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

36. Reckless

I crossed the glade at a run, Minho beside me, Ben, Alex, Jackson and Tim behind us. The latter had been sent up to us a month ago and had been a runner ever since. No one had been stung since Steve's banishment. I wouldn't say that was much of an achievement, but at least we had made it almost two months without having to banish anyone.
Today was the day again, a new freshet would be coming up to join us. Just as we entered the maze, we heard the sirens sound. Tim winced and Ben patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. We turned a corner and the sounds disappeared almost immediately, allowing us to concentrate fully on our task.
Every time we were in the maze together, I could see the looks Minho and Ben exchanged. They were both thinking the same thing I was, even though I tried hard not to show them. None of the three of us believed we would find an exit and we didn't understand why Nick kept sending us out here. Yes, I knew it would literally kill some of them if they knew we had already searched everything multiple times, but still, you couldn't lie to them forever, could you?
The day would come when Jackson and Alex would also realise that they must have seen the entire maze. What would happen then? Would we let them in on it, hoping they wouldn't tell everyone right away? What if they did? What would Nick do then? Banish them.
Lately I'd been giving him a lot of credit. Every month he became more and more nervous, more and more upset, more and more irritable. Just as I had been hoping for almost three years now that a second girl would finally come up to us, he was hoping for someone who had answers to his questions. I knew he had been here almost a year longer than me, but still, as a leader, he had to behave differently. If I didn't know better, I would think he was losing his mind.
By now I had given up waiting for them to send another girl here. At first, I had checked on the freshman every now and then with interest when we came out of the maze in the evening, but for almost two years now, I didn't even ask who had come up. It wasn't a girl anyway, so why should I ask?
Minho and Gally agreed that Nick either had to pull himself together or give up his post as leader to Alby. After all, the latter had been taking over almost all of his tasks for months because Nick was busy issuing strange orders or making plans that ended in nothing.
The atmosphere at the glade, on the other hand, was better than ever. Everyone was getting along quite well, even though groups had been formed in the meantime. The individual jobs pretty much kept to themselves and only the keepers built bridges between them, because I still got on very well with Winston, Clint and Zart, as did Minho. I didn't even have to talk about Gally, he had become much more than just my best friend over time, he was like my brother and I felt he had been before the maze.
As far as Newt was concerned, absolutely nothing had changed between us. I was still overjoyed when I was with him and he still gave me that tingle when he touched me. The last three years had welded us together and I couldn't imagine anything worse than a world without him.
We jogged through the corridors, on our way to Section 5, which had to be open today. Minho and I knew the way there inside out, so we didn't have to think much about where to turn. No one had seen or heard a Griever since Steve's banishment, which made us reckless, as if we thought they had simply disappeared. That was probably why none of us - not even Minho or I - heard the click and clack that approached us from the left just before we reached section 5.
It was only when it was almost too late that Minho suddenly stopped, rooted to the spot, which is why I almost ran into him, and raised a hand to tell us to stop while he held a finger to his lips.
Now I heard it, too. The Griever must be very close to us and I wondered in horror if it had heard us. I got the answer to my question relatively quickly, for the sound was now coming rapidly closer and the thing emitted a sickening, screeching scream. One that you could sometimes hear at the glade at night, when you could also hear the maze changing.
I knew the Griever was on its way to us, and I also knew that we were not all fast enough to run away from it, and also that it was too late to slip away quietly. There was nothing left for us to do but hope that he hadn't heard us after all and would run past the corridor we were in.
Of course, I knew that the risk was high and also that it was definitely not a good idea to stand around here as if served on a silver platter. Helplessly, I looked around the corridor we were in, looking for any way to save ourselves.
And then it came to me, the idea that probably saved all our lives. At one point on the wall to our right, the ivy that grew on pretty much all the walls reached almost to the ground - so low that you could reach it if you helped each other.
Without thinking too much, I pointed at the plant and it didn't take long for my runners to understand what I meant. We literally jumped - on tiptoe - towards the ivy.
First Minho and I helped Tim up, who continued to climb. He was followed by Jackson and Alex, then Ben and finally Minho tried to lift me up, but I shook my head. I was lighter than him and he would be able to pull me up. So he climbed up my robber ladder, then bent down to me and pulled me up to him with momentum.
Not a second too late. The clicking and clacking had become so loud by now that the Griever could only be a few metres away. Minho held me tightly to him with one arm while he clung to the ivy with the other. It was fortunately so thick that we almost completely disappeared into it.
I could hear the Griever now below us. With my eyes squeezed tightly shut, I clung to Minho with my arms and legs, praying that he would not see us. Above me I could hear stifled breathing that I believed was coming from Ben. Below us, the Griever now seemed to be sniffing, at least making a strange sniffing sound as if picking up a trail.