𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙈𝘼𝙕𝙀 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙉𝙀𝙍 ━ 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘰

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

━ CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

KATHERINE was huddled against Minho as the griever circled the building. The monster jumped onto the roof making Katherine and a few others shriek. "Stay back, guys," Newt said quietly.

As the griever moved around, the gladers all moved to the opposite side. The griever stabbed its tail inside and yanked on the center pole, making the building collapse. Katherine let out a shrill scream as wood fell over her leg, trapping her in the spot.

"Katherine!" Minho rushed over. "Are you ok?" He asked in a panic, his heart beating against his rib cage.

"M-my leg. It's stuck." She cried. The girl tried to get it loose, but it was stuck. Newt and Thomas rushed over trying to left the wood off her leg.

"One, two, three!" Newt counted and Minho, Thomas, and Newt lifted as much as they could as Frypan hauled the small girl out from under. The three boys couldn't hold it long enough and it dropped on top of her ankle, making her cry out.

"Again!" Thomas shouted. They counted down and lifted the wood as the griever crept around the edges of the building. Frypan pulled her out and the boys dropped it, rushing over to the girl.

"I'm ok, I'm ok." She panted. "I got lucky. It'll bruise pretty bad but it doesn't hurt to the point where I can't walk on it." She stated as Minho pulled her up and hugged her. The griever pushed through, going after Chuck.

Katherine screamed as she grabbed Chuck's hand, the griever almost pulling them both out if Minho hadn't grabbed Chuck's arm as well. Thomas and Teresa also joined in, trying to keep Chuck from being pulled out of the collapsed building.

Alby yelled as he hit the arm of the griever until it retracted, dropping Chuck in the process. Katherine pulled the boy into a hug, holding his head close to her chest as she panted heavily.

The griever came back, this time grabbing Alby. The dark-skinned boy held on to the rim of the roof as Thomas grabbed his hand to stop him from being taken. Katherine could hear Alby tell Thomas to get them out before being ripped away from the building.

Thomas raced out, Teresa right behind him calling after him along with everyone else. As they all rushed outside, they could see a large fire and the screaming was coming to end as the grievers seemed to disappear into thin air.

Katherine could see Gally storming towards Thomas with a look of pure rage. "Gally..." Thomas couldn't finish due to the taller boy punching him square in the jaw. Katherine raced over shoving Gally away with force.

"What do you think you're doing? Thomas ruined everything and now you're defending him?" Gally screamed in the small girl's face with such rage it actually made her stumble back. Minho shoved him away as the other boys held him back.

"Calm down, Gally! Don't you talk to her like that!" Minho yelled in Gally's face.

"You heard what Alby said! She's one of them! And so is Thomas! It's their fault!" Gally yelled struggling against the boys holding him back and yelling for him to calm down. Katherine coward away hearing the words Gally spat at her. It was true.

Alby had said she was apart of this. That she and Thomas were their favourite. She bumped into Thomas and felt a cold metal against her skin. Katherine whipped around seeing a needle in Thomas's hand. More specifically a griever needle.

"Greenie..." She looked at him, nervous about what he was thinking.

"Maybe he's right," Thomas mumbled.

"Thomas," Teresa said from behind him.

"I need to remember, Teresa."

"Thomas? Thomas!" Teresa screamed as Thomas plunged the needle into his thigh. Gally stopped struggling as everyone rushed to Thomas.

Katherine, Thomas and Teresa all sat in the slammer, Thomas still unconscious with his head in Teresa's lap. The brunette boy finally woke up Teresa asking him how he was feeling. "What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck scolded. Thomas looked up seeing Newt, Minho and Chuck crouching at the door of the slammer.

"What happened?" Thomas questioned.

"Gally's taken control. He said we had a choice. Either join him or get banished at sundown with you and Katherine." Newt explained.

Thomas sat up with a groan. "And the others agreed to that?"

"Gally had everyone convinced that you and Katherine are the reason all this happened," Teresa explained, Thomas, glancing at the brunette girl curled up in the corner.

"Well, he's been right so far." Everyone looked at him weirdly. Katherine knew what he meant and she agreed one hundred percent. She had gotten a lot of her memories back too.

"What are you talking about?" Minho questioned.

"This place... It's not what we think it is. It's not a prison; It's a--" Thomas was cut off by Katherine finishing his sentence.

"Test." Everyone snapped their attention to the girl who spoke up after being quiet for so long. "It's a test. It all started when we were kids. They'd give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us." Her voice cracked remembering the exact moment Minho was taken away from her and watching the boys drown in this tank as they banged on the glass, screaming to get out, looking petrified.

Her eyes turned glassy as a tear rolled down her cheek. "And then people started disappearing."

"Every month, one after the other, like clockwork." Thomas decided to continue for Katherine.

"Sending them up into the maze," Newt confirmed.

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

"What do you mean?" Newt questioned, his brows furrowed.

"Guys, I'm one of them," Thomas admitted. Katherine whimpered quietly making Minho's heart break wanting nothing more than to go in and pull her into his embrace.

"So am I." She spoke up, tears pouring down her cheeks as her memories showed what she did to them.