Endure: Newt & Reader Fanfic

9. The Maze

The Maze was horrifying. Twists and turns seemed to scare you more than anything. Maybe not the turns themselves, but what could be behind each one.

Your sweaty hands clung to the ivy vines growing on the walls like a lifeline. Your heartbeat sounded in your ears and almost drowned out the terrifying noise of closing in Grievers. You ran away from them, as silently as you could manage, but somehow they seemed to follow your steps.

The sound of your breathing was becoming louder with every breath, but you couldn't help that. Running was not your thing and that was probably why you weren't chosen to be one.

You jogged to a corner, out of breath. Your fingers entwined in the ivy as you listened. The silence was deafening in your ears, but still, you were quiet and held your breath, knowing that Grievers could be as quiet as they wanted.

Then, you heard it. A small whirring sound. There was a Griever around the corner. You take a step back slowly, careful not to make a sound. If you were quiet enough, the Griever wouldn't know any differently. Maybe you could get out of this alive, you hoped.

Sadly though, your hope didn't last long when you backed up into a concrete rock. The back of your shoe hit it and sent it rolling behind you. You curse yourself out silently and bite your lip. Maybe the Griever hadn't heard the rock.

Clicking sounded, growing closer to you and sending you into a panic. You kept backing up but soon your shoulders hit into the ivy stone wall. You couldn't go back the way you had came; a Griever was in that direction. You were trapped.

Your next idea was to hide. But there was nowhere you could see. Only concrete walls covered with thick ivy, an approaching Griever, and your thundering heart. There was no way to avoid this. One of the Grievers would find you.

Deciding that you had no other choice, you move to the corner again and peer your head around the side briefly. The Griever was horrifying. Huge and slimy, half mechanical. Manmade. But it was still half creature, so it could be killed right?

The Griever was facing you and when you whipped yourself back around the corner, you were afraid it had seen you. But there were no more clicks, no more screeches from it. It was silent.

You peek around the corner again to see nothing. What? Where had it gone? You look down to your feet to take a step out without making another accidental noise. You take a couple more steps and soon you're in the middle of the intersecting path. There was no Griever.

Realizing that it probably hadn't gone far, you kept to the left side of the ivy walls, brushing along it as you walked.

A horrible screeching that sounded like metal on metal sounded above you and Ivy was ripped off the walls as a Griever fell in front of you. It was a trap. The Griever was now no more than 10 feet in front of you.

It lunged at you with its sharp metal blades and arms, but you fell backwards making it miss.

You scramble backwards quickly, standing up in the process. Your heart was beating so quickly that it was all you could feel. Adrenaline filled your entire being. You watched in horror as the massive Griever brought up its arm and flung it towards your small form. You scrambled to the right and heard the scraping and cracking of concrete as the Grievers arm sliced into the stone.

It screamed again as you darted next to it, trying to get past it and to the other side of the Maze. The Griever scrambled around and leaped towards you as you ran away from it as fast as your legs could go. You hoped that, being your clumsy self, you wouldn't trip. That was the last thing you needed.

As you ran into an intersection of pathways, you ran to your left. You skid and almost fall from the sudden change in direction but manage to keep yourself going. Behind you, the sound of a Griever slamming into a wall is heard. More screeching. How were you going to lose this thing?

You take every turn you can, hoping that the Griever would get confused and that you wouldn't run into another one. You were getting exhausted from all the running, you were completely out of shape. Apparently being a Track-Hoe wasn't a sufficient source of exercise.

You take a right turn but you don't run for long before you hit into a dead end. Shucking Maze! You scream at yourself and look frantically for a spot to hide. You had merely seconds before the Griever caught up with you. You shoot a glance at the thick ivy and shake your head. This was crazy.

You pushed yourself into the ivy as far as you could go and stayed there, griping each vine your hand touched tightly. The Griever stopped at your turn and you could hear its heavy breathing. It wasn't too far from you, but it was dark enough that it wouldn't be able to see you very well even without the ivy. It huffed and screeched, bolting to the next turn and kept going forward. You breathe out heavily. You had lost the Griever.

A sob threatens to escape your body after a moment of resting but you hold it in. What if another Griever heard you? Now was not a time for a breakdown. You take a deep breath and close your eyes.

You tried to imagine that you were back in the Glade; that Newt was holding you and making you laugh like he always did. But the image was soon replaced with a screaming and sobbing Newt as you had been pushed into the Maze. You press your palms to your eyes and try to block out the image. You would make it back to him.

At the moment, it seemed quiet enough, except the faint screeching of Grievers. You slide down the Maze wall and sit there with your arms wrapped around your knees, trying to catch your breath. You wished you were anywhere else but there, alone in the Maze, stranded.

A grinding sound of stone on stone sounds and then you're being pushed forward. Minho and Thomas had explained to you how the walls would close and shift at night. Except now, you were smack in the middle of one of the closing walls.

You bolt to a standing position and sprint for the opening that was getting smaller and smaller. You clawed at the stone with your fingers as you pushed yourself farther towards the opening. The stone was pushing at your hips now and it was getting hard to run. You turn your hips sideways so they wouldn't get caught, but in doing so, you trip. You were flung completely out of the closing walls with the fall, except for your foot which you yank out quickly. You lay on the ground of the Maze for a moment before you realize something.

The walls slapped shut and you look down to your foot, then to the closed walls. Crushed between them was your left shoe. Shuck it all, you thought.