The First Glader

George

The new Glader is due in three days. Ben, Newt, Minho, and George were trained to the point where they didn't need me to be with them anymore. Newt was the only person I trained at first but after a while, I knew I needed more people. At this point, we know that the Maze has seven different courses. And we know that there has to be some way out. We just aren't seeing it. I woke up with the runners and got them ready for their first run without me. "You're going in two groups, Newt and Minho and Ben and George," I remember saying. The boys were getting annoyed with me babying them at that point.

"I just wanted you to be safe," I said to Newt and Minho, nearly in tears. "Tell me exactly what happened when you split up, Ben."

"We went left as we planned." He started. "Okay, we will see you at the Maze doors ten minutes before they close. Got it?" Minho nodded, and so did Newt. "Good luck!" I yelled as he got further away. George and I turned the corner, and Minho and Newt were out of sight. Everything was going well. We even got further than Millie would take us, but we realized we had made a mistake when it was time to return. The mistake wasn't something we could have fixed or done better. We just shouldn't have gone out at all—none of us. We were just unlucky enough to choose the wrong way to go.

"If Minho and Newt went left, I know that they would be in the same situation we were," Ben said with a shaky voice.

"What happened next?" I asked, still keeping the tears at bay,

"Things started going bad, fast." "George, do you hear that?" I asked, slowly turning around the corner as we were about to head back.

"Yeah, It's probably Newt and Minho. They entered our section instead of staying to the right."

"But it wasn't them." I turned around the corner and looked for the boys, but they weren't there. "George? No one is here." I said as I turned around. George wasn't paying attention, though. Instead, he was looking at his shoulder, there was some sort of grease, or goop on him. There was something above us, making whirring and clicking noises. Goop dripped on me next."R-run!" I yelled to George.

We started running back to the doors. We were already late. The sun had started going down about five minutes ago. We hurried to the doors, but the thing was still behind us. Whirring and clicking sounds continued to follow us. We couldn't lose the thing. Finally, we got to the doors or at least turned the corner to it. Newt and Minho were standing there waiting for us but still in the Maze. "Run! Run!" I said. They looked at me in confusion."Run!" I told them one more time. This time, they listened. But the doors started closing. I was only halfway through them. And when I got to the Glade, there was no more than a foot of room remaining.

I looked behind me and saw George standing in the Maze just before the door. He didn't make it. There was something dark right behind him. George turned around just as the thing rolled up behind him. "Then the doors closed. He was gone." Ben finished.

"I-what-where-how." I couldn't form a sentence. I never thought that we would lose someone. Then again. "How do we know he is gone? What if that thing didn't hurt him?"

"Millie, I get the optimism and all, but you think that nothing happened to him?" Minho asked, not seeming optimistic at all.

"Mate, come on. You have to pretend at least to feel-"

"This is my fault." I interrupted, not paying attention to who was talking or what they said. "All my fault. I shouldn't have let you go out without me. If I were there, George would still be here."

"You don't know that," Minho argued.

"Yeah, I do."

"What makes you say that?"