" WHITE BLOOD " T. MAZE RUNNER¹

twenty-four.

[CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR]

~

Several days passed, and Chuck seemed to grow more and more comfortable in the Glade. He was excited to learn more about the situation they were in, and he wouldn't stop talking about the new information after he went on the Tour; judging by the way he talked so curiously about it, Eleanor guessed that Alby had gone easy on the kid.

Eleanor was currently enjoying her time off from the Blood House, for the animals were fed and there was no meat to be prepared for dinner that night. She and Rick were wandering around the Glade, chatting about nothing and everything that had been going on. The excitement Rick felt towards the new arrival had worn off, and he seemed to have calmed down a bit.

Eleanor was listening to Rick tell her about a Track-Hoe that had somehow managed to cut himself with his shovel when she noticed a figure making its way towards the West Door. At first, she wondered if it was only her mind playing tricks on her, but when she recognized the figure as Gally, panic quickly flooded over her. She watched as he walked right into the Maze, his pace only faltering a bit right before he stepped through the large opening. Without warning, Eleanor quickly took off in the direction of the West Door, only just noticing the group of boys that had followed the Builder to the very edge of the Glade.

"What the hell is he doing?" she asked the boys upon reaching them, her eyes wide as she stared into the Maze. Gally was casually strolling down the corridor as if it was perfectly normal for a Builder to step into the Maze, and that was what scared her the most. "Gally, get back here!"

"Shut it, girl," a boy snapped from beside her- she realized with a scowl that it was Randall. "Newt's got ya all stuck-up. We're just havin' a little fun."

Eleanor opened her mouth to shoot him a nasty retort, though she didn't get a chance to before movement in the Maze caught her eye. It all happened so fast, and it was already almost over before she realized what was even happening. A Griever seemed to appear out of nowhere, leaping on top of Gally and pinning the Builder to the ground. Eleanor watched in horror as a large metal contraption appeared on one of its appendages and a large needle being shoved into the skin of Gally's back. The boy fell limp on to the floor of the Maze, and Eleanor was unable to tell whether or not he was dead.

"Rick, go get the Med-Jacks!" Eleanor ordered the boy beside her, though she didn't wait to see if he listened to her. Building up all the courage she could muster, she ran into the Maze after Gally, ignoring the shocked screams of the Gladers behind her.

They screamed at her to get back, claiming that she, too, was going to be stung by a Griever- though Eleanor barely heard it. She was too focused on helping her hurt friend.

Gally was sickly pale when she reached him, his entire body limp. His shirt was ripped in the back, blood staining the fabric along with his skin. A large circular wound caused by the Griever's contraption caused blood to spill all over the Maze floor. Eleanor would have assumed he was dead, if only it wasn't for the faint rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed. She grabbed the unconscious boy underneath his shoulders and began dragging him along the corridor and towards the safety of the Glade.

There was no sign of the Griever that had stung him anywhere, and this only worried Eleanor more. She feared that it was crouched just around any of the corners she was passing, waiting to leap out at her and sting her, too.