Six Feet Under.

chapter eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE ESCAPE PLAN

Layla sat in the slammers with Thomas and Teresa close by, glaring at the floor as her mind wandered to Gally. She couldn't believe that he would blame her for something she couldn't possibly understand. I could've helped? She thought, and why didn't I?

     Layla did, however, understand why Thomas did what he did, but that didn't change the fact that she thought it was incredibly stupid. The boy laid unconscious in Teresa's arms, his eyes moving underneath his eyelids at a rapid speed.

     Layla couldn't believe that he had stung himself. He made the choice, and he did it. She couldn't think of another Glader who would even think of doing it, let alone going through with the act.

     Then, Thomas opened his eyes.

     "Hey." Teresa smiled down at him, her hands resting on his face, moving to his shoulders. "Are you okay?" Thomas lifted his head up a little, but quickly lowered it after he realized how tired he was.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck scolded from where he sat. At this, Thomas quickly shot up, turning to face Chuck, Newt and Minho. The small group surrounded the slammer door, eyeing Thomas with varying looks of disbelief and relief. Soon after, he realized that Layla was a few feet away from him.

Thomas looked around at them with his mouth wide open for a few moments before he spoke, "what happened?"

"Gally's taken control." Newt informed. "He said we had a choice. Either join him... or get banished at sundown with you." Newt gestured to the three who were locked away.

Thomas groaned as he moved around, trying to get comfortable. "And the others agreed to that?"

Teresa sighed, "Gally has everyone convinced that you're the reason all this has happened."

     Thomas nodded, rubbing his hands along his pants. "Well, he's been right so far." The others sent him confused gazes. Did Thomas just admit that Gally was right?

     "What are you talking about?" Minho frowned, tilting his head at the statement. He leaned forward, looking through the holes of the slammer door.

     "This place..." Thomas started, "it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison, it's a test. It all started when we were kids. They'd give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us. And then people started disappearing. Every month, one after the other, like clockwork."

     Newt quickly caught on, much like the others did. "They were sending them up into the Maze." He muttered.

     "Yeah," Thomas nodded, "but not all of us."

     Newt frowned, "what do you mean?"

     Thomas sucked in a breath, wringing his hands together. "Guys, I'm one of them. The people who put you here, I worked with them. I— I watched you guys for years. The entire time you've been here I... I was on the other side of it." Teresa stared down at the ground in shock, and Thomas sighed. His eyes held a sadness that Layla had never seen before—regret even. "So were you." He mumbled.

     Teresa's mouth dropped open slightly, "what?"

     "Teresa, we did this to them."

     Teresa slowly shook her head, refusing to believe it. "No. That can't be true."

     "It is." Thomas frowned, "I saw it." He then turned to Layla, his face grim. There was a glint in his eyes, an emotion she couldn't read. Curiosity? Fear? Layla couldn't be sure, but Thomas began to speak before she could figure it out. "You weren't like the others. You could... do things..." he struggled, unable to put his thoughts into words. "You had power—and they were scared of it. They found a way to contain your power. I don't know how."