Leo

"I never got a chance to thank you." The lights are going down all around us as the camp becomes dimly lit. Alby let me out an hour ago, and thanked me. It was only now that I found Newt, sitting against the Wall, alone.

I'm just happy no one else was hurt, and I'm happy that even though it is going to take some time, Ben will be punished. And that, provided no one else finds out, Minho and Dawn are home free.

The fact that I'm not banished is barely a bonus.

"For what?" Newt sits on the ground, swishing the drink in his glass.

I'm glad Gally thought it was a good time to have a bonfire. Even though there is going to be one tomorrow, I'm happy everyone can be calm and have a good time. Michelle is talking to someone too. Winston actually, which surprises me. I didn't think she talked to anyone.

"For this," I kind of gesture around me, before sitting down.

Newt chuckles. "You know Lee, I didn't make the grass around us."

I playfully lean in to him, snatching his drink from his hands and taking a sip of it. He laughs reaching for it out of my hands. "Oh, would you quit it?"

"I meant," gasping for air as I hand him back the glass, "for making it so I could see this all. For not getting me banished, and for lifting me out of the bleach."

"Least I could do I guess, since the whole thing is my fault," he rubs the back of his neck as he empties the glass. "Honestly, if I have just shucking told Alby, Ben could actually have been banished and they could've just thrown Dawn and Minho in the Slammer for a night. Since I dragged it all out, Ben won't be punished."

I don't know that Alby would've simply slapped Dawn and Minho on the wrist, but I shrug. "They say all is well that ends well, don't they?"

"Well, this isn't the ending I hope." Newt leans back against the stone behind me.

It's weird to see him sitting off in the corner. He has friends, so I imagine he'd be the life of the party. Whenever he is with a group of people though, he tends to sit off in small groups, chatting. He isn't like Dawn and Minho, laughing with their friends. As much as I want to, I'll never be quite like her, or fit in quite like her, or be with her.

I guess it's not too bad though, since I can at least talk with Newt. He gets me, like, in ways I'd rather not admit.

"It is for the Greenie who is about to come up," I note, looking over at the box. "I've only been here a month and I don't think I'm the same person who popped up."

He nods. I glance at him out the peripherals of my vision, and realise he is staring at me. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No," he shakes his head, giggling, "I'm just pretty shucked."

He always laughs when he's had too much to drink. I find myself laughing too, a bit. I couldn't have giggled with him at the beginning of this. The Leo who first got here wouldn't have calmly waited for her banishment in a room soaked with blood. This time was my time to change, and I'm glad it was early on.

"No kidding," I smile, looking back at the ground.

"Lee," Newt stops laughing, and I turn to look at him again. Moving my head like this back and forth is going to give me whiplash. Newt looks serious though, so I wait for him to speak. "Please don't leave me."

I've never noticed the sadness in Newt's voice. This whole time I mistook it for anxiety, but somewhere deep inside Newt's soul is a hopelessness that rivals the fear that is constantly clawing at my throat. Since I'm a little more shucked than I'd like to admit, I don't feel it right now but it's always there. I guess even the drink can't quench his darkness.

I nod carefully, and he leans into my side. With our heads pressed together, we sit in silence.

Dawn 

"You should put that down Dee."

I ignore Minho as I drink more. We're in his room now, the party having died down hours ago. I snuck in to find him asleep, although I was wide awake. He's going to have a rough morning tomorrow when he's running, but if I ask Frypan nicely he'll let me sleep in.

"Seriously," his sleep chuckle makes me choke on the liquid, and it spills all over the floor, "how much have you had?"

More glasses than fingers on my hand, at least. "I lost count after five."

"Didn't realise you could still count when you're this shucked," he guides me away from the door towards the bed. "Thanks for helping her here, Fry."

Frypan laughs from his belly, tittering out of the doorframe. "Never seen someone hold it in like her except Gally. He's got a new rival. Just, don't let her come to work in the morning."

"Your food's bad enough without it containing vomit," Minho's snide remark makes me giggle. I can imagine Frypan rolling his eyes from here, even though I can't see them. He's going to be so mad at me in the morning.

"Siggy I'm sorry," I turn to the boy, and I can feel myself about to cry. "It's just been really, really hard."

Frypan's hands wrap around me, taking me from Minho. He holds me pressed against him, like he is trying to consume me. I shove him off, stumbling back onto the floor. Minho catches me.

"What are you doing?" Minho's voice seems sort of amused, but this isn't funny.

Ben hurt me, and if I had let Fry have the chance he would've too. I can't trust anyone, not even Minho. I'm drunk and I thought it would make me forget about him. Instead, everything feels like a threat. Klunk's so messed I can't even drink to forget.

"She's jacked man," Fry tells him, trying to assure him this is okay.

I can't believe he just gets to go free. Maybe that's why I'm crying. It isn't even pleasant. It's messy and loud, and Fry actually hands me a pillow to put against my face, since I am definitely going to wake some Gladers up.

I try to say it outloud, but the words get choked in my mouth and I continue to cry. Is this what Gally's drink does to me?

The door shuts, and Frypan is gone. Minho is leaning on the ground, trying to wrap his arms around me.

"Don't touch me," I manage, breaking my mouth free from the pillow.

Minho rolls his eyes, pulling me in closer to him. "If you really mean that, and can say it again, I'll let you go."

I hate that he knows me so well. I'm trying to be upset and he's not doing a very good job of helping. It's impossible to be mad at him when he is being this nice.

He sits with me on the ground, his fingers wrapping around my hair. He doesn't ask questions as he presses a kiss into my forehead, since I know he thinks questions are pretty dumb shuck things to ask. I appreciate it though, as he leans against me.

"I love you, Greenie," he says it to me, and I'm too shucked to believe him.

"I love you, Maze boy."

Minho has left the curtains open, so I can see out the window. Deep in the night, I don't notice the stars. I don't think of their bright shinning colour, maybe it's because I'm shucked or maybe it's because I know that some where in the Glade, Ben is underneath the same stars.

It sickens me that he might think they are just as wonderful as I do. When I realise he is going to be able to look up at them for much longer, and that I won't have justice without having destruction, I really start crying.

Michelle

"Hey," most of the boys are distracted. The box is supposed to arrive any minute now, so they are beginning to mill about. No one is doing their job when they think somebody new is coming. There are a few rumours going around that it is going to be another girl, which is met with equal amounts of enthusiasm and dismay.

I agree. Odds are, the next girl will be just as shuck-faced as the rest of them.

As of now, I am still avoiding going to work with Winston. Last night, he told me I'd start after noon tomorrow, since he's already pissed off enough without having to train me. I see he doesn't forget the time I threw a knife into whatever shucking animal he was prepping.

I am going to be working closely with the Cooks now too. I don't know if I want to die because it means I'm going to be forced to spend time with David, or if it's because I get to see Gally less. I like to think it's the former, but I can't be sure.

"Hey, you," I can see Ben staring out into the Maze, like some forlorn and lost puppy.

He is looking out, into the Maze, staring. Maybe he misses being a Runner and all the power and privileges, but I don't even care. He's a piece of klunk.

"Slim it," he commands me, and I find my feet perfectly planted on the ground.

Ben's face has gone white with terror. I step closer to him, trying to see what he is looking at.

My feet freeze beneath me, and I can't move. There is a Griever at the end of the hallway. They don't come this close to the Doors, as far as I know. I never thought to ask if one could just waltz in here in the daytime. I thought the Doors closed at night to protect us from them. I didn't realise they'd be hanging around here.

Neither Ben nor I say anything, but the Griever seems to be staring us down. I haven't seen one without a layer of protection, and I wonder how Dawn did it without screaming in terror.

"Go," I shove Ben forward, his feet clambering off the cobblestone. There is no echo in the Glade, but the Maze is different. Here, things have consequences, but there it's different. There, things are much, much more real.

He turns around to look at me, and I find my feet on the stone as well, shoving him forward. The Griever comes rolling up the path behind us. Ben tries to shove past me, but I pull my knife out of my pocket.

He immediately leaps backwards, unsure of my violence or the Grievers. My knife is in his leg, sticking out. He collapses to the ground, and I lift the tool out of his thigh. My eyes look straight into the Griever looming above us, and I trip and fall. My feet land just outside the Maze, and I watch the Griever go in for the kill.

I turn around running, as I hear Ben screaming.

Let him die.

Ella

The alarm went off, and now we are all standing around the hole. I find myself at the back of the crowd, ready for what comes next.

I will have her soon.

The gears grind below us, which must be hard to do. How much farther does this go down? It feels like we are at the bottom, sinking slowly. Everyone is grey, but everyone is real. He is coming, I can feel him. Soon, the boy will be among us who brings with him the end, and no one listened to me.

No one except Zart, who stands with me now. Soon he will die. Soon everyone will die, and I can't care. So long as I live, none of this matters. I must live. I will live for her, and live for the future days yet to come. There isn't much time left. We have minutes before the end.

Leo peers down at the box, waiting for it to open any second. Dawn stands next to boys who I don't recognise, but she smiles when they whisper in her ears. Michelle is bright red and she is alone.

We are ASUNDER.

Divided and apart, we are pieces of a whole. Fractured by the world we were brought into. Bleeding in agony. Let them call our names. A hope of a nation of nations; we have left them defeated. Our purpose unfulfilled we have forgotten why we are here. No thunder rains in this Glade ASUNDER. Let them love while they can, before they lose it all, but let us united.

For the danger in the box cannot be stop while we do not know each other.

~~

YEAH!!! Let's keep going! I'll see you in the next book!