Chapter 22 Chapter 22: The Ghost Returning from the Graveyard

Half an hour passed. Thomas and Minho didn't even move. Thomas finally stopped crying, wondering what Minho would think of him, if he would call him a sissy, and tell others about his crying.But he completely lost self-control, and the tears couldn't stop falling, and he knew it himself.Even with the memory loss, he knew he had just had the worst night of his life.My hands were sore and sore, and I was so tired that I collapsed. He climbed to the edge of the cliff again, and when dawn had come, he put his head out to get a better view.The open sky was now a deep purple, slowly fading to the bright blue of day.On the distant horizon, the sun casts an orange glow.

He stared down and saw that the high walls of the maze extended vertically into the ground until they were completely out of sight.It was full daylight, but he still couldn't make out what was below.All that is known is that the labyrinth seems to be built on a block several miles above the ground. But this is impossible.He thought to himself, it's completely impossible, it must be an illusion. He rolled over and lay on the ground - just doing this made him feel sick.The pain inside and outside his body erupted together, and he didn't feel it until this moment.Fortunately, the wall door will be opened soon, and they will be able to return to the clearing.Look at Minho not far away—huddled up, leaning against the wall by the corridor. "I can't believe we're still alive," Thomas said.

Minho didn't say a word, just nodded expressionlessly. "How many ghost fire beasts are there? Are they all killed by us?" Minho scoffed. "Fortunately, we lasted until dawn, otherwise, there would be at least ten ghost fire beasts chasing our butts in a short time." He moved his body, and his expression changed in pain, "I can't believe it, really. We are actually here Stayed up here all night and this has never happened." Thomas knew he should be proud of his bravery, but he felt tired and unspeakably relieved. "What are we doing differently than the people before us?"

"I don't know, it's kind of hard to ask a dead person." Thomas couldn't help wondering why the angry roars of the Griever disappeared completely after falling off the cliff, and why he didn't see the whole process of them falling to death.It was strange, and he was a little uneasy. "They appear to have disappeared after falling off the cliff." "Yeah, kind of weird. One of us thought they were missing, but that guess turned out to be wrong." Minho threw a rock down the cliff, Thomas kept his eyes on it.The stone fell and fell, never leaving his sight.until too small to see.He turned and looked at Minho: "How can this prove that they were wrong?"

Minho shrugged. "Look, the stone didn't disappear this time, did it?" "So what do you think happened?" Thomas could sense that the answer to that question was crucial. Minho shrugged again. "Maybe they were created by magic. My head hurts too much to think." Suddenly, all thoughts of the cliff were gone, and Thomas thought of Alby. "We have to go back quickly." He struggled to get up from the ground, "Get Alby off the wall." Minho was puzzled, Thomas explained his method of placing Alby in a few words. Minho's eyes drooped, his expression sad. "There's no way he's still alive."

Thomas didn't want to believe it. "How do you know? Come on." He limped back down the aisle. "No one has ever survived before..." His voice was getting lower and lower, and Thomas knew what he was thinking. "That's because they were killed by the Griever before they were seen. Alby just got stung, didn't he?" Minho got up from the ground, and walked back slowly with Thomas. "I don't know either, it's never happened before. A few of us got stung during the day and got serum and went through a catastrophic phase. And poor Shenk was stuck in the maze all night for a few days We found them later—and that was when we were lucky, and sometimes the bodies were never found at all. They died in such a miserable state that you don’t want to know.”

Thomas shuddered. "After such a night, I can probably imagine how they died." Minho looked up, his face full of surprise. "You were right, we were wrong—hope we were wrong. Before, people who were stung by a Griever and couldn't make it back before sunset died, and we all thought they died when they didn't get the serum in time Why." The thought excited him. They turned another corner, and Minho suddenly came to the front, and the two of them picked up speed.Thomas seemed to know the route very well, several times he knew where to go before Minho turned the corner - he was a little surprised himself.

"So, this serum," said Thomas, "I've just heard it a few times. What the hell is it? Where did it come from?" "It's what it's called, idiot. Serum. Serum for Griever poison." Thomas forced a sad laugh. "I actually thought I knew everything about this damn place. Why are they called that? Why are the Griever called the Wailer?" The two of them walked side by side, listening to Minho while making endless turns in the maze. "I don't know where the name comes from, but the serum comes from the Creator. 'Creators', that's what we call them anyway. The teleporter comes once a week and brings the life supplies along with the serum Here, it's been like this for a long time. It's a medical syringe with medicine in it, maybe an antidote. Anyway, it's ready, and it's ready to use anytime." He made a motion of injecting his arm, "Injecting it into someone who's been stung by a Griever can save lives. Afterwards the body goes into a painful phase—it's a miserable phase—but when it's over, people are all right."

Thomas digested the information, and the two walked in silence, turning a few more corners.He thought about the meaning of the so-called "painful change period".Somehow he thought of that girl again. "That's weird," Minho said again, "We've never said this before. If Alby is still alive, it's not impossible that he'll be saved by the serum. Our elm brains are slowly growing up." One thought: once a man is locked out, he's dead, and that's the end of it. I gotta see how you hang Alby up, are you kidding me?" As they walked on, Minho gradually became happier, but Thomas felt uneasy inside.He had been avoiding thinking about it, trying not to think too much about it. "I lured away the ghost fire beast that was chasing me before, but if another one finds Alby, what should I do?"

Minho looked at him with a dazed expression. "Let's hurry up, that's all we can do now." Thomas added.It took so much trouble to finally save Elby, but the efforts should not be in vain. They wanted to speed up their pace, but their bodies hurt badly. Although they were anxious, they had no choice but to move forward at this speed.They turned another corner, and Thomas saw movement ahead. His heart stopped and he almost fell.Fortunately, it was Newt and the other partners, and he was relieved—it turned out that the west gate leading to the clearing was opened, and they came back alive!

Newt saw them both and hurried over with a limp. "What happened?" His voice was full of anger, "What the hell is..." "I'll talk to you later," Thomas interrupted. "We've got to get Alby." Newt's face went pale. "What do you mean? He's still alive?" "Follow me." Thomas walked to the right, craned his neck to look at the wall, and looked for Alby's hiding place through the thick ivy.He was still there, hanging by his arms and legs.Thomas didn't say anything, just pointed up.He couldn't relax yet—Alby was intact, but there were no signs of life. Newt finally saw his friend hanging from the ivy, and his eyes fell back on Thomas.Before, his expression was shocked, but now it has turned into complete confusion. "Is he... still alive?" hope so.Thomas thought. "I don't know, he was alive when I lifted him up." "You lift him up..." Newt shook his head, "You and Minho go back quickly and let the doctor take a look. You look really bad. After the physical examination, you have enough rest, and you have to tell the ins and outs of the story in detail Listen to me." Thomas wanted to stay and see how Alby was doing.Just as he was about to speak, Minho grabbed his arm and forced him to walk into the open space. "Right now all we need most is sleep and dressing our wounds." Thomas knew that he was right, he backed away, turned his head to look at Alby, and followed Minho out of the maze. They walked back to the clearing, back to the house--it was an endless walk.Two rows of people stood by the side of the road, staring blankly at them.All the people looked in awe, as if they were watching two ghosts returning from the cemetery.Thomas understood that it was all because they had accomplished a feat that no one else could, and he was just a little embarrassed by the attention. Gary was ahead—his chest folded and he kept looking at Thomas.He almost stopped, but kept going.With all the willpower left in him, he looked Gary straight in the eye and didn't look away for a moment.When he was five feet away from Gary, Gary's eyes fell to the ground. The exhilarating feeling made Thomas almost uneasy, almost. His recollection of the next few minutes is utterly fuzzy as two physicians escort him back to the large house and up the steps - through a half-closed door Thomas sees someone feeding the still comatose girl , He felt a strong desire to see her.Finally he and Minho went back to their respective rooms and lay down on the bed.Food, water, bandages, pain.In the end, everything receded and he was alone.He fell asleep on a soft pillow—that was all he remembered. I fell asleep, but I couldn't let go of two things.The first is the word he saw on the two blade beetles - WICKED, which appeared over and over again in his dreams.Also, that girl. Hours later—maybe days later—Chuck came and shook him awake.It took Thomas a moment to react and open his eyes.He looked at Chuck and muttered, "You bastard, put me to sleep." "I have some news. It seems that you don't want to know." Thomas rubbed his eyes and yawned. "What news?" He looked at Chuck again, and Chuck had a bright smile on his face, making people puzzled. "He's alive," he said, "Alby's all right, the serum is working!" Thomas' consciousness suddenly became clear, and a big stone in his heart fell to the ground.He was simply overjoyed.But Chuck's next words made his heart lift again. "His body has entered a period of pain." As soon as the words fell, a shrill cry came from the room below.