Like Ashes We Fall

Chapter Five

All around me I glimpsed the Right Arm pouring from the darkness, joining me on my charge.
The final effort to bring down WCKD.  A battle cry rose from somewhere.  Maybe me.  In my head, the map of the WCKD stronghold was memorized and displayed.  The route I would have to take to get to the Immune ward.  To Minho.

My heart hammered in my chest, muscles tensed, and preparing to run.  It struck me how similar it was to the Maze, every morning in the Glade going through that route in my head.  Things had come full circle.     

"Ari!"  

I twisted, mid-stride.  Thomas emerged, falling into place beside me.  Then Newt and Frypan.  They each gripped a gun.  Together we approached the massive gaping doorway and then stepped across the threshold. 

The last of the Gladers.  Entering WCKD's maze one last time.  

The corridors inside were blindingly eggshell white.  An alarm screeched, a red light flashing.  It seemed to bounce off the walls, creating slick shadows like blood.  A woman's voice repeated evacuation instructions in a calm manner over and over again.  But I tuned it out, only hearing the blood roaring through my head and the footsteps of Thomas beside me, Newt and Frypan behind us.   

I skidded around the first corner so fast my shoulder slammed into the wall.  Thomas reached out, slinging himself around by a door handle.  Smarter than my way of doing it.  Ahead a single doctor in a white lab coat emerged, freezing when she saw us.  Her skin was pale and hallow beneath the lights, her mouth forming a perfect O. 

I looked at Thomas.  Thomas looked at me.  Together we looked at the doctor.  The doctor took a shuddering step backward. 

"We need that badge," Newt said from behind us.  

I aimed the guard's gun, stocking the butt against my shoulder.  "Stop!"

The doctor cowered as we advanced, hands in the air.  "Please," she sobbed.  "Please, please."

Thomas snatched the ID badge from her jacket.  The doctor let out a shriek but I stepped over her, breaking into a run once more.  The others were hot on my heels as we tore down the hall, passing door after door.  The elevator was at the end, and we needed to get to the third floor to find Minho. 

Ahead, a trio of guards rounded the corner, black armor glinting.  They raised their guns.  "Stop right there!" 

I slid to a halt, gun raised.  "Shit!"  I fired off a few shots, causing them to scatter but it would only distract them for so long.    

"This way!"  Frypan yelled, yanking open a door to his left.  "Come on!" 

Newt stumbled through first, then Thomas.  I shoved Frypan in front of me and then closed the heavy metal door behind me.   We came to a stop in the room, leaning over and panting.  Scattered papers and files littered the floor.  Behind us, Thomas flipped over the heavy metal table, sending glass vials careening through the air.  With a grunt, he shoved it against the door.  

"We don't have long," Newt panted, hands splayed on his hips.  

I gazed through the lab, to the door at the far wall.  "The stairwell," I said.  "The back stairwell."

"It could be swarming with guards," Frypan warned. 

"Guys, I don't think we have a choice."  Thomas backed up to us as the metal table in front of the door began to rattle.  The WCKD guards were breaking their way through. 

"Right," I faced the back wall again.  "We've got to go."

The metal table rattled again and slid back a few inches.

"Go, go!"  Thomas yelled as the guards gained another foot.   

I sprinted for the far door, throwing my body weight against it.  It only opened an inch or so.  "Fuck!"  I rammed my shoulder into it.  Behind us, the metal table slid across the floor, screeching as the guards shoved the door all the way open.  

"Move!"  Frypan yelled and then stepped back and with a running start, plowed into the door.  It swung open, the lock flying off the hinge and striking the wall.  We poured out into the back hall, one after the other.  Rickety metal stairs glinted off the flashing lights.  

I raced for them, taking the stairs two at a time.  They creaked and shuddered beneath our pounding feet but held.  I gripped the railing, yanking myself up as we went along.  The door appeared, labeled LEVEL THREE.  Beside it was the access panel.  

Thomas fumbled with the badge, swiping it through.  The panel lit up green and the door unlocked audibly with a hiss.  Relief coursed through me and we stepped through.

The silence seemed deafening from the cacophony downstairs.  The red alarm lights still reflected off the walls but there wasn't a soul in sight.  I took a cautious step forward.  Glass crunched beneath my boots and I winced.  I kept the rifle up and at the ready just in case. 

"It looks empty," Thomas said, his voice laced with uncertainty.  

"This is where they're holding him," Newt answered, gaze sweeping the walls.

"He'll be here."  I said.  

"Why aren't there any guards?  Or doctors?"  Frypan peered through the nearest window.  "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know but don't jinx it," Newt toed a particularly large chunk of glass out of the way.

We neared the end of the hall and I looked at Thomas.  He gave a faint nod.  Together, we rounded the corner, weapons aimed.

And froze.

Kneeling in the middle of the corridor, nearly slumped over, was Minho.

My body locked up, mouth working as words evaded me.  It was Newt who spoke first.  

"Minho?"

At the sound of his name, Minho lifted his head.  His face was pale, eyes sunken and hollow.  Just looking at us seemed to take every ounce of energy he had.  His wrists were bound in front of him, the metal shackles glinting in the light.  

His eyes skipped over all of us, recognition finally dawning on him.  Then it was washed away and replaced with something else.  Something, I'd never seen from Minho.  

Terror.

His gaze alighted on me.  He opened his mouth, voice hoarse as if he'd been screaming for days.  "No, no- you can't be here."

"Minho, we came to get you."  Newt was staring at his friend.

Minho shook his head, nearly falling over with the effort.  He was panting now, chest heaving.  "Trap-" he managed.  "It's a trap- run.  Run!"

His gaze locked with mine.  I took a single step backward.  Shadows appeared behind Minho.  Dozens of them.  My stomach bottomed out.  Janson emerged, hands clasped behind him.  

"Kill them all except the girl.  We need her alive."