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Directly in front of theed s stretched across the compound horizontally, one after the other Behind each one, a person--so the Gladers, staring through the glass with squinted eyes Thory, starving, sinister apparitions of people who’d never been happy when alive, hosts They were the people who’d sent them all to the Glade The people who’d taken their lives away from them

The Creators

CHAPTER 59

Tho the same A deathly silence sucked the life out of the air as every last Glader stared at the ros, at the row of observers Tho, another reach up and put on a pair of glasses They all wore black coats over white shirts, a word stitched on their right breast--he couldn’t quite make out what it said None of them wore any kind of discernible facial expression--they were all sallow and gaunt, miserably sad to look upon

They continued to stare at the Gladers; a man shook his head, a woman nodded AnotherThomas had seen any of them do

"Who are those people?" Chuck whispered, but his voice echoed throughout the chae

"The Creators," Minho said; then he spat on the floor "I’onna break your faces!" he screamed, so loudly Thomas almost held his hands over his ears

"What do we do?" Tho on?"

"They’ve probably revved the Grievers back up," Newt said "They’re probably co sound cut hi in reverse, butand echoing throughout the cha the concern in his voice

For soed in answer--he’d only remembered so much, and noas just as clueless as anyone else And scared He craned his neck as he scanned the place top to botto had changed Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the other Gladers looking in the direction of the doors He did as well; his heart quickened when he saw that one of the doors inging open toward the stopped, and a silence as deep as outer space settled on the cha, braced hih the door

Instead, two people walked into the roorown-up She see black pants and a button-dohite shirt with a logo on the breast--wicked spelled in blue capital letters Her brown hair was cut at the shoulder, and she had a thin face with dark eyes As she walked toward the group, she neither smiled nor frowned--it was al there

I know her, Thoht But it was a cloudy kind of recollection--he couldn’t remember her name or what she had to do with the Maze, but she seemed familiar And not just her looks, but the way she walked, her mannerisms--stiff, without a hint of joy She stopped several feet in front of the Gladers and slowly looked left to right, taking the next to her, was a boy wearing an overly large sweatshirt, its hood pulled up over his head, concealing his face

"Welcome back," the wo"

Thoer redden his face

"Excuse ain before falling on Newt "Everything has gone according to plan, Mr Newton Although we expected a few lanced over at her companion, then reached out and pulled the hood off the boy He looked up, his eyes ith tears Every Glader in the room sucked in a breath of surprise Thomas felt his knees buckle

It was Gally

Tho out of a cartoon He was consu here!" Minho shouted

"You’re safe now," the woman responded as if she hadn’t heard him "Please, be at ease"

"At ease?" Minho barked "Who are you, telling us to be at ease? We wanna see the police, the ht do--then again, Thoo punch her in the face

She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Minho "You have no idea what you’re talking about, boy I’d expect more maturity fro tone shocked Thout

"Gally," Newt said "What’s going on?"

The dark-haired boy looked at hihtly But he didn’t respond Soht Worse than before

The worateful for e’ve done for you I can only promise this, and trust yourwas a mistake Dark times, Mr Newton Dark times"

She paused "There is, of course, one final Variable" She stepped back

Thomas focused on Gally The boy’s whole body tre his wet, red eyes stand out like bloody splotches on paper His lips pressed together; the skin around the to speak but couldn’t

"Gally?" Tho to suppress the complete hatred he had for him

Words burst from Gally’s ed, a hand went to his throat as if he were choking "I … have … to …" Each as a croaking cough Then he stilled, his face cal

It was just like Alby in bed, back in the Glade, after he went through the Changing The sa had happened to him What did it--

But Thoht Gally reached behind hi and shiny frohts of the chaer, gripped tightly in his fingers With unexpected speed, he reared back and threw the knife at Thoht, sensed movement Toward him

The blade windmilled, its every turn visible to Thomas, as if the world had turned to slowhi On the knife caled cry was fored himself to move but he couldn’t

Then, inexplicably, Chuck was there, diving in front of him Thomas felt as if his feet had been frozen in blocks of ice; he could only stare at the scene of horror unfolding before higer sla itself to the hilt The boy screa Blood poured froainst the floor, feet kicking ai death Red spit oozed from between his lips Tho his heart