Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

31. No progress

It had been three days since we had banished Alfred. Minho and I were the only ones going into the maze at the moment, because we had decided that the danger of Alfred running into one of us, if he was still alive, was too great.
But that day our suspicion that he was long dead anyway was confirmed, because we found his things, full of Griever's saliva. Neither of us said a word, we just took them with us to bring them later to the forest where we had placed a stone next to Stan and Justin's grave and carved Alfred's name into it. It seemed the least we could do to pay our last respects to him.
"We should talk to Nick and Alby today," Minho said as we made our early way back.
I nodded. He was right, we should finally tell them today what we hadn't got round to three days ago.
After we had banished Alfred, I had only left our hut when Newt had knocked and asked if there was anything he could do for me. It had been dark by then and certainly after 11pm, but I had been immensely happy to be with him, because if anything made me happy, it was him.
And it had helped just to lie in his arms and cry. More than it could ever have helped to talk to Minho about it. Newt had listened to me and had known what to say to help me. By the next morning I was doing a lot better than I had expected and with my new-found courage I had quickly built Minho up again, too.
So now the two of us walked through the maze, on our way back to the glade to take Alfred's things to his 'grave' and talk to Nick and Alby.
"What do you think they'll do?" Minho asked.
"I have no idea. But Ben was right, it's time we told them the truth. Then whether they tell the others or not is up to them. If I'm completely honest I don't think it would be a good idea, but the decision isn't up to us, right?"
Minho nodded and we quickened our pace a little to get back faster. When we reached the glade, I realised that Ben, Alex and Jackson were sitting near the gate waiting for us like the last few days. When we got back earlier than normal, they jumped up and came towards us.
"You guys okay? Did you guys see a Griever?" Alex asked, his eyes wide, but then his eyes fell on the things in our hands.
"Oh shit," Jackson groaned out and I could see deep dismay in all their faces, even though they had of course known that we would come back one day and announce Alfred's death.
"Come on, boys. Let's take the things to Alfred's memorial," I said and they followed us in silence.
When we had put the things down, we stood there in silence for a while before we left the forest again and dispersed. I could see tears in the eyes of all three of them and had to be careful myself not to cry again, too.
Alex and Jackson went to the wall where they crossed out Alfred's name to say a final goodbye, Ben sat by the lake alone as he said, and Minho and I now really set out to find Nick and Alby.
It wasn't long before we found them. They were in the meeting room and seemed to be discussing something, but immediately fell silent when we came in.
"Sorry to disturb you, but Anna and I need to talk to you about something," Minho began.
"You found Alfred's things, we saw. Good, then you can put all the runners back in now."
Nick believed that was what we wanted.
"Exactly. Still, we need to talk to you about something else." I walked up to the two of them.
"What's it about?" Alby asked, who seemed to have become curious now.
"About the maze."
At Minho's words, Nick now came to attention, too.
"Alright, fire away."
Minho and I exchanged a look and I started talking. "We've been looking for an exit for over two years now and we've really searched every square inch..." I wasn't sure how to tell them.
"There isn't one."
Minho folded his arms in front of his chest and looked down at our leaders.
Their expressions changed in seconds from confused, to horrified, to speechless and it took a while for Nick to say anything again.
"What do you mean 'there is no one'?" he asked, standing up.
I looked up at him and tried to answer as firmly as I could. "It means we have a complete model of the maze in the cabin in the woods and we've examined every corner, every alcove twenty, thirty times, but there's no exit. There are only walls and passages and nothing else."
"If you want, you are welcome to look at the model," Minho suggested, and the two agreed.
So we set off together into the forest. I saw Ben watching us through the trees and when our eyes met, he nodded at me. He seemed happy with the fact that we were finally telling them.
Minho opened the homemade lock and held the door open for us. I entered first, followed by Nick, Alby and Minho, who locked the door again so no one followed us.
Immediately we stood around the table with the model and the two leaders looked at it in silence for a while until Minho broke the silence.
"This is everything, down to the smallest detail. We've examined everything, we've both been to every place, every section countless times, but there's no exit out there."
"Until now," Nick interjected, looking at us with a furrowed brow.
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at him uncomprehendingly.
"It's quite possible that this could still change, isn't it? You said yourself that the maze is changing. Maybe an exit will open at some point."
"Nick..." I swallowed before continuing to speak. "Yes, it changes, but only in that the different sections open and close. Every day a different one is open and only one at a time. That's what we can hear at night. I don't think that -"
But he interrupted me. "No, stop it. You probably haven't looked well enough or I'm right and another exit will open. That settles the issue for me. It should be clear to you that you will continue as before until we get out of here. And you will not tell anyone what you - falsely - believe. Is that clear?" He had stood up in front of us and looked at us threateningly. "Otherwise, I will have to banish you."
I looked at him with wide eyes and sensed that Minho was also completely tense and speechless. My gaze wandered to Alby, who was standing a few feet behind Nick, shaking his head warningly as our eyes met.
Now Nick averted his gaze, pushed me aside so that Minho had to hold me to keep me from falling over, and rushed out of the hut. We were left speechless, watching him go.
Then Alby cleared his throat. "Nick's been a bit of a mess lately. Don't hold it against him. We've been here almost a whole year longer than you and the fear that we might never get out of here is making us all sick, am I right? You two should know that better than anyone. - But even if Nick is confused, he's still right that we shouldn't tell the others, that would only lead to turmoil and I don't want to lose anyone else, you understand that, don't you?"
We nodded silently. That seemed to be enough for him, because he nodded at us again and then followed Nick, probably to reassure him.
Speechless and completely perplexed, we were left behind.