× It's a long one- sorry × 

I groaned, or tried to, slowly rolling onto my back I watched my world spin until everything was black. I must have passed out. Or maybe I was dead, but the next time I opened my eyes She was standing beside me.

Her big brown eyes and unruly curls tumbled down her shoulders. She just looked at me and walked away, she crouched down beside another boy.

"Come on. Time to go." She said quietly and took his hand in her teeny tiny one. I watched as he got up. She smiled up at him.

"That way." She pointed. He nodded and walked away.

I watched her do the same thing to another boy.

"What are you doing?" I managed to mumble.

"It's their time." She answered. "I hold their hands."

She came back to me and looked down. Her big sweet brown eyes, so much like Chuck's, her squishy baby face, I felt tears running down my face.

"I'm sorry." I whispered through hiccups.

Her little head cocked to the side, she looked at me with confusion.

"It's not your time yet." She whispered.

She turned her back on me and walked away grabbing the hand of another boy. My throbbing head was like a constant beat. Like footsteps slapping the stone floor. My eyes fluttered closed, the constant throbbing got louder and more frantic. Something roughly grab me. My sore throbbing head was shaken around. With difficulty I slid my eyes opy to see what was happening.

Gally was crouched beside me. His steel blue eyes looked worried and confused and relieved all together.

"Jessie! Jessie, are you okay?"

"What?" I groaned. "What are you doing here?" My words sleering together.

"Oh thank Shuck! Your the only one not dead!"

"What? You're... you're here? What?"

"They had me. They were whispering in my head. I couldn't make it stop!" He sounded freaked out but his voice was even and quiet and slightly shaky like it was way back in the forest after his panic attack.

"Gally?" I couldn't wrap my head around the fact he was here.

"Ya Jess. I would have come...but they had me. I couldn't stop. Like I was sleeping or lost in fog or something. I still don't like Thomas, but I wanted out."

My head was spinning so much I felt sick. Gally helped sit me up. I grabbed onto his arm to keep from collapsing back down.

"You still have that tracker thing?"

"No. They used it to get out." I answered. I had to hold my head to keep myself stable.

"They used both?"

I opened my mouth and then closed it. They didn't, only the one. I still had the cylinder for section four.

"Gally! Backpack." I demanded. My head hurt too much to move. "Section four cylinder."

I felt him rummaging through.

"So who had a gun?"

"What?"

"A gun? Who had it?"

"Uhhh Tess." I answered, "why?"

"I found an empty one on the bridge- ah found it!"

He came back around kneeling in front of me.

"We split it. She had the gun. I have the magazine, didn't want a psycho running around with a loaded gun. Now help me up. We have a long walk through the maze."

"Jeeze even with a concussion you're bossy." He rolled his eyes, but helped pull me up.

"Whoa." I gasped holding my head and clamping my eyes closed. Gally let me take a moment to let the dizzy spell pass. "Okay to section four."

"Why? Just take the tunnel."

"What tunnel?"

"The... tunnel...under...well shuck." He said slowly. I watched as his eyes went wide. "When I was gone for those few days. They had my mind, but I still remember everything. There's a tunnel, it leads to all the sections, it's underneath. And those drop offs aren't as deep as you think. It's an illusion."

"What the actual fuck?!"

Gally slid a hand around my back and helped me over to the edge of the cliff. He set me down and then without another word he jumped over the side. I gasped, ready to reach a hand out and cry out him. But he didn't fall like I expected him to.

"Okay, it's not a far drop, I'll help you down." His voice called.

My brain couldn't handle it, it was sparking and short circuiting.

All of a sudden his hand was there, just floating in the black nothingness.

"What- and I can't stress this enough- the fuck?"

"It's weird all right. But come on."

I clamped my eyes closed for a second and then slowly worked my way to the edge. My stomach felt like throwing up. I had my legs dangling over the edge and yelped when I felt hands on my knees.

"Sorry. I know you don't like people touching you. But if I let you do this yourself, with that head, your going to break something. Now come on. Slid down and I'll help."

"This is so weird." I muttered.

But did as Gally said. I reached down into nothingness and I felt his hands, he slowly lowered me down to stand beside him. We were standing in a cement trench. It went the length of the supposed bridge and it was only about six feet deep, maybe a bit more if I couldn't see Gally's head.

"This way."

He turned and right behind us was a large cement circular tunnel. It was covered in slim and huge long thin gauges made from Grievers.

"This is how they get from section to section so fast. Well I'll be damned." I didn't think my brain could handle much more.

"The faster me move the faster were out of here."

"Good point. Backpack, there's a flashlight."

He rummaged around my bag and pulled a ashlihht out. Again Gally helped me, it was dark and slippery. But he seemed to know where he was going, but I was a straight tunnel. At one point there was a break in the cement, replaced my a large slab of stone.

"It shifts and opens a damn hole big enough for a Griever!" I gasped. I was slowly getting the picture.

"They really were just messing with us."

"Sick twisted bast-"

"It's beeping." Gally announced cutting my cursing.

"It does that when your close. It's like a tracking beacon."

We walked further down the tunnel, and the beeping increased. We stopped and I  looked around.

"This is the freaking cliff!"

I walked through the big opening. It was just like the trench in seven with the bridge, but this had a gap and then a solid wall that would slide open. Gally followed, making the beeping a continuous noise. He stood beside me and held the cylinder up. A red light flicked on and scanned up and down. It beeped and turned off. The silence was split by the stone on stone grinding. The door opened reveling an opening just big enough for a Griever to squeeze through.

"Not as big." He said dryly.

"No. Jason said it was small. But how we couldn't hear this door opening. So weird."

Gally gave me a boost and I pulled myself up and into the tunnel. Gally backed up and with a running start jumped and grabbed the edge and pulled himself up. Together we turned his flashlight beam showed another door. On the walls there was a computer screen, and it was blinking.

Jason said it needed words, but the only thing on the screen was a circle containing numbers one through ten. Was it another illusion? Or did they switch the screen? Did it change constantly? Who knows and at the moment I didn't care. Gally walked up frowning.

"We need a code?"

"Maze pattern."

"What?"

"The sequence of the maze, it changed every night. Each section would change, making it harder to figure out. But it didn't go in order of one to ten." I explained as I typed the number pattern in. The door at the end beeped and slid open.

"After you." I swept my arm forwards.

"Me? So if a Griever comes down it eats me first?"

"Yeah. Duh."

He rolled his eyes and we slowly walked towards the bright opening. Holding a hand up to block the light I slowly and cautiously stepped into the bright hall. Unlike the others, this was spacious and dry. Cement walls and floor. Yellow arrows pointing in one direction, pipes and tubes lined the wall and celling. Flickering florescent lights were spaced apart on the ceiling.

"Which way?" Gally asked.

I pointed, "how about there?"

He looked where I was pointing.

"Are you shucken serious?"

There was a big rusty metal door a ways down. Above the door was a neon green sign that was flashing "EXIT" mockingly at me. I had spent more than three years trying to find a way out, a way home, and here was a nice big EXIT sign.

"The irony is real."

Walking towards it my stomach twisted. We had to find Minho and the others. Gally reached out a shaking hand and twisted the handle. For a rusty door, it swung open with ease.

The loud blaring sound of an alarm hit my ears first. After the silence of the dark hall, the noise seemed even louder. Wincing, I stepped through the door. I held my hands over my ears, the wailing alarm made my head hurt more. My feet crunched on broken glass. All around me was broken glass, sparking wires, and flashing lights. That's not what shocked me. What surprised me were the dead bodies.

Men and women in white lab coats laying in pools of blood. People in black uniforms and masks, shot in the chest and head. Gally walked cautiously inside after me. He looked around eyes wide and surprised.

"What happened?"

"Someone got here before me and got to kill all the fucken Designers!" I growled.

"Looks like they were attacked. But who are the guys in black? Do they work for the Creators? Or are they the attacking group?"

"I don't care. Someone killed the Designers before I got to!"

The further we walked in the more confused I got. Computer screens smashed, and broken, bullet holes in the walls, lights flickered, papers were scattered on the floor; it was a mess. There was a door at the end of the room.

"Gal, look at this."

I walked over and pulled the door open. Pain exploded in my head and radiated down my spine. I crumpled to the ground and my world went black.

•×•

I slowly came back around. My eyesight was fuzzy, my head was pounding, every muscle in my body screamed to lay down. Every joint hurt, even my eyelids.

I didn't remember what happened. I opened a door and then nothing. I groaned and tried to move. My hands were tied and I was being carried.

Blinking hard I tried to look around. It was a bright hall half cement and half bright white that looked plastic. I heard a grunt and I was placed on my feet. I tested and rocked. My legs gave out, a strong arm held me from falling. I tried to look but my head exploded in pain. But I think it was Gally. I tried to talk, but only now realized my mouth was gaged. I groaned again. He ignored me.

A door slid open. He forced me forwards, his hand had ahold of my hair. And something cold and metal held to my temple.

"What do we do?"

I knew that voice.

"I dunno. She said we were important."

I know that voice too!

"Let's get out of here!"

And that one! We found the rest of the guys. Gally yanked me forwards again. Why was he doing this? He was just fine a moment before. He was kind and helpful. He wanted out just as much as me. But now...what's going on?

"NO!"

He yelled making me flinch. We were standing in a similar room, dead bodies in white and black. Smashed screens and bullet holes everywhere. Everyone stopped and turned.

"Gally?"

"Jessie?"

"Jessie!"

"What's going on?"

"Was he stung?"

"What again?"

There were too many voices. Too many all overlapping together and it made my head hurt more. A whimper escaped and I hung my head, closing my eyes for a second.

"We can't leave." He raised the gun and jammed it into my temple, making my head tilt sideways. And then he held it out towards Thomas. Everyone was frozen. No one moved, no one made a sound.

"Where the bloody hell did he get a gun from?!" Newt muttered.

I saw Teresa reach for her hip and then gasped. Her eyes met mine and I just nodded once. I saw her face tighten in worry.

Not a cool way to die.

His hand was shaking. I couldn't see his face properly, he had forced me to my knees, which was probably a good thing, my legs weren't going to hold me much longer, not with how hard my world was rocking and twisting. I lifted my tied hands and yanked the gage out of my mouth.

"We did. Gally, we're out. We're free." Thomas tried to reason, holding his hand out, trying to calm Gally, it just made it worse.

"FREE?" Gally's chest was heaving, I could feel his breath as he exhaled. "You think we're free out there? No. No, there's no escape from this place!"

"Gally, listen to me. You're not thinking straight. You're not." Thomas tried again, slowly stepping forward trying to reason with him. "Now, we can help you."

"Mind control." I whispered.

"Just put the gun down."

"Gally. Snap out of it!" I cried as he yanked my hair back.

"I belong to the maze." Gally cried.

"Just put down the gun." Thomas pleaded again.

My fuzzy unfocused eyes found Minho. He looked cold and calculating. His jaw was set and every muscle in his body was tense. His eyes softened slightly when he met my eyes.

"We belong to the maze. We all do." Sobbed Gally.

I could feel tremors in his hand. The gun kept switching between Thomas and myself. He was crying harder.

"Fight it Gally, I know you can, fight those bastards." I said quietly, my eyes snapping up to him. His eyes uncleared just for a moment.

There was a loud crack and then I was violently tugged backwards. The loud bang echoing off the walls. I scrambled to sit up. Gally had a spear sticking out of his chest. He had collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. His broken eyes found mine. A tear fell down his cheek.

"I...tried..." He breathed, and then he fell forward, his eyes loosing the spark of life.

"Jessie? Thomas?" Said a small voice. 

"Oh, shuck! Shuck!" Thomas yelled as Chuck collapsed. Thomas caught him, and helped him to the floor. I struggled to get up, my hands were still tied. Minho had shoved his way over and dropped to his knees, ripping at the rope around my wrists.

"Jessie?" He asked, "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Talk to me!"

"Chuck?" I whispered, confused. Why was Thomas holding Chuck. And then I saw the blood was bubbling up and gushing all over the floor and all over Thomas. Gally had pulled the trigger and the bullet had ripped through his chest. 

"NO!" I screamed, I shoved my way out of Minho's arms and over to Chuck. 

"Look at me, look at me! Chuck!" I called, pressed my hands over the wound, putting pressure.

"Oh, shuck! Chuck, look at me, all right?" Thomas called, his voice breaking.

"Baby Shank, hold on. Please hold on. Just hang on. It's okay." I was saying. It was an automatic response, I knew better. My head knew this was a wound was fatel. There was no coming back from this one. But my heart wouldn't listen.

"Thomas, Thomas... Jessie.?"

"Ya, ya Baby Shank., I'm here. We're here." my voice was raw. 

It was hard to see, my eyes were burning. Chuck was coughing, blood trickled over his chin. His shaky hands tried to grab his bag. Teresa had dropped down and was fumbling with the zipper. 

"The...bear..." He coughed. 

"No, Chuck. That's yours! I gave it to you! I promised! I promised! Please..no!" I sobbed. Teresa handed the teddy bear to Chuck, who, with shaking hands pressed it back into mine. 

"Chuck! Please, no! O promised to take care of you!" I sobbed. I had stopped trying to apply pressure to his wound, his blood was all over her and the floor now. I was holding the bear tight to my chest and one hand cupping his chubby baby face in her blood soaked hands.

"Take...it" he wheezed. Coughing again, splattering me with fresh blood.

"No. Chuck, I can't! I made you a promise!"

"Please..Jessie..Please!"

I looked up at Thomas who was crying. Chuck rolled his head to look at Thomas.

"Thank you. For being my friend." His voice was quiet. He gasped for air, and then started coughing, choking on his own blood. I choked on a sob. He looked back at me. 

"It's his time." A small voice said. 

I blinked, She was sitting on her knees beside Chuck. 

"I tried! I tried!" I sobbed. "I broke another promise. I failed."

Her big brown eyes looked up to me, they were big and sad and she shook her head, making her curls bounce. 

"No. Not your fault. It was his time."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I whispered between choaked sobs.

I looked back  to Chuck. He was looking directly at Her.  A ghost of a smile on his chubby little child's face. 

"Saddie!" He breathed. She smiled at him. 

"Hi, Chuckles. It's time to go." She held her hand out for Chuck to take. He turned his head back to me,  "Thank..you Jessie."

"I love you Chuck! I love you! I'm sorry!"

 "I love...yo..."

"No! Chuck? CHUCK! I love you too! Chuck? Chucky? No! I promised! Come back! Please!" I was yelled, shaking him with one hand.

"CHUCK!" She screamed.

"It's time to go." Saddie said, she had Chucks hand in hers. 

"Where are we going?"

"The next great adventure, big brother." 

They slowly walked away, I clamped my eyes closed, shaking my head violently. When I opened them aging, they were gone. I looked now at Chuck's body. His eyes were vacant. All his happy bubbly life was gone. His childhood was violently ripped away. I had failed. I had broken my promise to her, to Saddie. I laid my head on his blood soaked chest and sobbed, holding their teddy bear to my chest. I let out a gut wrenching scream, deep from inside her broken heart.

"Chuck. Chuck? Hey. Hey, Chuck, come on! Come on, wake up! Damn it!" Thomas yelled, trying to shake him awake.

"Jessie!" An urgent voice said behind her.

There was commotion around the two kneeling kids on the floor trying to wake up the youngest Glader.

"Chuck! Get up, Chuck! Come on!" Thomas was sobbing.

"JESSIE!"

"TOMMY!"

A hand grabbed my upper arm and pulled. Her heart was broken. And there was no fixing it. No amount of glue was going to piece that together. This is what happens when I open my doors to my heart, when i let people in, they leave. They always leave. I had nothing left inside me, I did move, I stayed hunched over Chuck's lifeless little body. I knew he was gone, I had watched his spirit leave hand in hand with his baby sister, but I didn't want to believe it. This time a voice spoke right beside her.

"Jess. Hey, Jessie. We need to go! They are trying to help us get out. Come on!"

Minho held my sore and bloody face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. I didn't say anything, but let him drag me away from Chuck's lifeless body. I kept my eyes on him until I couldn't see him anymore. 

The outside hit me like a brick wall. The sun was bright, hot and harsh. The sand everywhere was scratchy, coarse and stung the skin when it was blown around. I stumbled when my feet hit the sand. I would have fallen, but Minho and someone in black with a bandanna kept me on my feet. The guy in black was pushing me towards two huge helicopters.  I felt like I was in a daze, trapped in a fog, my entire body felt numb. 

I had no idea who these guys in black were or where they came from or why they had helicopters. Why where they here?

Minho made it to the helicopter first. He picked me up and placed me inside. Winston grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back. Teresa was already on the helicopter, along with Newt and Frypan. Minho climbed on and everyone scrambled to the back and clumped together. Thomas was the last one on. Another guy with a big black gun strapped to his chest climbed inside and slammed the door shut. He knocked on the pilot's window and made a twisting motion with his hand. The helicopter took off, rising into the air, following behind another big black helicopter.

The man pulled his helmet off and his bandanna down, looking at me and the other Gladers.

"You kids all right? Don't worry, you're safe now. Everything is going to change!" He hollered over the noise of the helicopter blades. 

As they got higher into the air everyone peered out the window. What I saw made my jaw hit the floor. It was The Maze, from a bird's eye perspective. From up in the sky the Glade seemed so small. I could make out all the buildings. Everything was still smoking. And the maze itself was huge. So complicated, all the walls and twists and turns. From up in the sky, there really was no way out. I saw a second Maze, my first maze right beside it, they interlocked in the one section, section four. I knew there was a wall that connected them. I still had no idea if I was meant to end up in the boys maze or if it was a mistake. 

 I sat back down, wincing. My body hurt. Her head was pounding. And her heart was broken.

Another few tears leaked out of my clamped eyelids. Strong arms pulled her over, and she could feel someone readjusting their sitting position. Minho was now sitting behind her. Teresa crawled over and held her hand. Winston scootched closer. Frypan had laid his head on the window, still looking at the birds eye view of everything. Thomas was staring wide eyed at nothing. Newt moved closer to Thomas and reached for his hand. Minho gently turned me and pulled me back so I was leaning into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and laid his forehead on top of my head.

"We're out...we're free. I love you Jessie, so much. I wanna take you on a proper date and grow super old with you." He whispered into my hair. 

I clutched the teddy bear tight, and despite my heartache and grief, I had a ghost of a smile.

•×•

The woman sat down at a long board meeting table, wiping the remnants of fake blood off her forehead.

"I think it's safe to say the Maze Trials were a complete success. I wasn't expecting so many survivors, but...the more the merrier. Thomas continues to surprise and impress. And for now, they seem to have taken the bait. It's too soon to say...but they could be the key to everything. So let's move forward. It's time now to begin Phase Two." She turned her chair to face the two huge men behind her. 

"Keep a close eye on the girls. I want both of them...reassessed. Not at the same time. But let him know they are on their way." 

The blond man nodded sharply. 

•×•

× The end of Book 1 ×