The Maze Runner (Thomas X Reader)

Chapter 6: The Maze

Thomas held me warmly as his hand stroked my back in an effort to let me calm down. Everyone looked down and realized what was going to happen to Ben. It was brutal, but necessary. Alby turned to me and Thomas and everyone moved apart a little. He looked at Thomas and back at me who was just lifting my head from Thomas' chest. I peeked and saw Alby with a sad expression and he spoke.

"He belongs to the maze now," he said grimly.

I sighed and gathered myself feeling slightly embarrassed about crying. I parted the hug as Alby passed me and Thomas. Newt, who was slouching, walked up to me and put his hand on my back.

"You alright?" he asked.

I nodded and wiped my tears. I stood straight up and began to walk away from the boys but I couldn't keep my head up. I slouched as I walked and lowered my head. I kept on thinking and figuring things out, but it was only a phase. After a few hours I finally collected myself and was back to normal. Still, the thought of Ben and what happened lingered in the back of my mind, but it was better to keep it there than the front.

Soon, the sun set behind the wall and the sky grew a dark shade of blue with white sparkles in the sky. Everyone was asleep except for me and Thomas. Chuck had just fallen asleep mentally exhausted from today's events, but Thomas and I couldn't get one shut eye of sleep. As much as I tried, I couldn't. And I knew that I'd have to be up bright and early for the morning since I was going to run into the maze. 

Thomas and I sat on his hammock bonding silently and growing into a friendship. There was a light breeze in the humid Glade and all was silent except for the stone clicks in the distance. Gally and two other guys were up crossing Ben's name off of the name wall. We watched them as the torches slowly died out.

"Do you think he might make it?" Thomas asked me, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Ben?" I asked, "No. No one survives a night in the maze,"

A long silence passed over us as we sat watching Gally cross Ben's name out.

"We just gotta forget about him, y'know?" I said looking down.

I rubbed my eyes and looked back up. Thomas was gazing at someone a little further away from us. I followed his brown eyes and looked to Alby who was sitting upward with his hands hugging his knees slightly. He had the same thoughts as me running through his head. It was sad and disturbing, but it was only a temporary pain. 

I huffed out air through my nose and looked back to Thomas who now was looking into my eyes. He had slight worry in his face, but it was hardly noticeable. 

"We should try to sleep, okay?" I said with a small smile.

"Yeah," he agreed, looking back down at his hands.

"Goodnight," I said as I stood up.

"Goodnight," he mumbled loud enough for me to hear.

I turned and walked off to my hammock. I laid in it comfortably and closed my tired eyes. After a long moment, I relaxed and sleep took over.

I woke to find Newt standing over me.

"Morning, sleepy head," he greeted with a smile.

I groaned and stood out of my hammock. I got my gear on and met Alby at the front of the doors to the maze. The morning dew was heavy but relaxing. Little did I know that this day would turn sour very fast. 

"You ready?" Newt asked looking at both me and Alby.

"Yeah," Alby nodded.

I followed suit and Newt gave me a warm hug before I left.

"Make sure you come back," he said with a small chuckle.

"I will," I smiled.

We parted and Newt said goodbye to Alby. Then, we turned and ran inside the maze walls fearing if this was our last time. That fear was always existing. We never knew what the outcome was, and that's what made us nervous. We never knew if we were going to see a griever and die and we never knew if we would make it back to see our friends. It was depressing, but I tried to ignore my emotions and focus on what I was doing.

Our goal for today was to retrace Ben's footsteps and find where he was stung so we knew that that area was dangerous. We were both afraid. It took a few hours to find everything and we had hoped to have found Ben's remains. It was a grim day and to make it sadder, it began to rain. My hair got soaked as did all mine and Alby's clothes. We didn't let that stop us. 

Once we had gone far enough into the maze, we finally found where Ben was attacked and stung. We could tell by the dried, splattered blood and scratches on the wall.

"This is where he was stung," Alby concluded.

"Yeah. Definitely looks like there was a struggle," I replied, crouching down and observing the scratches.

As I looked Alby grew stiff and silent.

"What?" I asked as I looked up at him.

His eyes were wide and he was frozen in fear. I followed his gaze to find a griever staring right at us. This became cat and mouse. Predator and prey. We knew we were going to die, but our instincts told us to run like a smart person would. It's pale skin shone in the rain and its large head was riddled with spiky teeth. It's machine claws clicked and ticked as it walked towards us watching our every movement.

I stood slowly and took Alby's arm.

"We need to go now," I said shaking.

He didn't speak. He only backed up as did I. Soon, we both turned tail and ran as fast as we could. The griever's sharp claws were right behind us on our tail. He pulled my arm around a corner as we fought to escape, but Alby was no runner. He didn't know the maze. I tried leading him in the right direction back to the Glade but his fear overruled him.

Soon, the rain stopped and we were running through puddles. There were deep crevices that I didn't notice and that affected our escape. As my foot splashed into one of those crevices, it got caught and I fell face first onto the concrete. I looked around my shoulder to see the griever standing right above me. It took out this stinger and aimed it at me. My heart raced quickly and I was paralyzed with fear. Just as it was about to sting, Alby came back and pulled me out of the way quick enough. He pushed me in front of him which resulted in him getting caught by the griever. Soon, it plunged it's stinger right into his forehead and Alby's body went limp. I screamed bloody murder in panic and it dropped Alby. 

It focused it's mind on me now and it was up to me to defend myself. I pulled out my knife and aimed it at him, but knew that if I tried to fight him with this tiny knife, I wouldn't have a chance. Thinking quickly, I threw the knife right past him making him believe that Alby was still moving. Once he turned to look at Alby or whatever made the noise, I grabbed Alby and began to pull him. I used all of my adrenaline and hauled Alby far enough away from the griever. I had him on my back limp as ever, and kept on walking to the exit. He had gotten us lost and too far from the exit so it took me extra time to find my way out. 

I then felt a heavy breeze and realized that the maze was changing which meant that the doors were closing. I picked up my pace becoming exhausted but still pulled through. Once I turned the corner I saw everyone waiting for me to come back. Once I saw Newt, Thomas, and Chuck cheering and screaming for me I began to cry slightly. I groaned and my knees buckled from under me. I dropped Alby, but stood back up quickly to pull him. I grabbed his wrists and began dragging him. I looked to the exit to see the doors nearly closed. I lost my hope once they were one foot apart, but then Thomas ran through. He squeezed through the doors keeping eye contact with me. I stopped pulling Alby and fell to my knees. Thomas pushed through and fell to the stone floor once the doors shut for the night.

He got up on his hands and knees seeing me on my knees panting. I wiped my tears and sweat and looked to observe his face. My heart grew heavy in fear of the night.

"Good job. You just killed yourself,"