Subject of the Flame | Maze Runner [2]

EIGHT

[ ELECTRA ]

❧

The smallest of smiles grew on her face and blood coursed through her veins as Electra raced through the halls. She slowed to a stop before each opening in the hallway, peering around the corner before sprinting forward. She had a vague indication of where the room could be. After all, she'd just been there not even twenty minutes ago.

The idleness she'd been plagued with slipped away and she was filled with heart-racing adrenaline. It consumed her and she couldn't get enough of it. She felt restored to her Maze days, minus the utter gruesomeness and terror of it all. The fact that they were all trapped within the grasp of WICKED couldn't wreck her mood. Even if she stumbled across some workers, or even Janson himself, Electra doubted they'd be able to handle her.

This time she'd be allowed to fight. And if anyone tried to stop her from escaping this place she would do exactly that.

Electra turned a corner, bolting right into a rigid frame which sent her tumbling to the floor. She looked forward to see Claudia also on the floor, completely out of breath.

Claudia let out a few struggled gasps, "Electra, what are you doing here?"

Electra sat frozen on the floor. What was she supposed to say? She was meant to be in her room at the moment, but did Claudia know that? The woman hadn't been there for the whole key-stealing fiasco. Had she already been debriefed on the situation? The way Claudia stared at her, the woman's head tilting the tiniest bit, told Electra that Claudia wasn't aware.

Then, an idea flashed into Electra's head. Electra hadn't taken the stolen key from Thomas so she had no way to enter the room where her knife was. Did Claudia have a key?

Claudia caught on to Electra's hesitation and the woman scrambled to a stand. Electra latched onto Claudia's arm before she could flee and dragged the woman back to the floor. Electra searched through Claudia's pockets, her fingers feeling the glossy sheen of a key card and she pulled it out. Claudia tried to steal the key back from her but Electra pushed the woman away from her. Claudia's back hit the wall as Electra set off.

She wouldn't have much time. Claudia would definitely be alerting the rest of WICKED. Electra looked down at the key card and saw Claudia's smiling face staring back at her. She hoped this key would work for the room.

Electra found the curved hallway where the room was located, noticing the vent panel they'd forgotten to close in their rush back to their rooms. Electra jumped and slammed the vent closed, taking a deep breath before swiping Claudia's card into the lock. The doors clicked before sliding open.

This time Electra didn't look around. She ran right up to the second door and swiped Claudia's key again. The second door also clicked before sliding open.

Electra ignored the bodies hanging from the ceiling and bolted up to her knife. It reflected back at her. Someone must've cleaned it before placing it in the glass box. It was no longer covered in dust and Griever guts. Electra looked around, finding a small hand-held microscope and slammed the device against the glass. The glass shattered on her third hit and as soon as the shards hit the floor the entire room plunged into dark red light.

An alarm blared in Electra's ears.

"Shit," she muttered, grabbing her knife before racing in the direction of the door.

Earlier, the doors had opened automatically from the inside. This time Electra ran right into them with a humph. She took Claudia's key and tried to unlock the door, but they wouldn't budge.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Electra looked around, squinting through the dark red room.

Electra wandered around the room, almost blind, trying to find another possible exit. She spotted a window leading to the Griever hibernation chambers to her right, and people hanging from the ceiling to her left, their faces illuminated by the contraptions on their heads. Electra tripped over a small rolling table, cursing once more when she stubbed her toe. Then, Electra realized how she could use it.

Sliding her knife into the backside waistband of her pants, Electra tipped the table over and all of the medical supplies cascaded to the floor. She took the table in both hands and used all her strength to ram it into the window.

The window didn't even budge. Electra groaned, taking the table again and slamming over and over. On her fifth attempt, the window shattered and Electra climbed through. Her eyes were locked on the Grievers in their pods and she winced when she could've sworn one of them twitched.

However, she was soon distracted when a set of doors in the far corner of the room opened and two workers dashed in, both sets of eyes locking onto her. Electra snatched her knife out of her waistband and plunged into the rows of Grievers tubes, zigzagging around the various pods.

One of the workers pulled out what looked like a gun and Electra veered away from him and focused on the other worker who looked weaponless. She dove toward the weaponless man and he tripped backward in surprise. She swiped her knife along the man's arm and he stumbled away from her, clutching his shallow wound.

The other man shot his gun, just barely missing Electra and shooting straight into one of the Griever pods. Liquid drained out of the tube, spilling onto Electra's feet. Electra ducked out of the way, right into a puddle of Griever juice, as the man shot again. She noticed the gun looked different from when she saw Gally shoot one. This one shot electricity instead of bullets.

The door in the far corner of the room remained open and Electra tried to rush towards it but the weaponless man snatched her hair and pulled her back. Electra kicked out, sending her foot right into the man's chest, allowing herself to stand. The man clutched his chest through struggling breaths.

The other man with the electric gun was able to reach her, and he put his gun up to her back. "You're not supposed to be in here."

Electra didn't have time to think. She took her knife and stabbed into the man's upper leg. He yowled, dropping the gun in shock and releasing his hold on her. Electra kicked the gun away from the man and bolted out the door.

She found herself in the familiar gray hallway and only after a couple of turns did she realize she probably should've taken the man's gun. It was too late to go back for it now.

Electra tried her best to find her way to the loading dock, praying she wouldn't run into any other workers. Alarms blared throughout the hallways and she wondered if they were from her breaking the case for her knife, or if Minho and the others had gotten caught. She hoped Thomas and the Gladers were successful in their search for Teresa, but above anything, she desperately hoped Minho was okay.

She shoved the thought of him getting shot by one of the electric guns out of her mind and pushed onward toward the loading dock.

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A/N: the escape is starting hehe!! do u think they'll make it out like in the movies?? or do u think i'll be changing the plot?? lmk!