Chapter 34 Chapter 34 Flying into the Gray Abyss

Thomas awoke in a lifeless twilight, and his first thought was that he must have woken up earlier than usual, with an hour to go before dawn.Just then, he heard a shout.He raised his head and looked towards the sky through the dense foliage. The sky was a dull gray—not the usual whitish brilliance of early morning. He jumped up, propped his hands on the wall, stabilized his body, stretched his neck and stared blankly at the sky.No blue, no black, no stars, no purple glow of dawn.Every inch of the sky is blue-gray.No color, lifeless. He glanced down at his watch—a full hour had passed since he was supposed to wake up, the sun's rays should have woken him up.It's never been a problem since coming here, but today is an exception.

He looked up at the sky again, expecting it to return to normal in an instant, but everything was still gray.Not cloudy, not dusk, not the first few minutes of dawn, just grey. The sun disappears. Thomas found most of the Gladers standing by the portal of the teleporter box, pointing and talking at the dead sky.According to the current time, breakfast is over, and everyone should be busy working.However, the disappearance of the largest object in the solar system disrupted normal time. In fact, Thomas just watched the restless crowd in silence.Unlike what his intuition told him, he didn't feel much panic or fear.To his amazement, most people are like chickens lost in a chicken coop.Really ridiculous.

The sun is clearly not gone, that's impossible. Though that seemed to be the case—the angry balls of fire were nowhere to be seen, and the elongated shadows of the morning were nowhere to be seen.However, neither he nor the reason and wisdom of all the Gladers could come to such a conclusion.No, there must be a scientifically plausible reason for what they were witnessing.Whatever that rationale was, it meant only one thing to Thomas: The fact that they never saw the sun again probably meant that they probably hadn't been able to see it since day one.The sun cannot disappear for no reason.Their sky has been, and still is, a fake from the beginning - an artificial sky.

In other words, the sun that has shone on these people for two years and provided heat and life to everything is actually not the sun at all, it is fake, and everything in this place is fake. Thomas didn't know what that meant, how it all came about.But he knew that it was so—it was the only explanation his reason could accept.Judging by the reactions of other Gladers, no one has figured this out yet. Chuck finds Thomas, haunted by the fear written on the boy's face. "What do you think is going on?" Chuck said, his voice trembling and pitiful.His eyes were on the sky, and Thomas thought his neck was going to hurt. "Like a big gray roof—so close you can almost touch it."

Thomas followed Chuck's gaze. "Yeah, makes people wonder about this place." For the second time in twenty-four hours, Chuck pointed it out.The sky is indeed like a roof, the roof of a huge room. "Maybe something's broken, I mean, maybe it'll come back." Chuck finally stopped looking and looked at Thomas. "Broken? What do you mean?" Thomas didn't have time to answer, and vague memories of last night's sleep bubbled up.Teresa's words echoed in his mind.She said: "I've just started the termination process.It can't be a coincidence, can it?A stream of sour water came out of his stomach.Whatever the explanation for this, whatever was in the sky, whether there was a real sun or not, it was missing, and that couldn't be a good omen.

"Thomas?" Chuck asked, patting him on the arm. "What?" Thomas was confused. "What do you mean it's broken?" Chuck repeated his question. Thomas felt he needed time to think this through. "Oh, I don't know. There must be some aspect of this place we don't understand. But the sun can't just disappear. Besides, there's plenty of light to illuminate it—even if it's dimmed, the light Where did it come from?" Chuck's eyes widened, as if the darkest and deepest secret in the universe had just been revealed to him. "Yeah, where did it come from? What's the matter, Thomas?"

Thomas reached out and squeezed the little boy's shoulder.He worried. "No idea, Chuck, no idea, but I'm sure Newt and Alby will have an answer." "Thomas!" Minho ran towards him, "Stop hanging around here with Chuck, let's go, it's getting late." Thomas was taken aback. For some reason, he hoped that the strange sky would disrupt all normal arrangements. "Are you guys still going out?" Chuck asked, apparently surprised too, and Thomas was glad he had voiced his doubts. "Of course we're going, idiot," Minho said, "don't you have something to do?" He looked from Chuck to Thomas, "if anything, it makes it necessary for us to Get outside. If the sun does go out, it won't be long before the plants and animals die too, and I think the urgency level goes up another notch."

These last words touched Thomas deeply.Even though he had some thoughts - questioning Minho, he was unwilling to change what everyone had been doing for two years.He understood Minho's words just now, and both excitement and worry surged in his heart. "You mean, we're going to spend the night there? Go deeper into the maze?" Minho shook his head. "No, not yet, but maybe soon." He looked up at the sky, "Oh my God—this is the way to wake us up. Come on, let's go." Thomas and Minho packed up their things and finished their breakfast lightning fast.Thomas had been silent, his thoughts racing, about the gray sky, about Teresa—at least he thought it was the girl who told him in his mind to join in the conversation.

What did she mean by the termination procedure?Thomas couldn't shake the urge to tell someone, everyone. However, he didn't know the meaning, and he didn't want everyone to know that he had a girl's voice in his head.They're sure to think he's really crazy, and maybe lock him up again--and this time for a long time. After much deliberation, he decided to keep silent and carry out the second day of training with Minho - under the monotonous gray sky. Before reaching the gate connecting the eighth and first districts, they found the Griever. Minho was running a foot in front of Thomas, and just turned a corner on the right when he stopped suddenly and almost slipped.He jumped back, grabbed Thomas by the clothes, and pushed him against the wall.

"Shh," Minho said in a low voice, "there's a nasty WISP ahead." Thomas' eyes widened, full of doubts in his mind.He felt his heart beating faster and faster, even though it had already been beating fast just now. Minho just nodded and put his finger to his mouth.He loosened Thomas's clothes, took a step back, and quietly stood up at the corner where he had spotted the Griever just now.He poked his head out slowly, peering out.Thomas nearly screamed, reminding him to be careful. Minho shrank his head back suddenly, turned his head to face Thomas, and said in a low voice, "It's lying there, very similar to the dead one we've seen."

"So what do we do?" Thomas asked as softly as possible, ignoring the panic in his heart. "Is it coming towards us?" "No, idiot, I told you it was lying there." "So?" Thomas held up his hand in frustration. "What should we do?" Getting up close and personal with a Griever didn't seem like a good idea. Minho paused for a few seconds, thought for a while and said, "We have to go in that direction to get to the area we're going to. Let's observe it for a while, and if it really comes after us, we'll run back to the glade. He glanced out again, turned his head quickly and said, "Damn, it's gone! Come on!" Minho didn't wait for his response, he had already run towards the direction where he found the Griever just now, he didn't see Thomas' eyes widened with fear.Although his intuition told Thomas not to pass, he still followed. He followed Minho down the long corridor, turning left, then right.Every time they turned a corner, they slowed down to let Minho see the other side of the corner first.Each time, he whispered to Thomas about seeing the tip of the Griever's tail disappear around the next corner. After advancing in this way for about ten minutes, they came to a long passage, which ended at the edge of a cliff.There was nothing in the distance except the lifeless sky, and the Griever flew towards the sky. Minho stopped suddenly, and Thomas almost knocked him over.Thomas stared ahead in amazement, and saw the Griever dig the ground with its spikes, spin forward, until it came to the edge of the cliff, and flew into the gray abyss.The monster disappeared from sight, a shadow swallowed by more shadows.