Alby appeared at the scene quickly, having heard all the commotion. When he arrived, he checked on Thomas to ensure he was safe before noticing Elle's terrified expression. With one look, Alby knew she had realised something was wrong with Ben. Looking back at Ben, he couldn't help but grimace as he took in the Runner's appearance. Ben moaned, panting as he struggled on the grass.
Ben met Alby's eyes and panicked at the regretful look on the Glade leader's face. "No," he protested, knowing what had happened to him and what this meant for him. Ben shook his head frantically and yelled, "No, no, no!" The desperation in his tone petrified Thomas, who was still recovering from his attack and couldn't comprehend what Elle was slowly beginning to figure out.
Could it be? Elle wondered. Is this what everyone was warning them about? Is this why they weren't allowed in the Maze?
A pained expression covered Alby's features. "Alright, lift his shirt," he ordered, ignoring Ben's pleas to leave him alone and pointing at the Runner. Newt reached down to lift Ben's shirt, and Elle gaped, nausea hitting her stomach as she caught sight of the large wound on Ben's abdomen. His stomach was a pale, sickly white colour, and a blue and purple wound made the surrounding veins turn indigo. It looked irritated, uncomfortable, and deadly.
"No, no!" Ben wheezed. "Please, please."
Thomas squeezed Elle's hand to stabilise himself. He would have fainted if he didn't have her to anchor him to the ground.
"He's been stung," Gally confirmed before anybody could speak up. He glanced at Newt first, breath quickening in alarm as he turned to face Alby. "In the middle of the day?" Gally inquired, more confused than anything else.
Elle realised this challenged one of the fundamental rules the Gladers had with whoever put them all there. If Ben was attacked by a Griever during the day, then things were changing. As far as they knew, the Runners never encountered a Griever in the Maze because they only came out at night. Until now, even the Maze was safe as long as the doors were still open. Elle knew this shift in the rules of the Glade was dangerous, threatening every Glader, especially the Runners.
Elle's stomach churned as she wondered, What if the Grievers were small enough to fit through the opening in the Maze? What if they could enter the Glade?
Alby said nothing. "Help me, please," Ben pleaded. For a moment, Alby allowed himself to be emotional. He was distraught about what happened to Ben. With observant eyes, Elle watched as his expression hardened, and he took a deep breath. Now, he was back to being the strong leader everyone expected him to be. "Please. Please, just help..." Ben trailed off hopelessly, sobbing.
Alby rose to his feet and pointed right. "Put him in the Pit," he commanded. His voice was gentler than Elle thought it would be. "Come on, everybody help. Take him to the Pit!"
"No! No!" Ben thrashed in protest.
"Med-jack!" Newt called their resident doctors for help, waving Clint and Jeff over to assist him and Gally.
"Calm down, Ben," Gally tried to soothe his friend.
"No, I can't! Please! Please don't do it!" Ben begged. Several boys gathered to lift Ben and carry him to the Pit, where Elle knew he would be confined until the Gladers decided what to do with him. But what could be done? Ben wasn't himself, and having him in the Glade was dangerous if he attacked Thomas and threatened to kill Elle. Elle shuddered, realising the decision that the Keepers would have to make. "Get off of me! Get off of me! Listen to me! Please! Please!"
Thomas and Chuck looked after the boys as they carried Ben away, horrified. Alby turned and headed for the Homestead, expecting Thomas and Elle to follow him to ask questions. He knew he'd have to catch them up faster than he usually did with Greenies because Ben was stung. Everyone slowly trailed back to their jobs, shaken by the turn of events.
Chuck joined Elle and Thomas in taking a seat with Alby outside. He had never seen anyone stung by a Griever before, and he was interested in hearing what Alby had to say to the Greenies.
"So what happened to him?" Thomas asked.
"It's called the Changing," Alby explained. He glanced at the floor sadly. "It's what happens when someone gets stung." Chuck and Elle already gathered that Ben was stung by a Griever, but Thomas hadn't figured it out yet. Sitting beside Thomas, Alby gave the Greenie his full attention. "Listen. We haven't been able to get a clear word out of Ben since it happened. He's not making any sense." Thomas met Alby's eyes reluctantly. "And it's only going to get worse. The infection is spreading. He's dangerous."
"Infection," Elle repeated, brows pulled together in thought. "Is there some sort of cure?" she asked, biting her lip. "A serum or medication of some sort? Some way to heal the wound and reduce the erratic symptoms?"
Alby glanced at Elle as she sat on the grass before him and Thomas. He took a moment to observe their body language; Thomas and Elle leaned into each other as if they had known each other for years. Alby wondered how two people who had only just met could be so in sync, so tuned in to each other's feelings.
"No," Alby confirmed. "Nothing's ever come up in the Box." He turned to Thomas. "What did he say to you?"
Thomas shifted under Alby's harsh gaze. "He said he saw me," he revealed. "That this was all our fault." Thomas motioned to the girl in front of them. "Mine and Elle's." Elle swallowed harshly, contemplating Ben's words. "How could this be our fault?" Thomas fretted.
Alby was stumped. He didn't have the answers Thomas wanted. "Get some rest," he said. Standing up, Alby patted Thomas on the back and smiled at Elle. She could tell he was forcing it, but she appreciated his kindness. "You too, Elle. You look like you might be sick," Alby added.
Elle called his name before he could get too far, "Alby? What's going to happen to Ben?"
Alby shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Greenie."
"I am worried about it, though," Elle insisted he answered her. "Because I have an idea, and I really hope I'm wrong."
"Rest," the Glade's leader reiterated. "Stay in your room, Elle. Take Chuck and Thomas with you if you'd like."
As the day went on, the Glade was dead silent. What happened between Ben and Thomas was fresh news, and the fact that Ben was stung during the day worried everyone, not just Elle. The Gladers were told to take the rest of the day off while the Council deliberated Ben's fate, and Elle could only hope her assumption was wrong.
"Why won't he tell us what's happening to Ben?" Thomas asked Chuck as the sun was going down. Elle had invited him and Chuck to her room as Alby suggested, and they were sitting on the floor together to pass the time. Every time Elle blinked, she was haunted by the image of Ben's pale, mangled face.
"He's probably being banished," Chuck admitted, frowning as he played with something in his hands.
"Banished," Thomas echoed. "To the Pit?"
"To the Maze, Tom," Elle explained. The moment she said the words aloud, tears flooded her waterline. "Oh my god..." She covered her eyes with shaking hands.
"What?!" Thomas sat up with a start.
"That's what happens when you break a rule," Chuck explained. "We can't just hurt each other without consequences."
"Never harm another Glader," Elle recited the rules Alby explained yesterday. She looked out her window at the Maze, recalling everything she'd learned about it so far. Supposedly, it was a death trap. There was no way Ben would make it.
Chuck shrugged. "Alby says it's the only way to establish order. Make sure people know their actions have consequences. It all sounded intense when I first got here too. But after today I guess it makes sense."
Wordlessly, Elle got up and stormed out of the Homestead, walking towards the Maze as quickly as she could with a churning stomach. Her earlier nausea never went away as Elle was too anxious about Ben's punishment and Grievers entering the Maze during the day. She suspected the urge to throw up would remain until the issue with Ben was resolved. At the Maze opening, Elle spotted the Keepers waiting with long wooden sticks almost twice their height.
"A Banishing?" Elle called, making her way over to the Keepers with a determined frown. "You can't be serious."
Newt's eyes were sad. "Elle, you're not supposed to be here," he reminded her.
She ignored him. "You can't send him in there," Elle insisted, pointing at the Maze. "Please, Newt. We can't let him die out there, it's not fair."
"It's not up to you what happens, Elle," Gally interrupted, trying to sound as nice as he could, given the circumstances. "The Council decided. What's done is done."
"That's not good enough," Elle denied, throwing her hands in the air. "If we trap Ben in the Maze without a way out then we're no better than the people who put us here," she insisted. "Don't you see? We have to be better than them, we have to find another way to help him."
"How do you know about the Banishing?" Newt questioned.
"I figured it out," she admitted. "It's not like you can keep him in the Pit for the rest of his life with no way of curing his condition." Elle sighed, brushing a tear from her cheek. She was angry and frustrated, and she hated the fact that she was crying while trying to stand up for what she believed in. "There has to be something else we can do," she begged.
"I said not to bring the Greenies," Alby nearly shouted when he arrived.
"Alby, can't we figure something else out?" Elle pleaded. She knew it was a hopeless case, but it felt like they were giving up too soon. It was her first time seeing someone stung, and she had no idea how much worse things would get if they kept Ben in the Glade.
Alby shook his head. "I'm sorry, Elle. There's nothing we can do. If we keep him here we're putting all the other Gladers in danger. Think of what he did to Thomas today," he pointed out. "That was hours ago, and he's already gotten worse." Elle shook her head, trying her best not to cry. She didn't want to seem like a weak girl who couldn't stick up for herself, but tears of frustration gathered in her waterline. "I know you don't understand right now but you will."
Elle glanced between Alby and the other Keepers before nodding, wiping away her tears with her sleeve and giving up. She met Newt's pitiful gaze once more before retreating. It was all she could do now. If Ben was dangerous, then he couldn't stay in the Glade. Thomas and Chuck had followed her and stood a fair distance from the Maze to observe the Banishing.
"Listen to me," Elle heard Ben growl as Minho dragged him to the Maze. Alby was right; Ben looked exponentially worse than when he attacked Thomas. Elle shut her eyes at the painful grit in his voice, not wanting to see him tied up and begging. "Please listen to me! Please, Minho!" Minho didn't budge, pushing Ben to the Maze doors with a stoic expression.
"Elle?" Thomas asked, concerned when he saw Elle's tear-streaked face. "Hey, Elle--" he tried to get her attention, but she was too distracted to hear him.
Elle felt him connect their hands to reassure her and squeezed to let him know that she was alright. When she heard Ben cough up blood, Elle turned around and wrapped her arms around Thomas, pressing her face into his neck and crying. All the tears she'd been suppressing since she arrived poured out in whimpers and sobs. Stunned, Thomas hugged Elle back and looked over her shoulder at Chuck, who mirrored his wide-eyed shock.
"No, Minho please, please don't, please don't do it!" Ben cried.
Thomas watched, horrified, as Minho threw a bag into the Maze for Ben. He assumed they were supplies to help him through the night and thought it wouldn't help him now. The rattling sounds of the walls closing rang through the Glade, and Elle flinched. Thomas raised his hands to cover Elle's ears, trying his best to muffle the noise as she gripped the material of his shirt firmly between her fingers. Chuck had enough and began to walk away, not wanting to see the Banishing or witness Elle in distress.
"Poles!" Alby yelled, prompting the Keepers to raise their poles at Ben. They cornered him, pushing him into the Maze as the doors around him.
"No, please!" Ben screamed, repeating the words over and over again.
Thomas flinched as the Keepers moved forward, forcing Ben through the opening of the Maze. The former Runner had no choice but to walk the rest of the way into the Maze to stop himself from being flattened. The last thing they heard as the Maze walls closed was Ben's agonised scream. Appalled, Thomas shut his eyes and leaned his head on top of Elle's. She tried not to picture Ben being ripped apart by Grievers, but the mental image kept returning to the forefront of her mind. Thomas removed his hands from her ears to rub her back, blinking away tears as he heard Elle's cries subside.
"He belongs to the Maze now," Alby explained sombrely.
"This isn't right," Elle muttered for Thomas to hear. Her voice was hoarse and rough from crying.
"No," Thomas agreed. "But I don't know what else we could have done."
That night, Elle heard the sharp sound of metal scratching against a stone. It was only that morning that she was the cause of the same noise, carving her name into the wall. Now, the Keepers were crossing Ben's name out to indicate another fallen Glader. She sighed, leaning back against Thomas's hammock from her spot on the grass.
"Do you think he might make it?" Thomas rasped, voice roughened from being up so late. He was curled up in his hammock, emotionally exhausted from being attacked and watching Ben be banished. Chuck was whittling a small piece of wood into a figurine in his hammock, and Elle was ripping grass from the dirt to keep herself entertained. Thomas glanced down at her, his eyes glistening with tears he never let fall.
"Ben?" Chuck asked rhetorically. "No. No one survives a night in the Maze."
"Even if he makes it through the night it's not like he can come back," Elle reminded them. "He's been banished, they won't let him set foot in the Glade."
"We've just got to forget about him." Chuck rolled over in his hammock and tried to get some sleep.
"How can you forget something like this?" Thomas asked, watching Alby sitting up by himself. The day had impacted him as intensely as it affected Elle, but he wasn't allowed to let his feelings show as the leader.
"I don't think you do," Elle admitted. "I think, eventually, it just gets easier to think about." She felt herself tear up again at how sick and helpless Ben looked and wondered where the tears were even coming from. "What did we do to get here?" She hiccupped. "Whatever it was, nobody deserves to die like Ben will. It's just not fair."
"Hey," Thomas whispered, getting out of his hammock to sit beside Elle. "I don't know what we did to get here. Maybe nothing. But it'll be okay."
"Will it?" Elle rested her head on Thomas's shoulder. "Because I'm sure Ben thought he'd be okay. Look where he is now."
"We can't do anything about that," Thomas replied. "He belongs to the Maze now. But I swear, we're going to find a way out of here and try to make sure this doesn't happen again. Okay?" Elle nodded, stifling more tears and sniffling. "Get some sleep," he whispered when he noticed Elle's eyes closing from exhaustion.
She hummed tiredly, letting Thomas drag her to her feet and walk her back to the Homestead so she could get some sleep. Before she closed and locked the door, Thomas raised her hand and kissed the back of it before he could lose his nerve. Then he coughed, ran a hand through his hair anxiously, and left.