/////

Minho and Zelia both woke up early and went out to her room at the same time to do their morning routine. The girl did not expect that she would be able to sleep well, even though she thought about what happened before she and the young man fell asleep.

Zelia, Minho, Chuck, Ben, and the other Runners are now at the entrance of the Maze, waiting for the door to open. The girl sees other Runners stretching to prepare for running.

"Take care guys," Chuck said. Ben and Minho looked at him while smiling.

"Right, don't worry. We have the best Keeper here; he can take care of us," Minho said and pointed to Ben next to him. Their friend rolled his eyes and gave the former Keeper a light punch on his arm.

"This ugly shank just wants to say, we will take care ourselves. Thank you so much," Ben said while smiling. The door of the Maze slowly opens, so the Runners start running until only the four of them are left.

"Tie him again if necessary when Minho plans to sleep over inside." The Keeper of the Runners laughed because of what Zelia said, so the young man gave him a glare that she ignored.

"Thanks for the advice. I will definitely do that," he said before running inside. Minho just gave Zelia and Chuck a smile before going inside.

The girl did not know why, when the two disappeared from her sight, she suddenly felt as if the hairs on her arms stood up. It's like a sign that something bad is going to happen.

She tried not to think about it, but it only made her more nervous because she didn't understand why. Even though it seems normal in the eyes of others, for Zelia, it seems like she just wants to chase the Runners to tell them to rest for a day.

"Are you okay, Zel?" Suddenly she looked at Chuck, who had just called her so that they could eat their breakfast. The girl didn't know how long she had been standing after the Runners left at the Glade while in deep thought.

Zelia blinked twice before she forced herself to smile at him. "Sorry about that. Of course I'm okay."

Chuck wanted to ask more, but he just ignored it, thinking it's really nothing, and they walked towards the kitchen.

-----

"Dead end again." Minho heard Ben say as they looked in front of them that only a big wall could be seen. They decided these past few days that they will run by 2 until they get back inside the Glade.

The Runners know that they have mapped the entire Maze. The path they are running is just repeated everyday. Only Alby knows about it. He orders the Runners not to tell the Gladers that no matter what they do, they won't be able to find a way out of this place. Alby wanted the Gladers to think that they would find a way out of this place in the Maze.

"Yeah, right," Minho said and took a deep breath. "We should split up. Maybe we'll find something new."

Ben immediately looked at him with a frown. "No. We shouldn't do that. We have already done that when we haven't toured the entire Maze for almost 3 years. But now that all we see is a dead end, we have to change our strategies."

The older Keeper scoffed. "Really? Strategies? Or are you just saying that because anytime, you give up finding our way out?"

Ben didn't say anything because he knew what Minho said was right. Maybe these past few days, he just wanted to give up, so he decided to run by partner.

Ben feels like his heart is breaking as he repeats what Minho said several times in his mind. He slowly nodded and gave his friend a pat on the back.

"You still act like a leader even though you're not a Keeper anymore," Ben said and turned his back on the wall to start running in another direction. "See you, ugly shank."

He didn't wait for Minho to speak anymore and ran off. He just runs, goes right, left, left again, straight, repeats. It was obvious to him that he no longer needed to think about which was the right way. This is all he does for a few minutes until he reaches the dead end again. Ben just took a deep breath before resting and eating his lunch.

He was quietly eating his food while sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.

It's true, though. No matter how fast we ran through the Maze, we couldn't see any other way out. It's also really hard to pretend to them that there is hope here inside the Maze. After all, the Glade is not a bad place. Maybe we are here because the outside world is too chaotic.

Ben slapped his own cheek to make him realise Minho was right; they still can't give up; they made a promise to them that they would leave this place. Maybe they just didn't notice something, so they forgot to look at it. This is their job; they do not belong here.

When he calmed himself down, he put the things he used back in his bag and stood up to start running. You can do this, Ben. You're not just a Runner anymore; they need you, okay?

He ran back again. He just ran until he came to a wide path with many entrances. They think this is the centre of the Maze. But somehow he wasn't nervous because he knew where he was going.

Ben was about to run down to the left path in front of him when he noticed something like a large animal with many tentacles. He also noticed that it looked like this body was made of metal, with his back to him, doing something he didn't know. Shuck, it's a Griever.

The Keeper took a deep breath before slowly going to his destination. Even though this is the first time he has seen a Griever, he knew what they looked like because Minho had already described what they looked like so that they would be aware if they ever encountered them.

Ben could feel how fast his heart was beating. He didn't know why there was a Griever here because when they passed by earlier, they hadn't seen anyone. Just don't make any noise.

When he was in the middle of walking, he was surprised by the screech of the Griever, and it suddenly faced the young man. Fuck.

That was his sign to run fast. He knew the Griever followed him because he could hear its steel tentacles. He just looks straight ahead, not intending to look at what's behind him. He's running for his life and realized that he still doesn't want to die.

Ben had been running for a few minutes, and just now he noticed that he no longer heard any noise from behind him, but he didn't complain. He just ran and ran and ran. He turned to his right, and there he saw a large animal. Oh, fuck.

Before he can turn around to run again, he slowly smiled bitterly and looked at his stomach. He saw something stab him, and the Griever removed his hand from him before leaving. Ben held onto the wall before he fell.

"It's not really for me to be a Keeper," Ben muttered to himself before trying to get back inside the Glade.

Ben tried his best not to fall asleep, even though he was slowly feeling the pain. It felt like forever for him to get back to the Glade.

Instead of looking for the Med-jacks or Alby, Ben decided to go to the Deadheads. He didn't even know why he came here. He didn't even know if anyone had noticed him coming here. All he knew was that he was going to die anyway.

-----

"Help!"

Zelia suddenly raised her head to find out where that voice was coming from. She even stopped teaching just to find out who shouted.

"Hey! Help me! Please!"

In her instinct kicks in, Zelia ran quickly to where the voice came from while holding the crossbow with an arrow. She also saw that there were Gladers running to find out what was going on.

Zelia wandered her eyes and saw Thomas running from the Deadheads. She noticed that someone was chasing him, so she sped up her run even more. I'm not going to make it.

She couldn't see who was chasing him, and he saw Thomas fall down, causing that person to land on top of him. Zelia was only a few distances away from the two when she saw Newt and hit someone with the shovel he was holding.

The girl slowed down her pace, and she saw that the other Gladers were already holding someone on the grass, so that person couldn't stand up.

"Oh no..." That was all Zelia said when she recognized who was chasing Thomas, who was now standing. She could hear him talking, but he couldn't understand because she was focused on a man lying on the grass. Ben.

"Lift his shirt." Zelia could not recognize who spoke, and someone did it. There they saw the wound, a sign that the Griever had stung him. They can see the hole and black veins—it looks like something spreading inside—on the side of his stomach.

"He's been stung."

"In the middle of the day?"

She heard that Ben was saying something, but she couldn't understand what. Zelia seemed to be weak and absent-mindedly walked away to her room, wanting to be alone. She felt that Maggie, Newt, Kendrix, and Chuck were looking at her, but she ignored them.

Once she reached her room, she just sat on her bed and leaned against the wall. She hugged her legs, and she buried her face on her knees. She didn't know if she had closed the door properly, but she didn't care.

She suddenly remembered everything about how she became friends with Ben, how Kendrix and him are always bantering that Newt almost complained about them, how he was talking to her when the young man saw her at the entrance of the Maze, how he teased her with Minho, and how they talked this morning. Everything.

"I just wish this was a nightmare." Zelia took a deep breath and looked up. She almost jumped on her bed in shock when she saw her friends in front of her, except for Chuck.

"We wish that too. Everyday. But still, here we are," Kendrix said and sat down in front of her before gently taking the girl's hand. "It's okay to be sad, but it's not okay to keep everything you feel right now to yourself."

"I know that. I just wanted to take some time to process before I go to see you all to ask if you're okay." Maggie took a deep breath and sat next to Zelia to hug her from the side and put her head on the girl's shoulder.

"We can't control what happens next. It's not our fault, the Creators are the one who to blame. But we all know how to be friends with Ben. He made us feel how good a guy he is." Zelia smiled bitterly at what her friend said.

"Ben would be really happy if he heard that," Newt said while still standing with his arms crossed, just looking at his friends.

He tries his best to lighten the mood, and it works. He heard his friends laugh softly and agreed with what he was saying.

"He'll complain that we're backstabbing him." Kendrix said while smiling.

"Why don't we visit him? Maybe we can see him, you know, even if we can't talk to him sensibly. For sure, he still wants to see us after all," Maggie said when she pulled away from the hug on Zelia.

"It's fine with me," Newt said as Kendrix agreed. They all looked at the girl and waited for her answer.

"I'm also in, don't worry." Her friends smiled because of what she said. The three of them stood up and left the girl's room.

They just walked quietly to the Slammers. No one wants to talk. They are obviously just trying to be okay.

As they got closer and closer, they could hear Ben sobbing. That's when her heart was broken; she was hurting for his friend. They have no choice; that's why they need to Banish him today.

When they got to where Ben was imprisoned, they saw how he looked miserable while murmuring some words. If they just have some medicine if someone gets stung, for sure they don't need to do this.

They just watched in silence—Newt and Kendrix's eyes were full of sadness, but no tears came out. Maggie couldn't stop herself from shedding tears; no matter what she did, they came out one after another ever since she saw Ben while Zelia was stroking Maggie's back to calm her down. She could feel her tears welling up but prevented them from coming out.

How can I be a part of the Med-Jacks if I can't save him?