A-Thousand-Words | The Maze Runner - Newt/Thomas

8 | Into the Unknown

That afternoon, after the sun had begun its descent from the highest point in the sky, Gally and his goons had dragged Thomas and Teresa to the entrance of the maze. "This is such a waste." Gally huffed as a crowd of people formed around him and Thomas.

"Gally," one of the boys, Winston, spoke up. "it doesn't feel right, man."

"Yeah, what if Thomas is right?" Jeff questioned. "Maybe he can lead us home."

"We are home." Gally took a step towards the boys who had dared speak out against him. "Okay? I don't wanna have to cross any more names off that wall."

Gally gestured to the wall where the names of every person to ever step foot in the glade were carved into the cement. Most were untouched, but some had a line through them, indicated that they had died or been banished.

Teresa scoffed as one of Gally's men tightened his grip on her arms. "You really think banishing us is gonna solve anything?"

"No." Gally shook his head. "But this isn't a banishing. It's an offering."

"What? Wait!" Teresa started to panic as Gally's men tied her to a large wooden pole that had been driven into the ground. "Gally, what are you doing?"

"You really think I'm gonna let Thomas back into the maze after what he has done?" Gally snapped. "Look around you! Look at our Glade! This is the only way. And when the Grievers get what they came here for, everything goes back to the way it was."

I made eye contact with Newt and Minho before spotting Chuck out of the corner of my eye. He had gathered and was now carrying all the supplies we would need if we wished to survive and escape the maze. "Are you listening to this?" Teresa looked around at the crowd. "Why are you all just standing there? He's crazy!"

"You shut up." Gally turned to her.

"If you stay here, the Grievers are going to come back." Teresa kept rambling to buy time. "They're gonna come back, and they're gonna keep coming back until you're all dead!"

"Shut up!" Gally yelled before looking at Thomas. "Tie him up! Do you hear me? I said tie him up!"

As Gally's men reached for Thomas, Thomas sprung into action. This was our cue. Pulling out our various weapons, we fought our way through Gally and his men until we had gathered in a group in front of the maze's entrance. Thomas, Teresa, Newt, Minho, Chuck, the glade's cook, Frypan, and I all stood side by side; weapons ready in case Gally tried to challenge us.

"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Gally stood there, ironically unsurprised by the stunt we had just pulled.

"You don't have to come with us, but we are leaving." Thomas pointed his spear directly at Gally as he spoke. "Anyone else who wants to come now's your last chance."

Gally turned back to the small crowd of gladers. "Don't listen to him. He's just trying to scare you."

"No, I'm not trying to scare you. You're already scared. All right, I'm scared. But I'd rather risk my life out there than spending the rest of it in here. We don't belong here. Okay? This place isn't our home. We were put here. We were trapped here. At least out there, we have a choice. We can make it out of here. I know that."

Stepping forward from the crowd, Jeff and Winston started making their way towards us. "I'm sorry." Jeff gave Gally one last look as a few more people joined us. "Gally, it's over." Thomas sighed. "Just come with us."

Gally stared at us for a while, his mouth moving slightly as he decided between staying silent and getting one last word in. "Good luck against the Grievers." he finally told us; a look of defeat and betrayal etched into his face.