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

55. Griever slime

I just saw Minho tap Thomas on the shoulder and then run off, while the boy stopped thoughtfully. I didn't think twice and ran after my keeper colleague, wondering what he was up to.
"Minho! Hey, Minho, wait!" I shouted when I had almost caught up with him.
He stopped and turned to me.
"What are you up to?"
"Okay, listen. I'm going to round up some people and then we're going to go out of this again and run to where the dead Griever is lying. I think this shank might have a point and maybe we really should go back out and have another look. Are you with me?"
"This shank's name is Thomas and he has a point. So, what are we waiting for? Who did you have in mind?" I asked, looking around the glade searchingly.
"Winston and Zart I was going to ask..."
"And I'll get Pan. All right, let's go. I'll meet you back here in a minute. Hurry up." With that, I turned and left a perplexed Minho standing there as I ran towards the kitchen where Chuck was in the process of helping Fry Pan peel potatoes.
"Pan, I need your help," I began immediately, explaining to him what we were going to do.
"Are you in?" I asked.
At first he looked at me a little confused, but then he nodded slowly.
"I'm not sure what to think of this Thomas yet, and I'm pretty scared of the maze, but for you I'll do it. When do you want to go?"
"Now?" That was more like a question than a statement.
"All right. Chuck, can you manage to take care of the food by yourself for a bit? I'll be back soon."
Chuck's eyes widened and then he nodded vigorously. "Sure, I'd love to! But please take care of yourselves!" At this, he sounded not like the boy sitting in front of us, but like a concerned father.
"Sure thing," I laughed, tousling his curls. He slapped my hand away laughing because he didn't like that at all. That's why I liked doing it so much.
So Fry Pan and I made our way to Minho, who was already waiting with Winston and Zart where we had parted.
"Come on, we'll meet Thomas in the Deadheads. Let's go." With these words Minho ran off and we followed him at a run.
When we reached Thomas, he looked at us with wide eyes.
"Will this be enough?" Minho asked.
Thomas nodded and looked from Minho to me. "Okay." Now he eyed the other three. "Let's go."
We left the forest and walked across the glade to the open gate we had just come out of this morning. I realised I must have been up for 36 hours by now, but didn't notice. The adrenaline kept me awake and made me run as fast as usual.
Minho and I ran off in front, Thomas, Fry Pan, Zart and Winston following us. We had to slow down after a few corners as the three keepers couldn't keep up with us.
"Come on!" Minho cheered them on and I was only happy if we hurried, after all it was late afternoon by now and I had absolutely no interest in spending another night out here.
We walked past a junction and Minho stopped. We looked into the passage and recognised the Griever's griffins peeking out from between the walls that had closed up last night.
Slowly we walked towards it and stopped in front of it. Guts or whatever it was had burst out of the creature and a disgusting slime was dripping onto the floor.
"That's disgusting," Zart stated and I could see in the faces of the other two how horrified they were.
"Hey, there's something in there!" suddenly groaned Thomas, taking a step towards the corpse.
"You mean besides a Griever pancake?" Fry Pan asked, disgusted.
Now I saw it too. Something was flashing red in the body of this thing.
"You're right, there is something!" I too took a step towards the Griever.
Minho seemed to consider, then continued walking towards the body.
"Woah, woah, what are you doing?" Zart asked in horror. Minho paused for a moment, looked at me questioningly, then reached between the walls as I nodded. He was trying to pull the flashing something out of the Griever when its gripper suddenly moved.
Minho jumped back with a scream, lost his balance and Thomas and I caught him before he could fall.
"I thought you said it was dead," Fry Pan said, aghast.
"He has to be!" I said firmly.
"Was it a reflex?" Zart asked now.
"You hope!" Winston groaned.
There was a brief perplexed silence as we waited to see if he moved again, then Thomas said, "Okay, come on, let's try and pull it out." He waved his hands wildly and then grabbed the grapple of the thing. "All right, let's go, everyone get a hand on it. Come on!"
When we had all packed up, he asked, "Allright, ready? On three! One... two... three!"
On the count of three we all pulled as hard as we could and managed to pull the metal grapple out of the wall. Everyone fell to the ground as the thing gave way and Thomas helped Fry Pan up, who lay there for a moment.
"You okay, Fry?"
"Yeah, thanks, brother!"
Now the Griever's innards had come out of the wall and the blinking something was lying in the middle of it. Minho picked it up and it was inside something I would have thought was the heart. He freed it from the organ and I stepped up beside him to look at it more closely.
"WICKED," I whispered as he turned it in his hand and I could read the letters W.C.K.D. on it. We exchanged a meaningful look as the others were still busy getting grossed out.
"What the hell is that?" asked Thomas, coming closer as well.
"Interesting...", Minho muttered.
"Okay, whatever it is, can we take this up back at the Glade? 'Cause I don't want to meet this guy's friends," Fry Pan interjected, pointing at the Griever.
"He's right. It's getting late. Come on." With these words, Minho ran off.
"Come on, let's go," I said, looking at the others promptly. They followed us and together we left the maze again.