Minho and Newt dragged Thomas back to their dorm a few doors up and they entered. Thomas placed his suitcase next to the bed he had slept on the day before. He sat on the bed, still slightly in a bad mood.

"You're not gonna run out again Tommy, are you?" Newt mused, and Thomas looked up at him with a stubborn frown.

Minho laughed at his grumpy face, "Give him a break Newt, I bet the shuck-face is just tired. Come on Thomas. Let's go to dinner."

/*\*/*\

After dinner, Thomas was in a much better mood than before, and actually talked to Newt. They went back to the dorm and Thomas suddenly grew tired. His muscles ached, and even though he didn't do all that much, he felt exhausted. Thomas sat on his bed after putting on some clothes for the night. He rubbed his eyes and lay down, watching Newt climb up the ladder to sit on his own bed. As Thomas closed his eyes, sleep crashed over him like a wave and pulled him into dreams.

/*\*/*\

Thomas sheltered in a large room, surrounded by other boys. They all huddled in fear, and Thomas heard shrieks and growls of some sort of monsters outside. Wooden boards barred the windows- they had presumably placed them there minutes before. Someone stood in the doorway, closing the door behind him. He looked familiar, and Thomas couldn't remember his name, or the name of any of the boys around him. Although the blond haired boy beside him seemed familiar also.

"Gally? What are you doing?" The blond boy beside him asked. So Gally was his name. Thomas thought.

Gally's eyes raged with lunacy; his clothes were torn and filthy. He dropped to his knees and stayed there, his chest heaving with deep, sucking breaths. He looked about the room like a rabid dog searching for someone to bite. No one said a word.

"They'll kill you!" Gally screamed, spittle flying everywhere. "The Grievers will kill you all—one every night till it's over!" He must be referring to the monsters lurking outside.

Thomas watched, speechless, as Gally staggered to his feet and walked forward, dragging his right leg with a heavy limp. No one in the room moved a muscle as they watched, obviously too stunned to do anything. Even the blond boy next to Thomas stood mouth agape. Thomas was almost more afraid of their surprise visitor than he was of the Grievers just outside the window.

Gally stopped, standing just a few feet in front of Thomas and the other boy; he pointed at Thomas with a bloody finger. "You," he said with a sneer so pronounced it went past comical to flat-out disturbing. "It's all your fault!" Without warning he swung his left hand, forming it into a fist as it came around and crashed into Thomas's ear. Crying out, Thomas crumpled to the ground, more taken by surprise than pain. He scrambled to his feet as soon as he'd hit the floor.

The blond had finally snapped out of his daze and pushed Gally away. Gally stumbled backward and crashed into the desk by the window. Thomas assumed Gally would retaliate, but he straightened instead, taking everyone in with his mad gaze.

"It can't be solved, Newt" he said, addressing the blond, his voice now quiet and distant, spooky. "The shuck Maze'll kill all you shanks…. The Grievers'll kill you … one every night till it's over…. I … It's better this way…." His eyes fell to the floor. "They'll only kill you one a night … their stupid Variables …"

Thomas listened in awe, trying to suppress his fear so he could memorise everything the crazed boy said.

Newt took a step forward. "Gally, shut your bloody hole—there's a Griever right out the window. Just sit on your butt and be quiet—maybe it'll go away."

Gally looked up, his eyes narrowing. "You don't get it, Newt. You're too stupid—you've always been too stupid. There's no way out—there's no way to win! They're gonna kill you, all of you—one by one!"

Screaming the last word, Gally threw his body toward the window and started tearing at the wooden boards like a wild animal trying to escape a cage. Before Thomas or anyone else could react, he'd already ripped one board free; he threw it to the ground.

"No!" Newt yelled, running forward. Thomas followed to help, in utter disbelief at what was happening.

Gally ripped off the second board just as Newt reached him. He swung it backward with both hands and connected with Newt's head, sent him sprawling across the bed as a small spray of blood sprinkled the sheets. Thomas pulled up short, readying himself for a fight.

"Gally!" Thomas yelled. "What're you doing!"

The boy spat on the ground. "You shut your shuck-face, Thomas. You shut up! I know who you are, but I don't care anymore. I can only do what's right."

Thomas felt as if his feet were rooted to the ground. He was completely baffled by what Gally was saying. He watched the boy reach back and rip loose the final wooden board. The instant the discarded slab hit the floor of the room, the glass of the window exploded inward like a swarm of crystal wasps.

A Griever's pulsating, bulbous body had squirmed halfway through the destroyed window, metallic arms with pincers snapping and clawing in all directions. Thomas was so terrified, he barely registered that everyone else in the room had fled to the hallway—all except Newt, who lay unmoving on the bed.

Frozen, Thomas watched as one of the Griever's long arms reached for the lifeless body. That was all it took to break him from his fear. He scrambled to his feet. Panic exploded within him, consumed him.

Then Gally was speaking again.

"No one ever understood!" the boy screamed over the horrible noise of the creature, crunching its way deeper into the Homestead, ripping the wall to pieces. "No one ever understood what I saw, what the Changing did to me! Don't go back to the real world, Thomas! You don't … want … to remember!"

Gally gave Thomas a long, haunted look, his eyes full of terror; then he turned and dove onto the writhing body of the Griever. Thomas yelled out as he watched every extended arm of the monster immediately retract and clasp onto Gally's arms and legs, making escape or rescue impossible. Then, with surprising speed, the Griever pushed itself back outside the shattered frame of the window and began descending toward the ground below.

Thomas ran to the jagged, gaping hole, looked down just in time to see the Griever land and start scooting away. Other Grievers followed, seeming to abandon whatever they were doing and follow.

/*\*/*\

Thomas woke up, panting. Another dream, another death.