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

61. The attack

Within a few seconds everyone turned and ran to the sani hut where Teresa had just come from. Only Gally and I stopped for a moment and watched the others as they all followed Teresa. He looked down at himself and apparently only now noticed my hands still on his chest, ready to hold him back with all my strength. Then he looked into my eyes and I could already see that fear again and something else - regret?
"I'm sorry," he whispered and went to take my hands, but I pulled them back first.
"Doesn't matter. Let's go."
With those words, I turned as well and ran towards the sani hut, with Gally following a few feet behind me.
Because I hurried, I arrived at the hut only a little after the others and slipped past the remaining gladers just after Fry Pan and then into the hut, Gally behind me. Alby was sitting with his back to the entrance and seemed to be staring into space when Newt sat down beside him and gently put a hand on his shoulder.
"Alby! Alby, you all right?" he asked, looking at him suspiciously.
When he didn't answer, Thomas crouched down in front of him.
"Hey, Alby."
Still he didn't answer and slowly I began to worry.
"Alby, we might have just found a way out of the maze," Thomas kept trying. "You hear me? We could be getting out of here!"
Now our leader shook his head ever so slightly. "We can't. We can't leave. They won't let us," he whispered.
Gally, who was standing next to me, and I exchanged a look. What did he mean?
"What are you talking about?" Thomas looked at him, confused.
"I remember."
When he said that, it was as if we had all forgotten to breathe. My heart started beating wildly and I felt my hands start to sweat with excitement.
"What do you remember?" Thomas asked, the only one who remained completely calm.
Alby looked at him.
"You."
There was still absolute silence and all eyes were now on Thomas who was staring at our leader, completely perplexed.
What was the meaning of all this? Who was Thomas?
"You were always their favourite, Thomas. Always."
Suddenly I noticed the voices of the gladers outside, where it was already almost completely dark, getting louder and louder. Teresa seemed to be the only one to notice it too, because she looked around in confusion and our eyes met as she looked at me questioningly.
Now I noticed Gally looking around too and we exchanged a glance.
But Alby just kept talking. "Why did you do this? Why did you come here?"
Thomas, who now also seemed to notice that something was wrong outside, stood up and Alby slapped his hands in front of his face and sobbed out.
Now everyone had noticed the shouting and we left Alby alone and went out of the hut to see what was going on.
As we stepped outside, I realised that everyone was running around, armed with torches, shouting things at each other. I looked around in confusion and recognised Winston walking towards us, also holding a torch.
"Hey, Winston, what's going on?" Thomas asked.
"The doors, they aren't closing!"
Everyone was talking in confusion and Winston followed Zart and a few track-hoes towards the still open gate. I looked up at the sky. The sun had already completely disappeared and the first stars were rising. The gates should normally have been closed long ago.
A terrible feeling of foreshadowing came over me and I felt my hands begin to sweat again. When Newt took my hand and pulled me with him towards the gate, I followed him without a comment.
We reached the gate where a few gladers had already gathered. I recognised Alex, Jackson and Tim, who looked at me frightened, as if they expected me to have an explanation for it all. But when they saw the fear in my own gaze, they turned away and ran across the glade, to where I didn't know.
Around us there was wild muttering and discussion about whether there was anything we could do, when suddenly there was a deafening sound that I had never heard before. We all flinched and covered our ears, so I had to let go of Newt's hand. As the noise died down, a new, familiar one came on and the gate on the other side opened.
"Shit," I groaned out as the last two gates began to open as well.
Frozen in place, we all stood looking from one gate to the other as Thomas was the first to find his voice again.
"Okay, Chuck. I want you to go to the council hall, okay? Start barricading the doors."
"Mh-hmm, okay."
"Winston, you go with him," Newt instructed the keeper of the slicers.
"Got it," he nodded and the two of them ran off. I was relieved that Chuck had been taken to safety, because a horrible thought had just occurred to me, What if they sent the Grievers?
"Get the others. Tell them to go to the forest, go hide, now!" Gally shouted to Rick, who, along with a few other builders, immediately ran.
"Minho, I want you to grab every weapons you can find. I'll meet you at counsil hall." Minho nodded and followed Thomas's instructions. "Okay, Teresa, you and I are gonna go get Alby, alright? Come on."
Suddenly someone shouted, "Run! Grievers!" and the chaos began as Grievers also appeared in the corridor we were closest to.
My heart began to pound wildly and all I could think was that I had to stay with Newt. We couldn't lose sight of each other under any circumstances, that much was certain.
"Alright, everybody hide!" Thomas shouted and everyone turned and ran.
In the confusion and darkness, I lost sight of Newt. I regretted letting go of his hand in the first place and spun around in confused circles, looking for him. The Grievers entered the glade and grabbed the first gladers. I saw one of them grab Jackson and yank him in the air before catching the next one.
I still hadn't spotted Newt and no sound seemed to be able to come out of my throat because when I opened my mouth to shout his name, there was nothing. I ran through the screaming gladers and nearly fell when Rick was knocked off his feet by a Griever beside me.
I realised far too late that I had been delivered as two Grievers came at me. Somehow I managed to dodge one, but was then swept off my feet by the other and flung into the air. I hit the ground hard, felt the air being forced out of my lungs as I hit the ground, and squeezed my eyes shut to avoid seeing the Griever sting me or even kill me on the spot.
But suddenly someone beside me yelled, "Not her, you asshole!" and I heard metal crashing on metal as Gally cut off the Griever's tail, which he was about to grab me with. For a split second the creature cried out in pain and was momentarily distracted, when Gally grabbed me as I lay there immobilised by the hard impact and lifted me up, sliding his one arm under my legs and the other under my arms.
As fast as his legs could carry him, he ran across the glade with me in his arms, set me down, pulled open the flap of the box, which was still up, and lifted me inside before he and two other boys also jumped down to me and he closed the flap again.
He pulled me towards him, put a finger to his lips and said, "Shhh, stay down, stay down!" to tell the other two not to make a sound.
Suddenly someone loomed over us and shouted, "Gally! Let me in! Let me in!"
He let go of me for a moment and was about to open the flap when a Griever grabbed the boy and pulled him away. Horrified, Gally looked at us before crouching down beside me again and putting his arms around me protectively. I was still panting, but slowly my lungs stopped hurting and I buried my face against his chest, completely horrified at what had just happened.
Where was Newt? Had Chuck managed to get to safety? What was happening to Minho?
All these questions floated through my mind and I was terrified that something had happened to even one of them.
Newt. What if one of those things had grabbed him? I felt tears of despair running down my cheeks and had to suppress a sob.
Gally hugged me a little tighter and stroked my arm as I clung to him, trying not to hear the screams of the dying gladers.