Chuck and the others had gathered around the entrance to the Maze the minutes the sun had risen. They watched as the concrete doors slid open, revealing nothing but empty space. Chuck knew it had been foolish for him to hope that Thomas, Minho, and Alby would make it.
Chuck sighed sadly, he'd thought he'd finally found a good friend, Thomas had been so nice to him, he didn't treat him like a kid like everyone else.
"They're not coming back." He heard Winston say forlornly. The rest of the boys let out a sigh as their fears were confirmed: their leaders weren't coming back, a few more lives lost to the Maze.
Chuck stared into the Maze for another moment before turning his back and walking back toward the Glade with the others.
He stiffened when he heard Zart mutter "No way." Chuck turned on his heels back to the Maze, seeing a haggard Thomas and Minho carrying an unconscious Alby between them. He was filled was relief and happiness when he saw his friends alive.
He and the others ran back to the entrance to the Maze to meet the trio. Thomas and Minho made it to the entrance before they both collapsed in exhaustion, plopping Alby down in front of them. Clint and Jeff hurried over and gathered up Alby before carrying him away to the medic tent.
Thomas and Minho were both on their knees, breathing heavily and obviously relieved to be back in the Glade. "Did you see a Griever?" Chuck asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
Minho smiled tiredly, "We didn't just see one, Thomas killed it."
The rest of the Gladers turned cautiously to Thomas who chose to look down sheepishly at his filthy hands. No one had ever seen a Griever before and now this Greenie had managed to kill one, no one had seen that one coming.
---
The vivid images flashed through his mind again. Flashes of color and sound that he couldn't quite understand.
The voices saying "WICKED is good." The girl telling him everything was going to change. Someone was screaming in defiance from a tube of water, bubbles streaming from their mouth. The flashes of computer screens and a woman breathing down his neck, telling him "well done".
Thomas didn't understand their significance any more than he had the first time he had had this dream. He still didn't understand. Were these the people that put him here? What had they done to him? What had he done with them?
Thomas groaned as he woke, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched. "What the hell was that?" he thought to himself. It was a dream right? He had thought the same thing with the first dream, but they both seemed way too real to be just a dream. They had to mean something. There were too many unanswered questions for him to even think straight. He knew he couldn't dwell on it forever , so for now he shrugged it off, that was a problem to be solved another day.
There was still daylight, so he assumed he hadn't slept for a whole day. He and Minho had been allowed to take leave after a night spent out in the Maze. Gally had insisted they hold a council when they both woke. He was infuriated with Thomas for breaking the rules, which Thomas could understand, but Thomas couldn't just leave Minho and Alby out there to die. The others wouldn't have done anything, so he did.
Thomas sighed, swung into a seated position on the hammock, pulled on his boots and a shirt before walking over to the hut where the council was taking place.
---
Thomas rolled his eyes as Gally spouted his nonsense, "For years, we have coexisted with these things. And now you've killed one of them," Gally turned to Thomas, eyes filled with frustration, "What do you think is gonna happen now? They're just gonna leave us alone? I don't think so."
"What exactly do you want us to do?" Newt asked, brow raised.
"Thomas broke one of our rules. He needs to be punished." Gally said definitely.
The rest of the Gladers shouted in protest.
"He saved Alby's life!" One shouted.
"You can't punish him for helping them! They'd be dead without him!" Another said.
Gally's anger rose, "Everyone shut up!" he shouted. The room quieted and Gally began to speak, "The rules are the only thing that keep up together. If we abandon those, what will happen next? We can't just let him get away with this."
Newt thought for a second and nodded, "He's right, we have the rules for a reason. Thomas broke them and we shouldn't just shrug that off" he turned to Minho, "Min, what do you think?"
Minho turned to Newt, his arms crossed and face deadly serious, "I think, that when I turned tail and ran, this dumb shank stayed behind to help Alby," he paused for a moment, looking Thomas straight in the eye, "I say we make him a runner."
That statement caused another uproar from the crowd. This one even louder than the first. Frypan looked at Minho like he had gone insane and Gally looked like he wanted to stomp someones head in.
Thomas looked over to Chuck who had a bright, childish smile on his face. Thomas couldn't help but grin slightly, at least he had one person on his side.
After another moment of shouting Newt stood and shouted, "Enough, we're not going to solve anything with you slintheads shouting each other," the room quieted, "All right then, good. What we need to do is-"
Newt's speech was cut off by the loud screeching of gears and the pierce of an alarm.
Thomas's head shot up, he knew that sound. That was the sound of the Box.
He looked around the room, the other Gladers looked just as confused as he was, turning to each other with dumbfounded looks on their faces. "The Box isn't supposed to come up for another month." Newt said, eyes filled with confusion.
The Gladers rushed out of the hut and over to the Box where they crowded around and waited for it to arrive.
When the Box finally came to a full, screeching stop, a few of the Gladers hastily opened its doors. The others leaned forward to peer inside, all curious to see why the Box had risen. Thomas fought his way to the front, wanting to get a look at what was inside. It looked like a person, they looked unconscious. Maybe another Greenie, Thomas thought, but from his angle he couldn't see their face.
Newt hopped down into the Box to get a better look, after a moment he looked up to the others. "It's a girl." he said in a mix of confusion and amazement.
The Gladers looked around to one another, the only Greenie's they ever got were boys. Not once in their time in the Glade had they seen a girl. As far as they knew they had never seen a girl in their lives, and if they had there was no way of remembering.
Newt continued to search the girls body as the others stood in confusion, he unclenched one of her hands to find a folded slip of paper. He opened it quickly and read aloud, "She's the last one, ever," he looked up at the others, "What the hell does that mean?"
Before he could get and answer, the boys were shocked out of their daze by a sudden intake of breath and Newt jumped from his stance in the Box. The girl took in several heaving breaths, eyes out of focus and fading back into unconsciousness. Before she passed out she got out one word, "Thomas."
The Gladers all turned to Thomas, who stood there shocked at hearing his name leave the girl's lips.
---
"Ok, who the hell is the girl and why does she know Stiles?" Isaac asked. The rest of the pack looked at him incredulously. Isaac huffed, "It was rhetorical, don't answer me."
Derek thankfully redirected the conversation, "Have we made any progress whatsoever in finding Stiles? We can't just sit here and watch him while all this shit happens around him."
The others' shoulders slumped, "There's not much we can do until Chris gets back to us with his information. Danny has been doing his best to track down where the Maze is. But for some reason it's impossible to find." Jackson said solemnly.
Derek took a deep breath and sighed heavily, "Alright," he paused for a moment, trying to figure out a plan of attack, "Danny, keep trying to find out where that Maze is, Peter will help you, he's pretty good with computers. I guess the rest of us will just have to wait until Chris calls with some information, if any."
Derek sat down, defeatedly, putting his head in his hands. This was so frustrating, being able to see Stiles on that screen but not knowing where he was or how to get to him. Hell, Stiles didn't even remember who he was. Derek couldn't help but feel hopeless. The longer it took to find Stiles, the more hope that would be stripped away.
He felt a hand on his back and looked up to see Erica, "We'll find him, don't worry. You two will be back to your sickly sweet romance in no time."
Derek smiled slightly at her words, "I hope so."