𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗡 .ᐟ

❛ the pit ❜

   𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗬'𝗦 body shuttered. dark veins protuding out from his dark skin. beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. his eyes were closed, but his expression was riddled with visible pain along with wet tears running down the paths of his previously dried up ones. wick sat directly beside him, using a cloth to gently wipe the sweat from his head.

"we don't even know what this stuff is..." newt says, holding the small syringe thomas had just handed to him, "we don't know who sent it, or why it came up here with you," he turns to teresa before softening his voice, "i mean, for all we know, this could kill him."

"he's already dying, newt." thomas reaponds, "look at him." he says motioning toward their leader, "how could this possibly make anything worse?"

newt stares at alby gasping in pain. he crosses his arms across his chest.

"come on, newt." emilia speaks up causing newt to
turn toward the girl, "he's right. we have to atleast try."

newt lets out a huff of air before nodding his head softly, "all right." he says softly. he extends his arm out, handing the mysterious syringe toward thomas, "do it."

thomas nods, taking the syringe from his hand without a second thought before rushing over toward alby's side. emilia watches intently as thomas holds the syringe above alby. she bites her lip nervously as he scans his body. he sighs, turning back toward the people surrounding him. emilia and newt nod at him in unison.

"okay." he says softly, trying to prepare himself as best as he can.

alby lets out a unexpected grunt, and suddenly thomas is pulled aggressively toward him. thomas' head turns quickly, finding alby's dark eyes staring into his. in a state of panic, thomas tries to pull away, but alby's grip pulls him back down. all the people surrounding him take a step back in shock, but emilia runs forward, grabbing alby's wrist in an attempt at getting him to let go.

"you shouldn't be here!" alby shouts.

newt and minho immediately rush to the two boys, allowing emilia to step away before attempting to pull thomas backwards, away from alby's harsh grip.

"get the syringe!" thomas grunts.

within a second, emilia grabs the syringe and with one swift motion, she stabs the needle into alby's chest. alby quickly stops fighting back, his body going limp within a few seconds. his eyes shutting fast.

thomas grasps his chest around the area alby's hands just held him roughly.

"you okay?" emilia asks him quietly, as thomas rubs the area on his chest. thomas swallows hard before nodding at her.

wick glances toward teresa as she pushes her hair behind her ears, "well, that worked." he says.

"okay, from now on," newt says taking in a deep breath, "someone stays here and watches him around the clock."

"hey," a voice says from behind them. each of their heads turn quickly, finding gally in the doorway, "it's sundown greenie, time to go."

emilia glares at the boy in the doorway as thomas lets out a huff of air beginning to walk toward the door. gally walks back out the door, grabbing a small torch from outside, beginning to walk toward the pit before thomas had even left the infirmary. he quickly jogs up to gally, and starts walking by his side.

the two boys walk in silence. thomas glances occasionally toward the boy next to him, but gally keeps his eyes forward. thomas sighs, deciding to break the silence between them.

"hey, what is you're problem with me?" he asks.

gally keeps his eyes ahead, "everything started going wrong the minute you showed up. first ben, then alby, and now the girl. everybody saw she recognized you." he explains as they come to a stop in front of the pit. he turns toward thomas, "and i'm betting you know who she is."

thomas stares at gally. he turns away from thomas, reaching his hand out and opening the small door to the pit. gally backs away and looks down to the door, motioning for thomas to get in. thomas lets out a sigh, ultimately complying with the buzzed haired boy, climbing through the door and hopping down into the pit. gally shuts the door behind him. he kneels down in front, using a rope to tie the door shut, preventing thomas from leaving.

the dark haired boy takes a step forward, placing a hand on one of the wooden bars on the door, "gally." thomas says to him, but gally chooses to ignore him, "look, you know we can't stay here forever, right?"

for another moment, gally continues to stare at the knot he's creating around the cage door, but his eyes shift back to thomas. immediately, thomas sees nothing but anger in his eyes, but his expression remains blank. and within a second, gally completes the knot, before standing up and walking away. taking the light with him, leaving thomas in complete darkness.

𖧷

𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗦 leans up against the wall of the pit, anxiously bouncing his leg as he stares at the dirt ground he's sitting on—which he can barely even see at this point due to the little light gally had so kindly left him with. thomas places his hand on the ground, and lets out a huff of air, moving one of his crossed arms from his lap, placing his hand on the ground, beginning to trace lines through the dirt absentmindedly.

as his eyelids begin to feel heavier and heavier, a soft hue of light appears from outside of the pit, grower closer and closer to him.

"who's there?" thomas asks quietly.

suddenly, chuck steps out in front of the pit doors, holding a small lantern, as well as a small backpack strapped on his back, "it's me." he says with a bright smile.

thomas lets out a sigh of relief seeing the little boy's face.

"and me." emilia steps out.

"hi." thomas mumbles.

"hi." she says with soft smile.

"here," chuck says, placing down his backpack on the ground. the smaller boy reaches in, pulling out some water and food from inside, "you'll run better tomorrow on a full stomach."

thomas takes the food and water gratefully, immediately pulling the food into his lap, unwrapping it, and taking a piece of bread and shoving it into his mouth. emilia lets out a soft laugh watching as the boy eats. thomas glances back up toward thomas softly, "thanks, chuck."

chuck smiles softly in response before looking down to his hands, very obviously fidgeting with something.

"hey," thomas says, "what do you got there?"

emilia turns toward the small boy the second thomas voices bis curiosity. her immediately gaze on him softens, "go on, kiddo." she motions for chuck to show what hes holding.

chuck complies, holding out his arm through the cage door. thomas quickly leans in to look at the piece in his hand.

it was a small wooden piece, sculpted into a person. and it was made surprisingly well, considering the small amount of tools they had in the glade. but chuck had done a practically professional job.

"oh, wow, that came out pretty damn good." thomas says genuinely, "what's that for?"

emilia bites the inside of her cheek, watching as chuck leans back into his seat, "it's for my parents." the smaller boy says.

thomas gaze softens at his words, "you remember your parents?" he asks softly.

chuckles takes a deep breath, "no." he practically whispers. emilia places her hands on either side of the younger boys arms, rubbing them softly as he continues, "well, i mean, i know i must have them. and wherever they are, i'm sure they miss me, but... i can't really miss them since i don't remember them." he explains, before turning toward the maze, "what do you think you're gonna find out their tomorrow?"

"i-i don't know..." thomas says back. chuck's expression falters, causing the dark haired boy to feel beyond sorry for the younger one, "hey, but if there's a way out, chuck, we're gonna find it."

emilia continues to rub his sides soothingly as they talk, "we aren't gonna let you down." she mumbles to him.

chuck nods, letting out a huff of air, "here." the boy says, reaching the wooden figure out toward thomas.

the dark haired boy stares at chuck in confusion, taking the small piece of art into his hand, "chuck, why are you giving this to me?"

the younger boys eyes grow glossy, "i can't remember them anyways... but maybe if you find a way out, you can give it to them for me." he explains, "all right, i think i should go get some sleep."

"all right. good night, chuck." emilia says as chuck gets up to leave.

thomas' eyes stay glued to the boys back as he walks away. both the boy and the girl sit in silence watching as the younger one leaves them by themselves.

"hey, chuck?" thomas calls him.

within an instant, chuck runs back over to the two, "yeah?"

"put out your hand," thomas says softly. chuck listens, immediately holding his hand out. thomas takes chucks hand into his, placing the small figurine in the center of his palm before using his other hand to close his, "i want you to give that to them yourself. we are gonna get out of here. all of us. okay?" he says, "i promise."

chuck bites his lip, nodding at the boy in front of him, "okay, all right."

"all right, now i think you should get some sleep," emilia smiles, "okay?"

chuck nods softly, muttering a quiet "goodnight" to thomas and emilia.

"night buddy." thomas says back quietly.

the two watch silently as the younger boy makes his way back over to the rest of the gladers.

"he really likes you." emilia says, watching the smaller boy all the way until his torch light disappears.

"what?" thomas asks.

"chuck," she repeats. she turns her head toward the boy in the pit, "he looks up to you."

"he shouldn't." thomas says.

"why do say that?" emilia asks.

thomas takes a deep breath in, "you ever think gally might be right?"

"right about what exactly?"

"me." thomas says, "ever since i showed up here, a lot of things have got wrong. ben got stung, then alby, and now this girl teresa—"

"no, i don't think gally is right," she cuts him off, "you've given a lot of the boy's hope. a kind of hope they haven't had that in a while. plus, you managed to pull me out of the woods for a first time in a long time."

thomas lets out a hum in response.

"i know that minho trusts you, archie does too, newt as well." she continues, "fry, winston, zart, and wick trust you."

the dark haired boy nods again, and she frowns in frustration.

"you also gave me a second chance at the maze, i truly never thought i'd be back in there," she adds, "and when we were in there, you helped me. so i trust you too."

thomas's head perks up at the last part, but he chooses to ignore it, "are you coming tomorrow?"

"back in the maze with you?" emilia asks and thomas nods. she leans back and takes in a deep breath, "it would be your first real run of the maze, i didn't want to bother you and minho."

"why would you be bothering us?"

"i don't know," she shrugs, "the other thing is that you're a runner now, and i'm not."

thomas sighs, "well, i want you to come." he says, "can't we just do what we did last time? just saying you're coming and that's that."

"we could, but..." she says, thinking about it for a moment "i'll think about it, how about that?" she smiles.

"all right," thomas cracks a smile as well, "that's fine."

"okay, enough of that," emilia says, "now, you promised me earlier that you'd tell me what happened up there when you went and talked to the girl. teresa, right?"

thomas clears his throat, "um- yeah," he begins, "she said she couldn't really remember much. only that she remembered seeing water?" emilia's brows furrow as she listens, "she said she felt like she was drowning, and she saw faces."

"water, drowning, and faces." emilia repeats, "so i finally get another girl, and she's a nut-job."

"well," thomas says, "the thing is, when i first got here, i had these dreams—which felt more like nightmares, but that doesn't matter." he begins. emilia shifts in his position in the ground, "and in them, i saw faces too. i never saw water though. but i did see faces..." he inhales, "and hers was one of them."

emilia listens to his voice become shaky. she immediately feels sympathetic for the boy in front of her, "and what else was in these nightmares?"

"this voice saying 'wicked is good.'" thomas says, "and she heard that voice too."

"wicked?" emilia raises a brow.

"i don't know what it means either," thomas says, "but i think it has too do with the letters you guys get on your supplies, and the letters on the griever part, and even the letters on the syringes."

"W.C.K.D." emilia says softly to herself, "wicked?"

"there has to be a connection." thomas says, "these dreams i've had, i don't think they are dreams, emilia."

"flashbacks?" emilia asks and thomas nods. she watches him take in a shaky breath, and she reaches a hand out through the wooden door, "hey," she says placing her hand on top of thomas' hand, "we're gonna figure this out, and everything is going to be okay. we'll get to the bottom of it."

thomas nods softly, giving her half of a smile, "it's getting late," he says, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly, "you should probably get going."

"all right," she says pulling away from the cage door. she stands up, picking up the small torch beside her, "try get some sleep, okay?"

"okay." he complies.

"goodnight, thomas." she says beginning to walk away.

"goodnight, emilia."

𝗔𝗩𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘

boring boring
but some fluff too

comment + vote <3
[ 2.3k words ]