Queen of The Maze

Runners

I led the others through the maze, memories of each corner surfacing as I turned. Making to the blades, I stopped to take a breath. I began my brief of what was about to go down while everyone was too breathless to interject. "Alright you shanks. Right now the 4th section of the maze is open, and that's where we're going. Theres a huge concrete pathway with a tall wall of pods on either side, which is where the grievers rest. I've never made it any further, so I guess we are on our own after that. But I do know that there is a door at the end of the pathway, I could see it. So that's our best option. Is everybody clear on that or would you like me to repeat myself?" I looked around and everyone was nodding, so I made a move. Moving quickly and silently, we all snuck up to the pathway. Standing in front of us were impossibly tall concrete walls with holes dented into them, like honeycomb. And in each one was a griever, sleeping I guess. I stepped in first, the shadows of the walls surrounding me. Praying silently that there aren't any crunchy leaves like in the movies, I took two steps froward. Still alive. I started a soundless jog. Still alive. I motioned for everyone to follow and we made our way, closer to the door. 

Once we had all caught our breaths and each other at the door, we realised that our predicament was worse than we thought. The door (if you could call it that) was similar to that of a vault, an enormous steel handle that presumably opened when turned. But the problem was, the door wouldn't open, it needed a code of some sort. And after one too many desperate attempts at kicking it open, Axel conveniently sprained his ankle and let out a whimper that was just loud enough to echo. All. Around. The. Cavern. One by one the grievers started to move, sensing their presence and hopping down right onto the pathway that could lead them back. I turned back to the door and spotted the keycard thing. I raced up to it just after slinging Axels arm over my shoulder, shouting for the others to cover me while I tried to guess the code. I tried to spell out 'section four' and then 'WCKD' in numbers, but then finally an idea came to mind. I racked my brain but for the life of me I couldn't remember. So I turned my head around to Val who was fighting a malicious griever, and asked "What's the sequence for the maze sections?" And I was so fortunate that he answered, rather slowly I might add. "Seven!" He screamed, slicing on of the grievers heads off. After putting it in, I shouted for the rest. " One, Five!" He yelled, just as another monster came lunging at him. Eventually I had put in the entire code, and after hearing a click I twisted the door open with everyone still alive.

The grievers immediately stopped fighting and clawed their way out of the long pathway out into the maze, which I took to mean that they were scared. Not a great thing, but I guess we had better chances going through the doors than staying out of them. I turned to the others and signalled the all clear, pushing through the doorway. I cautiously walked into the room with everyone trailing behind, expecting something or someone to come out of the shadows. The room we now stood in was dark, as Evander had the smarts (And sweets, and innocence, and adorableness) to close the door behind us. We all knew that we wren't going back. Anyway, what was I saying? Ah yes, the room. From what we could tell, it looked like a communications lab of some sort, with a faint blue glow that illuminated the room, bouncing from different screens and monitors. As far as we could tell, the room was probably about the size of a tennis court, with a low hanging ceiling, a white and light blue aesthetic, and glass everywhere. And I don't just mean windows. There was glass on the floor, nearby desks, on the chairs, and sticking out of computer screens. As I walked further into the room I headed to the main source of blue light, a panel and projector screen in the centre of the laboratory. Hearing the others stop beside me with a crunch of feet colliding with glass, I looked down. The panel in front of me was white, as was everything else in the darkened room. I scanned the keyboard, looking for something to switch a light on with, or to open a door to let us out, and found a big green button. Contrary to what everyone might think, a big button in an abandoned place is not always a bad thing. Because when I mindlessly clicked it, all it did was turn on the projector.

There was a video already lined up to play, depicting a middle-aged woman wearing all white, sitting in a chair in an office. She was staring directly at the camera, and I wasn't too sure if the video was playing until she took a deep breath and began speaking.

"Hello. My name is Doctor Gracie Paige. I'm Director of Operations of the World Catastrophe Kill-zone Department. If you're watching this, that means you've successfully completed the Maze Trials. I wish I could be there in person to congratulate you... but circumstances seem to have prevented it. I'm sure by now, you must all be very confused, angry, frightened. I can only assure you that everything that's happened to you, everything we've done to you, it was all done for a reason. You won't remember, but the sun has scorched our world. Billions of lives lost to fire, famine, suffering on a global scale. The fallout was unimaginable. What came after was worse. We called it the Flare, a deadly virus that attacks the brain. It is violent, unpredictable... incurable - or so we thought. In time, a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure, but finding it would not be easy. The young would have to be tested, even sacrificed, inside harsh environments, where their brain activity could be studied, all in an effort to understand what makes them different - what makes you different. You may not realize it, but you're very important. Unfortunately, your trials have only just begun. As you'll no doubt soon discover, not everyone agrees with our methods. Progress is slow, people are scared. It may be too late for us... for me... but not for you. The outside world awaits. Remember: Wicked is good."

The last words that she spoke rocked me to my core, as that is exactly the opposite of what my young journal had said. Dr. Paige's story checked out, but that didn't mean anything in my eyes. I was pulled from my thoughts when the video went silent for a moment, before people in black uniforms came bursting through the doors to the doctors office. Gracie silently pulled out a gun, raised it to her head and pulled the trigger. Then the projector stopped doing its job. We all stood silently for a moment before something else happened. Lights came on in the room, with a warm yellow light that overpowered the blue. All of us took out our weapons in anticipation, but all that happened was the door that we came through opened up again. But our worry returned when it became visible as to who was now in the room. I swore under my breath which I seemed to be doing a lot more of lately and stood in front of everyone else. Noticing our rigid frames, Kaiden strolled closer to us, looking relaxed but furious, holding a huge spear in hand. "The applications for our team have closed. Sorry, try again never." I said dryly, hoping to knock some sense into him. He had obviously followed us out here, and that must have been why the grievers ran away so suddenly. It wasn't because they were scared, it was because they had new prey. Clever bastard. 

Stopping about two meters away from our little huddle, Kaiden began a speech, like he always does. 'You know, I was expecting something a bit better from you. From all of you. Remaining loyal to Nyla for so long, even after she left you in the dark was a very, very bad decision. If you come back with me and bow to me as leader, I promise to give each and every one of you double the rations-' 'Really Kaiden? It's one thing to be insecure, but it's a whole other thing to bribe your way to the top. And bowing to you? First of all, no one will be doing any bowing, especially to you. And second, what are you? A king? You are not anywhere near worthy enough to have people so much as bending a knee for you. Find the humble inside your tiny, shrivelled excuse for a heart, and walk away. Because as I may have said before, we are not allowing you to join us.' I finished, standing tall and confident, the same energy echoing around the room from the others. Val, Koa and Alvaro were standing behind me, while Axel, Hunter and Nolan stood beside me and Evander stood in front, like a cub trying to lead the pack. It was very cute, even after I carefully nudged him behind me. But something was wrong.