The loud rumbling noise of the walls made me wake up with an annoyed groan as the wooden tower slightly shook from the little earthquake. The uncomfortable crunching sound of rock against rock always made my jaw clench.

My thoughts almost instantly remembering yesterday, Ben's scream started to echo back to my mind.
He had looked far too similar to that monstrosity from my nightmare. It creeped me out more than ever.

I flexed my cold fingers, closing them into a fist and relaxing them again, the numb feeling slowly receding.

A small groan made me spiral out of my thoughts and glance down to the figure next to me.

Newt would usually wake up before the walls opened; I remembered those ungodly early mornings of having to listen to his half-asleep chatter all too well.
But now I reckoned that the last days had tired him out enough to finally sleep a little more than just eight minutes.

The blond shifted a bit closer to my shoulder, his eyes only now fluttering open. I noticed his chest slowly rising and falling again at a calm pace until he realized how close we were, and quickly shuffled away a bit.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" His face turned a bright red color as he took a deep breath, looking confused at himself with a frown on his face.

"Stop apologizing, shuck-face. It's fine. I won't blame you for falling asleep.", I grinned, softly nudging his shoulder.

My eyes trailed off eventually fixing themselves on the now opened gate of the Maze.
"C'mon, better get going..."

With a sigh, I got up and brushed the tiny splinters off my clothes that were sprinkled all over my shirt like freshly fallen snow.
Wondering why on earth I would compare splinters to snow, I quickly walked over to the hammocks to get my backpack, strapping a dagger next to the gun on my belt.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw that Newt was patiently waiting for me, his face still carrying a light shade of pink as he casually leaned against one of the supporting pillars where multiple hammocks were fixated around.

His hair was messy, a few strands falling to his face as he stood there, his arms loosely crossed in front of his chest with that winsome smile of his.

I caught myself grinning back at him, raising my eyebrows. 
"You should fall asleep on my shoulder more often, that look suits you"

Before I could stop my brain saying those words, they had already left my mouth, leaving me dumbfounded at myself. 
But Newt's reaction completely derailed the train of thoughts in my head.

With a slight smirk on his face, he shifted his posture.
"I might just do that"

Shaking my head with a small scoff, I was glad for the pale darkness that still lay on the Glade, which covered up the heat I suddenly felt on my face.

Hurrying to finish packing my things, I swung the backpack over my shoulder. The grass beneath my feet was dew-dipped, sparkling in the early morning light as the two of us made our way to the gate, where Minho and Alby were already waiting.

Minho's eyebrows shot up when he saw me and Newt approaching them together and he already opened his mouth to say something, but I quickly made him shut up with a warning glare.

Newt started talking, a serious expression on his face.
"Okay, now since Ben got stung in the middle of the day, you guys have to be even more careful now. Stick together and don't do anything stupid."

At those last words, he pointedly looked at Minho, who innocently shrugged.

"Alright then... good luck"

His eyes locked with mine one last time, the shadow of worry clearly visible on his face now.

I waved my hand goodbye; and then we ran.

Third person POV

The whole day went on without any inconveniences, which should've been the first sign of something being wrong.

A day in the Glade was considered a fever dream if not at least one thing started burning out of nowhere.
But this time, the fates seemed to be benevolent with the Gladers.
Without much complaining, they quietly went about their work...well, most of them.

Thomas was still going after his favorite activity of asking endless questions, sitting on an old tree log with Chuck next to his side, who was carving at a little wooden figure hidden in his hand. 

"All right, but why would Alby go in the Maze? I mean, he's not a Runner."

Newt massaged his wrist while turning to look at the boy.
"Things are different now. Alby went to retrace Ben's footsteps before sundown. Look, are you gonna help?", he pointed at a tree him and Zart were trying to cut down. 

Thomas ignored him.
"So he's gonna go back to where Ben was just stung?-"

"Alby knows what he's doing.", Newt interrupted him before he could finish, "All right? He knows better than any of us." 

"What does that mean?"

With an impatient sigh, Newt stopped chopping the tree and scratched the back of his neck, the knife he was using getting dangerously close to his skin.

"All right, it's like you've heard, yeah? Every month, the Box sends up a new arrival."

With his blade, he gestured towards said Box, where a few Gladers were collecting and keeping track of the leftover supplies.

"...But someone had to be first, right? Someone had to have spent a whole month in the Glade alone...And that was Alby."

The blond went back to hacking at the tree's roots while continuing.
"I mean, it couldn't have been easy. But when those other boys started coming up, one after the other, he saw the truth. That we were trapped in here and the only way out was through there...", he tilted his head towards the gates that gaped wide open, "...Then Grace appeared. She did bring quite some chaos and confusion since she had been the first and so far only girl, but when nothing changed, Alby guessed that everyone can be captured and put in here. No matter who you are, or what you can do", he shrugged.
"And he learned that the most important thing is that we all have each other. Because we're all in this together."

Thomas exchanged a look with Chuck. And as if he'd finally made a decision, the boy got up and grabbed a blade, helping the two Gladers.

A sudden, loud rumble made all of them look up, their muscle memory expecting the doors to close.
Thick, droopy clouds had hung themselves over the sky, darkening the Glade into a sluggish gray tint as thunder chimed through the air.

When the first raindrops had started to fall, everyone quickly searched for shelter beneath the hammocks' roof, observing the heavy rain and waiting for the Runners to finally return.

"They should be back by now..."
Thomas eventually said out loud what everyone had been already thinking. He leaned against a pole, anxiously tapping small rhythms with his fingers.
"What happens if they don't make it?"

He turned to look at Newt, who was staring at the doors, a deep frown on his face.

"They're gonna make it.", he said without letting his eyes drop away from the empty gates, but his face gave away his own concern.

Thomas stepped next to Newt, pressing on.
"What happens if they don't?" 

Newt sternly looked at the younger boy.
"They're gonna make it." His tone left no room for discussions.

Thomas seemed to realize that too, eventually leaving his side again as Newt glanced back at the stone walls. 

They're gonna make it.
They had to.

After what felt like hours, the storm finally ended and made the grass in the Glade glow in a bright green color, small droplets shining in the dawn of the pale, dying sunlight.

The sight made Newt's stomach twist painfully. 

It remembered him of Grace's eyes. It was a clear picture in his head. He could hear her beautiful voice; her laugh so clear like someone had started to play a recording right next to his ear. 

She won't make it.
That evil voice in his mind echoed through his head.
You will never see those eyes again. You will never hear her laughing again. 

A cold, cruel feeling crawled up his spine. He felt like his heart was getting squeezed by the person in his head.

Five minutes passed... ten... fifteen. Time moved slowly, yet it was racing past them, slipping through their fingers and out of reach.

The group of boys stood in front of the entrance, waiting for the three familiar figures appearing in the distance. Not one dared to say a word. 

Nothing happened. Nobody came.

A loud click, followed by a bang announced the time of the walls closing.

Thomas was the first to speak.
"Come on, guys, can't we send someone after them?"

"That's against the rules.", Gally, who was crouching down, answered, not taking his eyes off the Maze, "Either they make it back or they don't." 

"Can't risk losing anyone else.", Newt explained, even if he hated his own words.

A strong gust of wind made the ivy on the walls rustle as some of the boys covered their faces from the dust particles that were being thrown at them.

Then the walls started to move. 

"Oh no... oh no, no, no..."
The anxiety lacing through his voice, Chuck tilted his head up to see the huge stone doors. 

An uneasy feeling went through the group, some nervously shifting as the gates moved closer.

Thomas had suddenly spotted something, eagerly pointing with a yell.
"There!"

A young woman had come jogging around the corner, wildly shouting something at two other silhouettes. 

"Wait...something's wrong", Newt slowly said, his eyes filled with dread.

One from the trio, who quickly turned out to be Alby, seemed unconscious, loosely hanging off Minho's shoulder.
The girl was looking at the crowd of Gladers, then turned back again and hurried over to help Minho carry the boy.

With a strained grunt, she practically dragged the both of them. The kids were weak from exhaustion.

"Come on, guys, you can do it!", Chuck started to shout.

At his words, the rest of the boys broke into encouraging screams, trying to motivate the two Runners to move faster, while the doors kept on closing without mercy.

Alby had slipped out of Minho's clutches and fallen to the ground, his head numbly rolling from one shoulder to the other.
Grace tried to get him back to his feet but the older boy was way heavier than she could lift.

Minho shouted something at her, furiously gesturing to the Glade while dragging the boy by his feet.

"Minho, you gotta leave him!"

Thomas watched in terror how the walls seemed to move faster, while Minho was still struggling to carry the boy. 

He kept on pointing at the doors, yelling at Grace to run and get to safety. The girl had jogged forward a few feet but stopped again, torn between staying with Minho and Alby or leaving them to their fate. 

Her eyes had landed on Newt.
"Come on, Grace...", he was anxiously whispering to himself. Fear threatened to take over his mind. She had to get out of there.

They all watched the three teenagers slowly disappearing out of their view the more the doors closed.

"Grace! Just go!" Minho yelled, his raw voice resonating over the noise of the crunching walls and the Gladers' shouts. 

"Grace, please..." Newt didn't move his eyes from hers.

The mad, grinding sound of the doors and the screams from the Gladers filled the air, almost deafening. 

Thomas saw the desperate Runner, still trying to drag Alby as the girl, sprinted towards the exit, yet her expression gave away that she was violently fighting with herself. 

They wouldn't make it. 

Something seemed to have clicked in his mind. Because Thomas snapped into movement.

And he ran.

 Ignoring Chuck or Gally shouting after him. Ignoring Newt trying to grab him. 

He ran, nearly getting squeezed between the two walls. The boy stumbled and fell to the harsh ground.

Taken aback by his sudden movement, Grace had abruptly stopped, watching in pure shock when Thomas had suddenly appeared next to her.

Then her eyes slowly locked with Newt's. 

Her face screamed of grief and one single tear rolled down her cheek, when she slowly shook her head no and stepped back a few feet.

"Grace, no!"

Newt's breaking voice got lost in the echoing boom of the Maze bouncing off the walls like mad laughter. 

A painful smile was on the girl's face. 

Then the doors slammed shut. 

A/N: Get rekt loser, ahaha