| chapter 21: calm before the storm |

DAWN

The first thing I noticed when we came back was the somber mood resting over the Glade. An easy thing to happen when everything had turned gray. Nothing in the sky had changed, and it was like even the thing we found out about the Cliff couldn't brighten the mood. Minho went straight to the Map Room and with a sigh I followed him. Actually I wanted to sit down in my room and think about everything that happened. Maybe talk about it with Lisa.

'Aren't you going to tell Newt and Alby about the Griever Hole?' Thomas asked Minho. 

By the mention of the name Newt's my heart jumped, but I ignored it.

'Hey, we're still Runners. And we still have a job.' Minho turned around and gave us a sad smile. 'But yeah, we'll do it quick so we can talk to them.'

I frowned when I thought about how the two leaders would react to this news. 

It was like Thomas could read my thoughts because he gave me an encouraging smile before he went inside.

I took a deep breath before entering the Map Room as well. There were already Runners inside, drawing their maps of the Maze. 

It gave me a weird comfortable feeling. I wasn't alone in solving this problem. Even though everyone was in an exhausting mood. Feeling slightly better, I took a paper and a pencil and started to draw. I wasn't really good at it, but it was good enough for me. On one side of the paper I drew every detail I remembered about the Griever Hole. And on the other side the Maze. Based on Minho's notes.

'Not bad.' Minho's voice interrupted my thoughts. 'For a Greenie anyway.'

A slight smirk appeared on my lips. 'You are doing such a great job making compliments,' I responded. 

Minho rolled his eyes, making my smirk wider. 'C'mon, we've gotta talk to Newt and Alby.' 

I nodded and put my papers into the right trunk.

We just stepped outside, the heavy door falling shut behind us, when Newt and Alby walked towards us. Neither one of them looking very happy. I frowned and focused on Alby's face, not wanting to risk any eye contact with Newt.

'Hey,' Minho said. 'We were just-'

'Get on with it,' Alby interrupted. 'Ain't got time to waste. Find anything? Anything?' 

Minho looked confused at out leader before speaking. 'Nice to see you, too. Yeah we did find something, actually.' 

I frowned surprised when Alby looked almost disappointed. Then he shot me and Thomas a nasty glare as if it was all our fault. A weird and somehow ashamed feeling crawled into my stomach. It wasn't like I wanted this to happen. All I ever wanted to do since I came here was to find out who I am and what I could do to get out of here. 

'This shuck place is falling apart,' Alby groaned. 

'What do you mean?' Minho asked. 'What else happened?'

Newt answered, nodding at the Box. 'Bloody supplies didn't come today. Came every week for two years, same time, same day. But not today.' 

I frowned, getting a spontaneous headache.

'Oh, we're shucked for good now,' Minho whispered. 

'No sun for the plants,' Newt said. 'No supplies from the bloody Box-yeah. I'd say we're shucked, all right.'

I sighed and messed my hair in frustration. 'So we're going to die,' I stated, not even asking. All the boys stared at me, and I stared back, knowing I said what everyone was afraid of.

'Yeah anyway,' Minho said, taking all the attention away from me. 'We found something weird.'

Newt raised his eyebrows. 'What?' 

It took Minho three minutes to explain, starting with the Griever and ending with us throwing the rocks. 'Must lead to where the...ya know...Grievers live,' he finished. 

'The Griever Hole,' Thomas added.

'Gotta bloody see that for myself,' Newt murmured. 'Hard to believe.' He was sure right about that. 

'I don't know what to do,' Minho said. 'Maybe we could build something to block off that corridor.' 

I stared with wide eyes at him. 'Do you want to block off our only little chance that we have of escaping this place?' All eyes turned to me and I stared back with disbelief. 

'If you want to run right into the arms of the Grievers then fine,' Minho said, annoyed.

Before I could respond screams came out of the direction of the Homestead. We all turned around to look at what was going on. 

I frowned, what was happening now? 

Chuck was in the group standing by the Homestead. He saw us and ran our way.

'What's going on?' Newt asked. 

'She's awake!' Chuck yelled. 'The girl's awake!' 

I gasped and for the first time since he had walked towards us I looked at Newt. He had a frown on his face and then looked back at me. In the little second that our eyes met it felt like I was set on fire and I quickly looked away.

'I'll talk to her,' Newt suddenly said and walked away.

Thomas ran after him. I wanted to shout his name but decided not to. I gave Minho, Alby and Chuck an apologising glare before running to the Homestead. I had to talk to Lisa. 

Without really looking at anyone I ran into the Homestead. Voices came from upstairs but I payed no attention to it. I found Lisa in the infirmery. She was cleaning her hands, which were covered in blood.

I took a step back in disgust. 'What happened?' I asked staring at her hands. 

A little startled she looked up at me. Then she smiled. 'Some boy managed to get a knife stuck in his arm. Took me a lot effort to get it out.'

Shaking my hands I looked away from the blood. 'I'm really glad they choose you to be Med-jack instead of me.' 

Her smile became wider. 'Well, I have no intention in running my legs of every day.' 

I grinned but my grin faded when I suddenly remembered why I was here. 

Lisa frowned. 'What's wrong?' 

A deep sigh escaped my mouth and I fell down in a chair. 'Well, the Box didn't come today.' 

Lisa nodded and sat down in a chair across me. 'Yeah, I heard.' She fell silent and studied me for a second. 'But that's not what's really bothering you, is it?'

I looked at her and started telling our weird thing with the Griever Hole. At the end of my story she was staring at me like I was a Griever.

'Impossible,' she said then sighed and rubbed her forehead. 'I hate this place,' she mumbled. 

I nodded and didn't reply, she already knew I felt the same way.

Suddenly the door was swung open. Both of us jumped up and stared at Jeff, the Med-jack.

'What is it?' I asked with a frown on my face. 

'The girl is gone,' he replied. Lisa and I looked at each other. Jeff didn't wait for questions, looked through the room and ran outside. 

I ran after him. Lisa kicked her chair aside and followed us.

We ran outside and I saw Newt and Alby staring at the doors. Both of them had a downright horrified look on their faces. 'What now?' I groaned, scared for the answer.

The boys turned to us. 'What time is it?' Alby almost screamed. 

I looked at my watch and felt my inside turn to ice. 'O no...' I mumbled. 'Please no.'

'What?' Lisa asked, her voice sharp and demanding.

'It's the girl's fault,' Alby said, anger was burning in his voice. 

'Well, I am sorry for being a girl,' Lisa sneered. 

Alby gave us an angry glare. 'Not you two! Well maybe, but the other girl!' Then he ran towards the woods. We all shared a glare before running after him.

'How in the...?' Newt asked once we found Thomas in the woods. Teresa was standing right next to him. 

I raised my eyebrows at the pair.

'How did you get here? Med-jack said you were there one second and buggin' gone the next,' Newt said, staring at Teresa. 

She stood up, looking really confident. 'Guess he forgot to tell me the little part about me kicking him in the groin and climbing out the window,' Teresa answered. 

Lisa snickered next to me. 

Newt turned around to Jeff. 'Congrats, Jeff,' he said. 'You're officially the first guy here to get your butt beat by a girl.' 

But Teresa didn't stop. 'Keep talking like that and you're next.'

I frowned at her and wondered if her confident mask was just that, a mask, or if she really wasn't afraid. How could she not be afraid after waking up in a place like this without any memories?

Newt turned back to her, his face blank.

Then Alby stepped up and once I saw him I felt my stomach turn to ice again. The doors...

'I'm sick of this,' he groaned and pointed at Thomas's chest. 'I wanna know who you are, who this shank girl is and how you guys know each other.' Then he turned around to face me and Lisa. 'Do you two belong in their little slinthead club as well?' 

I opened my mouth to answer but Lisa was first. 'I have never seen any of you guys before in my shucking life. Would you mind stopping with throwing accusations around?'

Alby turned to me. I bit my lip, remembering my promise to him. 'I don't know Thomas or the girl,' I answered honestly. Alby didn't ask me about Lisa and Newt so I didn't have to tell him about them.

Then Alby turned back to Thomas. 'Alby, I swear-' Thomas started. 

'She came straight to you after waking up, shuck-face!' 

'So what!' Thomas screamed back. 'I know her, she knows me-or at least we used to. That doesn't mean anything! I can't remember anything. Neither can she.' 

Alby looked at Teresa. 'What did you do?' 

She didn't reply, which made me angry as well. Alby was right, this couldn't be coincidence anymore. 'What did you do!' Alby screamed. 'First the sky! Now this!' 

'I triggered something,' she replied in a calm voice. 'Not on purpose I swear it. The Ending. I don't know what it means.' 

Well, we did.

'What happened, Newt?' Thomas asked, but Alby walked forward grabbed him by his shirt. 

'What happened? I'll tell ya what happened, shank. Too busy makin' lovey eyes to bother lookin' around? To bother noticing what freaking time it is?' 

Thomas face turned pale, like he suddenly knew what was going on.

'The walls you shuck. The Doors. They didn't close tonight!'​