The following two days were a blur to Hazel. After Nick's banishment, Minho had asked Hazel if she wanted to continue running in the maze with the other Runners, but Hazel declined his offer. So for the past two days Hazel helped the two Med-Jacks, Jeff and Clint, with managing the injured Gladers. She kept her brother company -during her breaks- on the day of Thomas's punishment, a one day sentence in the Slammer. And she spent the previous day with Newt, weeding the Gardens.

    Hazel woke up to a weak, lifeless light streaming through the cracks in the Homestead walls. Her first thought was that she had woken up earlier than she usually did, that dawn was still a couple hours away. But then she heard the shouts of the Gladers and she immediately knew that something was wrong. She looked out the window, through the curtains. The sky was a dull grey shade, not the natural pale light of the sunrise.

    Hazel, bolted upright, and looked to her left. And surprise, surprise, Newt was nowhere to be seen. Hazel jumped off the bed and walked towards the window, pushing the curtains aside. She craned her neck towards the heavens. There was no blueish hue, no orangey shade, not a single indication that dawn was approaching. Every last inch of the sky was a boring shade of grey. Colourless and dead.

    She looked down at her watch (the one that Minho gave to her incase the changed her mind about not wanting to be a Runner) and saw that it was almost an hour past her mandatory waking hours. The warm, bright light of the morning sun should've woken her up, had it done every morning. Hazel glanced back at the sky, half expecting it to magically change back to normal, as if it were a trick of the light.

    But it was all grey. Not a cloud in the sky, not a single hint of the early morning sun. Just plain, boring grey. The sun had completely disappeared.

    Hazel found most of the Gladers standing out in the open field, standing near the entrance of the Box, pointing at the dead sky, all the boys talking at once. She spotted Newt standing in the crowd.

    "What do you think happened?" asked Hazel as she approached him.
    "I don't know," answered Newt. "But whatever it is, it can't be good."
    "Where's Thomas?"
    "He left with Minho earlier."
    "Do you think they'll find anything new in the Maze today?"
    "I doubt it, but the Maze is unpredictable, anything could happen out there."

****

    Hazel saw Minho and Thomas run out of the Maze, headed for the Map Room. Newt and Alby then stood up and started walking towards the Map Room. Hazel stood up and followed the two boys. Minho and Thomas had just stepped out of the Map Room when Hazel caught up with the two leaders.

    "Hey," said Minho. "We were just-"
    "Get on with it." interrupted Alby. "Ain't got time to waste. Find anything? Anything at all?"
    Minho actually flinched at the harsh rebuke, but he looked more confused than angry to Hazel. Which was understandable. "Nice to see you, too. Yeah, we did find something, actually."

    Oddly enough, Alby almost looked disappointed. "Coz this whole shuck place is fallin' apart." He shot Thomas a nasty glare as if it were all his fault.
    What's wrong with him? thought Hazel, looking at their leader in annoyance.
    She glanced at Thomas and he gave her a look that said, "what's his problem?" "I don't know." mouthed Hazel, shaking her head.

    "What do you mean?" asked Minho. "What else happened while we were gone?"
    Newt answered for Alby, nodding towards the Box as he did so. "The bloody supplies didn't come today. Come every week for two years, same time, same day. But not today."
    All five of them looked over at steel doors attached to the ground.
    "Oh, we're shucked for good now." whispered Minho.

    "No sun for plants," said Newt. "No supplies from the bloody Box. Yeah, I'd say we're shucked, all right."
    "Yeah, anyway," continued Minho. "We found something weird."
    "It's the shuckin' Maze. There's nothing normal about it." mumbled Hazel.
    Newt raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What?"
    Minho took awhile, but he managed to explain that they'd found a Griever, followed it to a weird portal-like hole.

    "Must lead to where the... ya know... Grievers live." said Minho, finishing his explanation.
    "The Griever hole." added Thomas. The three boys looked at Hazel's brother, annoyed, as if him speaking was a crime.
    "I gotta bloody see that for myself." said Newt. Then he murmured, "Hard to believe."
    "I take it back, Minho." said Hazel, interrupting the boys' conversation. The four boys looked at Hazel in confusion.

    "I'll be joining you guys in the Maze tomorrow, I wanna check out this... "Griever hole", that you guys found." continued Hazel, smiling at her brother.
    Newt opened his mouth to protest but a commotion outside the Homestead shifted their attention away from the conversation. A group of Gladers stood at the front door of the house. Chuck was in the group, and when he saw Hazel and the others he ran over, a look of excitement on his face.

    "What's going on?" Newt asked the younger boy.
    "It's the girl!" yelled Chuck. "She's awake!"
    Hazel's stomach lurched. The girl. The girl who spoke in her head was awake. Hazel wanted to run away from the group before it happened again, before the girl, Teresa, spoke to her in her mind.

    But it was too late.

    I don't know any of these people. Come and get me! It's all fading... I'm forgetting everything but... I have to tell you th... it's all fading...

    Hazel couldn't understand how she did it, but Teresa was in her head.
Teresa paused then said something that made no sense.

    The Maze is a code... The Maze is a code.

****

    Hazel didn't want to see the girl. She didn't want to see anyone.
    But as soon as Newt and the others set off to talk to the girl, Hazel silently slipped away, hoping that no one would notice her in all the excitement. She slowly walked away from the group, then, sprinted as fast as he could, headed for her favourite hideaway, the Deadheads. Little did she know that she wasn't alone.

    She stopped and collapsed against a tall tree, catching her breath. Somehow, it seemed like a way to hide from Teresa's voice. A few seconds passed, then Hazel heard voices.
    Hazel peered past the tree, where the noise had came from and saw Teresa, talking to her brother.
    "Yeah, we're messed up." said the girl. "And I'm scared."
    "So am I, trust me." replied Thomas.
    "How...? How did you talk to me inside my mind?" asked Thomas.

    Hazel almost gasped. Thomas could hear the girl's voice too. So she wasn't going crazy. Hazel sighed in relief, slowly backing away, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping on their conversation. Hazel almost screamed when she felt someone's arms snake around her waist.
    "Calm down, Hazel! It's just me." said Newt. Alby and a few other Gladers were right behind him.

    "You scared me!" whisper-yelled Hazel, smacking Newt on the chest.
    "Sorry, we were just looking for the girl. What are you doing here anyway?" asked Newt, letting go of her.
    "Uhh..." trailed Hazel. "I was just-"
    "Wait, I think I hear something." interrupted Newt, shushing her.
    "Follow me." said Newt, walking towards the place where Hazel last saw her brother and Teresa.

    "How in the...?" said Newt as he pulled up in front of them. Newt looked at Teresa. "How'd you get here? Med-Jacks said that you were there one second and bugging' gone the next."
    Teresa stood up. "Guess he forgot to tell you the part about me kicking him in the groin and climbing out the window."

    You go gurl, thought Hazel, smiling to herself. She could tell that she would be good friends with this girl.

    Hazel almost burst out laughing as Newt turned to face Jeff, whose face had turned beat red.

    "Congrats, Jeff." said Newt. "You're officially the first guy."
    Hazel coughed, giving Newt a look.
    "Sorry, second guy to here to get your butt beat by a girl." corrected Newt, rolling his eyes.
    Teresa didn't stop. "Keep talkin' like that and you'll be next."
    At that, Hazel burst out laughing, at the conner of her eye, she saw Teresa's lips curl upwards to form a small smile.

    "Sorry." coughed Hazel when she saw the look that Newt was giving her.
    Alby stepped up. "I'm sick of this." He pointed at Thomas chest. "I wanna know who you are, who this shank is, and how you two know each other."
Thomas almost wilted. "Alby, I swear-"
    "She came straight to you after waking up, shuck-face!"
    Hazel glanced at her brother worriedly.

    "So what?" retorted Thomas, almost angrily. "I know her, she knows me- or at least, we used to. That doesn't mean anything! I can remember anything. And neither can she."
    Alby looked at Teresa. "What did you do?"
    Hazel, confused by the question glanced at Teresa to see if she knew what he meant. But if she did, she didn't say so.
    "What did you do?" screamed Alby, his face red. "First the sky, now this."

    "I triggered something," replied the girl calmly. "Not on purpose, I swear. The Ending. I don't know what it is or what it means."
    How the shuck is she staying so calm? And what is Alby even talking about? wondered Hazel.
    As usual, Thomas voiced her thoughts. "What's wrong, Newt? What happened?"

    Alby then grabbed Thomas by his shirt. "What happened? I'll tell ya what happened, shank. Too busy makin' lovey eyes to notice what freaking time it is?"
    Hazel looked down at her watch, realising with horror what she'd missed, knowing what Alby meant before he even said it.
    "The walls, you shuck. The Doors. They didn't close tonight."

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Cliffhanger... I hope you guys liked this chapter, it took me wayyyyy too long to write it. It's probably coz this chapter has 1600+ words. I stayed up till 3 am updating this chapter *yawn* yeah... I should probably get some sleep XD I'm pretty sure I only got five or six hours of sleep last night. So, peace out, guys! ✌

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