I do not own The Maze Runner Trilogy.

"The wisdom we learn

As our minds, they do burn

All the ties to naivety and youth."

—Haunt-Demo by Bastille

Ever since they came out of The Maze, Ruby had been on edge. It hadn't helped that there had been some jacked stick who looked like a rat tell them that they had to find and kill this guy who had been in a maze like they had. That Teresa girl definitely wasn't helping, either. Honestly, who could go through such a hardship like the maze and want to kill somebody so badly like that?

Did you forget about Beth? Asked a tiny voice in the back of Ruby's head. Ruby told it to shut up, clenching her fist tighter around her bow, until it felt like splinters were digging into her dark skin.

"Everyone get ready!" Teresa shouted. "Thomas and his group are coming. Let's go!"

"Oi," Ruby whispered to Malala, the short girl next to her, "is that friggin' Aris over there?"

Malala squinted and replied, "I think it is! Don't have a Griever's idea as to why he's there, though.

Ruby snorted softly. "Probably the same reason Miss High-and-Mighty is here with us."

They became quiet as they surrounded Group A, their weapons raised.

"What's this crap about, Teresa?" Asked an Asian guy, a scowl on his face. "Nice way to greet your long-lost buddies."

Teresa remained silent, as did the rest of Ruby's group, as they pointed their weapons at the boys. Suddenly, she walked towards them, stopping a yard or two away from the Asian guy and another boy, this one tall with longish blond hair.

"Teresa?" The blond guy asked. "What the bloody—"

"Shut up," Teresa told them calmly. She almost had no emotion, and for some reason, that made Ruby hate her just a little more. "Any of you makes a move, the bows start shooting." She raised the spear and began to search Group A.

Ruby felt her eye twitch.

Teresa came to a stop in front of a dark haired white boy, and Ruby assumed that must have been Thomas.

"Teresa," he whispered. "Teresa, what's—"

"Shut up," she told him with the same eerie calmness from before.

"But what—"

Suddenly, Teresa swung back and cracked the butt of her spear against his cheek. Thomas fell to the ground, clutching his face.

"I said shut up," Teresa told him with a little more force. "Is your name Thomas?"

Malala and Ruby exchanged glances. Shouldn't she know what this Thomas dude looked like?

Thomas seemed to share a similar mentality. "You know who I—"

She swung the spear even harder this time, and he cried out in pain.

"You know who I am!" Thomas screamed.

Teresa eyed him disgustedly. "I used to, anyway. Now I'm going to ask you one more time. Is your name Thomas?"

This time, he gave her a straight answer. "Yes! My name is Thomas!"

Nodding, Teresa backed away, still pointing her spear at him. As she rejoined the circle of girls, she told him, "You're coming with us, Thomas. Come on. Remember, anyone tries something, arrows fly."

"No way!" the Asian guy yelled. "You're not taking him anywhere!"

Ignoring him, Teresa faced Thomas with a cold glint in her eyes. "This isn't some stupid game. I'm going to start counting. Every time I hit a multiple of five, we'll kill one of you with an arrow. We'll do it until Thomas is the only one left, then we'll take him anyway."

Ruby's eyes widened incredulously. This was not what she agreed to. She agreed to kill one guy, not an entire group!

"One!" Teresa yelled.

Apparently, that was enough. Thomas shoved his way through the group of boys until their faces were almost touching. "Fine," he told her. "Take me."

"I only made it to 'one.'"

"Yeah. I'm really brave that way."

Somehow, despite the ugly situation unfolding before them, Ruby had to restrain herself from snorting. She kind of liked this Thomas guy. She liked him a whole lot more than she liked Teresa, anyways. Even if she knew it was pointless, she began to hope they could find a way out of killing this guy.

Teresa hit him with the spear again, and Thomas hit the ground again. He spat, and blood spattered onto the dirt.

"Bring the bag," Teresa commanded.

Harriet and Ruby both came forward, holding the burlap sack and stood in front of Thomas as he got to his knees.

"We're taking him with us!" Declared Teresa. "If anybody follows, I'll hit him again, and we'll start shooting you. We won't really bother aiming. Just let the arrows fly any old way they feel like."

Ruby couldn't hold back a snort that time. Maybe she'd let an arrow 'slip' and hit Teresa.

"Got something you wanna say, Ruby?" Teresa asked, her face dark and angry.

Feeling unimpressed, Ruby just shrugged. "Nah."

"Teresa!" It was the Asian dude again. "You catch the Flare that quickly? You're mind's obviously gone already."

Again, Teresa slammed the butt of her spear into Thomas's face, and Ruby winced as he fell to his stomach. The guy's probably got a concussion by now.

"Anything else you wanna say?" Teresa demanded. After a moment of silence, she said haughtily, "Didn't think so. Put the bag over him."

As she and Harriet began to grab Thomas and put him into the bag, Ruby accidentally made eye contact with the Asian guy. Feeling guilty, she immediately pursed her lips and looked away, but she could feel his eyes practically burning holes onto her back. She looked over at him and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," before she turned back to Thomas.

"Don't resist," she told him quietly, "or it'll just get worse."

Thomas looked at her in confusion, as if he couldn't comprehend why Ruby was being sympathetic towards him.

"Yeah," Harriet agreed. "Better to just go along and let us kill you. Doesn't do you any good to have a lot of pain on the way."

Then, they slipped the bag over his head, and that was that.

Minho kept staring at the dark skinned girl with dreadlocks that was shoving his buddy into a sack. What the shuck did she mean, she was sorry? If she were sorry, why didn't she let Thomas go? Or maybe... maybe there was something bigger happening. Maybe that group didn't have a say in the matter, maybe Teresa and the Rat Man were teamed up together or something.

Or something, Minho thought to himself sardonically as he watched Group B carry his friend away in a burlap sack.