A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 83

Cally's pov

The slide was longer than I had first imagined. The metal walls of the tube weren't just covered in the slime and sweat from the Gladers that went before me, but there was something else rubbed all over it. It was too dark to see anything, but it felt like some sort of oil, which made it impossible to get a grip on anything.
     I tried to puss my heels against the sides to slow down, but it just caused me to tumble around myself. Nausea became worse with every twist and turn the slide made. With some effort, I got myself to turn around again, so my feet were sliding down first.
      I had barely any time to recognize the small flash of light that appeared in front of me before the tunnel spit me into it. With a loud thud, I hit the ground. My legs gave in, and I had to catch myself with my hands before my face hit the ground. The light that shone in the room wasn't bright, but it made me squint my eyes since it was more than I had been used to in the slide and the hallway before it.
     Once I had pushed myself to sit on my knees and my eyes were used to the new brightness, I was able to take in our new environment. We were in a big, white room. The size of maybe nine or ten times the Homestead. Spread through the room were all kinds of computers and about forty big, white pods. For a moment, I thought they were coffins, mend for every single one of our friends, and maybe us as well. But then I realized they were way too big for us. They must have been where the Grievers were put in when they weren't tormenting us. 
     Someone collided with my back, causing me to shoot forward again. I tried to catch myself with my hands, but the weight of the person was too much. For the second time in less than five minutes, I was lying on the ground. Pain shot through my arm, but what else is new? So I tried to ignore it. The person hadn't even noticed they had landed on another human being until I managed to clear my throat. 
     "Could you- get off me?" It took some effort to say anything with that kind of weight pushing down on my lungs. 
     "I'm so sorry." It was Newt. The moment he noticed, he pushed himself up.
     Of course it's Newt. I thought to myself while I groaned. Newt tried to help me up, but he pulled on my now hurting arm, making me flinch and pull back. A bit startled, Newt looked at me, apparently thinking I rejected his help. The moment I was standing, I shot him a small, forced smile. "I hurt my arm, no big deal." Newt's mouth made an O shape, before carefully placing a hand on my other arm. 
     Someone else reached the end of the slide. Teresa shot out of it, landing in front of my feet. Somehow, this startled me again, causing me to jump backward. I wanted to help her up, but before I could, Thomas also came out of the tunnel. He collided with her, just as Newt had with me. The two had barely gotten up from the ground when Thomas turned and threw up. I couldn't look away quickly enough. Which got my attention to the walls directly in front of us.
     The walls existed only off darkly tinged glass. It would have made more sense to me if it had been an one way mirror, but it wasn't. We could clearly see the other side of it.
     Apparently, one of the other boys noticed it as well because I heard someone tell the others to look at it. Everyone was looking at the windows now. On the other side were people. Rows and rows of people, sitting in chairs all facing the window. Men and women, all wearing the same white clothing with black jackets. They didn't seem to move a lot, observing us with utter concentration as if we were monkeys in a public Zoo, about to do a world famous acrobatic show. 
     The Creators. It were them. None of us said it, but we all knew. Anger boiled up inside of me, anger for what they had done to us, for putting us inside that Maze, taking our memories, replacing mine, hurting and killing so many of us. Taking Ezra away from me. I was about to run at the window, try to break through it, and strangle the first person I could get close to. But I shook that thought away. If I did any of that, I would be no better than them. Besides, I probably wouldn't be able to even crack the glass with nothing but my fists. 
     "Who are those people?" Chuck whispered to Thomas. His words echoed against the walls. 
     "The Creators." Minho said, the rage I felt sounded through those two words. The boy spat on the floor. "I'm gonna break your faces." He screamed at them, so loud that I crimped in, resisting the urge to cover my ears with my hands. 
     "What do we do?" Thomas asked to no one in particular. "What are they waiting for?"
     "They've probably revved the Grievers back up," Newt answered. "They're probably coming right-" 
     A loud, beeping sound interrupted him. It sounded the same as a truck when it was driving in reverse, but louder, more powerful, and coming from every possible direction. Nerves took over my body, driving me crazy. I felt like every little thing that happened was enough to push me over the edge at this point.
     "What now?" Chuck asked, doing his best to be heard over the alarm. Not hiding the concern in his voice.
     For a moment, everyone looked at Thomas for an answer, including me. All hoping he knew what to do next, he already got us this far. But he just shrugged, showing us that he also did not know what to do.
     Some of us started to look around to find the source of the beeping, but my attention didn't falter from the people on the other side of the window. If the others had done the same, they would have seen the woman getting up from her place on the front row. She had brown hair, cut off by the shoulder and dark eyes. She made her way to the doors, but not before waving someone to follow her. My eyes found the person she had waved at and was surprised I hadn't noticed him sooner. It was a boy, wearing
a way too big grey sweatshirt. The hood was pulled over his head, hiding his face from us. 
     "Someone's coming." I mumbled to Newt, who hadn't left my side. Following my gaze, his eyes also found the boy and the woman as they opened the doors and walked into the room. I was so focused on the boy that I barely noticed Newt taking a hold on my wrist, half stepping in front of me as if he wanted to protect me from the two seemingly not dangerous people.
     A new kind of silence filled the room, one I never had felt before. It was... confusing. I knew most of us wanted answers, while the others just wanted to get their revenge for the years of torture. In all honesty, I didn't know on which side I was. 
     "Welcome back," The woman broke the silence. Her voice was unfazed, clearly not caring about our well-being. "Over two years, and so few have died. Amazing." For the first time since the two had entered the room, my head shot to her, my eyes wide with anger while my breath got stuck in my throat. 
     "Excuse me?" Newt asked, clearly just as pissed off as I was by the woman's statement.
     The woman's eyes scanned everyone before they locked on Newt. "Everything has gone according to plan, Mr. Newton-"
     "Don't, call me that." Newt bit at the woman, but she ignored him entirely as she just continued. 
     "-Although we expected a few more of you to give up along the way." 
     My hands balled into fists, and I don't know what I would've done if it wasn't for the woman pulling off the hood of the boy beside her.
     The boy looked up, tears were visible in his eyes. The entire group of Gladers gasped out of surprise. It was Gally. Gally was alive and right here with us.
     I was the only one who took a step forward, saying his name, only Newt didn't let me get any closer. I wanted to protest, but when I looked better at Gally, I knew why he wouldn't let go of me.
     Gally wasn't himself. His eyes were glassy, as if he had trouble really seeing what was going on around him. A look of terror was laced over his face. I didn't immediately know why it felt familiar, but then I realized, he was the same way Alby and I had been after we got stung. After we got out of the Changing. Scared, in pain and worst of all, not in control. 
     "What's he doing here!" Minho shouted. He was starting to scare me a little. Minho really needed to get a hang on himself. 
     "You're safe now," the woman tried to reassure us as if Minho hadn't said anything. "Please, be at ease."
     "At ease?" Minho bit at her. "Who are you, telling us to be at ease? We wanne see the police, the mayor, the president- somebody!" His words only confirmed my first suspicion that he was really losing it at this point. 
     This time, the woman did turn her attention to Minho with narrowed eyes. "You have no idea what you're talking about, boy. I'd expect more maturity from someone who's passed the Maze Trials." 
     Minho was about to throw an insult at her, but stopped when I started laughing.
     "Maturity? Really? After putting a group of teenage boys in a small space together for over two years, that's what you expect? I may be the one with fake memories, but even I know that that's just fucking stupid." 
     The woman's cold stare went from Minho to me, but somehow she didn't scare me at all. "I would watch my tone if I were you, Ms. Callidora. Before we decide to fix the mistake and take you back to your own group."
     "Was that supposed to be a thread?" I questioned without backing down. Trying to ignore the fear of being pulled away from everyone I cared about again. 
     I never knew if the woman was going to respond, because Newt had turned to Gally. "Gally, what's going on?" The dark haired boy looked at Newt, his body was trembling with every move. There seemed to be something in his eyes, as a moment of recognition, but it disappeared again without answering. 
     The woman seemed happy with this reaction, or rather lack of. "One day you'll all be grateful for what we've done for you. I can only promise this, and trust your minds to accept it. If you don't, then the whole thing was a mistake. Dark times, Mr. Newton. Dark times." She paused shortly. "There is, of course, one final Variable." The woman took some steps back, making us all focus on Gally. 
     His face was entirely drained of blood, making his red eyes stand out even more among his white skin. His body was trembling more than it had been before. His lips formed a thin line, the skin around it twitching as if he was trying to say something, but got forced not to. He was being controlled, I was sure about this now. 
     "Gally," I started, attracting his attention while I took steps to him. Taking my arm carefully out of Newt's grip. 
     "They... can control me... I don't-" Gally managed to push through his lips before he got forced to grab his own throat, squeezing it shut. 
     "I know, Gally." I tried to conceal my own panic, only failing half. "But you can resist. They did it to me too, but I resisted and so can you!" I did my best to give Gally the strength to fight back, but I had no idea if it was working. 
     The boy's eyes were bulging out of his head, focused on me as I slowly got closer. "I can't..."
     "Yes, you can. I know you can." 
     "... get b- back..." He said through the grip he had on his own throat. 
     I frowned, not listening to him and did a step closer, reaching for him with my hand.
     Before I could touch him, he roughly pushed me to the ground. The next thing I knew, his body relaxed, for a moment I thought he got himself free, but he hadn't.
     Gally grabbed something from his back pocket. A dagger. Moving faster than I had ever seen him do, he reared back and threw the wicket thing at Thomas. The light reflecting off the metal gave it a silvery glow before it hit target. 
     It didn't hit Thomas. Even though Gally had aimed perfectly and the boy hadn't tried to move away. But someone else had jumped in front of it, protecting their friend from the weapon.
     Chuck. The youngest of us all had jumped in without even thinking about his own safety. My eyes were locked on the small boy as he collapsed to the ground. Crimson red pouring from the wound and dripping out of his mouth.
     He had screamed when the knife impaled his skin. I wanted to scream too. I wanted to run at him, stop the bleeding, stitch him up and take his pain away. But I didn't. Thomas was the one who ran at him and pulled him on his lap, trying to comfort him, to help him.
     I think he even yelled for somebody to help, but even then I couldn't bring myself to move. I was frozen in place. Again. Sitting on the ground, my body was shaking as I couldn't do anything but stare at the scene in front of me. Not able to process the sounds of my friends' voices or the words they were supposed to form. My sight was blurry, maybe from tears, I couldn't tell. A faint, high-pitched buzzing sound started to fill my ears. The sound became louder with the second, drowning out anything around me. Everything was just too much for me to take in and I just knew my body was trying to protect me by blocking it out. 
     There was movement. Thomas shot away from Chuck. Launching himself at Gally, there was more screaming and fighting. Closer to me this time. Only my eyes couldn't leave the lifeless body of my friend. The boy I had helped out of the box when he first came to the Glade, the boy I had seen change from this shy, little Shank to his bubbly, energetic self. The boy I had comforted at night and laughed with during the day. The boy that just took his last breath after protecting his best friend, and I had done nothing to help him.