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The two were inseparable. The Glader had no memories of his past life but there was something about Bark and the way he laid on his feet at night.

Bark never responded to the name given to him. The Glader reckoned he had another name and tried calling out a few from time to time but nothing seemed to get a response.

Bark couldn’t understand why his owner never called him by his name anymore.

When the Gladers decided to leave the Glade and fight the grievers to escape the maze, Bark stayed behind with his owner.

The Glader had tried to convince one of the other boys to take Bark with them but the dog wouldn’t budge from his side.

The grievers never returned that night. Or the next night either. But the Gladers who had stayed behind didn’t have many supplies.

Bark’s owner had always been a fragile boy. His fatigue grew with the days that past without food and water and one morning he wasn’t able to stand at all.

Despite his own hunger and thirst, Bark continued to stay by his owner’s side. With parched lips, the Glader whispered different names to the dog and pet him with what strength he had left.

The pauses between names and the stroke of the boy’s hand stretched and sometimes Bark would nuzzle his owner’s arm just to see the Glader move. Even if it was just a little.

Then one night — the last night — the Glader cracked a small smile and heaved a sigh. “I remember,” he croaked and with his last breath, he mumbled another name.

Bark was too weak to lift his head but he knew that name and to hear it made him happier than he’d ever been. He wagged his tail and waited for his owner’s hand to stroke him. The pause was longer than it had ever been this time but that was all right because Bark was patient. He’d wait for the boy to wake up.

Sometime later when the Immunes started to arrive in the Glade, the body of a boy and his dog were found together on the floor in the Homestead.