"Time for breakfast Rue, come on." Newt tries to get me out of my hammock.
"Five minutes, pleasee." I beg, really not feeling like getting up. But we have plans for today.
Newt obviously can't remind me of that because we are being watched by wicked. We can talk as soon as we are in the dining hall.
"I'm coming."
I stand up and look at my blonde best friend. Newt looks a bit tired. He can rest when we are out of here. We can all recover soon.
For some it will take longer than for others. But we all can't remember anything before the maze. So we've practically been here our whole lives.
Ten minutes later we are all gathered in the dining hall. Newt, Alby, Thomas, Minho and I are standing in front of the gladers.
Alby raises his voice "Today we are leaving this place. I know a few of you won't come with us and I can't force you to. But for the ones that will leave with me today: We have a lot to to till twelve o'clock."
"Fry over here takes care of the food. I want the other cooks and the sloopers to help them. Do it inside of the hall."
"The ones of the builders that are coming with us and the runners and the slicers are gonna prepare weapons and backpacks in the homestead."
"Fill bottles with water. The medjacks will pack up medical equipment. Trackhoes, you will work on the fields as usual and deliver plants to the cooks."
"Everyone else, take jackets and prepare yourself for our last journey. We will make it. I know that."
A few people applaude. I look around proudly. We are going to leave today. I search for the brunette and find him standing with Newt.
Minho and Jeff are talking to Fry. The other gladers look at Alby, inspired. They all look up to him. They trust him.
Well not all of them. Gally and a few builders aren't coming with us. And three ore more other boys I don't know.
James is still in the slammer and I think everyone forgot about him. I won't remind them.
Alby says one final sentence "Everyone, we will gather around the maze entrance ten minutes before leaving and everyone who doesn't join, won't come with us."
The thought of leaving gladers behind scares me. I know we leave them to die. Something tells me that I can trust the person who wrote the letter.
They wrote down 'a good friend' or something. That means I had friends before the maze. One at least. I'm excited to meet them.
But I think it will be weird, because they can remember me and I can't.
After Alby finishes, I leave with Jeff and we go to the medhut.
It's nine o'clock. That means we have three hours to prepare everything.
The medjacks don't have to to much. There are a few things we put into a bag. Like bandages and desinfection spray. But other than that there's nothing to do for me.
I could help Thomas and Minho with the weapons. They are in the homestead. Gally and the people who stay in the glade are not there. They don't want to help us.
I'm somehow glad that Gally is not coming with us. He hates me almost as much as he hates Thomas. I can't even tell why. Maybe just because I'm different.
I'm a girl. But that's a stupid reason. I can't decide what gender I am.
Or maybe he saw me. Like he saw Thomas. In his memory.
I have to stop overthinking things I can't control.
"Jeff, I'm going to Thomas and Minho. Do you wanna come with me?" I ask the boy.
"No thanks, I'll stay here and see if anyone needs me." he is sitting in his chair, writing something as usual.
"Okay, see you later. Don't be late!" I couldn't leave Jeff in the glade.
"I won't. See you later." he assures me, without looking up.
I walk out of the hut. The glade's mostly empty. Everyone is working on our escape. The closer I get to the homestead, the louder the voices get.
I open the door. Inside everybody is busy. In the crowded room I search for my friends. Well, my friend and my boyfriend.
I see Thomas's back and quietly walk over to him. When I'm close enough, I jump onto his back and hold on to his body.
"I was- OH GOD!" the brunette jumps and quickly turns around. But he can't see me because I'm on his back.
"Relax, it's me." I laugh into his ear. He begins laughing too.
"You scared the shit out of me, Ruby."
"Ha sorry." I say while getting off his back and stepping beside him. Just now I see the boy he was talking to, before I jumped onto his back.
The boy is a little smaller then Thomas. He has brown hair with a little blonde in it and dark eyes. He's watching me interested.
I reach out my hand for him to shake. He takes it.
"Hi, I'm Ruby, Thomas's girlfriend."
"Yeah I guessed you weren't a guy." he smiles at me.
"I'm Ethan by the way, nice to finally meet you. I heard a lot of stories about you."
This is Ethan!!!
Wait. I know him.
"Wait, are you the greenie?" I ask him.
"Yes, I am. I heard you were the greenie before me?"
"Yes!"
I'm surprised by how relaxed he is. It's only his second day in here.
"You're doing very well, so far. On my second day here, I wasn't even close to this." I point at him to demonstrate what I mean.
"I'm guessing that's a compliment, thanks."
I turn to Thomas again "Jeff and I have nothing to do and I wanted to help you with whatever you are doing?"
"Of course, me and Eric were talking about the weapons. Minho and I think everyone should have at least one. Everyone has to try a few and find out which one fits them the best." Thomas explains to me.
"Cool. Can I try the knives?"
"Yes, you can." he smiles at me sweetly.
"Can I try the spear?" Ethan asks Thomas. He looks at Thomas admiring.
"Yeah, I can show you how to fight with them. I will also take a spear."
We walk into the corner where the boxes weapons are standing. Thomas carefully hands me three different knives I can test. He takes two spears and guides Ethan and me into a different room, away from the crowd.
The room is empty except for a few boys that are trying out weapons.
Minho is there too. When he sees us, I wave at him and he comes over to us.
"Ah knives, good choice Princess." he takes one of the knives out of my hand "Wanna try?"
He wants me to use the weapon? Oh oh. I have no idea how to fight. And Minho is probably very good at it. That's gonna be embarrassing.
"Uh-"
"Perfect." he interrupts me and pulls me into the middle of the room "Go into position. Try to dodge. Avoid using your knife in the beginning."
That sounds so serious. I'm going to humiliate myself. I look back at Thomas and Ethan. They are watching me intensely. Great.
"Be careful, Minho." I hear Thomas saying. He doesn't want Minho to hurt me. So do I.
"I won't hurt her, Loverboy." Minho snickers at Thomas.
"You got this, Ruby." Ethan tries to cheer me up.
"Not helping, Ethan." I respond, nervously.
"Are you ready, Princess?" Minho asks me.
"I think so." I stutter, holding my knife in front of my body.
Instead of saying something he just starts and attacks me with his knife.
I quickly dodge and grab his arm with my left hand. In an instant I pull him into my direction with my hand on his arm, turn him around and press the knife to his neck. His back is facing me but I can sense that he's surprised.
So am I. What even was this. It came automatically. I just did it without thinking. I won. In a second.
"Woah." I hear Minho saying and I let go of him. Behind me, people are clapping and cheering. Minho looks at me shocked but excited.
"That was amazing! I didn't know you could fight."
"I didn't know it myself." I frown and turn around to Thomas and Ethan.
Thomas looks at me proudly. Ethans mouth is slightly open. I grin at them.
"See, that's how you do it, boys." I say jokingly.
"Wanna try again? This time for real?" Minho looks at me with his eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, sure. But I don't know if this was just good luck."
"I bet it wasn't."
"Alright then, come on."
This time we really fight. Nobody's carefull. I defeat Minho easily. Everytime. I know exactly what to. I can sense his next steps and soon he's laying on the floor with my knife against his neck.
We are both out of breath.
"You won, Princess."
"I know." I grin at him as I help him up.
"But for real, this is crazy. You are better than everyone I ever fought. Shit, you are better than Gally!" he grins excited.
"Language, Minho." I hear an familiar british accent. Newt is standing in the doorframe, watching us with a smile.
"Newt, did you see that?!" I walk over to him, smiling widely.
He chuckles "I did, that was bloody amazing."
Two arms wrap around my waist from behind. Thomas pecks my neck. I giggle and put my hands onto his.
"Why didn't you tell me you could fight?" he asks me.
I turn around in his arms and face him.
"I didn't know." I say. He still smiles.
"Now I know that I don't have to worry about you at all." he says before kissing me.
Yeah I guess he doesn't. That's pretty cool.
I smile into the kiss and cup his face with my hands. He presses me against his chest with his arms.
"Okaay, enough of this as long as we are here too." Newt tells us and we part, smiling at eachother.
"I actually came here to tell you that you have five minutes till we meet by the maze entrance. Hurry and get everything you need." Newt says.
"Aren't the creators going to see us?" Ethan asks Newt.
"I don't think we have to worry about that anymore." Newt responds with a slight frown.
"What do you mean, Newt?" I ask him.
"About fifteen minutes ago the sky went completely grey. I think your friend took care of them."
He means the person from the letter. But, grey? I have to see it myself. I want to go out, but Newt stops me.
"Look Rue, we don't have time for this right now. Get your stuff and come to the entrance. You can look at the sky as much as you want to later."
I give him a short nod, take my knife and leave the homestead after giving Thomas a kiss on the cheek.
I run to the medhut and get Jeff and the bag with medical equipment. On our way out I also take a small bandage and use it as a hair tie.
I tie my hair up into a bun and take two strands of hair out of it. I think I never did that before. Now I know that this was a huge mistake. Without my hair hanging in my face I can concentrate way better, it doesn't annoy me and it feels more free.
I definitely spend too much time thinking about my hair-.
Jeff and I make it in time. The others are already waiting in front of the entrance. Thomas sees me and takes my hand to pull me closer to him.
"You look beautiful." he mentions at my bun "It suits you."
I blush "Thanks."
"Enough of the flirting Loverboy, we have a job to do." Minho takes Thomas shoulders and pushes him back to the front.
Thomas mouths 'stay safe' in my direction, before he disappears to the front.
Alby really meant what he said about not waiting for anyone. We leave the glade without saying goodbye. Not that I thought we would do that.
Thomas and Minho lead the group of gladers through the maze. We are thirty people. The rest we left behind.
This is my first time in the maze if you're not counting the time I went inside to help Minho and Thomas. The atmosphere is making me nervous.
I know I couldn't do what Thomas and Minho are doing every second day. I couldn't bear it. It's a good thing this will be the last time.
I'm wearing a backpack with a bottle of water, sandwiches, a jacket, medical stuff and tampons. Jeff has the back we need as medjacks.
I'm walking between Newt and Jeff. We don't talk. My thoughts wander to the mysterious person who wrote the letter.
I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl. It could be an adult.
I hope they will tell me something about me and my past. Or about me and Thomas. I always had the feeling that I knew him before the maze. I loved him from the beginning. You don't get this feeling in two weeks, right?
If it's a girl I will share my tampons with her. Maybe she has a real hair tie for me. Who knows.
I look over to Thomas, who is still at the front with Minho, guiding us to the blades where we'll meet my friend.
He looks stern. Stern suits him. I find it very attractive. Laughing suits him too. Actually everything suits that boy.
Newt catches me staring at my boyfriend. He smiles.
"Tommy and you are going to get the life you deserve. You both deserve the world." I melt at his words.
"So do you, Newt." I smile at him.
I've only been in the glade for one month but I found my people already. I don't need anyone else. I love them. They are my family.
"Hey supergirl, how far is it? I'm dying."
Ethan walks over to me. The boy is sweating a bit.
"Ethan, you have to drink. We don't have time for people getting dehydrated." I tell him. He doesn't wear a backpack, so I take the bottle out of mine and give it to him.
"Yeah sorry, thanks." he gratefully takes the water and drinks a few sips before handing it back to me.
"We are almost there!" Thomas announces. We walk trough another corridor and suddenly we are surrounded by huge plates in rows.
The blades. They are intimidating. I hope we'll get out of here soon.
"It's one minute before twelve. Our partner will meet us here any moment. I hope they were telling the truth " Newt says, so that only I can hear it.
I hope so too. I catch Thomas's gaze and we look at eachother for a few seconds. We are thinking the same.
A loud noise makes us turn away from eachother. The noise came from the stone wall opposite to the blades. Thomas walks closer to the wall and I run up to him and stand beside him.
Then the wall moves to the left slowly. Behind it appears an opening. Everyone is silent now.
Out of the darkness steps a girl with a backpack. She has brown thick hair in a very dark shade. Her skin is pale and her eyes are piercing blue. She is gorgeous.
Her clothes are white and she is wearing boots. She is slightly out of breath which means that she probably ran.
She examinates the faces of the gladers as if she is looking for someone. Then her eyes land on me. Her eyes widen and she moves forward. She runs right into my arms.
"Ruby!" she wraps her arms around me tightly. I'm surprised but after a second I hug her back carefully. Something about her is familiar. So familiar that I trust her.
She doesn't seem like wanting to end the hug, but eventually she does. Her eyes wander over my face. She is smiling. I'm not sure but I think there are tears in her eyes.
I can't bring it over me asking her who she is. I don't think she would like that. Instead I don't say anything and just look at her interested.
Soon she turns to Thomas. And she smiles again.
"Thomas. I'm glad you made it." she gives him a hug too.
She then takes a few steps back and her face becomes stern.
"We have to hurry. I turned off the electricity, but they'll notice eventually and when they do we won't get out of here. I'll explain to you everything as soon as we are out of reach for wicked. Follow me."
Nobody says anything against it. We all follow her into the tunnel. I'm at the front. Thomas is right behind me.
A/n:
They made it!!!!!!
And teresa is there :D
(I think that was obvious)
x