Chapter 18
Have you ever got that weird feeling when you wake up and you're not in your bed or in your house because you've slept over at a friends house or something like that? Well this was sort of like that, accept instead of realising straight away where I was and being comforted, the realisation hit me like a truck and made me all the more worried.
I was still trapped in the maze but the sky was no longer dark and the sun was high up in the air and the thick vines I had used as a pathetic excuse for camouflage were still surrounding me. I was confused as to how and why a Griever hadn't killed me in my sleep but chose not to question it too much for fear of the creators sending an even more challenging beast my way instead.
I gathered my bearings quickly and stood up from the ground, stretching every aching muscle in my back, legs and arms as I did so. I wasted no time and began jogging between the large walls in hopes of finding the entrance to the Glade and after a while I did. The sun was already up so I could see better but the doors weren't open, at least not yet.
Directly opposite of the closed opening was Alby hanging on the wall by the vines and underneath him was the Greenie who had been pushed into the Maze after me. Both boys had their eyes closed and I could only hope they weren't dead but from the steady and loud snores coming from the gree- Thomas - I knew he was alive and hopefully well but as for Alby, I couldn't tell if he was still breathing.
The Griever had stung him straight to the head so that could have meant an instant death where as most victims would go through the changing and then go crazy and die but that was only with the griever serum which we had already run out of in the Glade. I ran to Thomas and shook him awake and told him to help me get Alby down which he did, somewhat groggily because he had only just woken up.
We got the older boy down and I checked for a pulse, heartbeat or any signs of breathing and let out a sigh of relief when I heard his heart beating even though it was a little too fast. I was about to inform Thomas of the good News when the large doors rumbled behind us and started sliding open. The noise was louder inside the maze than in the glade because it echoed off of every individual wall but I was so unbelievably glad to hear it.
I picked Alby up and got Thomas to help me so we both supported him and started dragging him towards the now large opening. It took us a while but eventually some of the Gladers spotted us and ran in to help us get Alby back into the Glade safely so me and Thomas could jog back. As soon as we reached the Glade I fell onto my hands and knees and from the corner of my eye saw Thomas do the same.
I squeezed my eyes closed and took in heavy breaths as I the images of the night I had just endured all came rushing back to me. The entire thing seemed like a nightmare while I thought back on it but I would always know it wasn't. You don't feel that much fear from a nightmare - even the worst ones.
Both me and Thomas were taken to the homestead where Jeff, Clint and a few other less trained med-jacks fussed over us and I could hear them all mumbling things about us to themselves or to each other.
"How'd you reckon they survived?" One boy asked
"I wanna know why the hell they ran in." Another boy said
"I'm just glad they're both alive." Clint muttered from besides me while he checked over my body for any fatal injuries.
I didn't say anything as the boys fussed around us and barely payed any attention to what everyone was doing but when three boys carried Alby's limp form into the small room it was like all time stopped. Every boy stopped moving and all eyes were on the dark skinned boy's body that had green vine like lines running along it where his veins were. It was hard to think that the boy we all saw before us was the leader of this tribe of gladers.
Jeff was the first to move, running straight to our leaders side to put a wet cloth on his forehead to cool down his burning temperature. I wanted nothing more than to help and be useful but even I could see that I would be fighting a losing battle. Instead I sat on the edge of one of the beds while med-jacks were running around around me and let them do whatever they felt was necessary to me before I was able to lie down for a much deserved sleep.
Newt's POV (straight after Skylar goes into the maze)
As soon as Skylar disappeared through the doors of the maze I knew I would lose her forever. Nobody survived a night in the maze and I doubted she would be the first so when someone pushed out newest greenie through the already slim gap of the walls I knew there would be three names that would need to be crossed off of the wall.
I wad the last to the leave the closed doors that stopped me from being with my best friend, my girlfriend, and the greenie. I waited for hours for the doors to open with a small sliver of hope that in the morning three people would be waiting on the other side all alive and well without a trace of ever being in the maze at all. I knew my hope was mostly pointless - something Gally so nicely pointed out to me within ten minutes of the doors being closed- but I was determined to stay up all night and wait for the doors to open.
Somehow sleep found me after night had fallen and I could hear the sounds of the maze changing through the larger and thicker walls I had my back rested against.
My dreams were not peaceful as I slept through the night. Multiple times I woke up sweating and panting after a horrible nightmare which wouldn't leave my mind. Every time I fell back to sleep the same horrid dream would find me again and each time I saw it made my heart clench painfully.
In the nightmare I was watching Sky get stung over and over again by Grievers and then ripped to pieces and swallowed by the beasts. Occasionally Alby would join her in being tortured in front of me and it was like a piece of glass was keeping me separated from the two of them as I watched the two most important people in my life getting murdered.
One dream struck me hard though and left me wide awake and out of breath as soon as I woke up from it.
I was standing in the maze with a Griever in front of me and two bodies lying in front it. Blood was smeared all over the walls around the beast and on its mechanical arms but I avoided that as I rushed towards the two bodies that I was actually able to approach in this dream.
I tried calling to my two best friends - Alby and Skylar of course - but they wouldn't respond. I started shouting their names and shaking their bodies but it was no use, the creature that was sitting still only meters away from me had killed them both.
I clung to the dead body of my beloved girlfriend and held her close to me as I let tears roll down my cheeks and fall onto her Tshirt while I wept. Seeing her like that over and over again was heartbreaking but usually I saw her die and I watched the life drain out of the two of them. I was able to talk to them one last time while they were being ripped apart and apologise to them both but in this dream I didn't have the chance.
I felt completely useless as I clung to the dead bodies of my two best friends and couldn't bring myself to do anything more.
"Its your fault," a voice croaked out
It sounded like the voice was coming from every wall of the maze and was inside my head as well .
"You did this to us. You didn't try. You killed us." The same voice finished. I looked down to see Skylar's eyes were wide open underneath me and staring straight at me without seeing anything. They were clouded over with death but her mouth was moving while her body stayed limp as blood from wounds the Griever had made spilled out onto the cold floor.
I looked down at her inn horror as her eyes turned black and glared at me with such hatred and pain I never thought I would be able to un see it. "The vine shouldn't have stopped you two years ago. I would have been happier without you." She hissed
Tears were streaming down my face now as I turned away from my dead girlfriend while her eyes slowly started closing. I turned to Alby who lay next to her with green lines all over his body from the griever sting he had got. His eyes were also open and black but held no emotion in them.
"Why? Why did you kill us Newt?" His scratchy voice whispered inside of his head, from the walls and from his body. I fell away from the two bodies and scrambled away from them so I could run away, something I had grown used to doing.
I ran for miles and turned round countless corners of the never ending maze until I jolted awake, sweating, panting and screaming. Minho was in front of me and was staring at me with concern in his eyes which I ignored and walked away from the wall.
"Newt! Wait!" he was shouting behind me as he ran to catch up with me. I didn't falter in my steps as I walked away from him - I couldn't face anybody especially not him.
"Are you alright man.?" Minho asked as he grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face him.
"No I'm not bloody alright! My best friend has been stung by a griever, my girlfriend just ran into the maze and a shucking Newbie was just pushed in after her. Three people just died Minho." I spat
"Hey they might be alright. Skylar's a smart girl and is fast enough to be a runner." He tried to comfort me but it just made me angrier .
"That's easy for you to say! You left Alby in there. You didn't help him as much as you could." I hissed and with that I walked away from him and he didn't follow. I went to the deadheads and walked to the graveyard where Skylar's brother was buried and I sat in front of the small stone and cross we had out on it and cried. I apologised to Skylar countless times and did the same to Caleb although I knew he wouldn't be able to react since he was, well dead.
Somehow I managed to pass out from all of my crying and apologising so when I woke up, dawn was just making an appearance and a few of the runners were getting ready to go into the maze to look for the bodies of the gladers. I shot up and ran to the doors that were only just opening and waited alongside Chuck for any signs of survivors. After five minutes it was clear that nobody would be appearing on the other side of the wall so I sent the runners in to go and find their bodies if they could. I turned to walk away so that the other boys wouldn't see me cry when Chuck shouted something behind me.
I turned and looked back and stumbling to the maze doors where two figures struggling to carry another larger person. I was quick and made the runners help them back and as soon as everyone was back the greenie and Skylar both collapsed on the floor. Every glader was bursting with questions but it was clear it was much too soon to ask for the survivors to give us answers so quickly after what must have been such a traumatizing experience.
"All right shanks get back to work and someone get the med-jacks here now!" I instructed, taking charge since our leader was writhing in pain and barely breathing. I wanted to stay with Alby and make sure he was okay but I knew that as his second in command he would need me to make sure everything ran smoothly while he was in his - current situation.
People got to work immediately and it wasn't long before all three of the survivors where being carried into the homestead by the med-jacks. Alby was screaming the whole time, piercing wails of pain that nobody would ever be able to understand unless they went through the changing themselves.
I followed the Med-jacks into the homestead and sat in a corner while everyone fussed around Alby, Skylar and Thomas so I wouldn't be in the way. At one point Skylar passed out probably from exhaustion which had me and some of the Med-jacks concerned given her history with sudden fatigue.
While she slept I stayed by her side on the make shift bed and held her hand, scared that I would lose her. Even the memory of the dreams I had where enough to scare me into squeezing her hand hard just to make sure she was with me. Despite my attitude towards her since I disappeared the other day I still needed her and loved her more than anything.
Wait! I loved her?
Thinking back on everything that had ever happened between us, I realised I did. I did love Skylar. She was everything to me and meant more to me than anything else in the world. I knew I would die for her and would do anything to keep her safe.
I loved Skylar. She's going to be bloody surprised when she wakes up.
