"Thomas!"
"No, don't!"
Newt heard Teresa and Chuck's voice and turned around to see Thomas stabbing himself with the Grievers needle.
"Tommy!" Newt shouted and ran towards him. He caught him before his head could hit the ground. He kneeled down and carefully placed Thomas's head on his lap. "Chuck! Get the other syringe!" Newt shouted. Chuck ran quickly to find the syringe.
Seeing Thomas's body jerking and groaning in pain frightened his heart. "Don't worry Tommy. It'll be okay." Newt mumbled the words of comfort worriedly to him.
Just as Chuck brought the syringe, Teresa took it and injected it into Thomas. His eyes half opened and saw the blonde. "Newt." His voice was painful. "It's okay, Tommy," Newt said, soothingly caressing his back.
Thomas clutched Newt's shirt tightly and hid his face in his stomach before calming down and falling into a deep sleep. Newt didn't move his eyes away from Thomas.
No one said anything. Everyone was too shocked after seeing what just happened. Gally broke the long silence. "What the shucking hell is wrong with him?" But no one replied.
Newt picked Thomas up with no difficulty and carried him to the nearest room where he could lay him. Luckily, the room where Newt slept was the nearest and was not destroyed by the Grievers. Newt carefully placed Thomas on his bed. When he tried to move away from him, he found out that Thomas still had a firm hold of his shirt in his hands.
Newt sighed and replaced his shirt with his hands. He sat down on his bed in front of Thomas.
"I know why you did this. But I still hate you for doing that." Newt whispered in the silence. "Bloody shank." He wanted to sound angry, but his voice came out as worried.
Newt brushed his hand lightly on Thomas's forehead and onto his hair. He then slowly removed his hands from Thomas and made his way out. He rather spends his time here in front of Thomas, but he had to face Gally's opinion outside.
When he exited the room he saw Minho, Teresa, Chuck, Frypan, Winston, and Gally were waiting for him there.
"Is Thomas okay?" Chuck asked.
"He will be," Newt replied. Then he looked at Gally. "Look, Gally-"
"No," Gally cut him off. "Before you again start defending him, you've to listen. He is crazy. You all saw what he did right now."
"He did so he could remember!" Minho replied instantly.
"Doesn't hide the fact that all this," Gally pointed around the Glade. "is his fault."
Slowly, every Glader who survived started surrounding them.
"How?" Newt asked.
"In case you forgot, he's the one who did something to that place where the Grievers come from and now they attacked us."
"He was tryin' to help get us out of here." Newt said and Minho continued "In case you forgot, that's what we're supposed to do."
"Gally, we've to get out of here. We can't stay here forever." Newt tried to explain him.
"We can! And we did! Until he came around and destroyed everything." Everyone started whispering something to each other at Gally's words. He looked around at everyone. "He destroyed everything we built. He has to be banished."
"What the bloody hell are you talkin' about?" Newt exclaimed.
"What do you suggest we do with him then, huh? You want to make him a hero again because he bravely stung himself!" That shocked the Gladers who didn't know about this stunt of Thomas.
"He did that so he could remember about what happened before we came here!" Minho repeated his words. This time through gritted teeth.
"We've to at least listen to what he'll find out." Newt tried to sound reasonable.
"And how do you know he'll tell you the truth? You heard what Alby said, he's one of them. There's no way he'll tell you the truth."
"You're out of your mind," Newt said. "Gally, we finally are close to gettin' out of this place because of Thomas."
"How do you know that's what we're supposed to do? You were here for three years and found nothing close to getting us out. He comes and suddenly every door opens itself, literally! We're not supposed to leave. We were doing fine until he came up from that box. Who knows what's outside these walls. We're safe here."
"Do you think barely survivin', trapped inside here, is what we're supposed to do?" Newt asked.
"Yes! Everything was alright. We had everything we wanted to live happily here until she came up." Gally pointed at Teresa, who looked like she was still not over what Thomas just did. "Now the box won't go down. We'll soon be short on supply. The things we had, got destroyed because of Thomas." Everyone was silently listening to Gally. "They sent them both to destroy everything we have here and they'll not stop until they have killed everyone here. We'll banish both of them tomorrow." He told the other Gladers and then stared at where Minho and Newt were standing. "If anyone wants to be on his side, they'll be banished with him, too. We can't have people who want to get us killed here with us." And with that Gally left.
Everyone slowly started leaving too until only Minho, Newt, Teresa, and Chuck were the only ones left.
Newt's mind was filled with all the problems. Thomas, Gally, and Alby... He just lost Alby, his best friend, who was always there for him.
Minho put a hand on his shoulder with a painful look. Alby's loss was hurting him too. Newt took a deep breath. He had to stay steady and try to get out of this situation.
Newt heard Chuck's sobs and turned around to see Teresa hugging him and softly telling him to calm down. Teresa looked at Newt and Minho. "Are you two alright?" She asked softly with a worried expression on her face.
"We will be once we get of this complete mess of a situation," Minho replied.
"Look, I swear Thomas and I have nothing to with this. We can't, we know nothing." Teresa said.
"Don't worry, we know," Minho told her.
Newt was glad that Minho and he were on the same page. Having Minho by his side told him that trusting Thomas was not a wrong thing and his judgement wasn't clouded.
"What will we do now?" She asked, slowly patting Chuck's back as he let go of her, rubbing his eyes. Chuck and Minho looked at Newt.
"We'll just have to wait for Thomas to get up and tell us what he found out. Minho, you and I will check that passage you found tomorrow." Newt knew Minho didn't want to go alone into the maze and he didn't know how long it will take for Thomas to recover, so he would have to go with him. "With the box not going down and doors open, we can't stay here longer. We have to get out."
"What about our banishment?" Teresa asked.
"That won't happen. Gally's far from being reasonable right now, but everyone else would understand. Minho and I will call a gathering tomorrow." Newt replied.
"Everyone knows it's not your fault. They can't banish you like that." Minho said. "How long do you think it'll take Thomas to recover?"
"It took around 22 hours for Alby, but he was injected with the serum late, so maybe it'll take less time for Thomas to recover. He should be up around tomorrow morning."
"Good that." Minho said. "We'll go to maze after he wakes up."
"Okay." Newt nodded.
Most of the things in the Glade were either burnt into ashes or ruptured by the Grievers. Only places still standing were where the builders slept, the pit, the box, and some rooms in the homestead. So, everyone had to sleep in groups.
The only place left for Newt, Minho, Chuck, and Teresa was Newt's room, where Thomas was. It had only one bed and Thomas had taken it already. So, Minho, Chuck, Teresa, and Newt had to sleep on the floor. They used all the blankets Newt had to make them comfortable to sleep. Newt wasn't able to sleep, so he sat down in the chair next to Thomas.
Newt put his hand in above his eyes, preventing the tears to come out, and took a deep breath. He knew Minho was still not asleep, and he didn't want him to know about his desolation. Filled with so much sorrow he forgot when he fell into sleep.
The next morning, Newt woke up to someone calling his name. He opened his eyes and saw it was Thomas. He was mumbling it in his sleep. Newt got up from the chair he fell asleep into last night and woke up Chuck, Minho, and Teresa.
"Tommy?" Newt asked as he slightly put his hand above his forehead.
Everyone surrounded Thomas as he opened his eyes.
"Hey," Teresa said. "Are you okay?"
"What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck asked.
Thomas looked at him and then at Newt. "What happened?"
"Gally has taken control," Newt told him. "He said we had a choice. Either join him... or get banished at sundown with you."
Thomas slowly moved to sit up. "And the others agreed to that?" His voice was sore.
"Gally has everyone convinced that you're the reason all this has happened," Teresa told him.
"Well, he's been right so far," Thomas muttered.
Everyone looked at him, confused. "What are you talking about?" Minho asked.
"This place... it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison, it's a test." Thomas said. "I don't remember a lot, but it all started when we were kids. They... WCKD would give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us."
"What experiments?" Minho asked.
"I don't know, there's something different about us which they wanted to experiment." Thomas rubbed his eyes. "Let me start over. WKCD brought us when we were very young. After we were taken, we spent the next few years learning in special schools, living somewhat normal lives where they gave us different tests. They're studying every move we make, analyzing us." Thomas paused for a second. "And then people started disappearing. Every month, one after the other, like clockwork."
"They were sending them up into the maze," Newt said.
"Yeah, but not all of us," Thomas replied.
"What do you mean?" Newt asked.
Thomas waited to answer. "Guys, I'm one of them." He said with pain reflecting through his eyes. "The people who put you here, I worked with them." He lowered his gaze. "I... I watched you guys for years. The entire time you have been here..." He hesitated. "I was on the other side of it." He looked at Teresa. "So were you."
"What?" she asked.
"Teresa, we did this to them. We helped create this maze." He told her.
"No." Her voice was getting shaky. "That can't be true."
Newt was going through this whole situation inside his head. He knew something was different about Thomas, but he could never guess he was the one who sent them here. No, stop thinking about that. Alby gave his life, trusting that Tommy can get us out. He thought.
"It is. I saw it." Thomas said "That place we found yesterday is the way out. We built that."
She wiped a tear from her face. "Why would they send us up if we were with them?"
"It doesn't matter," Thomas said.
"He's right. It doesn't matter." Newt said and Thomas looked at him. "Any of it. Because the people we were before the maze don't even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that. But what does matter is who we are now, and what we do..." Newt looked at Minho, who nodded in agreement. "Right now."
Newt's words surprised Thomas. He was still looking guiltily at him.
"You went into the maze and you found a way out," Newt told Thomas, trying to make him understand it doesn't matter what he did in his past.
"Yeah, but if I hadn't, Alby would still be alive," Thomas said.
"Maybe. But I know that if he were here, he would be telling you the exact same thing. Pick your arse up and finish what you started." Newt said seriously. "Because if we do nothing... then that means Alby died for nothing, and I can't have that."
His words made Thomas understand that he couldn't sit around feeling guilty for what he did in his past. He had to do the right thing now.
"Okay," Thomas whispered. "Okay, but we gotta get through Gally first."
"And how're we planning on doing that?" Frypan's voice came from the door, making all of them jump.
"Fry-" Thomas started, but Frypan cut him off. "Look, I'm on your side. I wanna go home as much as you want, but you've to at least try to talk to Gally. He was put here just like the rest of us, he'll understand."
Thomas looked at Newt to answer. "Okay," Newt said.
"So, how do we do it?" Frypan asked.
Thomas thought about it for a moment and then looked at Chuck. "Okay, Chuck? You go pack some food and water. We'll need it once we get out. Gally and others will be busy banishing us so, you can easily sneak around and get all the things we need. Fry will help you. Newt, Minho" He looked at them. "You both get the weapons. We're gonna need them if Grievers showed up. Gally's already going to banish us, so getting close to the entrance isn't gonna be difficult. We'll try to convince everyone once we reach there."
"He won't just let all of us take whatever we need to the maze," Teresa said. "He and his friends will try to stop us from taking it."
"Newt and I'll take care of them. We'll be standing within the crowd and take them with surprise." Minho said. "We'll escape them easily."
"That's great. Then I'll act like I'm still unconscious until I reach the doors." Thomas said.
"Why?" Newt asked, making a confused face.
"To take him by surprise," Thomas replied as it was obvious. "It'll be easy that way."
Newt couldn't decide whether Thomas was joking or being cute. Everyone in the room, who thought he was being an idiot, looked at Newt, hoping he will tell Thomas that there was no need to do that.
And Newt was about to say that but one look at the brunette and words that came out of his mouth were, "Yeah, Brilliant plan Tommy." He patted his back. "Alright everyone let's go Gally will be here any minute." And with that, everyone except Teresa and Thomas left the room with a surprised expression, following Newt.
Frypan and Chuck went to collect all the things they needed, leaving Newt and Minho to get the weapons. Minho stared at Newt as they were walking.
"What?" Newt asked.
"Brilliant plan, Tommy!" Minho said, impersonating Newt.
"Just.. uh.." Newt searched for words. "Slim it." And he broke into a run.
"Yup," Minho said to himself "He's smitten." and then followed Newt's pace.
A/N: I really wanted to add this last part because I never understood why Thomas had to act unconsciously. I get Gally would not let him go into the maze, and then the element of surprise would've worked. But he didn't know that. He didn't need to do that. So yeah, that's how I explain Thomas's reason to act unconsciously.\_(ツ)/
I hope you liked this chapter.