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

33. Another victim

I ran as fast as my feet would carry me through the corridors of the maze. The distant cries of my runner became more and more desperate, so I took it up a notch.
When I reached a fork in the road, I came to a skidding halt and tried to get my bearings. Where was Minho? He had to be around here somewhere too, but I couldn't see him.
Who had even come up with the idea that we should split up? After Mike had been stung and banished a month ago, after just two weeks of being a runner and travelling with Ben and Jackson, Nick had had no better idea than to send us into the maze separately so we could search harder for an exit.
I turned left and then right again. The screams were getting louder. I knew Ben, Jackson and Alex were in the outer section, which is why none of them could be. Only Minho and Steve, who had been a runner for three months, were near me. Even though I would never say it out loud, I wished it was Steve who was screaming for his life there and not Minho.
As I turned another corner and was sure I was only a few feet away from the screaming man, I was suddenly jerked hard to the side and landed on my butt, hitting my head on a wall. I was about to complain loudly when someone covered my mouth.
"Shut up or we'll be next!" Minho hissed.
I would have liked to throw my arms around his neck, but I obeyed and kept my mouth shut. So we remained on the floor, me sitting on my bottom, Minho crouching over me, his hand still on my mouth.
Only now did I hear the clicking and clacking in the corridor next to us. My heart began to beat twice as fast as normal and my breathing under Minho's hand was intermittent and irregular. I clutched at his shirt, shivering, and squinted my eyes.
I knew I was on the verge of a hysterical fit and felt tears running down my cheeks without the slightest control over my body. Fear overtook every other feeling and every clear thought.
It was only when the Griever had moved away and only a whimper could be heard from the corridor next to us that I opened my eyes again and looked into Minhos, who were staring at me in horror. I couldn't help myself and sobbed uncontrollably, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face against his throat.
"That was so close, I almost ran into him," I sobbed.
Minho seemed lost for words at how close he had just come to saving me from death, for he just stroked my back incessantly as he held me against him.
It was several minutes before we were able to move again. Slowly we broke away from each other and I wiped away my tears as we stood up.
Before we dared to look around the corner where I had just almost run straight into the Griever's arms or grapples or whatever he had - no one who had seen one had been able to describe it afterwards - I stopped again and looked at Minho.
"You just saved my life. Thank you, Minho." My voice broke.
"You're welcome," he said, and I saw a faint smile play around the corners of his mouth.
Still trembling, I peered cautiously around the corner. Sure enough, I was presented with the sight I had expected.
Steve lay unconscious in a pool of slime and blood, his arms draped over his face as if he had tried to protect it. Wordlessly I knelt beside him, checked his pulse, nodded when I found it and then took his legs while Minho grabbed him under the armpits and lifted him up.
Silently we carried him through the corridors, between the walls as high as houses, until we heard footsteps behind us and Ben, Alex and Jackson emerged out of breath. They didn't say a word when they saw Steve either, but just trotted along behind us with their heads hanging down.
By the time we reached the glade, a cluster of gladers had formed around the open gate, startled by the screams that had come from the maze. I didn't look at anyone's face as we carried Steve's limp body through, but I felt Newt's presence as someone started walking beside me a metre away. We took the boy, who couldn't have been more than 15, to the hole where Jeff was already holding the door open for us.
He's no older than Stan was then, I thought as we carefully placed him on the floor of the hole.
Every time someone had been stung, I had thought of him. The feeling of his limp body on top of me after I had killed him. Once again, a shiver ran down my spine at the thought of it. Would it ever stop?
Silently we left the hole, Jeff closed the grate and together with him and Minho I silently moved away, leaving our three remaining runners with Steve. I secretly wondered if today was the day they would tell us they wanted to change jobs. I couldn't even blame them. Now him, a month ago Mike and just two months before that Liam, who had also been stung and banished just weeks after arriving at the glade and becoming a runner. Ben would probably want to carry on despite everything, if only for Minho, but Alex and Jackson? I didn't know how much longer those two would keep it up.