𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 - TMR, Gally

044 - The Doors

"Hey, Chuck." I walked into the kitchen after my extra sleep, bored. "Want me to help?"

He stared at all the plates in front of him. "Yes, please. This is tiring."

I chuckled while taking a towel in my hands. "You wash I dry?"

He held his thumb up and started rinsing the dirty plates. "I'm waiting for Thomas to come back. Wanna know if they found something."

"Me too." I smiled poorly. "I'm sure they will."

"I hope."

We were suspiciously quiet while doing the job. Normally he and I talked a lot, but now when things were getting different, it changed.

"How about we go check up on that girl?" I suggested after we did the dishes. I had been waiting to meet her and was curious on what she would be like.

"Sure." He took my arm. "I'm convinced I saw her at the tables. And... aha! Yep."

She indeed sat there on her own, nibbling on a cracker or whatever it was. Chuck pulled me toward her.

"Hey, Teresa." He smiled happily.

I smiled too, since I knew her name now.

"Hey, Chuck." She motioned for us to sit down across from her. "And... Valerie, right?"

"Right." I gave her a nod.

Luckily, neither of us had to say anything else. Chuck was already talking.

"I want to prank someone again." He announced.

"Again?"

"He and I scared Gally on the toilet." I chuckled at the memory. "It was nice."

"Obviously." Chuck confirmed. "So, I was thinking-."

He got cut off by a loud sound screeching through the air. It sounded like the Doors were closing, the stone scratching over stone.

Chuck's face paled. He startled. "What is that?"

According to how shaky he was already speaking, he was frightened. I put a hand on his shoulder. "I think something in the maze."

He pouted, his eyes widening. "But Thomas and Minho are in there!"

"They'll be okay." Teresa assured, lying a hand on his arm, too. "They're good Runners, right?"

"Of course!" The kid agreed. "The best ones."

Both me and Teresa laughed. "Right? They'll be okay."

~

And indeed, they were okay. Later we joined Newt, who was standing by the Doors, waiting for the duo to come back. Thomas and Minho got out of the maze safely. They walked straight forward, and we followed like shuck dogs.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Newt stared at Thomas, and lord, the way he did that said enough. He was in looove.

"What the hell you done now, Thomas?" Gally added, clearly not amused.

"We found something, a new passage. We think it could be a way out." Thomas explained, his breaths heavy.

I was close to jumping into the air from happiness. Finally, finally, finally!

"Really?"

"It's true." Minho tilted his head. "We opened a door, something I'd never seen before. I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day."

That caught Chuck's attention. And mine too, because the idea of it didn't seem very pleasant.
"Wait! You're saying you found the Grievers' home? And you want us to go in?"

"Their way in could be our way out, Chuck." Thomas replied.

"Yeah, or there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side."

Fuck's sake Gally, don't interfere now.

"The truth is," he continued, "Thomas doesn't know what he has done, as usual."

Thomas abruptly stopped walking and spun around. "Yeah, at least I did something, Gally. I mean, what have you done, huh? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?"

Gally was still taller than Thomas, but the boy didn't seem afraid. "Let me tell you something, Greenie." Gally held up three fingers. "You've been here 3 days, all right? I've been here 3 years!"

"Yeah, you've been here 3 years and you're still here, Gally!" Thomas shot back.

What's that burning smell?

"So what does that tell you?" He talked fast. "Maybe you should start doing things a little differently."

"Maybe you should be in charge, what about that?" Gally was about to continue, but then Teresa interrupted.

"Hey, it's Alby! He's awake."

My heart made a jump. I already started making my way to the Med Hut, not caring about anyone else anymore.

"Has he said anything?" Thomas asked quietly. It was silent when we arrived in the Med Hut. Dark and dusty. Alby sat on his bed shirtless, staring into the distance. He didn't look good, and had a few tears running down his cheeks.

I felt bad for him, and even worse when I noticed myself backing up from him a little, still scared. It made me get angry at myself, too.

"Alby..." Newt bent down closer to him, his eyebrows furrowed. "Alby, are you all right?"

The leader didn't reply. So Thomas bent down in front of him, too. "Hey, Alby. We might have just found a way out of the maze. Do you hear me?"
He was speaking softly. "We could be getting out of here."

"We can't." He let out breathing hitch. "We can't leave. They won't let us."

My muscles tensed.
"What are you talking about?" Thomas then wondered.

"I remember." He said, more tears falling.

"What do you remember?"

"You."

That was enough proof for me to realize Gally had been speaking the truth. Not that I ever doubted it, but after Ben attacked Thomas and Alby remembered him too, I was even more sure.

"You were always their favorite, Thomas." He said. "Always." He was tensing too, getting more upset by the second. "Why did you do this? Why did you come here?"

I got distracted by shouts coming from outside. My eyebrows scrunched, and I was already making my way to the door when someone else ran in.

"Winston, what's going on?" Newt crossed his arms.

"It's the doors. They aren't closing."