☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎
Blake took a step back. Then, like something was calling it, Seven, rolled past her and the boys, turning a corner making clicking noises as it went.
"How did you do that?" Minho asked.
Blake turned to face the boys, she noticed that Thomas was near tears and the other one was looking at her for answers. "Who are you?"
"As I said before, my name is Blake. And I have no clue. Those things...Those Grievers are the only thing I can remembered, other than my name." Blake explained, wiping her hands against her pants.
"Well, you can't just be going around naming shuck Grievers! This is too much for me. I can't believe we survived that." Minho said, shaking his head while pacing.
Thomas rolled up into a ball sobbing silently to himself. Time passed and they hadn't moved, Blake watched both the pacing and sobbing boy, wondering who they were. Soon, the sky turned into a stinging blue, with a faded dust pink and florid orange. Blake tilted her head up, drinking up the sunlight.
It was peaceful for a long moment.
"What now? I don't want to do that again." Blake said, stretching her stiff back against the stone wall.
"We go back to the Glade. And figure out what we are going to do with you. I don't know if you know this or not, but what we just did, what you did, it was impossible. No one has ever survived through the night, no one has ever tamed a Griever."
"What did we do differently?" Thomas asked, his voice squeaky.
"I don't know. It's kind of hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong."
It was quite for a moment before Thomas asked, "It seems like they disappeared or something after they went over the edge."
"Yeah, that was kinda psycho. A couple of Gladers had a theory that other things had disappeared, but we proved 'em wrong. Look."
Thomas and Blake watched Minho throw a rock over the Cliff. He went further down until it was too small to see. Blake craned her head to stare at Minho. "That's stupid. How did we prove them wrong?"
"Well, the rock didn't disappear, now, did it?" Minho rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Then what do you think happened?" Thomas asked, seeming actually interested in the guy's stupid idea.
"Maybe they're magic. My head hurts too much to think about it."
"I bet it's magic. Hey, maybe there will be some flying carpet to pick us up too. Or maybe-"
"Okay, I get it. Shut up already." Minho narrowed his eyes at Blake. She sensed that the act made most people scared, but it only made her chuckle. After all, she has been through that night, she couldn't imagine anything more horrific.
"We have to go back!" The vine boy yelled, rushing to his feet.
"Why? My everything hurts," Blake complained.
"Gotta get Alby off the wall!"
Thomas realized the confusion on both Blake and Minho's faces. He then explained the ivy and ropes. How he pulled Alby into the ivy and how Blake found him.
Minho looked down, sadness flashed across his face. "No way he's still alive."
The boy refused to believe it. "How do you know? Come on." He started limping back along the corridor.
"Because no one's ever made it ..."
"That's because they've always been killed by the Grievers by the time you found them. Alby was only stuck with one of those needles, right?"
"Um, what now?" Blake asked, feeling out of the loop.
Both boys ignored her. She rushed to her feet following the boys back into the Maze. "I don't know, I guess this has never happened before. A few guys have been stung by the needles during the day. And those are the ones who got the Serum and went through the Changing. The poor shanks who got stuck out in the Maze all night weren't found until later-days later, sometimes, if at all. And all of them were killed in ways you don't wanna hear about."
Blake thought about this, thinking back to all the tools they had—tools to harm. The creatures were only made to harm. But why didn't Seven hurt her then?
"After what we went through, I think I can imagine."
They took another turn, Minho taking the lead. Blake couldn't help notice that the boy looked like a visible leader. Even Thomas was doing quite well with navigating. Blake, on the other hand, was clumsy around the corner. Her lungs began to burn as she tried to keep up with the boys.
Minho turned to look at Thomas and her. "I think you just figured it out. No one who'd been stung and didn't make it back by sunset has ever survived, we just assumed that was the point of no return-when it's too late to get the Serum."
"Okay—this Serum," Thomas said. "I've heard that a couple of times now. What is that? And where does it come from?"
"Just what it sounds like, shank. It's a serum. The Grief Serum."
"Griever...what...serum?" Blake asked, trying to catch her breath.
The boys slowed allowing Blake to run side by side with them. "Grief Serum. And I don't know where we got the names, but the Serum comes from the Creators—or that's what we call them, at least. It's with the supplies in the Box every week, always has been. It's medicine or antidote or something, already inside a medical syringe, ready to use." He made a show of sticking a needle in his arm. "Stick that sucker in someone who's been stung and it saves 'em. They go through the Changing-which sucks-but after that, they're healed."
"I'm so confused. What Box? Changing? How many people are out there?" Blake asked.
Minho looked at Blake. "We're going to the Glade where someone will answer your questions. I'm tired of explaining."
It was quiet for the moment. Blake let everything soak in. All these new words, new things—made Blake's head whirl.
"Weird, though," Minho said. "We've never talked about this before. If he's still alive, there's really no reason to think Alby can't be saved by the Serum. We somehow got it into our klunk heads that once the Doors closed, you were done-end of the story. I gotta see this hanging-on-the-wall thing myself-I think you're shuckin' me."
"So the guy wasn't dead. Ha, I almost fell off the vine I was holding when I saw the guy." Blake shook her head chuckling at the past. Even though the events all happen last night, it felt like they happened years ago. Like something you would tell as a scary story around a campfire.
"You almost scared me half to death too. I thought you were another creature." Thomas told her. "But what if another Griever got Alby after we diverted the one chasing us."
Blake noticed the worry on Thomas's face and the blank expression on Minho's. She didn't know Alby, but she knew they were important to the boys. "Well, we better hurry then. Pick up your feet boys, come on. We gotta run faster!"
They tried to pick up the pace, but their bodies hurt too much and they settled back into a slow walk despite the urgency. When they rounded the corner, Blake saw a group of people.
A group of boys.
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Blake when she sees the group of boys.
When the group of boys sees Blake.
Hehe. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter! I'm trying to update quickly so hopefully, the next chapter will out soon. Till then have a great day!