Chapter Eleven

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The first place Florence went the next morning was the Slammer.

Gally was pacing back and forth in the cell, his eyes wide and searching frantically, and his face pale with tiredness. His fingers fumbled over his hands as he approached the bars upon seeing the girl.

"Hi." She said quietly, suddenly feeling quite awkward.

"Hello." His voice was gruff and hoarser than usual, but Florence couldn't imagine that the boy had been shouting or screaming. He seemed dishevelled as he stared at the girl.

She glanced quickly to the Bagger stood further away to give them privacy, desperate to break eye contact with Gally. She finally looked back to the boy with a heavy sigh.

"You can get out of here." 

His eyes relaxed but his eyebrows shot up, a contrasting combination.

"What?"

"You're done. I think you're pretty sorry." The sarcasm dripped off her tongue like acid, because there was no humour in it, but Gally had never looked so relieved.

Florence called to the Bagger who used the key gifted to him to free Gally. She held her hand out to the boy when the door swung open, and he hesitated. After a pause in which Gally considered her offer, he took her hand and stepped out and into the Glade.

She gave his hand a squeeze. It was rough - obviously from working as a Builder - but surprisingly warm. Letting it go, she folded her arms across her chest as she moved across the Glade with the skittish boy.

Everyone was staring at him. Alby hadn't specifically announced Gally was in the Slammer when he was, but everyone knew. News travels faster in the Glade than the Runners.

Florence tried her best to glare back at them, to get them to stop looking. It mostly worked, but there was still a few that glanced at Gally out of curiosity. They had never seen him like this.

The girl felt nervous leaving him alone. He seemed as though he could break at any given moment, but she had been given specific instructions to release him from the Slammer and send him back to work.

She approached the Builders who shared nervous looks between them presumably about their Keeper. Florence thought that they would be the best people for Gally to be around seeing as they were his friends. Maybe she was wrong.

Avoiding the other Builders' intrigued glances to her, she turned on her heel to return to the Med room, when a shout from behind stopped her right in her tracks. Glancing back, she saw the complete unexpected.

Gally was running straight for the Maze.

He had seemingly taken off as soon as the girl's back was turned. Florence had no idea what to do. Gally didn't know the Maze. He could get lost, hurt, stuck over night. But she had just regained the trust of Alby and Newt after going into the Maze without their permission. Was going after him worth the risk of losing their trust again?

Florence had paused for too long, and Gally had disappeared into the Maze.

"Alby!" She yelled, louder than she ever had before - surprising herself - before sprinting to the entrance of the Maze where Gally was disappearing around the corner. She stopped at the entrance, panting heavily, her eyes wide in fear.

"What the shuck is going on?"

The leader appeared just by her side, and she pointed desperately into the Maze. Alby suddenly knew exactly what she meant.

"Gally."

It didn't take a second for Alby to take off into the Maze, glancing back with an expression that gave Florence enough certainty to follow him inside. She sprinted alongside the leader - who was surprisingly quick - following the path Gally had taken.

𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦, minho (tmr)Where stories live. Discover now