CHEATING DEATH - A Maze Runners' Tale • 001

CHAPTER 21

The next day I was forced to stay in the glade by Minho. Apparently I had been coming to close to dying to many days in a row so I volunteered to watch Alby and the girl so that Jeff and Clint could have a day off. I was still in my pajamas since I took the earliest shift. Even though I wasnt running today I still woke up at the same time as Minho and helped him pack his lunch so we could at least spend some time together before he went back into the maze.

Alby was stirring a bit but the girl was completely still in her coma. Frypan came in to bring me a bowl of soup to feed the girl and so that's what I did for the next hour. I tilted the girls head up and opened her mouth as I spooned the soup into it. She was swallowing it carefully which relieved me as on multiple occasions I had forgotten that she wasn't dead.

"Thomas." A low mumble came from Alby and I quickly came to Alby's side.

I sat there stone still for another twenty minutes before Alby said Thomas' name again and I got to my feet quickly to get newt.

I ran out of the homstead over to the gardens where newt was and he soon noticed me coming his way and he dropped his tools and came to me as fast as he could.

"What's going on?" He asked me quickly.

"Alby's saying Thomas over and over again. He's probably seeing Thomas in the changing like I did." I said as newt and I walked back to the med-jack hut.

"How much is he sayin' it?"

"Felt like every twenty minutes." I answered as I threw open the door.

Both our jaws dropped as Alby was laying there with his eyes open looking at us. He was breathing heavily as he stared blankly at us.

"Bring me Thomas. I want to speak to Thomas." He said in a raspy voice.

"I'll stay here you go get Thomas." I told newt as I walked to Alby. I jumped in fright and pain as Alby snatched my wrist and squeezed it tightly as he pulled me close to his face.

"I want to speak to Thomas." He growled as he threw me backwards and I stumbled into newt.

"Let's go." I said urgently as I rubbed my wrist and pushed the both of us out of the hut.

"Chuck'll know where tommy is." Newt said as he pulled me into a side hug, reassuring me that everything was alright.

"Yeah." I said barely above a whisper as there was still quite a bit on my mind after that.

When we found chuck, newt told him to get Thomas and moments later the short boy returned with Thomas who looked worried. We hurried back to the med-jack hut and chuck stayed behind as the three of us entered the hut to find Alby still laying there with his eyes wide open and breathing heavily.

"I said I wanted to speak with Thomas." He repeated.

"We brought Thomas." I said beginning to hear wavering in my voice.

"Then get out! I want to speak to Thomas not you two." He shouted and newt and I quickly left.

My heart rate was quickening as I thought of what could happen to Thomas after what Alby did to me by grabbing my wrist but chuck came over to us a little while later.

"Hey Chuckie." I greeted as a smile spread across my face.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine." I said as chuck opened up his arms for a hug and I gladly gave him one.

I broke the hug quickly however when I heard things shuffling around inside and loud grunting. Newt slammed the door open and we saw that Alby was having some sort of seizure and Thomas looked utterly frightened and disgruntled.

I snatched a syringe and stabbed it into Alby and he stopped soon after as he fell back asleep. I didn't know what just happened but at least we were all safe now.

"What did he bloody tell you?" Newt asked abruptly.

"He said something about the changing and seein' me in it. Something about the flare. Do you have any idea what that means?" Thomas said and newt and I both looked at eachother in confusion.

"We don't know what the bloody flare is mate." Newt answered.

"We've heard about it though that's for shuckin' Shure." I said as I walked off.

I found Jeff chillin' in the homestead and I sat beside him telling him every single detail of what happened on my shift. He got up and told me to stay where I was and that he would take the rest of the day and as much as I didn't want to take a break from everything, I had to.

Thomas and newt came into the homestead just a little while later and they were deep in conversation. When they saw me newt imedeately started catching me up on the conversation.

"I'm tryin' ta get this bloody Shank to tell me how he knows the coma girl." Newt said and I stood up with them.

"She was mumbling your name so why don't we go 'n see her. Maybe she'll keep sayin' it." I suggested but newt tried to make me sit back down.

"Newt I'm coming and that's final. You can't stop me from doin' things just cause you act like everyone's glader mommy." I said as I pushed them out the door. Both of them were a bit surprised but I knew Minho would get a kick out of it when newt told him the whole story.

When we got there, Thomas sat beside the girl taking one long look at her before he got up.

"Teresa. It's her name. I remember it." He said hesitantly and newt and I both looked at him proudly.

My stomach grumbled just a little while later as we were leaving and it made everyone laugh, lightening the mood.

"I think it's lunch time." I said as I started jogging to the kitchen.

"No one's going to tell her lunch was three hours ago?" Thomas asked just before I was out of earshot and I let out a snort as I started sprinting.

•~❇️~•

Alby had come out of the hut by dinner fully recovered and was now taking Thomas to the slammer. I remembered that Alby got his keys taken away while he was in the changing so I went ahead and tossed him the keys from far away and he caught them perfectly giving me a nod of thanks in return.

Chuck and I were at a table eating with Minho and newt. The three of us were listening to chuck recount the events of the day with all the wrong details so newt had to repeatedly correct him but I stayed out of it mostly.

"Hey chuck come get this for thomas." Frypan called to him holding out a little bit of bread and a water bottle.

"Why does everyone make me do their Klunk for them?" He asked and I had an answer ready.

"Because you kiss butt Chuckie. I'll come with you though." I said as I brushed my hands on my pants to clean them off and stood up grabbing my empty dish and taking it with me.

When chuck and I got to the slammer, Thomas sat up and looked at us with excitement as we handed him the bread and water. Chuck started up a mindless conversation and neither Thomas nor I responded for a while until Thomas was done eating.

"I hope we all have a family out there." Chuck said as I snapped back into the conversation.

"We're your Glader family, chuck." I said as I stood up getting ready to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Chuck asked.

"I've got an early morning of runnin' tomorrow and I wanna rest up since it's been a little difficult lately." I said as I walked off knowing they were both watching me.

At this point my pajamas had practically become my day clothes so I changed out of them into some fresh clothes and wrote a few things down in a notebook. I felt like I couldn't trust my memory anymore after I remembered Thomas and the girl who's name is Teresa. I stared keeping a journal in case I forgot everything I had ever been through here in the glade and the days were just getting crazier and crazier.