Everything was different.
The Glade was destroyed. Fires continued to spread, and people were still trying to put them out.
Emma felt numb inside. Her mind felt distant, like she was floating outside of her body. Nothing made sense anymore. Alby was dead. Zart was dead. More of her friends were dead. Brandon, Dmitri, and Alex. So many Gladers had perished. Jordan was one of them. Left powerless in the Pit. An easy target.
She couldn't help but feel guilty about that.
Thomas had stung himself in the leg. Chuck found the other syringe in the rubble. Teresa injected it into him, and Emma hoped it would help him like it did for Alby.
Instead of bringing Thomas to the Med-Jack hut, he was brought to the Pit. Teresa was as well.
Gally had taken control of everything. He managed to convince most of the Gladers that everything had fallen apart because of Thomas and Teresa. They were responsible for it all, he had said. Alby remembered things before he died, and he had told them. He told them that he remembered Thomas.
Gally used that to spark fear inside everyone.
So, Teresa and Thomas were sent to the Pit, where they would wait to be Banished at the next sundown. If anyone had a problem with that, they would join them. If anyone didn't want to follow him, they would also be Banished.
Emma wasn't sure who Gally was anymore.
He wasn't the same boy who helped her with Jordan. Or the same boy who kissed her in the Med-Jack hut. She didn't recognize him anymore, and that terrified her.
Emma had never been overly brave or confident. She always did what other people told her to do. She was clumsy and awkward and didn't speak up for herself. So, when Gally told her that they were leaving, she listened.
While some Gladers worked to put out the fires, she sat at a table. It was the only table left standing. Her eyes were on the tree hut, which was partly destroyed on the bottom. The top was now inaccessible. There were a lot of memories created there, some of her favorites—all involved Gally.
And now it was destroyed, and Gally was a different person.
She knew nothing would be the same again. Things would never go back to normal. There was nothing left of the Glade. Thomas had said, before everything fell apart, that he may have found a way out of the Maze. What if he was right? What if there was a way out? They had to try. Emma knew staying here wasn't an option, but she needed Gally to understand that too.
Maybe that was why she found herself with him after the rampage on the Glade. After he took control of everything, the others, her friends with a remaining sense of rationality, went to the Pit. Thomas and Teresa were inside, and they were keeping an eye on them.
She knew what they were thinking. That Gally had lost his mind. That he had always been this way, but now he had the power to make things happen. Emma knew there was good in Gally. Right now, he was just scared.
"Are you going to say anything?"
Emma's grip on his fingers tightened slightly. The washcloth in her hand gently patted his palms, which were rubbed raw at some point in his fight to survive the Grievers. "No."
Gally huffed. He was still angry. That much was obvious. He was angry at Thomas and Teresa. He was angry at himself for not doing more. He was angry at Emma for following Thomas willingly instead of going with him. For helping him after he stung himself. For not vocally taking his side when he voiced his thoughts to the others.
"That's a first." She always had something to say or knew what to do to make a situation better.
Emma sighed loudly, retracting her hand. "You won't need stitches."
"Are you a Med-Jack now?"
"Are you going to have an attitude with me no matter what I say?"
Gally bit the inside of his cheek, stopping the words that had nearly escaped him. It wouldn't have been nice. Emma would have certainly left him alone, which was the last thing he wanted right now. After being separated from her during the Griever attack, he realized how scared he was of losing her. It was a paralyzing feeling and not something he ever wanted to feel again. "Sorry," was his muttered response.
Emma eyed him. He was returning to the person she knew, showing his softer side—her favorite side of him. "I'm not a Med-Jack, but I'm also not an idiot. They're just scrapes, nothing bad. You'll live."
Gally smiled faintly, pulling his hand back. He clenched his fist, hissing in pain. Emma wanted to comment about how dumb of a decision that was but didn't. "You went with him."
"What?"
"You went with him."
She didn't understand what Gally was saying. "Went with who?"
"Thomas," he said. "When the Grievers attack. You went with him."
"So?" It didn't matter now. It was over. The Grievers were gone. The choice to follow Thomas hadn't killed her. In fact, she hadn't even made a choice. Her body simply moved for her. "I was just running with everyone." To her, it didn't matter.
"You helped him after he stung himself."
Emma shrugged, picking up the bowl of water and used rags. That was more obvious, at least to her it was. "Because he stung himself." He was hurt and needed help.
"You didn't take my side." That caused her to freeze. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for Gally to see. "Emma-"
Hearing the anger returning to his tone, she spoke. "I think Thomas came here for a reason." She couldn't look at him. "At that reason is to help us escape." His nostrils flared at her revelation. "You're wrong about him, Gally. He can lead us home."
"We are home."
She shook her head. "This isn't our home." They were sent here by the Creators. Their home was outside the Maze. They just had to find a way out. "Gally-"
"What?" He stood up, throwing his arms out. Emma stood up as well, not wanting to be talked down to. "You think there's something out there?" Gally was furious. Emma tried not to flinch at the volume of his voice. "You think we're free out there? There's no escaping!"
"Gally, would you listen to yourself?!" Emma had wanted to stay calm, but she couldn't. Her emotions were all over the place. "The Glade isn't our home! We aren't supposed to be here forever. The Box isn't coming back up. There's no more supplies coming. The Gardens are gone. The Kitchen is gone. We can't survive here anyway!"
"We can rebuild," he argued. "We can-"
"We can't," Emma cut him off. "We can't." They couldn't. Nervously, she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I think Thomas is right." Her voice came out in a whisper. For the first time, Gally was silent. Emma stared up at him, unsure of what he was thinking. Her eyes flickered between his. "Gally?"
"This is our home," he said, voice steady. "We're staying here." It wasn't 'I'm staying,' it was 'we're staying.' He was making a choice for both of them, but Emma had made up her mind long ago. She wasn't going to die in the Glade. She wanted to leave. She had been hopeful since the start. That hope never faded, not even now.
"Gally, please. I know you're scared-"
"Scared?" He pointed at himself. "I'm not scared. I'm Shucking terrified. Grievers destroyed our home." Over half the Gladers were gone. "But it's our home. We have to stay here. We need to rebuild."
"We could leave. Thomas and Minho could lead us to the exit." Emma grabbed his hands. He went to argue, but she stopped him. "Imagine it. Just for a second, imagine it. Please, Gally. Please." Gally, reluctantly, did what she asked. Although, he wasn't happy about it. "Imagine us outside the Glade."
"You don't know what's out there," his voice was soft. It was calm and rational but still full of fear.
"I have hope it's something better." All she could do was hope.
Gally wasn't like Emma. He didn't have hope. "I don't," he said. "This is our home." He knew the Glade. The version before Thomas destroyed everything. He didn't know anything outside the Glade. "We can rebuild."
"No," her voice started to rise again. "It isn't. We can't stay here!"
"And what if not anything better?" He threw his arms out to emphasize his point. "What if it's worse?" She didn't have a chance to respond. "Do you really think you, of all people, could survive out there?"
Emma recoiled as if she had been hit. Her eyes were wide, full of betrayal. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Gally sighed, looking away from her. "Emma, you get hurt constantly. If it's not better, do you really think you'd survive out there?" His words stung. They burned. He thought she would die if she left. That she wasn't strong enough to survive outside the Glade. "That's why we need to stay here." She stepped back from him, eyes burning with tears. "Emma-"
"You think I'm weak?" He thought she wasn't strong enough to survive.
"I didn't say that," he argued. "But-"
Emma stepped closer to him, trying one last time to get Gally to stop his rampage and see the bigger picture. "This is not our home. We were sent here, but we could leave."
"No, we can't."
"You're wrong."
He glared at her. It was cold and frightening. Emma didn't like it when he looked at her like that. Like he hated her. "You'd take the side of a Glader you just met three days ago over me?"
"It isn't like that." Emma wasn't picking Thomas over him. "It's about us. It's about our freedom, which is just outside-"
"Enough!" She flinched. "You either join me or get Banished with him."
Emma tilted her head back. "You'd really Banish me?" Her words were breathless.
Gally stood taller, eyes downcast. "Yes." He said—a lie.
"Okay," she said with a quivering bottom lip. "Okay." Emma knew he would never listen and didn't believe in her. She had tried and failed to convince him to see that Thomas was never a threat to the Glade.
He didn't stop her as she walked away. Emma moved quickly, legs desperately carrying her toward her friends. She needed to be somewhere, anywhere that Gally wasn't.
It was foolish to think he would change his mind. Emma should have known better. Gally was who he had always been. Stubborn. Irrational. Angry. Thinking he would change his mind was idiotic, but Emma was hopeful. She cared about him so much. She always had, even when he hated her. Something about him drew her to him.
Her thoughts were always consumed by him. It was Gally that occupied her mind. It was Gally who crawled inside her heart and decided to remain there. It was Gally who made her question everything.
If it came down to it, could she really leave him?
When her immediate answer wasn't yes, that terrified her.
How can she care so much about a person? How can she care so much about him? After everything that happened, Emma's feelings were still there. How can that be?
She cursed silently to herself as tears blurred her vision. Of all the people in the Glade, she had to care about him the most. The angry Builder with a secret soft side. The man who had taken control of the Glade and was planning on Banishing anyone who disagreed with him. Where was the Gally who saved her from Jordan? Who wanted to keep her safe and protect the Glade and the Gladers inside?
All Emma had were unanswerable questions.
"Emma." She knew that voice. It was Newt. "Emma, are you all right?"
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yeah," she lied with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. "Yeah."
Newt knew her better than that. He had watched as Gally led her away. He watched as she willingly went with him, but her eyes were full of uncertainty and fear. Not from Gally, never from Gally. Emma could never be afraid of him, but she could be afraid for him. For her. For what happened next. "How's Thomas?"
"Still asleep," Newt responded. "Chuck and Minho are there." Newt had been watching her since she left with Gally, ready to step in if needed. "What happened?" Emma was his closest friend, and he cared for her deeply.
Emma pursed her lips, eyes on the ground below. "I tried." Newt let her talk at her own pace. "I tried to convince him, but it wasn't enough." Maybe she could have tried harder, but would there have been a point?
"I'm sorry," Newt said. He reached out, wrapping an arm around her. "It's going to be okay."
Emma wanted to believe him.
She wasn't sure she did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was the longest night of her life.
She barely slept, even though her body was exhausted. It was hard to sleep knowing what the next day would bring. Thomas and Teresa would be Banished, and they had no idea how to stop it. People were following Gally, believing what he says. If they didn't, then they were too scared to speak up.
They willingly went along with Gally's plan to Banish them.
She stayed by the Pit the enter night. Gally never came to look for her, but she wasn't expecting him to. She made her choice, and he made his. They were on opposite sides.
They had always been opposites, and Emma had loved that. Now, it would be what separated them.
It was mid-afternoon when Thomas finally woke up. "Hey," Teresa said to him. His head was resting in her lap. "Are you okay?"
He stared up at Teresa, blinking a few times like he was waking up from a dream. He then looked at the group outside the doors. "What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck wasn't happy with Thomas. His actions were irrational, and it scared them.
Thomas sat up. "What happened?"
"Gally took control," Newt explained, glancing at Emma. "He gave everyone a choice. We can join him or get Banished at sundown with you two."
Thomas groaned as he sat up. "And everyone agreed with that?"
"Gally convinced everyone that you're the reason this all happened," Teresa explained to him.
"Well," Thomas sighed. "He's been right so far."
Emma sat up straighter. "What are you talking about," Minho questioned.
"This place," Thomas stared up at them. "It's not what we thought it was." Emma listened to him. "It's not a prison. It's a test. It started when we were kids. They would give us challenges." She licked her bottom lip. "They were experimenting on us." Thomas paused for a second. "Then people started disappearing. One after the other, like clockwork."
"They were being sent into the Maze," Newt realized.
"Yeah, but not all of us."
"What do you mean?"
"Guys, I'm one of them," Thomas revealed the information freely to them, knowing what it meant. "The people who put you here, I was with them. I worked with them." None of them spoke. "I watched all of you for years. The entire time, I was behind it." He looked at Teresa. "We both were."
Teresa shook her head, not wanting to believe it. "What?"
"Teresa, we did this to them."
"No." Teresa kept shaking her head. "That can't be true."
"It is," Thomas said. "I saw it."
Teresa didn't understand. "Then why would we be sent up here?"
"It doesn't matter."
"You're right," Newt spoke up. "It doesn't matter. Any of it." All eyes were on him. "The people we were before the Maze are gone. They don't exist anymore. The Creators took care of that. What does matter is who we choose to be and what we do right now." Teresa and Thomas were who they were, but to Emma, that didn't matter. Who they were before didn't matter. Not anymore. Emma trusted Thomas, and she trusted what he said. "You went to the Maze and found a way out."
"But if I hadn't, Alby might still be here." They would never know for sure. Emma knew that. It wasn't Thomas's fault, either.
"Maybe," Newt breathed. "I do know that if he were still here, he would tell you the same thing. Pick your ass up and finish what you started. If we do nothing, that means Alby died for nothing, and I can't have that."
Thomas knew Newt was being genuine. "Okay," he agreed after a moment. "But we have to get past Gally first."
Emma knew it wouldn't be easy to go against him, but she wanted to leave with the others. They had to do this.
They had to leave the Glade, and she had to leave Gally.