The other thing, was the two syringes. 

Teresa found them both in her pocket. Brandished with the same four letters as their supplies - WCKD - there was no indication as to what they should be used for, but it looked as though they were supposed to aid them medically in someway. 

Thomas and Ada came to the conclusion they should use one on Alby.

Newt looked apprehensive, rolling the unknown syringe between his fingers with a heightened amount of suspicion. Thomas was desperately attempting to persuade him, with the blonde clearly wishing he had Alby as a second opinion to help him out.

But, considering they were suggesting using the syringe on Alby, it would be entirely impossible for that to happen. Alby was writhing on his back, black veins thick and running across his body, his face twisted in pain.

"We don't even know what this stuff is. We don't know who sent it, why it came up here with you. I mean, for all we know, this thing could kill him."

"He's already dying." Thomas argued in return, and Ada looked to their bed-bound leader once again, only becoming more certain that they had to give him the syringe. "How could this possibly make it any worse?"

Ada caught sight of Newt looking at her then, his expression asking her for help. He was conflicted, clearly, and considering he hadn't known Thomas for long, he wanted the encouragement of someone he had known for longer.

"I think we need to find out what those syringes do." She said quietly, to Newt's stare. "They were with Teresa for a reason. They had to be."

That's what made Newt cave.

"Alright. Do it."

Newt handed the syringe back to Thomas, who in an instant had moved around the boy and to Alby's bedside. Clint and Jeff were watching on the side-lines, curious as to what the mysterious syringe would do. Ada wondered briefly why it wasn't one of them administering it.

Thomas hovered over the boy then, faltering slightly, and giving the others watching him the opportunity to creep closer to the bedside. Ada felt Newt close beside her, his figure tense as she'd expect; after all this was one of his best friends they were experimenting on.

"Okay,"

Just as Thomas poised himself to inject Alby, the boy seemed to have woken from his unconsciousness. The whites of his eyes had vanished, leaving an empty black glint in its place, exuding anger. He grabbed the front of Thomas' shirt aggressively, screeching and wrestling with him and beginning to shout,

"You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't be here!"

Newt and Jeff moved to pull Thomas from Alby's grasp, with Ada only being able to watch on fearfully. Eventually, Newt managed to prise Alby's hand from the other boy, and the girl leapt forwards to pin it down to the bed so he was unable to move it. Teresa rushed forwards when his other hand was pinned down, and punctured his chest with the syringe.

Immediately, the boy exhaled and fell still. The others were left with heaving chests and panicked thoughts as they watched their leader fall into unconsciousness, shaken from the events.

"Well, that worked." Jeff muttered, not sounding as pleased as they all initially expected.

"Okay, from now on," Newt's voice cracked as he spoke, but Ada decided that due to the circumstances, she wouldn't comment on it. "Someone stays here and watches him - around the clock."

Gally wandered through the doorway then, oblivious to what had happened. It seemed like an unspoken thing between those who had witnessed it: to just keep it hidden from Gally. The boy already hated Thomas enough, he didn't need more fuel for the fire.

"Sundown Greenie." He called to Thomas, barely able to meet the boy's eyes. "Time to go."

Of course that's why he's here. To make sure Thomas was getting punished.

They were all silent as Thomas left with Gally, the Builder sending Ada a glance that she firmly ignored. She was awful at lying to him, and although she wanted to keep the previous event from him for Thomas' sake, she knew he'd ask about what was going on with Alby. She wasn't sure she'd be able to withhold what happened.

What did Alby mean about Thomas when he said he shouldn't be here? Why Thomas?

"Hey Greenie."

Ada teased Thomas with the nickname that Gally still used for the boy as she appeared in front of the bars of the Slammer later that night. She had passed the Builder in going to visit Thomas, earning a questioning - and jealous - glance from him but surprisingly, no words of curiosity.

Thomas merely just smiled back at her, almost missing the sandwich that she subtly held out through the bars. She was met with a wave of deja vu, specifically Thomas' first day in the Glade in which she brought him a sandwich. With this at the forefront of her mind, she let herself pine about the nostalgia it brought to her, as Thomas munched gratefully on the food.

"Simpler times, eh? We seemed to have come full circle."

"Yeah, except Gally hates me more now."

She chuckled at that comment, but couldn't help pondering it deeper in her mind. Their little dispute had already caused a rift in the Glade, which seemed to be growing as time went on and as Gally's disliking to the boy increased.

"I'll talk to him, sort out his little grudge." She told him nonchalantly, but it was clearly not going to be solved that easily.

"I don't know what it is that he hates so much about me. I get that he's confused, about Teresa recognising me, and he's angry about me running into the Maze, but..." Thomas shrugged then, and Ada couldn't help but think he looked so helpless. "He's so hostile."

Ada knew Gally better than anyone. She knew exactly why.

He was scared, beyond belief. More scared than anyone else in the Glade. 

Thomas was changing things, and Gally wasn't used to being so out of control, so uncertain. He hadn't felt like that since he arrived in the Glade, and he definitely didn't want to return to that. Why would be want to lose the control and the strength he already had?

Just as Ada would keep Thomas' secrets a secret - the visions, and the fact he did recognise Teresa- she would do the same for Gally. Even if the boy in question didn't know it was a secret she was in on.

So she mumbled in reply, "Yeah, I don't know."

Ada was careful to catch Minho and the newly appointed Runner before they left the Maze next day. She offered to let Frypan have a lie in, making the sandwiches for the Runners' lunches herself and waving the two boys off.

"Be careful, please."

She forced Minho's eyes to stay on hers as she handed him his lunch, and when the boy squeezed her hands reassuringly, she did feel a little comforted. She trusted the Keeper of the Runners, but things were getting scarier now. Who knows what dangers they could find?

"We will. I promise."

They were late in coming back that evening.

The echo of Minho's promise rang loudly in Ada's mind as she gathered with the other Gladers in front of the Maze. She had no doubts about the boys handling another night in the Maze, but she'd much prefer it if they were in the safety of the Glade.

And when they finally did return, no matter how angry Ada may have been for Minho nearly breaking his promise, she was more relieved that they were safe.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Newt asked in bemusement. The girl looked at him quick enough to catch him glancing up from his watch.

"What the hell have you done now, Thomas?"

Gally's attempts to aggravate Thomas went unnoticed, or at least, ignored. The Runner was far too invested in what he and Minho had discovered to bother with Gally's usual antics.

Despite Thomas explaining that he and Minho had found something new - after years of Minho finding nothing - Gally's irritancy seemed only to grow. Ada found herself chuckling at Chuck's hesitance of wanting to go into the 'Grievers' home', knowing that if Gally wasn't so angry, he would've found it funny too.

"Their way in could be our way out." Thomas suggested, his eyes flitting to where Ada was walking alongside him and the rest of the group. 

"They had to have come from somewhere. If we figure out where," Ada paused, shrugging, and feeling a bubble of excitement in her stomach. "then we may be able to escape."

Gally's vision flashed red when he saw Thomas grinning back at Ada, and although the prospect of leaving the Maze excited a tiny part of him very deep down, he could only respond in anger. That's the only way he seemed to know how to respond to practically anything Thomas said or did.

When Thomas whirled around to begin fighting back for once, Ada could sense trouble stirring. She weaved past the Gladers merely just watching the two boys arguing, and placing a hand on Gally's shoulder she interjected her between the pair; physically.

"Let's all calm down, shall we?" She asked breezily, although it seemed more like a command rather than a request.

Turning to Gally, she squeezed his shoulder and leaned in close to whisper in his ear, "Getting angry doesn't help anyone." She remembered that she had promised Thomas she would talk to Gally about his vendetta against him.

Despite her best efforts to keep what she said quiet, Gally seemed to have other ideas. He pulled away from where her hand still lingered on him, and pointed a finger in Thomas' face.

"Yeah, well I am angry. I'm angry, because as usual, Thomas has no idea-"

"-Hey!" Teresa's voice cut in like a knife, and Ada had never felt more grateful for the interruption. "Alby's awake."

Newt was first to move after Teresa's retreating figure, but quickly Ada snapped out of her Gally/Thomas panic and was able to follow swiftly after. The hut had a different aura than the angry tension outside: instead just holding what felt like emptiness, and despair.

Alby was hunched on the edge of his bed, facing away from everyone, his eyes fixed on a point on the wall. His skin no longer had the prominent veins spreading over it, and Ada guessed that Thomas noticed it too, because she could see he glanced at her out of the corner of her eye.

The girl found herself hanging back from the bed, instead just watching as Newt and Thomas approached the fearful boy who seemed to be spooked by any sudden movements. After a moment, Gally had settled by her side, arm brushing against hers in a silent apology for snapping at Thomas.

"Alby, you okay?"

"We may have just found a way out..."

Alby was unresponsive as Newt and Thomas tried to talk to him, so the girl found her eyes drawing across the room and the backs of her friends to her. She felt herself tense when she looked to Minho's watch, catching in the light.

The doors should've shut by now. There was no way she would've missed it, the voices in the room being spoken barely above a whisper couldn't compete with the rumbling echo of the hundred foot stone walls. 

Her feet moved before her mind could comprehend it. Sure enough, the sky was a blanket of navy blue, signalling night fall, and the Maze doors were still wide open. They didn't seem like they'd shut any time soon.

"Guys!"

She didn't know if her yelling was interrupting anything important, but at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care. A fierce panic was coursing through her veins and infecting her entire body. The Maze walls were always restricting, limiting, ugly. But at least they were protected by them.

And now, there was nothing between them and the Grievers for the night.