▬The Griever started pulling Chuck back up the hole in the roof, the poor boy screaming and shrieking as he flailed around in the air wildly.

"NO!" I rushed forward and curled my hands around Chuck's shirt, pulling him back to me and away from the monstrous Griever. I ignored the tremendous pain in my shoulders as I tugged, determined not to lose my friend - the one friend whom I had always viewed as the younger brother I never had, the one friend who always managed to put a smile on my face no matter how miserable the situation. The other Gladers rushed forward to help, each of them helping me pull Chuck back as the Griever growled in frustration.

"Chuck, don't let go!" Thomas yelled.

"No shit!" The kid yelled back.

I heard a defiant shout from my left and spotted Alby charging the tail with a machete; he started hacking away at the tail bit by bit, metal clanging against metal, until it finally broke. The Griever shrieked in pain and frustration as the upper half of its tail shot back up the hole in the roof, the stinger dropping. Chuck fell to the ground, eyes wide with terror.

"Thanks, Alby," he whispered, glancing up at the leader, who stood staring after the retreating shadow of the Griever, breathing heavily. 

Alby nodded grimly in response, hand still clutching his machete.

"You okay?" I asked Chuck, checking him over frantically as my Med-jack instincts kicked in. "Did you get stung?"

"No, I'm fine," he muttered, trembling.

Suddenly, the whirring and haunted moans returned, filling the air dauntingly, and a giant shadow loomed over the Homestead. Before anyone could do anything a Griever tail shot out of nowhere and snatched up Alby, pulling him away from us. Thomas yelled out and caught hold of his shirt right before he got dragged out of the broken building and he held on, hands curling into fists with strain.

"Thomas, get them out of here," Alby said, his eyes filled with a hopeless void, and with one final tug, the Griever managed to wrench him away from Thomas' grip. Alby disappeared into the night gloom, taking away with him the piercing Griever shrieks.

Thomas yelled up a storm of protests and ran towards the door - we called out to him to stop but he burst outside, leaving us no choice but to follow him. 

I glanced around the Glade in stunned silence as I stepped through the door, clutching my now throbbing shoulder. Everything was on fire, the flames crackling menacingly as smoke curled into the starless sky. The fresh, happy green and sturdy browns I was so used to seeing around the Glade was replaced by ominous black and reds of the trampled buildings and dead farm animals. Everywhere I looked, it was a bloody disaster.

"Where is everybody?" Jack asked, staring around him with wide eyes.

"Who's that over there?" Franklin asked, squinting through the smoky haze. 

Several figures loomed out of the darkness, their faces silhouetted in the flickering fires behind them, their paces quick and hasty. As they neared us, I realized that it was Gally and some of his closest friends. He strode forward, never slowing, and before anyone could stop him he reared back a fist and punched Thomas. 

The new girl - Teresa - rushed to his side as he fell to the ground, eyes wide with shock and pain. The other Gladers held Gally back, pushing him away from him.

"This is all you, Thomas!" He yelled, glaring down at him with a relentless accusatory glare. "Huh? Look around!"

"Back up, Gally, this is not Thomas' fault!" Minho fumed, shoving him back.

"He's one of them! He's one of them!" Gally continued screaming, struggling against the Gladers' grips on him. "They sent him here! To destroy everything and now he has! Look around, Thomas - look around!"

Thomas, who had gotten to his feet shakily, lowered his gaze, misery and anguish crossing his face. His eyes shifted over to the stinger in Chuck's hand as Gally continued firing accusations at him, the other Gladers holding him back with shouts of their own. After a moment's hesitation he grabbed the stinger from Chuck, examining it with a strange look on his face.

"Gally's right," he said miserably, his voice a mere whisper.

"Thomas?" Teresa said tensely, staring at him in suspicious apprehension.

"I need to remember, Teresa."

"Thomas? THOMAS!"

She screamed as he plunged the stinger into his leg and crumpled to the ground, eyes rolling up to the back of his head. The other Gladers took notice of the new predicament and rushed forward immediately, crowding around his fallen body as he convulsed.

"Get the serum!" Teresa yelled.

Despite the roaring pain in my shoulder, I got up and ran towards the collasped Homestead, heart beating madly. I rushed to the back where the medic storage room was, and through the fallen cupboards and smashed shelves I rummaged around until I found the chest that held the serums. I  ran back outside with one of the syringes, pushing through the crowd of panicking Gladers, who stepped aside to make way for me. 

Kneeling down beside Thomas, I slowly pulled out the stinger from his leg and jabbed the serum needle into his arm. As I pressed down the plunger, the fluid trickling into his body with a soft hiss. We watched in anticipation as his ragged breathing slowly steadied, his body stilling as he stopped convulsing.

I got up to my feet, whirled around and marched up to Gally, who stood staring down at Thomas with a mixture of anger and shock in his face. He blinked in confusion as I shoved him back with my good arm, making him stumble. His friends rushed to his side and glared at me but I ignored them all, my eyes fixed on the Keeper.

"You shuck face!" I yelled at him. "Look what've you done! Just because you went through the Changing doesn't mean that you have to guilt-trip Thomas into suffering through the same thing!"

Gally's face twisted into anger and he stepped up to me, his taller, more muscular figure towering over my petite one.

"Watch what you're saying, you little piece of shi-" He shouted, raising a hand.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, you two!" Newt rushed in to intercept, pushing the two of us away from each other.

"I'll calm down when all you stop looking at me like I'm the villain here!" Gally shouted. "You think I want this to happen, huh? You think I want our home to get destroyed by those shucking Grievers? THIS IS ALL THOMAS' FAULT!"

"No, it's not!" I screamed back, my voice already hoarse. "The only proof you have is your god damn words with no solid evidence to back them up with!"

"Rose, stop it!" Newt said, his face screwed up in anger at me.

"You think you're so smart, don't you?" Gally shot back. "Never noticed how everything went to hell the moment Thomas set foot in here? First, the dead Griever, then Ben, then the new girl with the Doomsday note and now this! I saw him when I went through the Changing, I know he's connected to all this!"

"Stop it, you two!" Newt had to yell over both of our voices. "We need to stop throwing accusations around like this!"

"You know what, Newt?" Gally said suddenly, lifting his head disdainfully. "You're right. We shouldn't waste any more time talking about klunk. We need to take action right now."

"What are you talking about?" Minho asked warily.

"I'm going to make sure this never happens again," Gally replied defiantly, his voice full of resolute determination. 

He nodded towards Thomas and Teresa. "Throw them both into the Slammer."

"Wait, what the-" I said angrily, but Gally and his goons shoved us aside. Ignoring Teresa's cries of protests, they lifted up Thomas' unconscious body and carried him away to the Slammer, disappearing into the smoke. Gally himself grabbed Teresa by the arm and dragged her away after his friends.

"Hey!" Minho yelled after him, jogging after his retreating figure. "Get back here! You think just because Alby isn't here now you get to take charge of the Glade?"

"Minho, stop it," Newt said quietly, reaching out to him.

"No!" Minho yelled back, though he stopped going after Gally when Newt placed an arm on his shoulder to calm him down. "That shuck-face has gone crazy, man! We can't just let him throw Thomas into the Slammer like that!"

Before Newt could reply, I felt another sudden jolt of pain in my shoulder and collasped to my knees, shocked by the excruciating throbbing. I grimaced as I clutched at my wound, the blood seeping through the bandages, my head spinning as black spots danced in my vision. I saw my friends swarm around me, heard their worried and panicked voices calling my name, echoeing through the air, but I couldn't even muster a response. I slumped to the ground, the ache in my shoulder now so unbearable that every tiny movement sent a jolt down my arm and neck, almost paralysing me.

I felt a pair of strong hands slip under my head and waist, and my head swayed with dizziness as I tried to process what was going on. I felt myself being lifted into the air and realized that someone was carrying me. My head rolled back and forth in their arms as I tried to blink the dancing spots from my vision; I could make out the blurry silhouette of blond hair hovering over me.

"Hang in there, Rose!" a voice said from beside me, sounding like it came from far, far away. "You're gonna be okay."

I couldn't answer, only groan softly in response. I closed my eyes, my head swaying dangerously from numbing dizziness. I felt myself being lowered and then felt the soft, warm cotton of a bed mattress under my body. Someone draped a blanket over me. I heard people bustling about all around me - then my mind went dark and I slipped into unconsciousness.

[ END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ]

idk if this is just me but the writing of this chapter just bugs me ughhhhhhh

probably like zero people noticed but like I WROTE THIS CHAPTER AND IT JUST FEELS LIKE THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY SENTENCE STRUCTURES IN THIS CHAPTER SKSFDKSFDFSDFJG sorry uh im tired as fuck rn and im not in my right mind lolololol bye also wtf just like two or three more chapters to go for this book WHA-

last second edit: wait wtf i just realized this story hit 4K views??? thank you????