The Beginning of the End // The Maze Runner // Newt

// Chapter 15 //

The moment the group rounded the corner, the three Grievers that guarded the exit immediately stood to attention, noticing them straight away. Their beady eyes narrowed and their sharp teeth were bared. They swung their metal arms around and prepared their giant stingers for the attack.

It was a battle between man and monster. Only one would win.

The group sprinted towards the beast, spears raised, and rammed into it. The creature was lifted off the ground, but crashed back onto its feet quickly. Athena lifted her unsheathed sword and attacked one of the legs which had touched down in front of her.

Boys were being knocked down and thrown around left and right, some getting up again, others down for the count, some nowhere to be seen after being flung into the bottomless pits on either side of the corridor.

She looked around for Chuck and Teresa, the two people who were guarding the Key, but they weren't among the crowd. She turned around, scanning the path and saw the two struggling on the edge.

"Fuck!" Athena yelled, dodging one of the metal legs that swung low above her and ran towards the two. Teresa gripped the young boy, stopping him from falling but unable to drag him to safety. Athena slid next to them, grabbing the Chuck and, after counting to three, hauling him back onto the path with Teresa's help.

He was panicking as more of the disgusting creatures were clawing their way up the walls holding up the solitary pathway. At first, it was clear a lot of the group were worried about the drop, but soon they had seemingly forgotten about it or at least sorted out their priorities - the Grievers - and used it to their advantage, pushing one of them off the edge. However, more kept coming.

"Jeremiah!" Someone yelled as one of the Grievers bit down on his spear, tugging him into the frenzy of monsters. Athena stabbed her sword this way and that, cutting the beast in some places and oozing their gooey blood onto the floor. The boys were also attacking the creatures left and right but the damage didn't seem to be having any effect on them.

One of the metal legs swung down over Athena's head, and she managed to duck just in time, but another limb swung lower as she stood up, sending her tumbling to the ground. She heard someone yell her name, but she was too focused on the Griever that turned around and slithered towards her, looming above her in barely a moment's notice.

Athena pierced her sword forward as it lashed out to grab her with its strong teeth. The monster didn't stop in its movement and so the weapon plunged into the roof of its mouth with a sickening crunch as it broke the bone. The beast let out a deafening screech unlike anything Athena had heard before and she winced.

The Griever, ripped its head backwards and staggered away, giving Athena the opportunity to run back towards the rest of the group. Only then did she feel the burning pain in her forearm where the Griever's teeth had managed to sink in and tear a disgustingly large gash in her. The flesh was shredded and jagged and blood poured from the wound, dripping to the floor.

She quickly made her way to the corner next to Chuck and knelt down to rummage in her pack for the emergency bandage and gauze they had in the Runner's pack in the case of an incident.

"Thomas! It's a code! Eight numbers!" Teresa yelled over the chaos and Athena turned her head briefly, noticing the large, glowing red circle that had appeared before turning her attention back to her arm.

"Shit, Athena!" Chuck hurried to her side, immediately helping her find the items she needed since she was seriously struggling with just one hand.

"7! 1! 5! 2!" Athena heard Minho start to yell, but he was abruptly cut off by a Griever falling from above, trapping him underneath it as he did his best to resist the monster's advances, but it was difficult for him to speak as he held the monster at bay with a spear.

As much as Athena wanted to get up and go and help, she knew there was nothing she could do in her state. Jeff got there first, stabbing the spear straight down through the Griever's face. It shook its head this way and that, distracting the monster so that Minho could escape from under it.

However, the boy kept holding onto the spear he had attacked with and the Griever used that to latch onto his leg, devouring his lower body in a number of crunches before it backed off to finish its meal.

Two more Grievers closed in and took its friend's place while Minho finished yelling out the sequence, "6! 4! 8! 3!"

Chuck finished wrapping her arm and had put the loose items that had fallen out back into her pack, his hands shaking from the terror of their situation.

As the group backed towards the exit, Athena could hear the taps of Teresa entering the code, followed by a deep, low rumble, just like what Thomas, Minho and Athena heard when they had first discovered the place. Then, just like what had happened before, the large concrete slabs collapsed, crushing the Grievers that were underneath it.

One of them was dangerously close, but Thomas threw his spear at the beast's head, the force of it moving it far enough back to get caught under the final chunk of rock, oozing its guts all over the floor in front of them.

For a moment, it was silent. Athena stood in the corner, unmoving, her arm held against her chest while she carried her sword in her left hand. The group waited in the pitch darkness, their numbers significantly lower than when they had first departed the Glade, but at least it was over. Then the ground shifted beneath them and they fell.