ACT I SCENE XLIII
CRISIS


THE HOMESTEAD HAD BEEN boarded up tight, all the lights extinguished so they wouldn't attract attention to themselves. They had done all they could to make the place their fortress, but it was still a sorry excuse of a shacked up decrepit shelter. Minho and Cassandra had unloaded their entire arsenal of slipshod weaponry and handed them out to the others.

She'd found a metal and claimed it as her own, bringing it around with her wherever she went as if it was some magic staff to protect them. Alby had gone off to guard the Map Room after they'd discussed what they were going to do with their new situation.

She tried to sleep, but closing her eyes was the farthest thing from her mind so she just clung onto Minho, listening to his soft breathing. She was glad that he was able to rest; at least one of them would be functioning properly later. They had squeezed into a room upstairs with Newt, Thomas and a few other boys. Everyone was tossing uneasily as they tried desperately to get some shuteye.

The night dragged on and eventually Cassandra had laid her head on Minho's shoulder and dozed off. It had probably been only a couple of hours when a loud bang woke her up again. Panicked, she reached for the metal bar, her body instantly set to fight mode. Except when she looked up, she saw Gally.

Confusion crashed over her as she stared at him as if he was a ghost. The boy was bloodied, clothes torn, and his eyes darted around the room with absolute crazed lunacy. Thomas had fallen to the floor, scrambling to get up and Minho reached over to pull him away from the psycho boy.

She slowly rose to her feet, aware that she had been the last one to wake up and the rest of the boys had fled from the room. How had she managed to sleep through whatever just happened? She tried looking at Minho for answers but everyone was preoccupied with what was currently happening.

"It can't be solved," Gally was saying, his voice low and distant. "The shuck Maze'll kill you shanks... The Grievers'll kill you... one every night till it's over... it's better this way. They'll only kill you once a night... their stupid variables..."

She froze upon hearing the word he used. Variables. It seemed so odd, so out of place for him to say something like that. What did it mean? Variables for what?

"Gally, shut your bloody hole," Newt said. "There's a Griever right outside the window. Just sit your butt down and be quiet- maybe it'll go away."

"You don't get it, Newt," Gally turned on him. "You're too stupid- you've always been too stupid! There's no way out- there's no way to win! They're going to kill all of you! One by one!"

He screamed and suddenly hurled himself at the window like a rabid animal, clawing at the planks boarded across it. He managed to rip one off, throwing it to the side and immediately grabbed at the second. Newt yelled and lunged forwards to stop him with Minho. Gally ripped the plank out and swung it around him, colliding with Newt's head. There was a spurt of blood as the blonde collapsed onto the bed and she cried out with a shrill voice. Minho stopped in time, narrowly avoiding the same fate as his friend.

"Stop it, you slinthead!" he yelled angrily, looking like he was about to tackle Gally.

Cassandra scrambled forwards to Newt, turning him onto his back to examine the wound. Blood soaked through his hair and was already sliding down the side of his face. She didn't know what to do, she wasn't a Med-jack, she just grabbed the blanket and pressed it against his head in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Gally had already torn apart the last plank and instantly, there was a burst of shards as a Griever rammed itself through the window. She screamed, her heart jumping up to her throat, and threw herself onto Newt. A metallic arm reached for her and she scrambled backwards, dragging the blonde across the bed with her away from it.

She could see the monster's pulsating grey flesh trying to ooze its way into the small opening, whirring gears and odd attachments banging against the side of the wall in a horrendous cacophony.

"No one ever understood!" Gally wailed in dismay. "No one understood what I saw, what the Changing did to me! Don't go back to the real world! You don't... want... to remember!"

With another anguished scream, he threw himself at the Griever. Cassandra shot up from the bed towards him and grabbed hold of his arm. "Gally! No! You stupid shuck!"

The Griever dug its metal claws into his skin as it sucked the boy deep into its flesh. She felt sick watching it, but she continued to tug on his arm, trying in vain to pull him back from its hold. Her feet budged from under her as the Griever moved away from the window and Minho caught hold of her from behind.

"Let him go!" he shouted into her ear and she released her fingers.

The Griever landed on the ground outside, its engines revving loudly as if cheering triumphantly. Three others came forward to greet it and together, they started back towards the Doors.

"Shuck," Minho said, then shoved her towards Thomas. "Both of you don't move!"

With that, he sprinted out of the room and down the stairs. She blinked in shock then turned to Thomas, who appeared equally bewildered. They headed towards the window and looked out over the chaos. Minho was sprinting across the Glade towards the Doors, after the Grievers.


She pushed away and made to dash out of the room but someone grabbed hold of her wrist. Cassandra turned around angrily to find that Newt had been the one to stop her. She squirmed against his iron grip, surprised that he had that much strength when he'd just gotten up from a possible concussion.

"Let go of me! Newt! Let go!" she cried hysterically, trying to pry his fingers off her.

"No, Cass!" he said. "And don't you dare go after him either, Tommy! Minho may have fried the last of his brain cells along with Gally but I'm not letting you two follow him."

She continued to struggle desperately, feeling her skin starting to become raw. Thomas was free to disobey the older boy though, and he made a run for it out the door. "Oi!" Newt yelled, his expression filled with chagrin, then he turned back to the window when something caught his attention. He pulled her with him as he took a better look out at the field.

She saw it too. Smoke was rising over in the distance, coming from the open door of the Map Room.

"Bloody hell," he sighed.

"Oh, shuck," she murmured, distracted by the new dilemma. She would have freaked out over it, but Minho had let her in on their little secret earlier. "Did you guys manage to move everything?"

"Yeah, we did," he replied, glancing at her. "Good thing too."

He continued to hold on to her wrist as she picked up her metal bar and they exited the Homestead. Thomas hadn't run out after Minho, but he looked like he sorely wanted to as he stood by the Doors, staring out into the dark twisting corridors. They made their way towards him after Newt took a towel to press against his still open wound.

"I think I should go in after him," Thomas said.

"To be a bloody hero again?" Newt asked.

"You think I'm trying to impress you shanks?" he snapped. "All I care about is getting out of here."

Cassandra wondered when he started picking up their slang. It sounded hilarious coming from the boy, she wanted to laugh out loud at it.

"Yeah, well, you're a regular toughie," Newt snorted. "Anyway, we've got worse problems."

"What?"

"Somebody-"

"There he is!" Thomas shouted, interrupting the blonde. They looked in the same direction and saw Minho rounding the corner up ahead, running back to the Glade. Thomas cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled. "What were you doing, idiot?!"

The Runner came through the Doors and stopped, bending down to catch his breath. She watched him suck in a couple gulps of air before starting. "I just... wanted... to make sure..."

"Make sure of what?" Newt asked. "Lotta good you'll be, taken with Gally."

"Slim it, boys!" he straightened up and put his hands on his hips. "I just wanted to see if they went to the Cliff. Into the Griever Hole."

"And?"

"Bingo."

"I can't believe it. What a night," Newt rolled his eyes and Cassandra took that as her opportunity to wrench her wrist free from his grip. She grabbed hold of her metal bar in both hands and swung it up into the air with a loud swish. Newt took a side step in surprise and she started towards the boy in front of her.

"You stupid-!" she swung the bar haphazardly in Minho's direction. Thomas cried out and jumped away, giving them a wide berth. The Runner moved his body from side to side, easily avoiding her half-hearted attacks.

"Whoa, Cassie, hey, I'm sorry!" he said, stepping around her in circles. "I didn't have time to think- plus I didn't want to risk you getting hurt."

"I'll show you what hurt is!" she grunted as she threw a large arching swing at him. He stepped out of her way again and she tripped, losing her balance then dropping to her knees. She cried out in disgust and chucked the entire bar at him instead. It connected with his shin, making him cry out in pain, and she felt satisfied at that.

After dancing around a little, rubbing his sore leg, he came up to her and put his hands on his hips again. "Better?"

She scowled, lips moving to grumble silently. "No! Don't you ever do that again!"

"Okay, okay," he bent down to pull her back onto her feet. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

She punched him and he winced. "Yeah, I deserved that."

Placated for the moment, she heaved a heavy sigh before wrapping her arms around his middle and burying her face in his chest. He rubbed her back and chuckled, she could feel the little tremors all around her.

"I will never understand girls," Thomas said drily.

"You and I both. Good luck, Minho."

"I think it's kinda cute," he shrugged.

"Wait, you were saying we had worse problems?" Thomas turned back to Newt.

"Yeah, someone burnt all the friggin' map trunks," he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. Thomas turned in the direction of the smoke but he didn't seem particularly upset about it. She stepped away from Minho and exchanged a look with him.

"Let's find out what happened," he said, glancing back to Newt. The blonde nodded his head and they started across the field. Thomas went in the direction of the Slammer instead, presumably to check on Teresa. She could see a group of Gladers gathered around the blackened mouth of the Map Room.

"Hey, why didn't you wake me up when the Grievers came?" she asked halfway there.

"We tried," Minho replied. "But you wouldn't wake up. You kept mumbling something like you were in another trance."

"Really?" she looked up in surprise, wishing she could remember the weird things she said whenever she did that. "You didn't catch anything?"

"Not really. Sounded like you kept saying 'variable' but it didn't make much sense."

That word again. What was up with that word? It gave her the chills to think about it.

They approached the group of boys, who parted to let them through. She saw Winston crouching over a body on the ground, and her immediate reaction was to panic. She gasped out loud and covered her mouth. "Did someone die?!"

The Slicer looked up at her with a waning smile, eyebrows raised in amusement.

"No, just knocked out," he said. "He's got a nasty cut on his head. Figured someone broke in and jumped him, then burnt the shuck room."

"Did anyone see who did it?" Newt asked, walking around them and turning Alby over to examine the damage. A large gash ran across his forehead, blood running down the sides of his face, and the blonde folded his towel to a clean side to press against it.

"Not that I know of, everyone was holed up in the Homestead," Winston replied.

"Do you think it was Gally?" Newt looked up at them and Minho shrugged.

"What if he did it to himself?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Cassandra snorted. "Who knows what the shuck the Changing did to him?"

"Was there anythin' that got saved?" Minho turned to ask Lee.

The other Runner shook his head, a few of the others stood behind him with downcast expressions. By the time the Grievers had gone and they noticed the Map Room was in flames, it had been too late. They seemed pretty upset that their two years of hard work had disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was hard for the three of them to keep up the ruse when the rest of the team looked like kicked puppies.

Thomas came running up a moment later, looking around for them. He stopped to survey the damage, his eyes landing on Alby's body.

"Is he dead?!"

"Does he seriously look shucking dead?" Winston exclaimed in exasperation.

"Where'd you go?" Minho looked at him sternly.

"To talk to Teresa- what happened?" he asked anxiously.

"Our Map Room was set on fire and you ran off to talk to your shuck girlfriend? What's wrong with you?" he frowned, looking irritated. Cassandra knew he wasn't trying to be scathing but he sounded like he was.

"I didn't think it mattered anymore, if you haven't figured the Maps out by now..."

It was her turn to look at him angrily. "Are you shucking serious? Didn't matter any-"

"I'm sorry, okay! Just tell me what happened!" he leaned over Jim's shoulder to take a better look at the scene. Minho started to explain to him what they'd found, and that they all thought someone had broken in to sabotage the place.

"Who do you think did it?" Thomas asked, looking up at them hesitantly.

"Maybe Gally before he showed up in the Homestead? Maybe the Grievers? I don't know, and I don't care. Doesn't matter."

"Now who's the one giving up?" he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Minho's head snapped up to look at him, a flash of anger in his eyes. Cassandra grabbed hold of his arm instinctively and his face quickly melted into realisation. "That's not what I meant, shank."

Thomas blinked. "Then wha-"

"Just shut your hole for now," Minho pressed a finger to his lips and looked around cautiously. "Just shut your hole. You'll find out soon enough."

Cassandra's eyes darted around at the other boys as well. They'd started to disperse when Thomas came over but some of the Runners continued to hang around, discussing what they should do and whether they should try drawing the Maps up again from memory.

"Minho, I need to tell you guys something. And we need to let Teresa out- she's probably starving and we could use her help."

"That stupid girl is the last thing I'm worried about," he retorted.

"Hey, come on," she tugged at his shirt. "Don't be mean to her. He's right, she must be hungry. Imagine if it was me locked up in there."

He turned to her with a pained frown on his face. "Why'd you have to put it like that?"

"Just a few minutes- we got an idea," Thomas continued. "Maybe it'll still work if enough Runners remember their Maps."

"An idea?" Minho looked back at him curiously, folding his arms. "What idea?"

"Just come to the Slammer," he said. "You, Newt and Cass."

"Okay, sure," Cassandra decided for them and called for Newt. "Newton, get over here, we need to talk. Let Clint handle that!"

He looked up at them questioningly before handing his towel over to a nearby kid and telling him to get one of the Med-jacks. Then he stood up and limped over to them. "What d'yu wanna talk about?"

"Just come with me," Thomas said impatiently and led them back to the Slammer. They couldn't see the girl through the impenetrable shadows inside the little barred room but she was definitely there waiting for them. Newt rubbed the back of his head wearily as Thomas demanded for the girl to be let out.

"Tommy, this is-"

"Please, just open it. Let her out. Please."

"How can we trust her?" Minho asked. "She admitted she triggered something and now the whole shuck place has fallen to pieces."

"He's got a point."

"C'mon, it can't be her fault," Cassandra said. "She got put here like the rest of us too. It's just the same as when Golden Boy came along."

Thomas nodded his head fervently, glad that she was on his side at least. He continued to persuade them, Newt especially, since he had the keys. The two boys exchanged a long look with each other, having another one of their silent conversations.

"Come on. What's she gonna do? Run around and stab every Glader to death?"

"Fine," Minho rolled his eyes. "Just let the stupid girl out."

"I'm not stupid!" Teresa shouted through the bars. "And I can hear every word you morons are saying!"

Cassandra liked her already.

"Real sweet girl you picked up there, Tommy," Newt commented dryly.

"She's not half as sweet as Cass, though."

"Yeah, you better believe it," she snorted.

"Cassie's mine," Minho added. "Go away."

Newt walked over to the Slammer and unlocked the door, pulling it wide open. Teresa walked out, her blue eyes blazing as she glowered at the blonde and threw an equally shady look at Minho. When she saw Cassandra though, she managed a small smile before standing next to Thomas. She really did feel as if she was looking at herself and Minho when she saw the two of them together. It was so weird.

"Alright, talk," Minho demanded. "What's this idea?"

Thomas looked to Teresa uncertainly, and she glanced back unhappily. "What? You talk- they obviously think I'm a serial killer."

"Yeah, you look so dangerous," he muttered before explaining the details to the three of them. Before Teresa woke up, she had told Thomas telepathically that the Maze was a code. That maybe it was trying to send them a hidden message.

First, Grievers start disappearing out of nowhere and drop their klunk around. Then the sun snuffed itself out and all their utilities got cut off. Now this?

"A code?" Minho raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "How's it a code?"

"I don't know- it's just a theory. You guys know the Maps better than I do, so I was hoping you'd remember some of them."

Minho looked to Newt, eyebrows raised in question, and the blonde nodded his head in return. The Keeper sighed and scratched the back of his head quizzically as he faced forwards again.

"What?" Thomas started slowly. "You guys keep acting like you have a secret."

"Cause they do, shuckface," Cassandra sniggered. "They hid the real Maps."

"Wha-?"

"We hid the freaking Maps in the weapons room," Minho gestured. "Put dummies in their place. Because of Alby's warning and because of the so-called Ending your girlfriend triggered."

Thomas' face suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, and a wide smile started to spread across his face.

"They're all safe and sound. Every last one of those suckers. So if you have a theory, start talking."

"Take me to them," Thomas said.

"Okay, let's go," Minho waved his hand and turned around when he heard a thud next to him. Looking back, he saw Cassandra had fallen to the ground and he quickly dropped down to her side, picking her up in his arms. "Cassie! Not again!" he shook her, smoothing her hair against her face.

"There's no hope. It's futile. There's nothing left to save," she muttered under her breath, turning her head from side to side. "They're all going to die. It was all a test- nothing is real. It was all a lie."

She suddenly shot up from his arms, gasping loudly as her brown eyes flew wide open. She took in large ragged breaths that made her body shudder and Minho leaned over to hold her. Her gaze darted from side to side as she slowly came back to reality; whatever just happened was different from her usual stupors.

"Oh, my God," she exclaimed slowly.

"What?" Newt asked uneasily.

She looked over her shoulder at them as they stared back expectantly. Minho continued to hold on to her, and she appreciated the reassuring warmth of his hands. The vision continued to linger in her consciousness, seared to the back of her mind.

"I think I just saw the way out."