Shadow of the Maze | Maze Runner [1]

SIXTEEN

[ ELECTRA ]

❧

Electra woke up to whispering on her right. Opening her eyes, she blinked through the darkness and saw Teresa's back turned to her. The girl was sitting on her knees with Thomas' head in her lap.

"Hey, are you okay?" Teresa whispered nicely, looking down at Thomas.

Electra groaned as she sat up, placing a hand on her head. Through the hectic night she hadn't managed to get any good rest. Especially not on the stone cold Slammer floor. Her bones ached but she shrugged through the pain.

"What the hell were you thinking?" a voice called from outside of the Slammer and Electra turned to see a pudgy preteen boy talking.

As Thomas sat up, Electra saw Minho flashing her the tiniest of reassuring smiles while Newt examined Thomas and Teresa, his arm resting up against the Slammer door.

Thomas looked over at Electra and his eyes went wide. "What happened?" he asked breathlessly.

Minho let out a small laugh, "You don't remember stabbing yourself with a Griever spike? Always thought you were a bit psycho, Thomas, but this really takes the cake."

Thomas ignored Minho's comment and his eyes trailed from Electra's face to her left arm, which was still bandaged. Electra could almost see the memory of her showing up in the Glade for the first time replaying in his head as he spoke to her, "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"I'm fine besides the fact that I'm stuck in here with you two." Electra reached up and covered the bandage with her hand. Then, she looked up and met eyes with Minho. "What happened last night?"

She remembered Minho asking her to stay in the Slammer. At first, through the mayhem, she found it impossible to stay put while Grievers thrashed just outside of the door. But just as quickly as the monsters jumped onto the Gladers, they were gone. Electra had watched them all leave in the same emotionless way as they did the night before.

Minho let in a deep breath. "The Grievers killed Gally before they all left."

"They only killed one Glader?"

Minho scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. Their behaviour has been weird lately."

Electra raised a hand to her forehead, sighing through a clashing headache. "More like their programming has been weird. I'm wondering what the Creators have been doing to make them act like this."

Electra remembered the Grievers' anatomy. They were essentially metal covered in slime and some hair. There had to have been some way the Creators were controlling them. Maybe they weren't even alive and were just hollow robots. Then, she remembered how she'd seen one cry. Were they conscious? Or was the crying a mere trick from the Creators to get her to sympathize with literal robots? After the voice dilemma turned out to be a scam, Electra had no idea which explanation was more plausible.

Thomas looked down at his hands, contemplating for a few moments before speaking, "Electra, are you still convinced Teresa and I are the reason all this has happened?"

Electra blinked at the question, startled. Then, she remembered he'd just gone through the Changing. What could he recall from his nightmares?