Minho glared at Gally and his goons for a second longer. Newt's words made sense. He turned and gently slid an arm under Alex's shoulders and under her knees. He picked her up, cradling her in his arms and carried her to the slammer, and climbed in. Thomas was unceremoniously tossed in. Teresa climbed in with her head held high, she ripped her arm from their grasp and refused the help another boy offered.

She got some dignity. She's a tough one, I can see why her and Alex get along.

The boys closed and locked the door. Chuck ran up to the door a second later, and handed the griever serum to Teresa. She didn't hesitate and stabbed Thomas in the chest with the syringe. His breathing slowed down, and his screaming calmed.

She sat down and leaned against the dirt wall, leaning her head back and closed her eyes for a second. Minho laid Alex down, with her head in his lap, he ran his fingers through her tangled hair. He cringed every time she screamed and thrashed.

Teresa opened her eyes and crawled over, "What's wrong with her?" she asked, her voice was shaking, but she tried to hide it.

"I honestly don't know." Minho answered honestly, looking down at the girl in his lap. Her face twisting in pain. It made his heart twist in pain seeing her in pain.

"She would get these memory flashes...episodes things...if she would touch things, little bits of her memory would break through."

Teresa nodded, "ya, she told me about them." She said quietly.

"Sometimes it would come in dreams when she was sleeping. Sometimes it would be a few seconds and she would shiver like she was cold. Other times she would collapse and convulse for minutes." He continued, growing quiet, thinking. "She did it once in the maze, she was out for fifteen minutes. Apparently she had another bad one when she touched you..." He looked up at the dark haired girl.

Her eyes wide in surprise. "Me?"

Minho nodded. "She could also...umm, communicate with her sister...by speaking in her head. And they were in different mazes!"

If it was possible, Teresa's eyes got even wider. He saw her eyes dart to Thomas and back to Alex, then up to Minho. He narrowed his eyes, she was hiding something.

"What are you not saying?" he asked.

She sighed, "Tom and I can communicate too, telepathically. I don't know if Alex and I could ever..I didn't know she could."

Teresa scrunched up her face, her face concentrated on Alex's. It was quiet for a minute, Minho sat in anticipation watching Teresa try to talk to Alex.

Doesn't surprise me, they had some kind of connection right from the start.

Alex immediately withered in pain and let out the loudest scream yet. Teresa yelled and backed away, panic in her eyes, grabbing her forehead.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Minho yelled, panicked.

"I can feel her pain, she tried to talk...but something is wrong... inside her mind!"

Minho watched as her eyes were glued to Alex and her chest rose and fell rapidly.

"She said something about Sonya. She kept screaming 'Sonya, where are you' and then pain. Excruciating pain! It's in her head but radiates down into her body!"

Her eyes welled up with tears. Minho reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. He didn't know what else to do. What else could he do? He gently swept her sweaty hair out of Alex's face. Praying Newt or Jeff would show up.

Newt showed up a few minutes later with some pain meds, a bottle of water, cloth and a bowl of cool water. Teresa helped get the meds crushed and into Alex's mouth, and then ripped the cloth into strips and soaked in the water and applied it to her forehead. She relaxed with the cool rags. Minho exhaled slowly.

He looked up at Newt, "What's going on up there?"

Newt ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "Gally is taking control, but most Gladers are letting him, just to shut him up. They don't really believe the klunk he's saying. They trust Alex and Tommy. And You. If you and I, and Fry and behind Alex and Tommy they are behind us. We found Gladers hiding in the deadheads, and a few in the destroyed homestead and a few had the sense to hide in the box, cloin' the doors. The Grieves took so many. The number is 15. So far.."

Minho didn't show any emotion. He couldn't. If he did he would break, and he was a leader, he was a Keeper and the guys looked to him. Just like the pressure in the Maze. Keep it together, shove it all down. There would be time to mourn. Just not now.

"Do we still have the key?" Minho asked.

Newt nodded, pointing at Alex. Minho nodded, understanding what he meant. It was still in her thigh holster bag. Their way out was still possible. They just needed to get out.

Alex let out a cry, but it sounded more like a word. Minho leaned over, and brushed some hair out of her face. She cried again.

"Sonya! Where are you?"

Minho snapped his eyes to Newt. Newt sat still as a stone, eyes wide. "Has she said anything about you sister lately?" Minho asked. He glanced at Teresa beside him. She was sitting back straight, knees to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. Her eyes wide staring at her. It was what Teresa said Alex was trying to say.

Newt shook his head. Alex's body was tense and her back arched and she let out a loud long scream, riddled with pain. Her body was shaking with the pain. Her skin felt like it was baking, and she was sweating. Minho's eyes watered, just listening to her cries. He switched the cool compress.

Chuck and Matt came to sit with Newt. They didn't say anything, but sat and watched two friends struggle. Frypan came and brought some food. Jeff also stopped by seeing if they needed anything. After a while Newt left.att helped Chuck to his feet and led him to bed, the poor kid had red swollen eyes and needed to sleep.

The night turned into day. Alex's screaming had slowly faded to whimpers. Her thrashing turned into shivering. Minho leaned his head back on the wall, his eyes closed. He heard Teresa shift.

He turned his head and peeked an eye open. "How's Tommy Boy doing?" he asked her gently. They were both tired.

She looked up at him, "Well his breathing is mostly even, he's just shivering like he's cold, but he's sweating like he's burning up."

"That's normal. If he's breathing normal, and he's not as green, means the serum is working. The Shank will be fine." He closed his eyes again.

Teresa shifted closer to him, and Minho felt her head lean gingerly on his shoulder. They sat there together with Alex's head in his lap, and Thomas's head on Teresa's lap.

"You should get some sleep. That was a shucking long night." Minho sighed.

The girl beside him had only been in the glade for a few days and had dealt with a lot of klunk. He felt protective of her. She was Alex's best friend, and he would make sure she was taken care of. Both the girls had dealt with a lot more klunk in their beginning than most of the Gladers. Yes, he was dead on his feet, he hardly slept in the last few days, but he would forgo sleep if the girls were taken care of.

He heard her scoff. "So should you Mr. Runner. You're dead on your feet. How are you still functioning?"

He shrugged the shoulder her head wasn't on. It was survival at this point. Do it die. He did what he had to. He would sleep when he was dead, which the likelihood in this shucked place was high.

"How about we both sleep. I don't think we're getting out anytime soon."

"Good that." He heard the small smile in her answer.

They both fell into a light restless sleep.

______________________

Alex

The first thing Alex registered was the cold dampness around her. Then the hard ground underneath her. The next thing she noticed was her pounding headache. She groaned quietly, reaching a hand to her head. She felt a cold damp cloth. She pulled it off, it was making her shiver. She opened her eyes, her eyelids were so heavy, they dropped shut again. Her whole body hurt, she felt like she was trampled by a herd of Grievers. She tried opening her eyes again.

Her eyes were burly. It took a few blinks. The first that came into focus was Minho's sleeping face. She smiled, he looked younger and peaceful; untroubled with the klunk of their shucky situation. Her eyes traveled to Teresa, and then down to see Thomas laying beside her. Teresa was holding his hand. Her eyes flicked around taking in her surroundings. They were in the Slammer.

Alex's eyes traveled back to Minho, like a magnet. Even dirty, sweaty, bruised and scraped, he was beautiful. She lay there studying his features, his long dark eyelashes, the shape of his nose, his strong jaw line. The shape of his lips, how they parted slightly when he breathed out. His head was leaning on Teresa's. She was using his shoulder as a pillow. When she saw that, her heart swelled; her boyfriend and best friend, she was glad they got along. She scoffed at herself. How could she be jealous of her best friend and this man? She knew he loved her.

Alex's head was still pounding, she lifted a hand back up to her head, rubbing it and moaned. Minho stirred, and his eyes fluttered open. His warm brown eyes met hers and then creased into half moons as he smiled.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty!" He ran a hand through her hair. "How are you doing?" He asked, his smile fading.

"My head feels like it has the greenie alarm going off inside. And I feel like I was stampeded by a herd of Grievers. Why are we in the slammer?"

Minho sighed. "I have some more pain meds Jeff dropped off." He handed her the little pills, and she slowly sat up, wincing. After she had taken them and drank some water. Minho started explaining.

"So...Gally and his slint heads took over, and tossed us in here. Well it was supposed to be just the three of you. What the shuck happened.. it was just like after you took on the Grievers."

Alex sighed and rubbed her temples. "It was like...when Gally hit me, it was like pain flicked on, or ignited all the pain... It felt like everything in my head was on fire. Sparks, and white hot pain. Everything was radiating from my mind down into my body. I could feel Sonya trying to yell at me, and another voice I didn't recognize. But every time she tried it was excruciating pain. I don't think we can talk anymore, and the pain was so bad... I'm scared to try."

Minho was quiet, Alex moved so she was sitting on his other side. He started rubbing her back, and her muscles slowly relaxed.

"That other voice was probably Tes's. Her and Thomas can communicate telepathically too. She tried with you...but you started screaming and thrashing." He explained.

"It's scary being trapped in your own head. All you can see and feel and hear is pain." Alex said quietly. She looked at Thomas who was stirring "What happened to him?"

"That stupid Shank. He stabbed himself with a Griever stinger!"

Alex sat up straight, shocked "He did WHAT? Why the shuck would he do that?"

"He said he wanted to remember," said a soft voice. Teresa was awake.

"The shuckin idiot!" Alex slowly shook her sore head.

"I bloody agree." a British voice said. Alex looked up to see Matt, Newt and Chuck sitting down by the door.

"Alex, are you okay?" Newt's compassionate warm chocolate brown eyes not leaving her face. She nodded.

"I can't talk with Sonya anymore. I don't know why...something happened in their maze, she said something about escape...and others are rescued... she was trying to yell something. But I couldn't understand with whatever weird thing is goin' on in my head ..I don't know."

She was spared more explanation when Thomas gasped and sat up.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck asked, his face scrunched in anger and confusion.

"I needed to remember, Chuck."