They Don't Own Me

Chapter 28

"Gally, listen to me," Ivy said, trying to gain his attention. She felt a little swell of reassurance when he looked at her and his posture relaxed. "You're not thinking straight. You're not. We can help you."

"Just put down the gun," Thomas encouraged, speaking as calmly as he could. Gally tensed again, the dark look in his eyes returning.

"I belong to the Maze."

"Just put down the gun."

"We all do."

After he finished his words, Gally pulled the trigger. The boys cried out, most ducking down to avoid the shot. Newt ended up pulling Ivy down, covering her with his own body. Not a moment after the shot fired, they heard gasping. Looking up, they saw a spear in Gally's chest. Ivy glanced at Minho, who had thrown the weapon. He looked back at her, an apology in his eyes. They all stared as Gally slowly fell to his knees, gasping for breath, before falling to his side on the ground and becoming still.

"Thomas."

The group looked at Chuck, who was beginning to fall. Thomas moved quickly to catch him, lowering the young boy to the ground. The boy gasped for breath as blood seeped through his shirt.

"Chuck!" Thomas said.

Ivy felt the air leave her body at the sight. Her legs started to give out but before she could collapse, Minho grabbed her, putting his arm around her waist to support her. He pulled her close to his body and wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh, sh*t," Thomas muttered. He put his hand over the wound to try and stop the bleeding, but Chuck was loosing too much blood. "Sh*t. Look at me, look at me! Oh, sh*t! Chuck, look at me, all right? Just hang on."

"It's okay," the boy said. "Thomas, Thomas."

He put his hand on his friend's shoulder to try and comfort him. With his other hand, he tried to give Thomas a small figurine.

"No, no Chuck. You're gonna give it to them yourself. Remember, I told you that."

Ivy felt tears running down her cheeks. She tried to hold herself together but knew it was no use. She glanced over at Gally, swallowing hard when she met his gaze. The Builder still seemed to have life in his eyes, but it was fading in and out. As much as the two of them argued and didn't get along, Gally had his good moments too where he was kind and caring, though they were rare. Ivy didn't want him to die. She didn't want any of them to die.

"Take it," she heard Chuck say, though his words were growing weaker. "Thank you. Thank you."

"No, Chuck, you're gonna get-" Thomas's words stopped suddenly. Through the silence, Ivy could hear Chuck exhale deeply. Her heart shattered when she didn't hear him inhale again. A silent sob racked through her body, causing her bury her head into Minho's chest. "Chuck. Chuck? Hey. Hey, Chuck, come on! Come on, wake up! D*mn it!" he said, his voice mixing with a small cry. The boy sobbed over Chuck's body, tears flowing heavily down his face. Around him, the others were silently crying as well. "D*mn it! We made it. Come on. I'm sorry... God d*mn it! D*mn it!" he cried.

Suddenly, a door at the end of the tunnel opened, causing light to pour into the room. A group of men came hurrying into the room, most of them carrying guns. Minho pulled Ivy closer in case something bad happened.

"Come on!" one of the men said. "Let's go! We have to go!"

The soldiers grabbed their arms and began to guide them toward the door. When the Gladers realized that they were there to help, they shook off the men and followed. Minho and Newt had to help guide Ivy at first, but she eventually found enough strength left to run with them. Two men had to grab Thomas, who was still screaming and crying, and pull him away from Chuck's body.

"Chuck! We can't just leave him there!" he shouted. "Chuck!"

Ivy blocked out his screams, as they would only make her cry more and want to race back to the boy's side. She ran with all her might, following the men outside. She was momentarily blinded by the sudden light but still managed to run to the craft they were being led to. The Gladers quickly got in and squished together. As soon as Thomas was in, they closed the door and the craft lifted into the air.

"You guys all right?" the soldier from before asked. "Don't worry. You're safe now."

As the craft lifted off, they all looked out the window. The Gladers gasped when they could see the top of the Maze, along with the Glade, which had smoke coming from it. The sight nearly made Ivy cry again. She turned back to Minho, who was sitting on her left, and buried her face into his shoulder. Minho wrapped his arms around her as best as he could. On her other side, Newt placed a hand on her knee, which was pulled up toward her chest. Both tried to comfort her, but they were in just as much shock as she was.

"Relax, kid," the soldier said, directing his words at Thomas. "Everything is gonna change."

Ivy squeezed her eyes shut even more. Never in her life had she felt more helpless. In the last day, she had lost more than half of her friends. Alby, Adam, Zart, Jeff, Clint, and now Gally and Chuck. All names that would be crossed off on the Maze wall right now. Faces of WCKD's victims raced across her mind. Faces of Grievers attacking flashed through her memories. She could feel her heart speeding up out of fear. Fear that they would be attached by Grievers. Fear that Grievers lived in other places besides the Maze. Fear that the deaths of her friends were actually her fault because she had been too weak to do anything.

"Don't do this to yourself, Ivy." The girl looked up, finding Minho already looking at her. There were a few tears in his eyes but he was holding himself together much better than she was. "Don't you dare blame everything that's happened on yourself. You know it's not true. It was WCKD. Everything that we have gone through the last couple of years was because of them. You could do nothing to stop it or prevent it, so do not blame yourself."

"He's right, Ivy," Newt said. "Right now, you just need to calm down. I know it's hard after everything that has happened, but at least try. We're here for you, that's all that matters right now. Just calm down and try to relax."

Ivy nodded, happy that the two of them were there. Without them, she would be lost. She would be an emotional mess and would probably still be kneeling on the floor of that WCKD base, crying her eyes out. She grabbed Newt's hand and held on to it while Minho held her in his arms. She was beyond thankful to have the two boys in her life.