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"What are you talking--" Tholy, traitorous face!"

"Ben," Alby said calonna count to three"

"He’s bad, he’s bad, he’s bad …," Ben hispering now, al the knife frolued on Thomas

"One"

"Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad …" Ben sht

Thoet out of there But he couldn’t move; he was too mesmerized, too scared

"Two" Alby’s voice was louder, filled arning

"Ben," Tho to make sense of it all "I’led gurgle ofout with his blade

"Three!" Alby shouted

There was the sound of snapping wire The whoosh of an object slicing through the air The sickening, wet thunk of it finding a ho his body until he landed on his stomach, his feet pointed toward Thomas He made no sound

Tho shaft of the arrow stuck froly less than Tho out all the same Black in the darkness, like oil The only ht the urge to puke Was Ben dead because of hiers’ll take care of hiht, the world tilting around him as he stared at the lifeless body What did I ever do to this kid?

He looked up, wanting answers, but Alby was already gone, a tren he’d ever stood there in the first place

Thoht of the sun as he e in pain, though he had noit He held one hand carefully over the area where he’d been bitten; the other clutched his stomach as if that would prevent what Thoe of Ben’s head popped into hisdown the shaft of the arrow until it collected, dripped, splattered on the ground…

The ie of it was the last straw

He fell to his knees by one of the scraggly trees on the outskirts of the forest and threw up, retching as he coughed and spat out every last morsel of the acidic, nasty bile from his sto would never end

And then, as if his brain were ht

He’d now been at the Glade for roughly twenty-four hours One full day That was it And look at all the things that had happened All the terrible things

Surely it could only get better

That night, Tho if he’d ever sleep again Every ti at him, the boy’s face set in lunacy, filled histheinto Ben’s cheek

Thoraveyard

"Say so," Chuck said for the fifth tis

"No," Thomas replied, just as he had before

"Everyone knohat happened It’s happened once or twice--so shank flipped out and attacked somebody Don’t think you’re special"

For the first tione frolad I’ht about now"

"I’m just play--"

"Shut up, Chuck Go to sleep" Thoht then

Eventually, his "buddy" did doze off, and based on the rumble of snores across the Glade, so did everyone else Hours later, deep in the night, Thomas was still the only one awake He wanted to cry, but didn’t He wanted to find Alby and punch him, for no reason whatsoever, but didn’t He wanted to scream and kick and spit and open up the Box and jump into the blackness below But he didn’t

He closed his eyes and forced the thoughts and dark ies away and at so Tho hi rooms The whole ti, his body wanting more sleep Breakfast was a blur, and an hour after it was over, Thomas couldn’t remember what he’d eaten He was so tired, his brain felt like soone in and stapled it to his skull in a dozen places Heartburn ravaged his chest

But froiant working farm of the Glade

He stood with Newt in front of the barn of the Blood House, getting ready for his first training session with a Keeper Despite the rough , he was actually excited to learn raveyard Cows s squealed all around hi Tho Hot dog, he thought When’s the last ti? Who did I eat it with?<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>