THIRD PERSON

"No no no no no!" someone yelled. The Gladers made a path for a hysterical Octavia who gasped at the sight of Thomas, covered her face, sobbing into her hands. Sheer silence fell around her, the only thing heard was her crying and nothing else.

"We need to get him out," Newt whispered to Minho after a while. Minho nodded in agreement and gestured for two medjacks to take Thomas away. Minho walked over to Octavia, who at one point fell to her knees. He put his arms on her shoulders, and she didn't even wince. Minho led her away, without pushing it too much; he wanted to let her take her time. They went to the Homestead, not saying another word.

Newt turned around and narrowed his eyes as they fell upon the black object. Some Gladers curiously whispered, sharing ideas about what Thomas could possibly have used it for, and even better-where did he get it?

The big bag left on the ground as Thomas was taken away seemed full and heavy. Not sure how Thomas made it all this way carrying it, Newt stepped towards it and sat down on his knees. He grabbed the black zipper and pulled it to the right, using his other hand to hold the bag still. Everyone was quiet, and those who were leaving stayed behind, eager to see what was inside the mysterious bag.

As Newt reached the end of the zipper, he let it go and opened the bag up. Intense silence filled the space around him.

Guns.

"Oh my..." Newt muttered.

"Why are there guns?" someone called out.

"Where did they come from?"

"How heavy is it?"

"What does Thomas want with them?"

Newt was about to shout something back at them, but a booming voice interrupted him.

"He's a traitor! He wants to kill us all!" Newt stood up, turned around, and scanned the shocked crowd until his eyes landed on the one person who always had a problem with Thomas.

"Why the hell would you think that, Gally?" Newt asked, trying to stay calm, even though anger was bubbling up inside of him. Gally scoffed like this was the simplest thing in the world.

"Why else would he have guns? And plus, he already tried to kill Nick, remember?"

"You seriously believe that klunk?" Newt argued. He wanted to trust Thomas more that anything.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Newt stared at him for a long moment. The atmosphere was getting intense, so Gally broke eye contact and turned to Nick. "What do you think?" Every head in the crowd twisted to look at the ginger boy.

"I uh...um...I do remember the unfortunate event when Thomas tried to...murder me. I think that...he should be locked up for the safety of everybody." Gally nodded. Some Gladers didn't agree, but most seemed okay with the idea.

"Here's what we'll do. When Tommy gets better, we will all hear what he has to say. Then, we decide what to do." Everybody felt good about that. Nobody argued after that.

XXXXXXXXXX

Nick wandered around the Glade, looking for Octavia as the sun was disappearing behind the stone walls. The dimmer it got, the more discouraged he became. He hasn't seen Octavia since Minho took her away earlier that day. He was getting worried.

Just as he was giving up, a harsh whisper echoed through the Glade.

"Nick!" Nick turned in circles until he caught Octavia's eyes behind the Homestead. He smiled and ran over to her. He hugged her once they were together.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked, his voice muffled.

"Yes. I want to talk to you."

"Me too. But you go first."

"Okay. I am still in pure shock from what happened today with Thomas. If he was really at WICKED, how did he escape? What do you think happened?"

"I'm not sure, but from the way he looks, it wasn't a piece of cake getting back here."

"Yeah. It must have been painful."

"So, what exactly do you want?" Nick asked Octavia. She looked him straight in the eye.

"I want to talk to them."

Nick stared at Octavia with concern. It was a huge risk, and they could only do it once. But, today seemed like the perfect excuse to use it.

"Sure," he said. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around him again.

When she let go, Nick reached into his back pocket and pulled out a phone shaped device covered in buttons. He pressed a few and said, "I'm getting connection. Just hold on." Octavia nodded. They waited for a moment until a beep came from the phone and a screen in midair appeared. There, on the other end, sat Janson and Ava.

"Hello Nick." Ava looked to Octavia. "Hello Octavia."

"Hi. We want you to tell us about...today," Octavia demanded.

"Yes, we know. Today has been quite a day, hasn't it? Well we can explain it all to you," Janson promised. Nick and Octavia looked at each other and both nodded at the screen.

"We had Thomas here. Safe and sound. We were trying to tell him our plan and what we would like to do, but he went out of his mind. Thomas escaped the room and his somewhere in the building. We didn't know it then because we were too shocked to remember to check the cameras to see where he was. But we later replayed the footage and found out he was in the gun storage room."

"He stole a few guns and maps, of the Maze and the compound," Janson continued for Ava. Nick and Octavia stared at them blankly, waiting for someone to go on.

Ava said, "We needed to get him back, so we created monsters. We hoped that it would convince Thomas to come back, but he made it to you." She said the last part with a sad sigh.

"He is torn up. Those beasts almost killed him!" Octavia argued.

"Point is, we need you to either make sure they don't escape, so that means find the maps and take them. We will somehow take him. Or, you can find a way to bring Thomas here," Janson asked.

"I can try and steal the maps. It won't be easy. But I can try," Nick volunteered. Ava and Janson appreciated that.

"Good luck. Keep Thomas alive."

And they were gone. Darkness filled the surroundings.