with the new girl, maybe even become friends with her - but I knew we didn't have time for bonding.

After what felt like hours, Thomas woke up with a gasp. We stared at him, eyes wide. He sat up groggily, clearly disoriented and he blinked as he stared around him, his gaze dazed and confused.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck demanded him.  

Thomas stared at him. "What happened?" He asked.

"Gally's taken control," Newt answered gravely. "He said we had a choice: either join him, or get banished at sundown with you."

Thomas looked away. He got to his feet shakily. "Did you guys agree to that?"

"Gally has everyone convinced that you're the reason that all this has happened," Teresa said.

Thomas didn't looked surprised. "Well, he's been right so far," he sighed forlornly.

"What the klunk are you talkin' about?" Minho said.

Thomas shrugged. "This place... it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison - it's a test. It all started when we were kids... like, they'd give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us.

"And then people started disappearing," Thomas continued. "Every one of 'em, one after another, like clockwork."

"They sent us up here into the Maze?" Newt asked.

"Yeah, but... not all of us."

"What'd you mean?"

Thomas seemed to struggle with his next words. His eyes held a strange kind of sadness as he said, "Guys, I'm one of them. The people who put you here - I worked with them. I-I've watched you guys for years - the entire time I've been here, I was on the other side." Thomas' gaze slid to Teresa's. "And so were you," he told her.

She stared at him in disbelief, her brows furrowed. "What?"

"Teresa, we did this to them," Thomas whispered, now looking close to tears.

Teresa shook her head. "No... that can't be true," she said. Her eyes were wet; tears slid down her face.

"It is. I saw it."

"But why would they send us up if we were with them?"

"It... It doesn't matter."

"He's right," Newt piped up, his voice low. Everyone looked at him in surprise as he talked. "It doesn't matter. Any of it. The people before the Maze - they don't even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that. What does matter, is who we are now, and what we do, right now."