The First Gladers

Chapter 41: How'd You Do It?

 Finally, the morning comes and Chuck meets Newt by the doors. Together the two stand in silence, waiting for the doors to open. With the harsh grinding of gears the doors creep apart, revealing an empty Maze. Newt's heart sinks with the reality he's been convincing himself of,

"I told you. They aren't coming." He admits, walking away.

With glazed eyes he trudges off to the gardens. Y/n planets those gardens. The thought is like a punch in the gut. She's gone. There's been times where it came close. But this time is for real. She's really gone. It's so real that it just can't be real. She can't really be gone. She always survives somehow.

"Newt wait! Look, they're back!" Chuck shouts.

Newt spins on his heals to face the Maze. Minho and Thomas are limping sluggishly through the doors. Newt runs to meet them, but stops short. Only two of them came back. Like dust in the wind, any hope he had of Y/n coming back alive blows away. She's gone.

Newt pats Thomas and Minho on the back, as if in a trance. They're speaking to him, but he doesn't hear a word. All sound is drowned out by the weight of his grief. She's gone. The one thing he thought impossible. The one thing he couldn't lose. What mattered most to him. Gone. He stares blankly down the empty corridor, hating every stupid part of this Shucked up Maze. It has taken everything from him. Any hope of escape has flitted away.

Then he sees her. Covered in blood, sweat, and bruises, she limps into the Glade with an unconscious Alby on her shoulder.

Without thinking he runs straight into the Maze. When she sees him, she lowers Alby to the ground and collapses into Newt's arms, exhaustion finally taking over.

"Y/n... I though I'd lost you. Don't you ever do anything like that again." Newt whispers.

Y/n simply nods into his shoulder, allowing him to support her full weight. Newt wraps her arm around his shoulders and starts walking her to the Med-hut. There, he helps her get situated in a bed next to Minho and Thomas.

"You two are a couple of bloody shanks for not telling me that she and Alby are alright." Newt scolds.

Minho and Thomas' eyes widen in confusion.

"Somethin' is messed up in that head of yours. I told you first thing when we got here!" Minho retorts.

Newt squints at him, trying to conjure up some memory of that conversation.

"Minho is right," Thomas adds, "I heard him."

"I swear I never heard a thing." Newt defends.

"Well you were staring off into space like a weirdo." Minho jabs.

Newt rolls his eyes and turns to Y/n, who despite all the racket is sound asleep. He then turns to Minho and Thomas,

"What happened in there? How'd you do it?" Newt finally asks.

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 You rest your head on the stone of the wall, eyes fixed on Thomas.

"What the shuck were you thinking?" Minho growls.

Thomas's eyes widen in shock, "I couldn't just leave you guys!"

"You just killed yourself." Minho retorts, pacing down to the end of the corridor.

Thomas looks to you, "He doesn't mean that right? We'll survive if we work together."

Minho spins around and lunges at Thomas, grabbing by his shirt and pinning him against the wall. Thomas is stunned speechless.

"You don't get it!" Minho spits, "We're all goners! We're gonna die in here!"

"But..."

"But, nothing! Those Grievers are going to eat us alive and we'll never see the light of day again!"

You sigh, "Minho, put him down, Thomas shut up. We can figure this out."

Minho's fiery gaze fixes on you, "There's nothing to figure out Y/n! We're already dead!"

You open your mouth to retort, but Minho cuts you off again.

"No way we make it out of this, we need to split up, run." He says softer.

You've never seen this side of Minho before, he's always been the bravest, the strongest and the most confident. But that's not the Minho that's in front of you. This Minho is terrified.

"Minho we can't split up," you start to reason, "We need to stick together, especially if we're going to try and save Alby."

Minho laughs, "You still don't get it! I thought at least you, Y/n, would understand. I get the Greenie being a slint head, but you? Come on Y/n, you're better than this."

You shakily stand to your feet, "Yeah Minho, I'm better than this. So I'm going to try and survive. You should do the same."

Minho presses his lips tight together, then speaks, "I am."

Without another word he turns and runs away. He's gone.

"Minho!" You shriek.

It's no use. He's not coming back.

You glance at Thomas who's staring at you with wide eyes.

"What do we do now?" He asks shakily.

"I don't know." You say as you glance up at the sky, "But we better figure it out quick, the Grievers will be here any minute."

Thomas bites his lip worriedly.

"We need to do something about Alby." He states, "We obviously can't carry him around, none of us would survive. We need to hide him somewhere."

"There's no where to hide him." You sigh, "The Maze is just walls and vines."

"What if we use the vines." Thomas suggests.

"How?"

"Tie him up, then pull him up high, maybe the Grievers won't mess with him."

"It's our best chance. Besides, the Grievers will be pretty distracted by us."