Chapter 27
The runners didn't return to the Glade that night. Everyone knew they were searching the maze until morning but it was still unexpected and most people still didn't agree to it.
Chuck and Teresa where taking Thomas' absence the hardest. both of them where close to Thomas, Chuck looked up to him like a brother and I was pretty sure Teresa had a crush on him but I wasn't certain so didn't bring it up with her. Some of the other gladers where stressed by the absence of the runners and the impending griever attack that would occur within a couple of hours so I tried to be the positive spirit that got everyone working. It was a harder job than I initially thought it would've been.
Near to nobody was interested in hearing my positive thoughts but I forced them onto people to get them working harder and it worked, just not in the way that I had hoped to achieve. Newt told me later on after I had seen every miserable glader that they were working harder and acting happier when they were around me so that they could get away from my thoughts.
I tried not to take it too personally when I already knew people where stressed so instead I put all of my energy into reinforcing the homestead. It was hard work but I eventually got it done and I hoped what we had done would be enough to save another life for another night.
While I had been working with the big boys on the homestead, Teresa was helping Newt in the gardens with Chuck and the other Gladers where either helping or panicking despite my efforts to comfort them.
When the sky started darkening and the grievers started shrieking, everyone immediately ran to the homestead and when the last person was inside, the door was nailed up from the inside. I went upstairs to Newt's room and found him sitting with Chuck and Teresa in a small circle talking in hushed whispers.
I closed the door loudly so they would know of my presence and all three heads snapped towards me. Instead of asking them what they where talking about I walked straight to the bed and flopped on my back with my arms crossed under my head while I stared at the ceiling.
Newt sat down next to me almost immediately and I moved over to give him room for him to lie down next to me which he took gladly. No one said anything while we listened to the grievers cries getting louder and before long the clicking of their mechanical legs filled in any gaps in between their screams.
Newt pulled me closer to him and I leaned into him and half covered his body with mine, scared because of Gally's actions the night before. I didn't want anything to happen to anyone, especially Newt and for him I would gladly risk my own life.
As if noticing what I was doing he ducked his head so it was by my ear and whispered softly,
"Nothing will hurt you. You are mine to protect and no bloody griever is going to hurt a head on your head."
I only nodded and pulled myself closer to him as I closed my eyes and tried to focus my other senses on the grievers and their carefully calculated and controlled movements.
Although Gally's sacrifice was one I had nightmares about when I was able to find sleep the previous night, I realised as I waited for the grievers to start penetrating the walls with their claws, that he had saved another person from being killed.
Now every glader in the homestead (and maze for the runners) would be in more danger. No one else would be playing the hero and I didn't think Gally realised before he took his life for Newt how much it meant for everyone. Newt's absence would have deeply affected everyone in the Glade, and even the newest newbies would have missed his character and positive personality.
The shrieks got louder and louder until they where right outside the door and too suddenly to be predicted where and when, the building shook and screams filled the homestead from the room next to my own.
I was completely tense next to Newt and he was the same. Chuck and Teresa where leaning against the bed and shaking with fear next to me so in an attempt to comfort them, I reached my hand out and grasped Teresa's in my own. She looked up at me then back at her hand then back to me before giving me a shaky smile and grabbing Chuck's hand with her own free hand. I intertwined mine and Newt's fingers together and we all clutched onto each other like a life source.
More screams filled the homestead as more claws dug into the building and it was clear that while our efforts in keeping the grievers out of the walls hadn't been a success, it certainly wasn't in vain because it seemed like they were having a harder time getting through the walls.
I couldn't tell how long the grievers where attacking the building for and the only thing I knew was that it was longer than the previous night.
Three needles in the roof, six punctures from claws in the walls, seventeen broken boards, a dismantled wall and a piercing scream later and the Glade fell silent. The scream hadn't came from our room but the destruction was only in our room
Everyone waited until the screeches had died down and the clicking of metal parts had disappeared before we all moved around the homestead. Alby accessed the damage in each room with Newt while the Med-jacks and I checked up on any injuries the gladers had.
I found out a boy called Tom had been taken that night. Stabbed through the stomach with a needle and then ripped through a wall before being sucked into the grievers body like Gally had been. I felt bad because I hadn't known him too well but I grieved just as much as everyone else at the loss of another glader.
That night, barely anyone slept a wink. Everyone was wide awake with the knowledge of what was to come for the next day. One more life would be lost but I had a feeling it wouldn't be lost without a fight.
