The Gladers gathered back at the doors early the next morning. No words had been exchanged in relation to the whole fiasco. Instead there was a silent agreement that they'd wait for the doors to open, to see nothing, and then go on with their lives.

Ada felt fear gnawing away at her chest as she arrived at the doors with Gally in tow. She had to drag him out of bed that morning. He was incredibly grumpy when she did, but she knew it was only due to the worry he shared about the boys trapped in the Maze.

Newt's eyes were rimmed red, making it obvious that he had been crying that morning. The boy was the first out of bed - followed quickly by Ada who thought it was devastating enough of a circumstance that the Runners could all take a day off, because of what was inevitably going to happen.

The fated moment came then.

Ada almost didn't want it to happen. If the boys hadn't made it, it would soon be made clear by when the Runners returned to their jobs and found the remains of clothes or bones like all the boys who had died in the Maze before. But then again, if they had made it, they would need to get out of there as soon as possible.

The walls made the same noise of unlocking metal, before beginning to slide apart from one another. The slow moving motion of the stone was excruciating, but the pain only increased when they had opened completely to reveal absolutely nothing.

A moment of silence was shared, before the Gladers - one by one - began to walk away from the entrance to the Maze. Just like that, they had decided they were moving on. 

Moving on from two boys they had known for the entirety of their time in the Glade. Moving on from the leader and the Keeper of the Runners. And, moving on from the Greenie who was stupid enough to run into the closing Maze. 

Although, Ada imagined the boys would find it quite easy to move on from Thomas.

She knew she would find it harder. She regretted not telling Newt about Thomas' visions now. There would be no point to tell him when Thomas was dead, and so she knew she would feel sick with the weight of the thought that Thomas' visions could've brought hope to the Glade, but she didn't say anything. She'd never lose that guilt now.

Even the blonde boy had turned away from the Maze now, leaving only Ada and Chuck still waiting by the doors. Just as the girl had let out a defeated sigh and looked away to the Glade, a yell of surprise brought her attention back to where it was before.

"Look! There!"

She had never turned back quicker than she had in that moment. Chuck's finger was pointing down the corridor of the Maze, leading to where Alby was being supported in between Minho and Thomas; all of whom looked like they were about to drop dead.

But they were alive.

"Newt!" 

Ada screeched across the Glade for the blonde, as the other Gladers had already been summoned by Chuck's excited shouts. His head appeared from the Homestead, and as soon as he caught sight of the three boys moving across the threshold into the Glade, his limp was forgotten about.

He made it over there in mere seconds, waiting for Alby to be dropped from Minho's arms and taken by Clint and Jeff for the general procedure of a Sting, before enveloping the Runner in a hug. The love shared between the two boys made Ada's heart want to explode in joy.

The girl took her turn in hugging Minho, and then went to Thomas to hug him too. She had to admit that she was completely awe struck to see Thomas had made it. He had barely been in the Glade; now he was one of three in the history of the place to survive a night in the Maze.

"What the shuck happened out there?"

Thomas couldn't find the right words to respond, so Minho helped him out in saying, "Thomas killed a Griever."

The boys were very quickly patched up and sent off to the Glader meeting that Gally called. When the girl found herself inside, she weaved her way into a seat on the back bench so she could watch the drama unfold. She failed at attempting to catch Gally's eyes; the boy looked deadly serious and was in fact dodging the girl's close watch to avoid getting distracted from important matters.

"Things are changing. There's no denying that." Gally pushed himself away from a wooden pillar to stand up straight in the room and address the benches packed with Gladers. "First Ben gets stung in broad daylight, and then Alby."

As the boy paused, Ada found that his gaze had fallen onto where Thomas was isolated from the rest of the group, wringing his hands together. The nervous boy avoided Gally's glare, finding the girl sat in the crowds, who shot him a sorrowful glance.

"And now our Greenie here has taken it upon himself to go into the Maze. Which is a clear violation of our rules here."

"Yeah, but he saved Alby's life." Frypan argued back, from where he was stood to the side of the room beside Newt.

"Did he?" Gally questioned, and now Ada felt a pit of dread swelling in her stomach.

Yeah Gally, he did.

"For three years, we have coexisted with these things, and now you've killed one of them. Who knows what that could mean for us."

"Coexisted?" 

Ada didn't mean to question Gally's poor word choice out loud, but she repeated the word before she could realise she was doing it, and now the boy was watching her in curiosity. She couldn't help but laugh at his confusion.

"You're acting like none of us have died by a Griever. Coexisting is not what this is. Coexisting is not where we're continually being hunted and killed by these creatures."

The girl wanted to shrink away from Gally's icy stare. She never thought she'd be on the receiving end of it, and it was worse than she could imagine. 

But then again, she knew she was right. They weren't coexisting with the Grievers. The Grievers were killing them - far too many of them - and it was about time they learned how to fight back.

The room had gone completely silent. Ada and Gally never disagreed, and it was obvious that Gally was flustered over it happening in front of everyone in the Glade. Before the situation could escalate further, Newt cut in to ask,

"Well Gally, what do you suggest we do?"

Gally tore his eyes from the girl, ignoring every single word of hers, and instead turned to answer Newt's question.

"He has to be punished."

Protests erupted from the boys, saving Ada from her previous job alone in arguing with Gally. She refrained in shouting out like the others, instead just frowning at the scene, and wondering when Gally became so cruel.

"Minho." Newt's booming voice suddenly interrupted the chaos, startling Minho, who had been sitting quite peacefully by himself until then. "You were there, what do you think?"

Minho shuffled in his spot, for a split second feeling uncomfortable with all the eyes on him, before he eased up.

"I think, in all the time we've been here, no one's ever killed a Griever before. When I turned tail and ran, this dumb shank stood behind to help Alby."

Thomas ducked his head sheepishly at Minho's attempt at a compliment. The Runner was watching him with an expression no one could read - which Ada was beginning to learn was his speciality - so no one could tell what he was going to say next.

"Look, I don't know if he's brave or stupid, but whatever it is, we need more of it. I say we make him a Runner."

Not a bad idea.

It didn't seem that many other people shared Minho's opinion. Anger surged from those watching on, shouts of disapproval echoing around the room, with Minho not seeming affected by any of it.

Chuck attempted to start a chant in favour of Thomas. He repeated the boy's name a number of times, glancing around to try and get others to join, before his voice was swallowed easily by the louder angry yells.

"If you wanna throw the newbie a parade, that's fine, go ahead." Gally called over all the noise. "But if there is one thing that I know about the Maze, it is that you do not-"

Gally was interrupted by the rumbling cry of something out in the Glade. Ada recognised it as the Box's alarm instantly, coming to only one conclusion.

Everything is going to change.

Newt and Gally shared a bemused glance, pausing for a second before racing out of the Council room. Ada found herself following instantly, stopping for a moment beside Thomas and Chuck who shared uncertain words about what was happening.

"The Box is coming back up."

"It's not supposed to be." Minho commented, meeting the girl's eyes with a nervous energy that felt foreign appearing on Minho.

"It's not supposed to for another month." She replied.

This kickstarted their reaction to get to the Box quickly, following the Gladers running across the grass faster than Ada had ever seen any of them go. And as everyone gathered around outside the Box, Newt had already jumped down inside, overly eager as to what would be coming up with it.

And they were not disappointed.

"It's a girl."

As Ada expected, everything was going to change, but in ways that she could never imagine.