Newt’s POV:

The bus ride was long, and when we finally got there, we were all quickly herded out of the bus, and into a building. They left us in the boys ‘dorm’ and left Teresa in a separate one. The dorm consisted of a separate bathroom which even had showers, and about half a dozen bunk beds, and the fight instantly started on who got a top bunk. Minho almost immediately jumped up onto one, and said that he would have that one. While everyone else was still arguing over the top bunks, I just sat down on the one below Minho. He poked his head down over the side of his own bunk

“Hey Newt! Aren't you gonna go fight over a top bunk?”

I shrugged, and wrapped my arms around my knees

“N-No, I’m fine.”

Minho jumped down, and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Newt? You alright?’

I looked down at my knees. I thought of all the things I could say.

I want to go home, I want Alby back, I want Chuck back, I should have saved them.

But instead I gave the simplest answer

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

Minho looked like he was going to say something, but just then, there was a knock on the door, and Thomas moved to open it. He went out for a second, then came back holding multiple boxes, smiling like he just won the lottery.

“What is it?”

Frypan looked skeptical. Thomas walked over, and set the boxes in the middle of the floor

“It’s pizza!”

Hearing the words, most gladers, wait. Would we still call them gladers? I don’t care. I would always be a glader. Anyway, most people backed away. We had pizza in the glade, all made by Frypan. Let’s just say. . . it wasn’t the best. Thomas laughed.

“No, no. Good pizza. Real pizza.”

With that, he opened the box, and took out a piece. After everyone saw it, then more people decided to have it. Minho got up and came back with two pieces.

“Here you go.”

He offered one to me. I mean. . . it looked alright, but I just wasn’t hungry.

“It's okay, I don’t really want any.”

Minho looked at me for a second, but then accepted my answer. After a while, Minho climbed back up to his bed, and the others followed suit, getting into their beds. I layed down, but I just couldn’t sleep. I stared at the bottom of Minho’s bed, and his breathing eventually lulled me to sleep.

I was in the large empty area of the glade, under the lookout tower.

I turned around, and Alby and Chuck were standing there

I took a step towards them

“Guys, I-”

I stopped talking when I saw how they looked

They looked, dead, I guess

Their eyes were hollow, their cheeks caved in

Alby was looking straight at me

“It should have been you.”

I took a step back

“I-I know, I wish it was, it should have been, I-”

Chuck lurched forward

“You told me it would be okay.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“I-I know Chuck, I thought it would. . .”

“But it wasn't.”

Alby took another step forward

“You told me it would be okay too. It wasn’t.”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know that would happen. . .”

Chuck and Alby were too close. I could feel their ragged breath

I tried to take a step back, but I was frozen.

“Who else will you kill with your lies?”

I was panicking now.

“I didn't mean to lie, I really didn’t!”Chuck kept going like I hadn’t said anything

“Who will be next?”

Chuck and Alby parted, and I saw all the other gladers who didn’t make it

“You killed all of us, you could kill anyone.”

“No-No, I won’t!”

Chuck, Alby, and all the others just stared at me, and I felt as if I was being consumed by them. Eaten alive.

I bolted upright, gasping, and hit my head on Minho’s bunk

“Shuck, shuck, shuck.”

I muttered under my breath as I rubbed my head furiously. I heard movement above me, and soon saw Minho’s head dangling upside down from the railing.

“You okay?”

He whispered. I looked up

“Huh? Yeah, I’m okay. Shuck, did I wake you up? I’m so sorry. . .”

Minho just shrugged, or I’m guessing he did, since I could only see the very top of his shoulders.

“No, no, it’s fine, I’ve been up for about a half hour already. I’m still on runner time.”

I nodded, not entirely believing him

“Right.”

Just then, the lights burst on, and almost blinded me. Almost pitch black, to pure white light. The light was sterile, not colored or natural. Just. . . white. All the others bolted up, swiveling their heads around, confused as shuck. Minho was equally affected, and since he had been half hanging out of his bed, fell a few feet to the ground, and landed in a heap. I jumped out of bed, and moved over to him, trying not to laugh

“Minho, you okay?”

Minho just moved his face against the cold concrete of the floor, and nodded his head.

“Now get off the ground.”

Minho moaned

“But it's nice and cool here. . .”

Now that Minho mentioned it, it was slightly warm in the room. I grabbed his arms and tried to heave him up

“Minho, C’mon, get up you shank.”

Minho muttered protests, but stood up anyway. Frypan had moved over to the door, and had opened it. He turned to us with a scared look.

“Um. . .guys? You might want to see this. . .”

Minho’s POV:

Me and Newt walked over to Frypan, who was standing right at the edge of a pit of black. There was absolutely no light from the area we had walked through earlier. Newt pushed past me, and started carefully walking out.

“Newt, where are you going?”

“To find the lightswitch.”

“Then I’m coming!”

Newt didn’t even look back

“Come on then.”

I walked up to Newt’s side, and we started into the blackness. I heard a thump from where Newt was, and then his voice

“There's a shucking table right here.”

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see me. I bumped into something that felt. . . soft? It moved when I knocked into it, and I just sort of pushed it aside and kept going. I guess Newt found a light switch, because the room flooded with light. I turned around to see what I bumped into and gagged. It was a shucking body! It was a female. . . at least I thought it was. The person had been hung from the ceiling. There were more bodies around the room. I had my hand over my mouth, fighting my gag reflex, when Newt came up from behind me.

“Are you alright Min?”

I managed a nod, and stood up straight

“Yeah, just shocked I guess.”

I motioned to the body. Newt nodded

“I don’t know what to think of anything anymore.”

Thomas had walked over to Teresa’s door. Or, what used to be her room

“Um, guys, It says that this room belongs to ‘Aris’.”

Frypan walked up to the door.

“Well, open it!”

Frypan swung the door open, and we all filed into the room. No one was there. Suddenly, the bathroom door opened, and a boy stepped out. He looked startled

“Wh-Who are you guys?”

I stepped up.

“We could ask the same for you.”

“I-I’m Aris. . .”

Newt walked over to him, and they talked in hushed voices for a second, before Newt addressed us.

“Okay, Aris says he came from a maze too, except it was all girls. He’s with us now.”

Everyone nodded, and started going out of the room, I fell back, so I was walking next to Newt. When we stepped out of the room, Newt gasped and grabbed my hand. The bodies were gone. No sign of them. I took a step forward, looking around

“. . .What the shuck?”

There was a man there too, and he was just sitting there. . .

I walked over to him, and almost broke my nose.

There was some sort of barrier. . .

I started trying to talk to him

“Hey, what are we doing here? What's going on? Where-”

The man held up a hand

“Shh. It's not time yet.”

“Time for what?”

He just ignored me. I walked back to our dorm, the others following. When we got there, we found a basket of fruit just sitting on the floor, and we decided the best thing to do was eat. Most of the fruit was in bags, and we filled the bags up with water. Who knows what would happen? Well that man did, but he wasn’t interested in telling us.