Chapter 3

A month or two has passed since I showed up in the Glade, more newbies had been arriving, including my new friends Jane and Alejandra. Alejandra is a tall Guatemalan with a dark black hair and dark brown eyes, but is dark skinned, and Jane has a warm skin with blonde hair and blue eyes and much shorter than Ethan. I started hanging out with Will more often a month after I came to the Glade, but I still hung out with Becca and Sadie every day.

A month after I became a runner, exploring the maze really helped me clear my thoughts since the incident with Jacob. Whenever I returned to the Glade, Will would be the first one to wait for me to come back and I'd run into his arms and hug him, and he would occasionally pick me up and spin me around and set me down.

One day, Will assigned me with Emily and Alex to go into the maze to retrace Jacob's steps, I thought it was a bad idea since I almost got killed, but I decided to go with it.

"Stay safe out there." said Will.

"I will. I'll see you when we get back." I said.

"Look after her. And don't do anything stupid." Will instructed Emily and Alex.

"We won't." said Emily.

"Off you go." said Will as he turned around and walked away.

"Let's do this guys." I said as we entered the maze.

"Remember to stick together. Don't run or sneak off. The maze is a big place, and we have a certain amount of time before the doors close." said Emily.

"That's a good thing to know." said Alex.

I tried my best to keep up with Alex and Emily, or otherwise I would get yelled at for being slow and not keeping up.

"I need to tell you guys something." said Emily as she stopped before I followed suit.

"What is it?" I asked.

"After Kate showed up in the Glade, I killed a Griever, but Jacob got stung. And I didn't tell Will about it." she replied.

"You what? You killed a Griever but you let a fellow Glader get stung? And Will doesn't know about this?" I asked.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry Will and have him demote the runners." she replied.

At this point, if Will was here, he would forgive Emily and let her know that she's always been honest with him. My heart started racing and I didn't know what I would do if I saw a Griever in person.

"Hey, so what do we do if-" I started but Alex and Emily had took off.

'Oh, great. Now I'm stuck here by myself. What am I gonna do now?' I thought.

I looked around and I realized I was now lost in the maze. There was a loud shriek and I froze, not making a movement. The creature then leapt down in front of me.

'So that's what a Griever looks like.' I thought.

I turned around and started running, but the Griever heard my footsteps and started chasing me, and it was so fast until I felt a sharp pain on the side of my neck, and I felt darkness.

Meanwhile with Emily, she stopped Alex from taking off any further.

"You idiot! What were you thinking?" she yelled, startling him.

"I told you to stick together! Didn't you understand the word I said? I said we don't run or sneak off. Now, thanks to you, Kate is left alone all by herself and wondering where we ran off to." she said.

"All right! I get it. I shouldn't have ran off. I wasn't thinking. Just stop with the yelling. You're making my head hurt." he said.

"Am I now? You should've learned on when you listen to me. Maybe this wouldn't have happened! Will's gonna be really furious when we get back." said Emily.

She then shoved Alex, making him stumble a bit but he regained his balance. Emily ran her hand through her brown hair, realizing that she left her best friend all by herself and Will wasn't gonna be happy.

Alex didn't feel bad when he saw something around the corner and he didn't think things through before he took off. After Emily mentioned that she killed a Griever, and Alex wanted to see it for himself. He averted Emily's glaring gaze as they returned to the place where they had last seen Kate. Alex had thought of one person he's gonna be afraid of when he and Emily return to the Glade. And it's not Emily or Ethan, it's gonna be Will.

Alex knew how much Will cared about Kate. It's written all over Will's face when he sees her around the Glade. If Will had found out about what happened to Kate, he was going to murder Alex when they return. But it's gonna be difficult to find a hiding place since they live in the Glade.

"Kate? Kate!" Emily cried as she ran to her unconscious best friend.

Emily pressed her fingers on the side of Kate's neck, but she wasn't breathing. This was really, really bad. The color was slowly draining from Kate's cheeks and she was sick. Emily then relaxed as Kate's chest raised up and falling. Emily searched for marks if there were any injuries, but there wasn't.

"We need to get out of here now. Pick her up and put her on my back." Emily instructed, tired of talking anymore because of her strained voice.

Alex nodded before he lifted Kate in a bridal style and with Emily's help, placed Kate on her back as Emily wrapped Kate's around her neck and she placed her hands underneath Kate's legs, keeping her still and holding her. Emily and Alex took off, heading to the direction of the exit from where they came from.

The two of them continued running of what felt like forever. They had to be close to the exit of the maze. Emily knew her way around since becoming the keeper of the runners. She was being careful with carrying Kate because they're best friends.

"I'm not covering for you when we get back. You're the reason that this happened. And I will make sure Will and Ethan know about that." said Emily, her tone emotionless.

"It was an accident. I don't know how many times I'm gonna have to repeat myself. I messed up, I get it. I know there are consequences. But please don't make this any worse for me than I already am, okay? It's not fair." he defended.

"You know what's not fair, you idiot? It's not fair that my best friend has to suffer for your stupid mistakes." said Emily.

Alex kept his mouth shut, knowing he would not win this argument. Turning a corner, they see the exit and everyone was doing their jobs.

"Hey! Help!" Emily cried.

Will is the first person to turn around and his eyes widened in alarm. Emily was carrying Kate on her back. He realized something has happened. He and Ethan ran over as the others stopped what they were doing and saw Kate was unconscious. Will gently removed Kate from Emily's back and laid her on the grass. He leaned forward and laid his ear on her chest, and he visibly relaxed as he hears her breathing.

"Med-jacks!" Will called.

Two seconds later, the med-jacks came over and rushed to his side to tend to Kate.

"What the hell happened to her?" he asked, barely holding on to his anger as his eyes shifted between Alex and Emily.

"This idiot here, decided it was a good idea to take off. I had to chase his ass down, leaving Kate all alone by herself. When we got back, we found her like this." Emily replied, jabbing her thumb at Alex's direction.

Will snarled as he glared at Alex before he stood up, clenching his fists. Alex gulped as he starts to feel nervous. Before Alex can say anything, Will shoved him to the ground, forcing Alex to fall down and crawl backwards, trying to get away. Will raised his fist, ready to give Alex the beating he deserved. But Ethan quickly intervened, placing his hand on Will's shoulder. Will glanced over at his right shoulder.

"Take her to the homestead. Now." he ordered.

The two med-jacks lifted and carried Kate to the homestead to treat her injuries.

"Everyone else, go back to what you were doing. Alex and Emily. Go to the council hall. We need to talk. Now." Will finished.

Sadie and the others turned around and went back to what they were doing, Alex followed and kept his head down to avert the gaze.

Leading his two best runners to the council hall, Will crossed his arms.

"All right. One of you, start talking. Let's go." Will ordered.

Emily decided to tell the truth as Alex averted his leader's angry expression.

"After going into the maze, we explored around to look for a way out. Then, this dumbass here decided to take off after seeing a Griever. Kate was left all alone by herself, not being able to find a way back to the Glade. By the time we got back, we found her passed out and her injuries looked really serious." Emily explained.

Will turned his angry expression at Alex, feeling disappointed that he didn't comply with one rule from Emily. Sticking together. Will walked over to Alex, fist clenched.

"Look at me, Alex." Will ordered sternly.

Alex looked down, refusing to meet Will's angry expression. Will then raised his voice.

"I said look at me!" Will repeated harshly.

Alex flinched, as he finally got the courage to look at Will's dark brown eyes.

"I hope for your own sake and everyone else's, including mine that she will be alright." Will said menacingly as he pointed his finger at Alex, his voice turning deadly.

"And if she doesn't come to in the next few days, you'll be sleeping with the Grievers." Will finished as he walked away.