| chapter 23: lunatic |

LISA

His eyes raged with lunacy, his clothes torn and filthy. He dropped on his knees and stayed there, breathing heavily and staring into the room. Next to me Dawn lowered her knife while she looked at Gally with her eyes wide.

I clenched my hands as I stared at the Builder, my mind racing with questions, wondering what the hell had happened to him.

'They'll kill you!' He screamed suddenly, spit flying from his mouth. 'The Grievers will kill you all. One every night! Until it's over!'

My heart was beating faster and faster in my chest as his words echoed through my mind. I watched as Gally staggered to his feet and walked forward. Startled I took a step backwards. 

We all stared at him, still too shocked to say something. Even Newt's mouth stood wide open. Gally stopped walking, standing a few feet away from Newt and Thomas. 

Next to me Dawn tightened her grip on the knife. Would she really kill him?

Suddenly Gally pointed his bloody finger at Thomas. 'You.' He said with a sneer. 'It's all your fault!' Then without any warning. He made a fist of his hand and knocked Thomas down to the ground. 

'Stop it!' Dawn cried out and raised her knife. Ready to throw. 

Gally looked angry at her. The anger in his eyes scared me. 'And you...what are you still doing here?! How dare you talk to me!' He screamed and the shock was clearly visible on Dawn's face. 'You! You think it's funny to prepare us for our death? YOU THINK THAT'S FUNNY?!' 

Dawn's hand was trembling, her eyes still widened in fear.

'Say that again.' I hissed, my fear turning into a burning anger. I had no idea what was going on with him, he had seemed so nice when I'd first talked to him. Nothing had ever made me think he was a lunatic.

Slowly Gally turned to me. His eyes were almost on fire and it scared me to death. But I kept on looking at him with my head high. Suddenly he raised his hand, ready to hit me. 

It all happened in the blink of an eye. 

Dawn screamed and threw the knife.

Newt snapped out of his daze and pushed Gally away, making him fall on the ground. A pained scream filled the air. I blinked and saw the knife stuck in Gally's arm. He was screaming like a pig being made ready for the slaughter house. 

'Shut up!' Newt sneered and pulled the knife out of his arm. 

Dawn took it from his hand and stared with narrowed eyes at Gally as he kept on mumbling something and it took me a while to understand what he was saying.

'It can't be solved.' Gally mumbled. 'The shuck Maze'll kill all you shanks...The Grievers'll kill you...one every night till it's over....I...It's better this way...'

Newt took a step forward. 'Gally, shut your bloody hole-there's a Griever right out the window. Just sit on your butt and be quiet. Maybe it'll go away.' 

Gally groaned and pressed his hand against the big red spot of blood on his arms. 'You don't get it Newt. You're too stupid-you've always been too stupid. There's no way out-there's no way to win! They're gonna kill you, all of you! One by one!' He screamed the last word and before any one could stop him, he jumped up, ran to the window and started tearing at the wooden boards, like a wild animal trying to escape a cage.

Before we could react he had already thrown one board on the ground. 

'No!' Newt yelled, running forward. 

Thomas followed him but I could only stare at the weird sight, my body completely frozen. 

Gally ripped off the second board just as Newt reached him. He swung it backward with both hands and hit Newt's head with it. Sending him across the bed as a small spray of blood sprinkled the sheets. 

A bone splitting scream came from my right and I turned startled to look at Dawn who suddenly charged forwards and hit him hard on the spot where the knife had been. 

Gally screamed in pain, grasping his wounded arm.

Dawn ran to Newt and sat down next to him on the bed, trying to wake him up. 

I looked with horror at Thomas who was screaming with rage at Gally. 'Gally! What are you doing?!'

The boy spat on the ground, tears were pouring out of his eyes and his whole arm was covered in blood. 'You shut your shuck-face, Thomas. You shut up! I know who you are, but I don't care anymore. I can only do what's right.'

With my eyes wide in shock I watched Gally rip off the third and last board. The glass of the window exploded with a swarm of crystal wasps. 

I yelled, covered my face and fell down on the floor. Desperatly I searched my mind for something to do but it was completely blank. Fear was taking every rational thought away. Slowly I looked up from my position on the ground. My eyes widened and I crawled back until my back hit the wall.

A Griever.

Its body had squirmed halfway through the destroyed window, metallic arms with pincers snapping and clawing in all directions. Fear crawled inside of me. 

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Thomas next to the bed staring in horror at the Griever. Dawn had covered Newt's body when the glass had shattered. Because of it there were pieces of glass stuck in her leg, but it was clear she didn't care. Her eyes were fixed on the Griever, the knife which was covered in Gally's blood, was firm in her hand. Minho stood next to the door, ready to throw it open and run away. 

Then Gally spoke again, I stared numbly at him. My body was totally numb. Fear made me numb.

'No one ever understood!' He screamed over the horrible sounds of the Griever, which was still crunching its way deeper into the Homestead, ripping the wall to pieces. 

My heart beat was speeding up. 

'No one ever understood what the Changing did to me! Don't go back to the real world, Thomas! You...don't...want...to...remember!' Gally gave all us a long, haunted look and then did something that was going to give me nightmares forever.

He dove onto the big fat nasty body of the Griever. 

Thomas yelled and I heard Dawn gasp and finally my body woke up. I jumped up and ran forwards, grasping Gally his arm tightly in my hand. I started pulling, using every bit of strength I could find inside my bruised body. I didn't know why I did it and was sure I wouldn't be able to explain it later. All I knew was that he didn't deserve to die like this. 

But then the arms of the Griever came alive and threw me aside. 

I landed right in the glass shards and let out a pained scream as they pierced my skin. 

The Griever almost hugged Gally making escape or rescue impossible. He sank several inches into the squishy flesh of the Griever, making a horrified squelching sound. Then, with surprising speed, the Griever pushed itself back outside the shattered window. 

Thomas moved careful to the window and I slowly crawled after him, feeling a horrible urge to throw up.

The Griever was back on the ground and three others appeared next to it. They started moving across the Glade, Gally's body appearing and disappearing as the thing rolled forwards. The lights of the Griever shone brightly as it disappeared through the West Door. Followed by the other Grievers.

My stomach was squeezing together and my hands were fists while I stared outside the window.
I wanted to move away from the window when something caught my eye. Someone was sprinting after the Grievers. Minho, running on full speed, disappeared into the Maze.

I was about to scream at him when my stomach decided it was enough. Again it squeezed together and a choking sound escaped my mouth. I took a deep breath as I sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. I closed my eyes and bit my lip so I wouldn't cry or throw up. Slowly my eyes went over my body, scanning my injuries.

Slowly I forced myself to stand while leaning against the wall. When I finally stood I threw a quick glare at Dawn. She was staring with teary eyes back at me, her body still in a protective stand over Newt. 

'You need help,' she whispered, barely hearable. 

I didn't reply and instead made my way out of the room. I had no desire to spend anymore time in her presence than absolutely necessary, not until I had figured out how to talk to her without thinking about her wanting to die.

With my hand on the wall and my head dizzy I slowly made my way towards the infirmary. There were no Gladers in sight and the room was unharmed. I let out a shaky breath before reaching for the bandage and disinfectant. I tightly grabbed the table and pulled out the first glass shard.
A scream came up in my throat but I pushed it down as I reached for the next shard. There wasn't much harm done, luckily. 

Quickly I cleaned all the wounds before covering them with bandage.

The sight of Gally being sucked up inside of the Griever suddenly flashed before my eyes and then I couldn't hold it back anymore. As fast as I could I grabbed the nearest bucket and threw up. All of it came out of me, like I was getting rid of the poison of fear.

Silent tears ran down my cheek as my stomach slowly calmed down again. Then another thought struck me. 'Minho,' I gasped.

I dropped all the bloody bandages out of my hand and ran outside, my heart beating wildly in my chest and the tears still running down my cheeks.