We will stand tall,face it all together

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I run through the dark corridors of the labyrinth and try to concentrate on remembering the paths that Minho, Newt and I ran the day before. After a while, to my surprise, I hear voices and I stop and listen. “Gally! Gally, where are you? Come back out!” The other lights. They call for Gally. That means I have to be very close to the gate Gally ran through. That means that I must have taken a wrong turn at some point, because the day before we were much further away from the gate, but that doesn't matter because I've come to the right place. I continue running through the hallways, making sure I don't accidentally come out the gate and the other lights see me. I penetrate deeper into the labyrinth and the calls of the others are swallowed up by the massive walls. I walk further and further, memorizing the route. I'm really worried now. There is no sign of Gally and the gates will soon close. I run faster. And then, all of a sudden, I run around the corner and crash into something at full speed. I lose weight and fall to the ground, making a surprised sound at the same time. I look up, startled, and see Gally staring down at me, damn angry. “What are YOU doing here?” he shouts. I pick myself up and brush the dirt off my pants before I calmly answer: "I'll save your ungrateful ass, so come back to the clearing with me!" Gally's head is literally glowing, it's so red. “I don’t need to be saved! Did Alby send you? As if I could use YOUR help! And I'm not fucking coming to the clearing! I'll kill a Griewer and show everyone that they're all wrong and you're wrongly a runner!" I sigh in annoyance. It would have been too easy.“Gally, be sensible! At least this once! There's definitely a reason why no one has ever survived a night in the labyrinth! You've never seen a Griewer before! Me, yes! Believe me, you're better off if you avoid them!" Gally is about to say something when his eyes suddenly no longer focus on me, but on something behind me. I whirl around and see a Griewer crawling around the corner at the end of the alley (I still don't know what to call this form of locomotion... crawling?). “That’s a bad joke!” I say through gritted teeth and then turn back to Gally, who has already drawn his knife. “Gally! Listen! We have to fuck off! Now!” “Forget it!” Gally mutters and then takes a step in the direction of the Griewer, who is fortunately still a long way away. I realize that I can't persuade Gally and go to my contingency plan. I lunge at Gally, who wasn't expecting it, and we both fall to the ground. Before Gally can do anything, I snatch the knife from his hand and get back up. Gally also gets up again and I hold the knife to his throat. “You’re coming with me to the clearing now!” I’m aware that, despite the knife, I probably have no chance against Gally. And he knows that too. “Give me the knife, newbie!” he asks me calmly. I can't see the Griewer, but I can hear the scrape of metal on stone as he runs towards us and I can also see Gally staring over my shoulder at the monster. Even though he tries to hide it, I also see the fear in his eyes that flows through me.All of this only took a few seconds and suddenly an image of Newt appears in my mind and as if it had given me new strength and taken away my fear, I whirl around, swing out and throw the knife at the Griewer. I've never thrown a knife before and it looks anything but elegant. The Griewer was already closer than I had thought, which is why he made a bigger target and to my own amazement the knife hit him and even stuck. Right in the belly of the monster. And without hesitating any longer, I turn around, grab Gally by the arm and run down the hallway with him. “He's not dead, but this will slow him down a bit. We have to get out of here, Gally! The gates are about to close!” Gally snatches his arm from me, but continues to run next to me. I think he had a bit of a change of heart when he saw the Griewer. We run through the labyrinth, passage by passage, and at every intersection I call out to him the direction we have to go. I have a very good memory, but still sometimes I have to stop and think for a moment before I remember the route. Luckily we don't meet any more Griewer. My legs hurt, my lungs burn, my whole body resists continuing to run, but I don't give in and just try to ignore the discomfort. Gally's condition is worse than mine, but he didn't run like crazy through the labyrinth like I did when I was looking for him. That's why he's still getting along to some extent. After a while I finally hear the calls of the lights that I've been listening for all this time. “We’re almost there!” I say, panting heavily.And then we finally come to the corridor that ends at the south gate. About half of the lights stand in front of the gate, staring expectantly into the labyrinth. When they see Gally and I appear at the end of the alley, they cheer and scream all over the place. Gally and I run the last few meters and as soon as the huge walls of the labyrinth are behind me, I fall exhausted onto the grass. Although everyone is happy we made it, on Alby's orders, some of the strongest boys grab Gally by the arms and drag him to the den. After all, he broke one of the most important rules. I hope they don't banish him, because then everything would have been in vain. Alby comes to me and bends over me. The expression on his face is very serious - even more serious than usual. I assume that I'm going to be put in the building too. After all, I broke the rule too. But that's not what Alby wants to say. "Where's Newt?" Isn’t he with you?” There is great concern in his voice and I sit up abruptly. "What? No, why should he? “Isn’t Newt here?” Alby sits up with a groan and rubs his face with both hands. Minho steps next to him. That surprises me. Apparently he's doing a lot better. “Where is Newt?” I ask more urgently and stand up. Alby hesitates at first and then answers: “Robert, one of the runners, saw you running into the labyrinth and told us immediately. This shocked Newt quite a bit. We wanted to stop him, but... He went into the labyrinth to save you." I stare at Alby with my mouth open. He can't be serious! That's a bad joke!But actually I know it's not a joke. I see it in Alby and Minho's faces. Newt is in the maze. To look for me. I collapse, crouching on the grass, covering my face with my hands so no one can see my tears as I mumble incoherently. Newt is in the maze. The gates will close at any moment. He has no chance. Alby kneels next to me. “You know the gates are about to close.” Suddenly my sadness turns to anger. You don't care about Newt! They don't want to save him! You don't know what love feels like! You have no idea! I take my hands away from my face, look up at Alby with a blurry look in my eyes and yell, “SO WHAT? NEWT WILL DIE IF WE DON'T HELP HIM!” Alby just stares at me for a moment and I think I see surprise in his eyes. I curl up tighter and new tears stream down my cheeks. After a while, Alby stands up and says to Minho: “We're going to go and save him right now.” I raise my head and look at Alby at least as surprised as Minho. “What?” he asks, confused. Alby keeps a straight face and says: “You, me, the newbie and Robert. Right now. Before the gates close.” Minho turns around and waves a tall, blonde boy over. Probably Robert. I sit up and wipe the tears from my face. Minho holds out his hand and helps me up. Alby turns to one of the other lights, whose name I've forgotten. Something with a T, I think. “You are in charge. Nobody goes into the labyrinth.”The boy nods, but then says uncertainly: “Alby, the gates will close. Do you want to spend the night in there?" "That's exactly what we want," Alby replies calmly and then says to us: "Come on! Newt went through the west gate." Minho, Robert and I follow him to the west gate. Robert runs next to Alby and Minho falls back until we're level. "Are you okay, newbie?" I just shake my head because I'm anything but fine and I'm afraid that if I open my mouth to answer, all that will come out is a choked sob and I'll start crying again. Alby stops in front of the gate and turns to me. “Okay, freshman. We're doing this for you, okay? And for Newt, of course. So behave yourself in there. We all stay together, Griewers are avoided. If we still have the honor of meeting them: run away. Don't fight. Got it?” I nod. “Good,” says Alby and turns around again. He seems to hesitate for a brief moment, but then he runs into the labyrinth and Minho, Robert and I follow him. At the same moment the gates begin to close. We stand on the other side of the gate and watch it close. I take one last look at the clearing. One last look at the lights looking behind us. Then the gates close with a loud rumble.