A/N: So i know it hasn't been that long since i uploaded the last chapter, but I've gotten some really lovely reviews which have inspired me to upload the next one. Enjoy!

Chapter 13

After retrieving Alby from the vines we started heading back to the door. The sun had started to come up and the grumbling of the doors opening brought smiles to our faces. As we turned the corner we saw the Gladers all turning away from the door and walking to back to their duties.

'No big welcome then?' I shout at them. Zart turns first, then Chuck.

'Yeah!' He shouts. Tommy and I struggle the last few paces until Minho runs in to help us. I give Alby to Minho as he and Tommy take him the last of the way. I rub the friction burn on my arm from the wall, as I think about that Griever. As we cross into the Glade, Clint and Jeff run forward to assess Alby. Chuck runs forward also and throws his arms round my neck.

'I knew you could do it!' He says beaming at me. 'You saw a Griever?'

'Yeah,' I nod 'I saw one.' I look at Newt. His expression is unreadable. I can't tell whether he is angry, or relived or what? I smile weakly at him. I get a small one in return.

'She didn't just see it.' Tommy announces. 'She killed it!' The Gladers heads snap to mine.

'Is that true?' Newt asks me.

I nod. 'Yeah, it's true. Squished it with the changing maze walls.'

Gasps and mutters surrounded us.

'We need to talk.' Gally states, looking at me. 'About him.' He points at Thomas.

'Yeah, we do. Everyone to the council hall.' I shout and the boys file off one by one. 'Clint, Jeff are you okay to stay with Alby?'

'Yeah, that's fine. Just so you know. We're with you. Whatever you decide we'll support it.' I grin at the boys.

'Cheers.'

Clint walks up and whispers, 'Though I'd rather you rewarded him, than punish him. He did save Alby's life after all.' With that he and Jeff carry Alby to the med-tent. I smile. Thomas looks at me with a small smile.

'What's going to happen?' He asks.

'We'll have to see.' I know exactly what is going to happen but I want to see what everybody else thinks first.

'Okay,' he says, walking off to the hall.

It's just Newt and me left. Before I can say anything he pulls me into a tight hug. I sigh with relief and hug him back.

'We'll talk later. Okay.' He says sternly. I smile and nod, before we head off to the hall.

'Will you lead this?' I ask Newt before we enter. 'I'm kinda bias.'

'Yeah, okay.'


The Gladers all sit around the edge of the hall whilst Gally stands in the middle waiting for us all to get in. Thomas sits at the back with a nervous look on his face. When I catch his eye, I wink at him and walk to stand beside Gally.

'Things are changing. There's no denying that. First, Ben gets stung in broad daylight. And then Alby. And now our Greenie, here, has taken it upon himself... to go into the maze. Which is a clear violation of our rules here.' Gally really has it out for him.

'Yeah... but he saved Alby's life.' Frypan interjects.

'Did he? For 3 years, we have coexisted with these things. And now, you two have killed one of them. Who knows what that could mean for us?' He says pointing at Thomas and I.

'Yeah, your right. Co-existing. We have been terrified of Grievers ever we first got here. And we've never fought back. They've killed several of us. And we've done nothing! Because they were big and scary and because we didn't know how. I decided that enough was enough. I decided that I was not going to let anybody else die without doing something.' I glared at Gally. Why was he fighting this? What was his problem?

'What do you suggest we do?' Newt asks Gally.

'He has to be punished.'

Grumbles of disagreement fill the hall.

'Come on.'

'He helped kill a Griever!'

'Minho. What do you think?'

'I think... in all the time we've been here... no one has ever killed a Griever before. When I turned tail and ran... this dumb shank ran into the maze to help Alby. Look, I don't know if he's brave or stupid. But whatever it is, we need more of it.'

I smile a Minho. He'll agree with what I'm about to do next.

'Kira.'

'I say we make him a runner.'

Mixed sounds came from the Gladers that time.

'A runner? What?'

'Kira, let's not jump the gun, here.'

'Thomas! Thomas! Thomas!' I smirked at Chuck trying to start a chant.

'When we were out there, Thomas didn't leave us. He helped me haul Alby up into the vines. He distracted the Griever pretty much all night. And then to top it all off threw himself off one of the walls to grab the vines on the other side. He's fast, strong, smart and incredibly loyal. What more do we look for in a runner? He's a perfect candidate.' I looked at Thomas and saw the complete surprise on his face.

'If you want to throw the newbie a parade, that's fine. Go ahead. But if there is one thing I know about the maze... it is that you do not-'

'How about we ask the Keeper?' I said interrupting Gally. I looked over at Minho, as did everyone else.

He smirked at me. 'Why not.' He said after a second. 'Can't just be you and me forever!' I laughed at the small shrug of his shoulders.

'Well, it's settled then.' Newt said ignoring Gally's look of anger. 'Welcome to the Runner's Thomas.'

I laughed again at the smile plastering itself on his face. He wouldn't like what came next though.

'We still need to come to a decision about your punishment.' I say to him. 'You still broke the rules.'

He nods looking at his hands.

'Night in the Slammer?' I suggest to the Gladers. The murmuring sounds of consensus fill me confidence. 'Alrighty, that's that.' I clap my hands and walk out of the council hall.

'Hey, where are you going?' Chuck and Newt run after me.

'To see Alby then back into the maze. Thomas is coming with me. And whoever else wants too.' I turn and walk over to the med-tent to see Alby. As I walk in Clint and Jeff look up.

'Outcome?' Clint asks.

'Night in the slammer…' He nods. 'And he's a runner.' He looks at me with surprise.

'Really?'

'Really really,' Newt says walking in. I smirk at Thomas sideling in beside him.

'Just came to check how he is.' I says nodding down at Alby.

'Well, he's strong, but he's like the others. He won't last much longer.' I sigh and reach down to kiss his forehead.

As I'm about to leave a loud claxon fills the air. We all look at each other in confusion.

'That's the Box. It's early.'

'It's coming back up. It shouldn't be.' We all run outside to the box. Newt throws open the lid and jumps in.

'Newt, what do you see?'

'Do you see it?' The boys are craning the necks over each other to see what's in the box.

'It's a girl.' What? Another girl. I grin at the thought of having another girl to talk too. I can feel the boy's eyes on me but I keep my eyes locked on her. This is so exciting!

'No way.' Yes way!

'I think she's dead.' What! Noooo!

'She's not dead.' I say jumping into the box. 'What use would a dead girl be?' Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.

'What's in her hand?' Gally asks.

Newt reaches down and pulls the bit of paper from her hand. '"She's the last one... ever." What the hell does that mean?' As we look up to the others, the girl jolts awake.

'Whoa!' Newt and I jump back from her.

'Thomas...' She says before passing out again. Everyone stares at Thomas in shock, though I can feel a grin spreading on my face.

'What you smirking at?' Gally asks.

'Tommy's got a girlfriend, Tommy's got a girlfriend.' I say softly in a sing-song voice. Newt splutters with laughter but I'm pretty sure he's the only one that heard me.

Gally just rolls his eyes and says, 'Do you still think I'm overreacting?'


Walking back into the med-tent Newt asks, 'Jeff, what's going on? What's the matter with her? Why won't she wake up?'

Jeff holds up his hands saying 'Hey man, I got my job the same way you did.'

'Do you recognize her Tommy?' I ask putting my hand on his shoulder.

'No.' I can tell he's lying. Did he see her in a dream like mine?

'Really? Because she seemed to recognize you.' Newt says.

'What about the note?' Tommy changes the subject. He doesn't like lying.

'We'll worry about the note later.' Newt says sighing.

'I think you should worry about it now.' Ah, Tommy. Always worrying.

'We've got enough to deal with at the moment.'

'He's right, Newt. If the Box isn't coming back up, how long do you think we can last?' Jeff asks.

'No one said that. Let's not jump to any conclusions. We'll just wait until she wakes up and see what she knows. Somebody has gotta have some answers around here.'

Seeing that everything is handled here I tap Thomas on the shoulder and we walk back outside and towards the maze.

'Where are you going?' Minho runs after us.

'Back into the maze.' Thomas says before walking away again.

'Hey- Hey, Thomas. Kira.' He says catching up with us again and blocking our path. 'What is this with you two, huh? A death wish? You just got out and now you want back in?'

'No one but me has ever seen a Griever and lived to tell about it, and at the time I wasn't really in the right state of mind to kill it for study. Minho, now we have one. You're telling me you're not even a little bit curious?' I try to make his see where we are coming from.

'Not really, no.' We sigh and continue walking. Minho runs in front of us again. 'So, what's the plan? You're gonna go out and dissect that thing all by yourselves?'

'We will if we have too.' Thomas says.

'Why are you in such a hurry to get back out there?' Minho asks.

'I think it's time we find out what we're really up against.'

I can see Minho coming around. 'All right. But you're not going back out there alone. Meet me in the woods in half-an-hour.'


Half an hour later Tommy and I are leaning against the runner hut waiting for Minho.

'Who'd you think will come?' Tommy asks.

'Probably Zart, Winston, maybe Frypan.' I say thinking about who Minho is most likely to ask.

A twig snaps from behind us, and out comes Minho… with Zart, Winston and Frypan.

'Told you.' I say to Tommy.

'Will this be enough?' Minho asks.

'Yeah, let's go.' I say to the group.

We run into the maze and trace back to where I killed the Griever. I stop looking down the path to our left.

'There.' I point to the crushed remains of a Griever.

'Shit, Kira. You did a number on that one.' Frypan says, looking at me as if I had done it with my bare hands.

'The walls helped,' I say but his expression doesn't change.

'That's disgusting.' Zart grimaces. It really was. Stuff that looked like intestines and organs were seeping out of the wall. It looked like it was both machine and creature. Weird!

'There's something in there.' Thomas says suddenly narrowing his eyes and getting a closer look. I get closer as well. He's right. There's a blinking red dot in the Grievers squished body.

'You mean, besides a Griever pancake?' Frypan says turning his nose up at the sight.

Minho steps forward and shoves his hand into the gap towards the light.

'Whoa, what are you doing?' Zart exclaims.

'He's gonna try and get it.' I say. As Minho reaches in, the leg that's sticking out of the space jerks. We all fly back to the other wall in case it's not dead.

'Whoa! I thought you said it was dead.' Frypan cries.

'Was it a reflex?' Zart suggests.

'You hope.' Winston snaps.

'Okay, come on. Let's try and pull it out. Everyone get a hand on it. Come on. All right, ready? On three. One, two, three!' I command. We pull on the leg until it rips from the rest of the body. The sudden dislodging causes several of us to lose our balance. Most of us are able to correct ourselves but Frypan falls onto the floor.

'Are you okay, Fry?' Thomas asks as he helps him up.

'Yeah. Thanks, brother.' Frypan replies clasping their hands together.

Minho notices the light has fallen out and is now in the pile of organs on the floor. He reaches down and picks up an organ that looks a bit like a jellyfish. Minho pulls a metal cylinder out from the organ. It is covered in gunge.

'Urghhh,' we all grimace at the sight of Minho shaking some of the gunge of his hand. He looked at the cylinder and rubs his thumb along the front like he is trying to clean it.

'What the hell is that?' Thomas asks.

'Interesting.' Minho mumbles to himself.

'What is it?' I say walking up to him. He shows me the cylinder which has a number 7 on a little panel and W|C|K|D 9643021 on it in black lettering. WICKED? The same people that put us here, made the Grievers? That doesn't make sense.

'Okay, whatever it is... can we take this up back at the Glade? Because I don't want to meet this guy's friends.' Frypan says.

'He's right.' I agree. 'It's getting late.'


'It was inside a Griever.' I say as I hand over the cylinder.

'These are the same letters we get in our supplies.' Newt notices.

'Whoever put us here obviously made the Grievers.' I reply.

'This is the first real clue, the first anything, you've found in over 3 years. Right, Kira?' Thomas asks.

'Right.' I nod.

'Newt, we gotta go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us.' Newt looks at me and nods back. He's right, I tell him using my eyes.
I know, I get back. Newt look over to Gally for his opinion.

'You see what he's trying to do, right? First he breaks our rules... and then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally. The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me.'

I roll my eyes. 'Don't you think we know that? I made the bloody rules. And they've served us well, but maybe it's time for a change. They have kept us alive, but stuck here. The first time they're are broken in 4 years and we a kill a Griever. We find a clue. Gally this is the right call. Why are you so against it?'

Gally's eyes bore into mine, then they narrow and he looks away.

'Wow.' He scoffs and leaves.

'Gally,' Frypan tries to stop him but 'No, Fry,' is the response he gets.

'Thanks Kira.' Thomas looks at me and smiles.

'We have something to show you.' I say back before taking off for the map room.

'Hey, where are we going?' Thomas calls as we make our way through the forest.

'You'll see.' Minho calls back. We reach the room and head inside. I walk round the table and pull of the white sheet protecting the map. Thomas stares at it.

'It's the maze. All of it.' I say quietly.

'What do you mean "all of it"? I thought you were still mapping it.' Thomas says confused.

'There's nothing left to map. I've run every inch of it myself. Every cycle. Every pattern. If there was a way out, we would have found it by now.' Minho states.

'Why haven't you told anyone this?'

'It was my call. People needed to believe we had a chance of getting out.' I hated lying to everyone. 'But maybe now... we have a real chance. Take a look at this. About a year ago, Minho and the others started exploring these outer sections. They found these numbers printed on the walls. Sections 1 through 8. See, the way it works, is every night, when the maze changes... it opens up a new section. So today, Section 6 was open. Tomorrow, it will be 4, then 8, then 3. The pattern always stays the same.' I explain.

'What's so special about 7?'

'I don't know. But last night, when we killed that Griever... Section 7 was open. I think it must be where it comes from. Tomorrow, we're gonna take a closer look.' I say with a smirk. Thomas smiles back at me. Clint and Jeff suddenly appeared in the doorway, seeming out of breath.

'Hey! What are you guys doing? You're not allowed in here.' Minho shouts turning his back on the map.

'Sorry, it's just the…' Jeff starts.

'It's the girl.' Clint finishes.

'Is she awake?' Thomas and I look at each other.

'You could say that.'

So feel free to tell me what you think, i love getting reviews.

As usual, have a great week,

Zoe xx