𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍 & 𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘-𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮

TWENTY-FIVE

I wanted to cry as we ran through the Maze, but I had to save my energy. That and the sheer reality that I was actually in the Maze made it hard to think about anything else.

The walls were high and full of ivy, but as we got deeper and deeper into the Maze, the sparser they became. I was huffing and puffing only ten minutes in, but Thomas's words of encouragement spurred me on.

Endless walls gave way to empty space and then we were running through a section that had high metal blade like walls. They were sectioned about ten feet apart from each other. I wondered what their purpose was.

We finally got a wall that opened to a long tunnel with a high ceiling. Thomas motioned for us to stop and he peeked his head around the corner. He pulled it back and leaned against the wall, breathing hard.

"Is there a Griever?" Chuck gasped quietly. Or tried to anyway.

"Yeah." Thomas breathed out.

"Chuck you take this," Minho handed Chuck the cylinder that Thomas had found when he went back into the Maze the other day. It had wires sticking out of one end. "Stay in the back."

Chuck took it and Teresa tied up her hair, saying, "He can stay with me."

"Flore, you stay with them." Newt said.

I nodded, not feeling like I had to prove anything to them. I didn't feel like getting in a fight with a Griever. Not now and not ever.

"Once we're through, it'll activate and the door will open. We stay close, we stick together, we get through this, we get out now. Or we die trying." Thomas banged his spear against the floor, steeling himself. "Ready?" Not really. "Let's go."

He led the way, yelling out a battle cry that the others carried out. The Griever was waiting for us at the end of the tunnel and when it saw us it smacked its tail down and screamed, charging at us.

The first of the boys took the brunt of the attack, stabbing the monster and trying to push it to the edge of the tunnel that opened up, leading god knows where. It screeched and swung its tail. I pulled Chuck down, narrowly missing getting my head cut off.

I heard someone scream as the Griever grabbed them and tossed them over the edge. I tried to stay as far away from the Griever as possible, since I didn't have a weapon in hand. I looked down the corridor at the door Thomas said would open once we got to it.

I wasn't fast by any means, but I was faster than Chuck and Teresa. I turned to Chuck to have him give me the key, but I catch Teresa hitting the Griever leg away from her. The leg detaches and hits the key right out of Chuck's hand.

"No!" I run after Chuck and the key and grab onto him before he can fall over. Teresa is right beside me, holding onto the back of his shirt. "Did you get it?"

"Pull me up." He yells and I look over him to see a Griever climbing up the side of the cliff, emerging from the darkness below.

"Oh shit." Teresa and I pull him up and I grab the key from Chuck's hand before anything else can happen to it. I make a b-line to the door, glancing over at the boys as they successfully push the first Griever over. They celebrated too early.

Teresa warned them about the Griever climbing over the cliff. I got to the door and the key let out a high pitched ping. The wall in front of me groaned open and revealed two other walls moving up. At the end of the section was a circle cut into the wall. It was tall and deep. I climbed inside and tried to look for a handle, but it was just flat cement.

Teresa and Chuck joined me and tried to help me find a way to get through the wall. "It won't open." Teresa yelled.

There was more beeping and red light emitted from a screen that I hadn't noticed was there. It was bright in the dark chamber and turned our skin red.

The screen lit up with rings, each holding a number on the left side going from eight on the outer ring to one right in the middle. Teresa ran to the edge of the chamber and yelled out to Thomas that there was a code. I couldn't hear what Thomas said but then Minho started yelling out numbers.

They were getting pushed into the small room before us that the walls had opened up to. The Griever right in their face.

"Seven, one, five, two, six, four-" I was putting in the code and turned back to see what had interrupted Minho. A Griever had fallen from above them and landed on Minho. He had his spear in its mouth, but the slime that came out of it was still close enough to land on his face.

Jeff ran to the Griever and shoved his spear into its head. It screamed and moved back, allowing Minho to scoot out of the way.
Jeff screamed and I stepped closer to the edge-to see past the group of boys who were practically in the chamber with us. Jeff was in the mouth of the Griever, still holding onto his spear. I held a hand to my mouth, holding back tears at the realization that I was the only Med-jack left. The other two were gone. Taken by monsters with no instincts of their own. The creators controlled everything they did. And in turn everything we did.

Minho continued the rest of the numbers as they held off the other two Grievers that took the spot of the one with Jeff in its mouth. Teresa took over putting in the numbers and when she put the last one in, the screen turned green.

I heard the crunch of the first wall as it fell, blocking more Grievers from coming. The second one fell, trapping one of the monsters in a prison of stone. Before the last Griever could get any closer, Thomas threw his spear at it, making it falter and the last wall fell, crushing the Griever into a gooey mess.

It was loud with the panting of the exhausted boys, the smell of bad breath filling the small space. Then it was dark and our screams were cut short when a line of light filled the end of the room with the screen on it. I pushed it open and we all filed out into a hallway.

There were pipes running along the wall and ceiling of the hallway and ran from the left to the right for as far as we could see. The only thing that lit our way were strips of blue light on the floor. Like emergency lights when the main power went out.

We followed Thomas down the hall in silence, the weight of what we had just gone through fresh on our hearts and minds. So many people have died to get us just to this moment. Nico, Alby, Clint, and Jeff. I wasn't sure if Jeff had used himself as a sacrifice or he just couldn't get away in time, but either way, I was grateful for him. And wherever he ended up, I hoped Clint was there too.

Thomas stopped walking and we all bumped into each other with abruptness. He looked up and Frypan chuckled humorlessly. "Seriously."

Just above the door Thomas had led us to was a glowing sign that said, 'EXIT'. I took a deep breath, worried what might be on the other side. This could be another test from the Creators and it would be another Maze. I would probably lose my mind if it was.

Instead when Thomas pushed open the door, we were met with a hallway. Glass littered the floor, along with a couple bodies. They were unmoving and slumped or spread out on the floor.

As we walked in, I noticed wide windows showing rooms with bodies laid on a gurney, white sheets covering them. Their identities are a mystery to us. We continued on into a bigger room with more dead bodies and shattered glass.

In the middle of the room was a raised platform with screens surrounding it. Most of them were cracked, but a few still flickered with life. Along the walls were monitors with videos of the Glade playing on them.

I wondered how they were able to watch us. I don't remember seeing any cameras in the Glade. Then again, if the Creators were able to pull something like moving walls and killer machines then anything was possible.

"So they were watching us." Newt said, watching the screen next to me. "This whole time."

Out of instinct I searched for Gally in the small group of boys that stayed behind. But I couldn't find him. He was probably hiding away, dealing with the fact that nothing would be the same again.

No, after all this, nothing would ever be the same again.