Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

40. Traitors must be punished

I turned around stiffly and noticed how Gally barely noticeably put himself between our leader and me, as if he wanted to protect me from him.
"We won't let two traitors get away that easily, you should know that. I'd relieve you of your posts as keepers, but since we probably won't be here tomorrow anyway, I think a night in the Slammer will do."
"Nick, no, you can't do that!" Newt pushed past Alby and was about to walk towards Nick, but Alby held him. Better that way, after all, Newt wasn't going to get into trouble too.
"Minho, Winston, take them away. And Fry, no food for them while they're in there, understand?"
Fry Pan nodded and looked at me apologetically before disappearing from the meeting room along with a pale Clint and a horrified Zart.
"I don't want to see you being careful with them, understand? If either of them put up a fight, I'll let you guys take a swing at them."
At these words he looked challengingly at Gally. The latter wanted to take a step towards him, but I held an arm in front of him and pressed against his stomach muscles, which were at full tension. If he wanted to he could make Nick small, everyone in the room knew that and I felt I was the only one who could save him from being banished to the maze. So I held my arm against his pressure and looked at him urgently as he looked down at me.
"Gally, calm down now. Please," I hissed, looking up at him much more pleadingly now. To my relief, he relaxed again and turned around. Winston, who didn't quite seem to know how to buck him to the den without upsetting him or Nick, just held a hand on his back and pretended he had to push him. Minho did likewise, grabbing my shirt and pushing me towards the door.
When we had left the meeting hut, Minho loosened his grip and just put his hand on my shoulder. I could hear Newt say something rather loudly and then rush out of the hut, closely followed by Nick who shouted after him that he shouldn't dare follow us if he didn't want to end up in the den, too.
So Newt turned and disappeared towards the woods, kicking small stones away from himself furiously. I watched after him, embarrassed, until he had disappeared between the trees, then I looked ahead again, following Gally and Winston faster now. Now I just wanted to get it over with.
Some gladers had heard Newt, for they came running up curiously and looked at us with wide eyes. The builders were absolutely horrified that their keeper was being led away and I could see my runners standing a little way off, watching us in amazement as Minho took me to the den. I avoided their stares, because I felt terrible when I saw how uncomprehendingly they looked at me. I hoped that Minho would find the right words to explain it to them.
The cells came into view and when we were almost there, walking past more curious gladers, I heard someone call my name. Chuck came running from the direction of the kitchen and was completely out of breath when he reached us with his head held high.
"Anna, what's wrong, what happened? What is Minho doing to you? Why are they taking you away?" He looked at me with his big brown eyes and I could read nothing but horror and incomprehension in them.
"It's all right, Chuck, we just had a little altercation with Nick. We get to go out again in the morning. No big deal, you know?" I tried to sound calm and smile at him, but it went horribly wrong.
He stopped and looked after us, tears in his eyes. I turned to him once more. "Find Newt, Chuck. Watch after him for me, okay?" He nodded and wiped his face with his arm. The sight of him stung me, but there was nothing else I could do. So I followed Winston and Gally until we reached the den.
Minho and Winston each opened a grate and we climbed in without a word. Through a hole in the wall I could see Gally as he immediately dropped on his butt in resignation and tightened his legs. I, on the other hand, stopped and looked up at Minho, who was in the process of closing the grate. He looked down at me with a distorted face and squatted in front of the gate for a moment before he had to leave again.
"I'm sorry. I'll try to get you some food when Nick and Alby are asleep. Take care..." With those words, he looked me in the eye once more apologetically before getting up and walking away, it looked like towards the kitchen, where everyone else probably was now.
I looked over at Gally, who hadn't moved since he sat down, and settled down next to the hole in the wall.
"Hey, would you mind coming over here?" I asked and after a few seconds of silence I could hear him coming over to me. He dropped down on his butt on the other side of the wall another time.
I didn't know what to say, so I stuck my hand through the hole. At first there was no reaction, but then Gally's hand closed around mine. Only now did I realise how ice cold my hands must be because his skin was literally burning on mine.
"Holy klunk, you're freezing!" Now Gally's face appeared in front of the hole. He looked at me in horror. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, but began to shiver, which made me look less than authentic. "I mean, it's pretty cold down here now, isn't it? We are underground after all, you should know that better than anyone."
"Give me both hands," he urged me and I obeyed, still shivering.
We sat like that for a while and slowly my hands became warmer again, but the rest of my body felt colder and colder. My feet felt icy and I didn't stop shivering. Never would I have thought that sitting a few metres underground made such a difference and I wondered why no one had said anything before after being down here.
Or was it just me and no one else was so cold here? After all, Gally was much warmer than me, too.
I didn't know the answer, and it was quite difficult for me to think about it now, I was just too cold for that. So cold that I cursed myself for opening my mouth and not just keeping quiet, no matter how important it seemed to Newt.
At some point, when both my arms were almost up to my shoulders through the hole and Gally was really doing everything he could to keep me warm, and it was already dark outside, we heard footsteps outside our cells. Shortly afterwards I saw Minho peeking through my bars, holding up two pieces of bread and a bottle. I smiled gratefully at him, but when he saw Gally and I sitting there, he frowned.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing, everything's fine." I pulled my arms out of the hole, stood up and walked to the bars, the only part of the den where you could stand upright.
As I took one of the sandwiches from Minho our hands touched briefly and he grabbed my wrist. "You're freezing. Are you all right?" His brow was still furrowed and he looked from me to Gally, who had to be standing on the other side by the bars.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just a bit cold...", I began, but Gally interrupted me.
"Nothing's fine, stop lying to him. She's half freezing to death down here. Think about it man, it's a lot colder down here than it is up there anyway and without the sun shining on it, even more so. And then look at her, shorts and t-shirt, who's not going to freeze with her height and weight? You can tell Nick that his best runner here is about to freeze to death if someone doesn't warm her up soon."
Minho looked from Gally to me with wide eyes and even though I didn't see Gally's face, I could imagine the way he was looking at him right now.
"Now go on, tell someone!" Gally banged on the grate on his side and I could feel the vibration. Minho let go of my wrist, jumped up, turned and disappeared into the darkness at a run.
I hope he doesn't say anything to Newt..., it flashed through my mind. Nick would put him in here, too, when Newt was done with him.