That day Thomas spends with the gardeners and he gets put to a set of tasks.

Weeding, pruning an apricot tree, planting squash and zucchini seeds, picking veggies.

…was he there for a few days or do these people have an exceptionally small garden?  Weeding my own front yard takes most of an afternoon, after all.  And pruning fruit trees is not a matter of saying “lop off some of those branches,” you have to have at least some knowledge of what’s important to keep or get rid of.  Really, was he just getting a grand tour of all the chores?

And what kind of seasons do they have that they both plant and harvest at the same time?  Do they even have seasons?  Does this “smart” kid ever question why they go straight from planting seeds to picking vegetables?

Thomas and Zart (head gardener) talk about the various jobs in a bit of bland attempts at world-building because really when will any of this become important?  World-building like this should be shown.  Show Thomas interacting with all the various groups if you want to make a point that they’ve all got jobs, because a page long explanation about the break-down of their work-sections feels like showing off instead of an actual setting.  Yes, good for you, you made an organizational flow chart, now write a fucking book instead of having characters talk about your notes!

Thomas had more questions. Lots more. Chuck and everyone else around the Glade never wanted to give him the answers to anything. And here was Zart, who seemed perfectly willing. But suddenly Thomas didn’t feel like talking anymore.

I fucking hate you. \~/

Thomas mopes about how his life is so hard and how he thinks about things for no reason, because the author isn’t done treating that like it’s clever.

Newt is worried about Minho and Alby coming back from the maze on time, and then enough of that, I guess, because we’re back to how hard Tomas’s life is.

He glanced constantly at the West Door, looking for any sign of Alby and Minho, Newt’s concern having rubbed off on him.

And Thomas couldn’t have been concerned or curious all on his own because…?

I swear, nearly every time the author tries to justify Thomas’s emotions, it just makes things worse.  He doesn’t need an external reason to be concerned, he can just be concerned!

They pair still aren’t back by suppertime, and Newt and Thomas stand by the gate waiting for them.  Thomas’s suggestion that they send someone out to search is met with derision, as it should be.  It’s a fucking maze, Thomas, and the door is about to close.  It would take too long to find them and then even more people would be stuck out there.

…wait.  Minho found the Griever yesterday, and the maze changes overnight.  Which means he didn’t know where the thing was when they left that morning.  Who thought that was a good idea? 

Maybe they just got lost.

Has anyone tried to stay out overnight on purpose and watch the maze change?  Has anyone tried to climb the glade walls and watch from there?  Has anyone tried to climb the walls from inside the maze and run it that way?

Just as the doors start to close, Minho and Alby show up at the end of the corridor.  Alby’s injured and Minho’s dragging him, but they don’t get out fast enough to make the closing doors.  Thomas, being the “smart” kid that he is, does not run out and help while there’s still time to make it back (the doors close very slowly).  No, instead he sits around with his thumb up his ass watching and only jumps into the maze at the last second, when he can do fuck-all to help anyone, because reasons.

Minho calls Thomas several different kinds of idiot because there’s nothing to be done at night except die.  Turns out Alby was stung by the not-actually-dead Griever they went to go see.

“How many have died, then?”

Minho stared at the ground, crouched with one forearm on a knee. He was clearly exhausted, almost in a daze. “At least twelve. Haven’t you been to the graveyard?”

“Yeah.” So that’s how they died, he thought.

“Well, those are just the ones we found.

Okay, but you do know how many people go into the maze and don’t come back, don’t you?  Do you just assume those kids are…what, hiding?  Captured?

They drag Alby closer to the door in the hopes that his body will be found the next day, further showing that they have some sort of significance attached to dead bodies. 

The treatment of dead bodies is not innate; it’s cultural.  Different cultures will treat bodies different ways according to their beliefs.  (For instance, our culture puts such a high significance on bodies that we’ll send live soldiers in after dead ones just to “send them home to their families.”)  So do these boys have some sort of cultural hold-over in their memories telling them that bodies must be respected and buried? 

Along the way Minho dolls out fragments of information about Grievers that are so grudgingly given you’d think he was revealing state secrets.  They’ve got tiny stingers that are poisonous; there, I saved you a whole page of reading.

“The vines—can’t we climb them?”

Minho let out a frustrated sigh. “I swear, Greenie, you must think we’re a bunch of idiots. You really think we’ve never had the ingenious thought of climbing the freaking walls?”

That…doesn’t actually answer the question, but I’ll take it as a no.  So what happened when you tried?

They hear the Grievers coming and Minho says their only chance is to spilt up and keep moving.  Even though a moment ago he was saying there was no chance at all, period.  Eh, maybe he’s just desperate?  People will do stuff even if they know it can’t work just for the sake of doing something in a situation like this.

Thomas decides he can’t leave Alby behind and tries to carry him.  Why?  Reasons.  He’d be going so slow with that dead weight that he may as well stay put.  Besides, if Alby is already dying, why not assume that the Grievers would leave him alone?  It makes about as much sense as everything else, especially since Minho mentioned that they have found bodies in the maze.

Well, turns out Alby’s too heavy anyway so moot point.

Thomas decides to try climbing the wall anyway, and it works!  Sort of.  He uses vines for jerry-rigging and goes about it really slowly and manages to get Alby about 30 feet up the wall and just ties him there to hang out.   He tells us this was his plan all along. 

Hey dumbass, last time you saw a Griever it was climbing up the wall.  Congratulations, now you’re stuck there because all you can do is hope you can untie yourself fast enough and fall, whereas the Grievers can use the wall like it’s a fucking floor.

The only advantage to climbing would be to reach the top and get a distance view; suspending yourself halfway up in the hopes that the monsters just don’t look around is not actually a good plan.

Thomas sees one of the little mechanical spy bugs hanging out on the wall with him.  He notices it has the word “Wicked” written on its back.  For some reason, this is ominous.

I’ve got make-up with the “wicked” written on it, so I’m a bit less impressed.  It’s just a word, and quite out of context at that.

And then a Griever shows up.  Finally.