The Deadliest Generation: The Maze Of Monsters

Blood, Cuts and The Maps

Trigger Warning: Mentions/ descriptions of injuries, blood and torture.

Pain. 

If River could really remember something properly, even in his first dreams, it was the pain. 

The pain running through his veins nearly all the time.

And that mans voice.

Calm- no not calm. 

Blank. 

"Where is D9? If you don't tell me, we do this again."

"Then do it again."

Thunk.

A flush of agony ran through his jawline, and coppery liquid filled his mouth, the unsettling taste making River spit it out, marking the gleaming white floors with deep red blood. Tears were running down his cheek, tears he was hardly aware of.

"River! Stop, he's gonna kill you!" The voice echoed out of nowhere, coming from a place River wasn't fully aware of. 

"She's right, you know." The blank voice said, sounding almost happy, a small smirk curling on the edge of the mans lips.

"At least I'll die knowing he's safe."

There was a beat where River just stared defiantly at the man, a mix of saliva and blood on his lips.

"Alright, we'll switch it up a bit, then."

Pads of some kind, soft yet slightly brittle and painful, but nothing too bad compared to what had happened.

The man moved, then pressed a button. 

A screen flickered on in front of River's eyes. 

A forest was there. Peaceful, thick with blue, eerie, mist. Five kids were in the forest, looking petrified.  

River saw himself, younger, shorter, with more messily cut hair and a fearful yet determined expression. He saw Alec, still with his vivid blue eyes and soft brown hair, he saw Allison, with her surprisingly long and curly hair, Luna with her fierce determination and longish black hair and Ria with their forced yet dazzling smile and scrappily tied up brown curls. The screen flicked onto three other kids. Pale, pink cheeked, petrified Aris, his blonde hair gleaming in the dark wood, Rachel, his older sister, with her striking complexion and dark hair that was swept over one shoulder and Kay, her brown - not then dyed - hair still bobbed at shoulder length, and busy sharpening a stick with their tiny kitchen knife.

And then it shone onto a monster.

A slab of gooey mess with electronic parts oddly blobbed onto various different places.

A creature River would become all too familiar with later on.

A creature with a name.

A Griever.

¬¬¬

"Newt!"

Thomas tore back to the boy still on the ground in a panic, gripping his collar and pulling him up, towards his own face. Newt stared at him, brow furrowed, confused.

"Tommy... whats... wrong...?" 

"It's Minho, he-he ran into the Maze!" Thomas turned to the door, eyes wide and frightened, fear rising in his throat like bile, blind terror clouding his mind.

"Tommy, Tommy!" Newt placed both his hands on Thomas's face, making Thomas look at him. Newt was clearly forcing calm onto his face in order to help Thomas, yet all Thomas could feel over his overwhelming fear was his cheeks heating up under the warmth of Newt's palms.