"Gally?" I gasped.

There was a tense silence. He stood in the door way, and I went to step closer, but stopped dead. My eyes trailed all over his face and took in his appearance. My heart dropped into my stomach.

Gally's eyes raged with lunacy; his clothes were torn and filthy. He dropped to his knees and stayed there, his chest heaving with deep, sucking breaths. He looked around the room like a rabid dog searching for someone to bite. No one said a word. I was scared to move, being within his arms reach, I didn't want to trigger something.

I didn't have to move, his wild eyes locked onto mine.

"They'll kill you!" Gally screamed, spittle flying everywhere.

Thomas had reached forward and grabbed my arm from behind and pulled me further away from Gally.

"The Grievers will kill you all! One every night till it's over!"

I watched, speechless, as Gally staggered to his feet and staggered forwards. Thomas pulled me further into the room, but Gally followed, stumbling forward. Thomas bumped into the dresser, he tried to push me out of the way. Gally's wild rage filled eyes had locked into mine.

He stopped, standing just a few feet in front of Thomas and I. His eyes slid over to Thomas, and then over to Teresa who was standing frozen pressed against the wall. For the first time here she looked terrified. He pointed a bloody finger at her.

"What are you doing here? You're one of them! You shouldn't be here! Traitor!"

His wild eyes slid over to Thomas.

"You," he said with a sneer so pronounced it went past comical to flat-out disturbing.

"It's all your fault! You and your sister!"

Without warning he swung his left hand, forming it into a fist as it came around and crashed into Thomas's ear. He went crashing down to the ground in a yelp. He rounded on me.

"Gally." I said unsure.

"You're bad Charlie! You did so many bad things!" Spit flew from his mouth.

Thomas had scrambled back to his feet as soon as he hit the floor, and pushed Gally away. Gally stumbled backward and crashed into the small desk by the window. The lamp scooted off the side and broke into pieces on the ground.

I jumped forward ready for Gally to retaliate, but he straightened instead, taking everyone in with his mad gaze. Everyone was too stunned to do anything.

"It can't be solved," he said, his voice now quiet and distant, spooky.

"The shuck Maze'll kill all you shanks.... The Grievers'll kill you ... one every night till it's over.... I ... It's better this way...."

His eyes fell to the floor.

"They'll only kill you one a night ... their stupid Variables ..."

His words kept me frozen to the spot, I tried to suppress my fear so I could memorize everything he said. I didn't know what happened to him, but he definitely wasn't in his right mind. He was like...Ben. stung. Gally must have been stung in the Griever tunnle and escaped? Or was he let go?

Newt took a step forward. "Gally, shut your bloody hole! There's a Griever right out the window. Just sit on your butt and be quiet-maybe it'll go away."

Gally looked up, his eyes narrowing.

"You don't get it, Newt. You're too stupid-you've always been too stupid. There's no way out-there's no way to win! They're gonna kill you, all of you-one by one!"

Screaming the last word, Gally threw his body toward the window and started tearing at the wooden boards like a wild animal trying to escape a cage. Before I realized what was happening, he'd already ripped one board free; he threw it to the ground. Gally was going to kill us. I could hear the Griever.

"No! Gally! Stop, Love! Please!" I yelled, running forward, my heart breaking into pieces all over again.

Thomas followed to help me, I didn't even know what I was going to do. Gally ripped off the second board just as I reached him. Gally swung it backward with both hands. Before I could duck or move, the solid wood board swung into my head, sending me sprawling across the bed as a small spray of blood sprinkled the sheets. Pain exploded through my head, my vision instantly shut off

Before darkness took over, I heard Thomas voice yelling in my head. I heard Minho and Newt yelling in my ears

"Gally! Stop!"

I drifted off into the world of darkness and silence with my head splitting in pain and my heart shattering.

_______________________

I blinked, and slammed my eyes shut again. It was bright. My head pounded. I moaned when I opened my eyes again. It took me a few times to be able to keep them open without hurting.

Gingerly I looked around. I was in the MedHut. But I was alone. I slowly sat up wincing with the headache.

The last thing I remembered was Gally's wild eyes and him ripping boards off the window.

Holding my head I slowly stood up and making my way to the door and opened it wide. Blinking again I looked around. A few more things were smoking. There was a commotion over by the map room and over by the slammer.

I saw a kid bounding over, realizing it was Chuck I sighed.

"Charlie! Jeepers lady! You got like 9 lives! No wonder Minho calls you Tiger!"

"What's going on Chuck?"

He hung his head, his curls falling over his face. He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to Deadheads and we sat down.

He explained quickly what happened last night. Grievers showed up, but before they got to the Home Stead, Gally ripped the door open and pushed through everyone, apparently he ripped the boards off and screaming for everyone to hear the Grievers were going to come kill us, one at a time each night.

The Grievers took Zart.

It looked like Gally was leading the Grievers like a wild cowboy and his herd of Grievers. Alby apparently had gotten out of the Home Stead and burnt everything in the Map Room. Minho lost his klunk when he got back from following the Grievers. And Thomas decided to stab himself with a Griever stinger.

"What the- and Chuck, I can't stress this enough- SHUCK?!"

"Yeah. That pretty much sums everything up. It's mid afternoon already."

"I was out that long?"

Chuck just nodded.

"Shuck."

We were quiet for a second.

"Wait. Thomas stung HIMSELF?"

Chuck just nodded sadly.

"Why the hell he'd do that? The shucked face idiot!"

Chuck shrugged. "Said he needed to remember."

"Where is he?" I asked, trying to stand up.

"Newt out him in the slammer, to keep him safe. Minho has the key. There some guys ... Who want to kill him. And the other girl. And uh, rumors are they want to kill you too. They blame the three of you."

"Why was I left alone then? That seems an easy target!"

"Uhh Clint and Vinny were supposed to be watching you."

"Well they weren't."

Chuck frownd. And then shrugged. I groaned and slowly got to my feet. My head was pounding.

"Come on Chuckles I have a shucked face idiot to see."

He walked me across the Glade and over to the slammer.

Newt and Minho, Jeff, Frypan, Vinny and Clint were there.

"Nice body guarding guys." I rolled my eyes.

"Charlie! Jeeze I just went to the bathroom!" Vinny cried.

"I seriously just stepped into the back room for some more bandages!" Client said.

"Guys! It's fine, whatever. I woke up and Chuck found me. He's my hero."

"Shuck right I am!" He grinned.

I smiled at the boy and slowly sat down with a groan.

"How are ya feelin' Love?"

"Like my deranged boyfriend smacked me in the head with a two by four." I said dryly.

"So, like every other day?" Minho raised his eyebrows.

"Touche shank." I smirked, but it slid off.

Gally was alive. Just like Teresa had said. So what else is she talking the truth about? He was alive, but he looked terrible. The knife in my chest twisted. I wasn't sure what was worse. Thinking he was dead, and never to be seen again. Or knowing he's alive and gone off the deep end.

"So what's going on? How's the idiot?"

"You're always so mean to me, Sparky." A voice rasped.

Everyone turned towards the slammer.

"What were you thinking?" Chuck cried

"What happened?" He asked, slowly sitting up. Teresa had his head in her lap, and giving Newt a smug look.

I growled.

Get your dirty hands off him!

Why? What are you gonna do about it?

"I had to remember!" His voice sounded stronger.

He scooted away from Teresa, whether it was a conscious effort or not, it made me smirk at her. He looked up at all of us, looking at us one by one. His eyes lingered on me longer. I felt that weird pull in my stomach, like the one I got the first few times I had seen him. I wrapped my hand around the cold Slammer bar.

His eyes flicked down to my hand and he frowned.

He pointed, "where did you get that?"

I let go and looked down.

"You mean the ring?"

He nodded.

"It was sent up almost a year ago...it was in my first box of supplies. A small nite that made no sense and the ring in an envelope. That's it. I figured it was from Gally or something from before the maze."

Thomas shook his head. His eyes wide, scared almost.

"Why? What's going on, Tommy?" I whispered.

His whiskey brown eyes locked onto me, and wouldn't let me go.

"I've had memories-"

"Yes, that's what happens when you go through the Changing."

He breathed heavily through his nose and closed his eyes. He took a moment and got himself under control.

"I remembered my mother. She was sick. Really sick. The last time I saw her .." He swallowed, his eyes full of tears. "I saw her one more time. I was forced to walk down a dark cold stone cave tunnle-"

"-With wild...things screaming and yelling behind fences that bolted into the ground and roof." I interupted. Both my hands were now gripping the metal bars so hard my knuckles were white.

"And at the end of the tunnel was one of them...chained with a collar-"

"-and she was calling her baby back."

Thomas nodded.

"That was the last time I saw my mother." Thomas choked. I had tears running down my face.

"Tommy..."

"When she was saying goodbye to me, she handed me something. She pulled it off her finger and told me it was for my sister when she was old enough."

"..Tommy!" My voice cracked, and I couldn't talk anymore.

Minho was already working on the lock. The lock clicked and the door squeaked. Thomas slipped through the door before it was open all the way. He tackled me in a huge hug.

"Charlie!" He whispered giving me the biggest tightest safest hug I could remember.

I just clung to him, holding him tight. It all made sense. The familiarity, the easy relationship, the bickering, the live but the gross eww feeling when people assumed we dated or something before the Maze. Why the guys who went through the Changing said Thomas and his sister, why Gally would see us together all the time.

He slowly let go. Holding my face. He smiled, a smile that made his eyes twinkle and a dimple show.

"I got the better genetics, I'm totally better looking!" I choked between the crying.

"Pfft. Please!" He chuckled. Pulling me back I to a hug.

We finally let go. And realized that there were other people around us.

"Sorry." I sniffed and wipped tears from my face.

"Shuck that klunk! Don't be sorry Tiger, you of all people deserve a happy moment." Minho rolled his eyes and crossed his large arms.

"What the buggen' dope said." Newt grinned.

Thomas took a deep breath and turned back to the rest of the group. Teresa had slipped out of the slammer and sat down beside the group. A frown on her face.

"Okay...so uh, about the other memories...Ben, Alby, Gally...they were all right so far."

"What are you bloody talking about?" Newt asked, crossing his long legs on the grass.

"This place...It's exactly what we figured it was. It's not a prison, it's a test...an experiment of some kind."

He paused and rubbed his forehead.

"It all started when we were kids. They would give us these challenges, tests... classes and training. They, The Creators, were experimenting on us. And then people started disappearing. Every month, one after the other, like clockwork."

"They were sending them up into the maze." I concluded. This made sense so far.

"Yeah, but not all of us." Thomas said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Minho asked.

Thomas sighed and rubbed his eyes. He dropped his hands into his lap with a groan.

"Let me start over."

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently. He gave me a small smile.

"Okay. Every single one of us was taken when we were really young. I don't remember how or why; just glimpses and feelings that things had changed in the
world, that something really bad happened. I have no idea what. The Creators stole us, and I think they felt justified in doing it. Somehow they figured out that we have above-average intelligence, or something and that's why they chose us."

"So...we were orphans, and raised by scientists?" Frypan asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah... basically." Thomas said, "Supposedly we're really smart and they're studying every move we make, analyzing us. Seeing who'd give up and who wouldn't. Seeing who'd survive it all. No wonder we have so many beetle blade spies running around this place."

There silence in our group. Everyone was looking at each other, confusion clear in our faces, but it felt right. I knew Thomas was telling the truth because it just felt right. I knew in my gut. Thomas took another big breath.

"Like I said, they wanted to test us, see how we'd

react to what they call the Variables, and to a problem that has no solution. See if we could work together, build a community, even. Everything was provided for us, and the problem was laid out as one of the

most common puzzles known to civilization-

"-a maze." I interupted. He nodded.

"All this added up to making us think there had to be a solution, just encouraging us to work all the harder while at the same time magnifying our

discouragement at not finding one."

He paused to look around, making sure they were all listening. "What

I'm saying is, there is no solution."

There was a stunned silence.

"Well ain't you the rain on our parade!" Minho said dryly.

"But .. killing that Griever, finding the key. That wasn't part of The Creators carfully laied out plan I'm guessing." I thought out loud.

"I guess not."

"Well, then what the bloody hell are we sitting here for? Let's get going!" Newt threw his hands in the air.

"Wait. Wait....guys there's more." Thomas sighed.

"Gally was right. They won't kill us all at once, 'cause killing people is all part of their horrible awful plan! The only reason the Grievers are doing it one by one is so we don't all die before it ends the way it's supposed to. Survival of the fittest. Only the best of us will escape."

It was silent and it was a lot of I formation to take in. But I knew Thomas wasn't done, he had a bit more to spit out. I could feel his anxiety rising.

Are you with me?

Always.

And you trust me?

Always

"Charlie and I were part of the Maze Trials from the very beginning-but against our will, I swear it."

Minho was the one to speak up now.
"Thomas, what're you talking about?"

"Charlie and I were used by the Creators, one specifically, he was ..our uncle. And manipulated and tortured us... especially Charlie. If you had your full memories back, you'd probably want to kill us. Especially... especially Charlie."