The Maze Runner

The Homestead has never been shared by all of the Gladers at once, and the quarters are tight. Minho, Newt, Alby, and Thomas share a room upstairs and discuss what they need to do to defend themselves and escape the Maze. Newt says that the Creators must either want them dead or to push them into action, which Thomas agrees with. Minho says that he and the Runners are going to need to spend the night in the Maze to figure things out, but Alby, who has been unhelpful up until this point, adamantly refuses, saying that the move is too risky. Newt says he agrees with Minho, and Thomas says he is willing to stay out in the Maze as well. Alby seems unable to think clearly, and says that they have to make the decisions from now on. He does not want to give up control, but he does want to shift responsibility. Alby says he will go to the Map Room to look for patterns instead, but the others all say it is too dangerous. Despite their objections, however, Alby leaves. 

The Gladers try to get some sleep, though the sounds of the Grievers can be heard getting closer. Although he is afraid, Thomas eventually falls asleep. In the middle of the night, however, he is awakened by the sound of the Grievers nearby. Newt tells everyone to keep quiet, as the Grievers surround the Homestead. Newt and Thomas try to look outside, but they cannot see the Grievers. Thomas thinks he hears three or four Grievers, and hears them shred the wooden barriers the Gladers put in place, and move closer.  Thomas remembers being face to face with the creatures, and hears their metal appendages snapping open and closed. Just when the Grievers appear to be right outside the window, everything goes silent. Suddenly, the door from the hallway behind them flies open, and then Gally barges into the Homestead.

Gally’s clothes are in tatters and he shouts at the Gladers like a madman, saying that the Grievers will kill one person per night until everyone is dead. He walks up to Thomas, declares that everything is his fault, and then punches him. Though Newt pushes Gally off, he repeats that the Grievers will kill just one Glader a night, until everyone is dead. Gally then begins ripping the planks away from the window, hitting Newt in the head with one in the process and knocking him unconscious. As he pulls off a plank, a Griever squirms through the window. The Griever tries to attack Newt’s unconscious body, but Gally speaks and the Griever pauses. Gally says that none of them want to go back to their old lives, and that Thomas should stop trying to get back. He looks at Thomas, and then throws himself at the Griever, sacrificing himself. Thomas screams, and the Griever engulfs Gally before moving away and back towards the Maze. Watching the Grievers return to the Maze, Thomas sees someone running in the direction of the Grievers and the West Door, and realizes it is Minho. 

Thomas runs out of the Homestead and towards the West Door after Minho. As he hesitates, wondering if he should go into the Maze at night given what has just happened, Newt calls after him. Newt tells him not to go into the Maze and that Minho must have finally lost it. He also says that they have bigger problems, but before he can continue, Thomas sees Minho returning. Minho says that he just wanted to make sure that the Grievers did in fact go through the Griever Hole, which they did. When Thomas asks Newt what he meant by bigger problems, Newt points to the Map Room and informs him that someone has burned all of the Maps. Thomas is too worried about Teresa to think about the Maps, however, and leaves Minho and Newt to deal with the fire while he goes to the Slammer to check on her. He is shocked to find that she has slept through the entire ordeal. Teresa asks him what happened telepathically, and Thomas recounts the night’s events to her. After talking briefly about why the Grievers retreated after taking Gally, they start to discuss what Teresa said earlier about the Maze being a code. Thomas wonders if, instead of comparing maps of individual sections from different times, they should be comparing maps of different sections to one another. Teresa suggests that perhaps the Maze is trying to spell something. Thomas agrees, saying that up until now, they have always tried to decode the Maze like a map, instead of looking at it as a picture of something. Though he is elated by this new idea, Thomas quickly remembers what Newt has just told him: someone has destroyed all of the Maps.