Shadow of the Maze | Maze Runner [1]

ONE

[ ELECTRA ]
Three Years Later.

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The sounds of metal whirring and the smell of burnt flesh chased Electra as she raced towards the nearest ivy-filled wall. She latched onto the vines and began hoisting herself up, the sounds and smells only getting more intense as the ferocious creature neared her. Electra cursed under her breath as her foot slipped while climbing the wall. In her three years of surviving in the Maze she hadn't gone 24 hours without the Grievers wanting to kill her.

Thankfully, they were relatively stupid beings. As if designed on purpose to give her a challenge but also a chance at life if she was smart enough to survive. And she'd definitely proved to be smart enough, since three years after her initial awakening in the Maze she was still here. Barely, but still here.

Nearing the top of the wall, she pushed through minor feelings of vertigo. Climbing even further she reached the top of the wall and rolled over, coughing through her feelings of breathlessness. Quickly regaining her composure she looked over the edge to see the Griever following her. Oh great, she thought. Here we go again.

She reached for her belt and grabbed her favourite knife from its holder. Quickly wiping it off on her shirt, she looked beyond her knife to see the Griever reaching the top of the wall. The beast roared at her, spitting slime and mucus in her face. Electra screamed back as she brought the knife above her head and quickly sliced down, into the Griever's hideous head. Ripping the knife out of its skull, the being screeched before losing its footing and plummeting down from the top of the Maze. It hit with a metallic clang before silence filled the area.

She slowly wiped the goop off of her knife on a piece of cloth hanging from her belt before pushing the weapon back into its holder. Around a year ago she'd managed to scavenge a bit of Griever metal, melting it down and making her own knife. It wasn't the prettiest weapon, but it still got the job done.

She also found it very fitting to be able to kill the monsters with the same metal they were made out of. Electra thought it poetic, although she'd never been one for poetry. At least, she couldn't remember ever enjoying poetry.

Electra briefly glanced down at the creature before turning away. A dead Griever attracted more Grievers and it was best not to get involved with the herds if one didn't have to. The monsters always picked up their fallen counterparts, breaking the mechanical creature apart and stuffing it in their bulbous flesh before stalking away.

She'd tried following a group of them once to see where they came from but that had almost killed her. Before getting anywhere close to their possible nest, the group of Grievers suddenly realized she was there and instantly attacked her. After a couple more attempts, all with the same life-threatening outcome, she'd completely given up on the idea of following them. The Creators obviously didn't want her to.

Running on top of the walls, the Maze looked endless. Electra knew that wasn't technically possible and that the Creators had a way of messing with her mind, making her believe the Maze was in fact endless when she could see all the twists and turns from above. After three years, she had a solid estimate of where the end of the Maze could be, but she was never able to physically get there as Grievers or other unexpected events would push her back, seemingly non-coincidentally.

She ran for a few minutes, just enough to get a safe distance away from the dead Griever before deciding to climb down.

"Hey, Tarzan! How about coming back to ground level?" She heard Minho's voice call out to her, followed by his charismatic chuckle.

She whipped her head around to glare at him before almost losing her grip in the ivy. Cursing at herself, she climbed most of the way down before jumping to ground level and facing her beloved best friend.