She's a flame [Maze Runner AU]

Chapter Five

Whirrrrrr. Click. Whirrrrrrrrr. Click Click. Whirrrrrrrr.

The sounds of metal on metal disrupted the peaceful silence of the maze. I looked up at Minho, but he yelled at Thomas to run. They both left me standing there, alone. I had no clue what to do, so I ran. I didn't follow either of the boys, but ran my own path. I made sure to repeat the directions I went over and over in my head.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Straight. Left. Straight.

I ran and ran until I saw something horrifying. A creature the size of a cow that looked like a slug on metal legs with spikes all over it's back. I let out a scream and ran in the other direction.

Right. Straight. Right. Left. Left. Straight. Right.

All along running, I could hear the clicking of the metal creature behind me. I had heard Gladers talking about grievers, so that must have been what this was. But the creature looked much scarier than what would have been called a griever.

I could feel my leg muscles tighten up from being used so much, but I couldn't stop. I focused on my breath and the path I took. I heard the clicking stop from the ground and start again on the wall. The creature was chasing me while climbing the walls. I continued running, taking turn after turn.

My chest started to tighten, but I still couldn't stop. My whole body ached, my head pounding. I could hear my heartbeat as I ran. I heard another set of footsteps and yelled. "Turn around! It's following me!"

I passed the opening on my right and saw Thomas. He turned around and ran in the other direction, away from me.

Left. Right. Right. Straight. Left. Left.

I continued running, taking harsh turns quickly to hopefully get away from the creature behind me. I had been running for hours, but it felt like only minutes while running from what could possibly end my life. 

I continued turning and running. The clicking had gotten quieter and quieter. I started to slow down and came to a stop.

Whirrrrrrr. Click. Click. Whirrrrrrr. Click Click Click. Whirrrrrr. Whirrrrrr.

The creature was closer to me than before. It was just being quiet. I looked around. There was nowhere to go, this was a dead end to the maze. There were three ways to go: Under the creature, over the creature, or get killed by the creature. I chose under.

I backed away from the creature as it came closer. I was pinned to the wall, the thing a few yards in front of me. I ran forward and slid underneath it, barely missing one of the many spikes on it. I ran as fast as I could, pushing my limits.

Left. Right. Straight. Left. Right. Right. Straight. Left. Left.

The thing was behind me. It was shocked at first before turning around and chasing me. The time it took the creature to turn around gave me a thirty-second head start. Of course, the creature was fast, so it caught up quickly.

I stopped at a cliff. I looked down. Darkness. There was nowhere else to go. The creature wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, would it? No way. I had to get it into the pit of black.

The creature turned the corner, coming straight at me. I saw two more of them follow it in. There were now three of these things in front of me. I looked past them and saw Minho and Thomas. They were yelling at the things to focus on them. But they were too interested in me.

I made eye contact with the boys, they started yelling at me to not do it. But I had to. It was the only way they would survive.

"Don't do it Astrid!!"

"Come on, don't!"

"We'll figure something out real quick! Just don't do it!"

"What about Newt!?"

The two boys continued yelling at me to stop, but I couldn't. Even if Newt was here, I'd still do this to save him.

"Goodbye boys! Tell Newt I'll always remember him! Tell him to never forget me!" I yelled out to them.

I looked at the three creatures again.

"You want me!? Come get me you sick bastards!" I yelled at the slimy disgusting creatures.

The three grievers ran at me at the same time. They were so close. But they needed to be a bit closer. Come on. A few more meters.

They were about seven feet away from me now. I took a step back and fell back into the pit, the creatures following shortly behind me. I watched as they fell, not being able to catch themselves on anything.

Minho's POV

She did it.

Astrid fell off the cliff, the grievers following her. She was here for two days. TWO SHUCKING DAYS. And she's dead.

I looked at Thomas. A tear fell from his eye. We had barely known her.

I walked over to the cliff, Thomas following me. We arrived at the edge and looked down. Pure black.

Something I saw shocked me. A piece of the vines was clearly holding something. It was pulled from the wall, hanging down.

"Thomas. Help me pull the end of this vine up." I ordered him.

He silently nodded and grabbed the vine with me. We pulled and pulled. There was obviously something holding onto it. We tugged the vine up and I looked over the edge while Thomas continued pulling. There was a hand. A human hand.

"Keep pulling Thomas." I ordered.

The hand got higher and higher. The dim light from the moon was bright enough to see her face. Astrid was alive.

I reached down and grabbed her hand, she reached out her other arm and grabbed my forearm.

"Thomas help. Forget the vine, help me."

Thomas grabbed my sides and tugged me back. the top half of Astrid's body was safely on the hard ground. We continued pulling while she pushed up with her legs. After a few more seconds, she was up on her feet next to us.

Astrid's POV

"Thanks." I sighed, catching my breath.

"No problem." Thomas spoke first.

"How did you- How are you- What the shuck just happened?!" Minho spoke confused.

"We would all of died unless I jumped. The things-"

"Grievers." Minho corrected me.

"The grievers were dumb enough to follow me and they fell. I grabbed the vine and held on until you saw me and started pulling me up." I finished.

"So basically, you killed three shucking grievers?" Minho exclaimed.

"I guess so? I didn't exactly kill them, just tricked them." I corrected him.

"Whatever, the doors are about to open back up. Lead the way, shebean."

Thanks for reading. Please vote and comment. I will continue writing the next chapter as soon as I publish this.