BROKEN HEART - the maze runner

00| two years earlier

...

The clock struck its standard rhythm. The tick-tock echoed off the walls of the room as dully as it did in the girl's head. She watched the clock's pendulum carefully. She felt like she was getting dizzy from this, but she didn't stop. Tick-tock was playing in her soul. She had the impression that the pointers on the dial were slowing down on purpose just to spite her. Tick-tock.

Time played with her scared heart.

Finally, the tick-tock was drowned out by the loud banging of the bell. The blonde moved restlessly, mentally counting down the next strokes. On the seventh, she clenched her fists tightly. She felt her nails digging into her skin; moisture under the fingertips. It was blood.

There was a tenth blow - this was the last one. She bit her lip. The tick-tock came back, not the one she had been anticipating.

She jumped up abruptly from the couch. It was tearing her apart from the inside, so she started moving around the room from wall to wall. She was worried.

-Where are you? - she whispered and tapped her foot nervously.

Suddenly the front door burst open and a young man rushed into the living room. He was breathing heavily, probably after a long run. He locked the door with all three locks and then began to push the chest of drawers towards it. The teenager watched him anxiously. She didn't understand what was happening. She only felt that it was something very bad.

-Danny- she muttered with a lump in her throat.-What happened?

The man leaned against the furniture with which he barricaded the door. His white smock was torn at the forearm, and his untied tie hung messily around his neck. His eyes darted to every corner of the living room except for the girl. This frustrated her even more than his silence.

-Danny, tell me what's going on.

-She already knows -  he whispered. He passed the girl and pulled out a packed backpack from under the closet. - She knows everything.

-Who knows? - She furrowed her eyebrows. The man took his time to answer, rummaging nervously in his backpack. The blonde walked up to him and tugged on his sleeve. -Danny, talk to me!

-Paige! The Chancellor knows about us, Ellie! - he shouted and finally looked her in the eyes. The teenager felt a tight squeeze on her heart. She saw nothing but mad panic in his gaze. -He knows I was helping those kids. He knows I'm hiding you here. Hell, she even knew I was planning to run away!

She bit her lip in thought. She noticed his torn smock sleeve. They tried to stop him

-What now?

-They're coming here already- he muttered, tugging at the zipper of his backpack. - We have to run away. Ellie. And right now.

He didn't have to tell her that twice. She went to the closet and pulled out her second backpack, which had basic survival items inside. She immediately put it on her back and looked around the room, finding the man on the opposite side of the room. He was tearing off the wallpaper from the wall, under which there was a hidden door several dozen centimeters wide and high.

Then there was a banging on the door. Someone on the other side was sparing no effort in trying to tear the wooden slab from its hinges.

-Rogers, I know you're there! - said the male moose from behind the wall. He made a cold shiver run down the girl's spine. - Give yourself up without a fight and maybe you'll save your life!

-We'll lose them in the sewers, the man whispered and opened the door. - Hop in. And don't try to stop.

The blonde started walking towards him, but halfway there she changed her plans, remembering something. She stood at the small dressing table and began searching through the chests of drawers. She had to find it. She knew she wouldn't go anywhere without it.

-You wanted it, Rogers! - said the voice contemptuously. - Break down the door!

-Ellie!

-Wait a minute! - she gasped. Her hands were shaking. - Where did I put it...

She heard a crack. It was the door lock that gave up the fight. There was still a chest of drawers left, but how long could it resist?

The man grabbed the girl by the elbow and pulled her towards him, but she broke away and continued searching. She wasn't going to let go.

-Once again! All together!

-Damn it, Eliie," the man growled.- I swear if you...

-I have! – she shouted and triumphantly picked up the bundle, which was a rag doll. She dropped it into her backpack pocket. She already had everything. - We can go now.

She took a lipstick out of the drawer and started drawing it on the mirror, sticking out her tongue intently. The man looked at her with pity, watching her tremble every now and then as she slowly lost her strength.

-I'm done- she replied, satisfied.

-Great, now get in.

Eventually, the chest of drawers gave way too. A unit of masked soldiers entered the room, armed and ready to attack at any moment. A man with a long and blue face stepped forward. He looked around carefully and took a few slow steps. He listened.

He noticed the large wardrobe. He could hear the clock ticking in his ears. He saw a dressing table and next to it a mirror attached to the wall. He narrowed his eyes angrily at the words written in lipstick and it took all his willpower not to smash the mirror into pieces.

You've been fooled, you losers!

-They're gone -  announced one of the soldiers who had finished searching the other rooms.

The man pressed his lips thinly; his face turned significantly red. He kicked the couch with all his might. which caused it to move a few centimeters. he condemned the soldiers with his finger. There was fury in his eyes.

-You have to find them - he hissed. - They must be nearby. They didn't disappear into thin air!

He was right. Not in the air, but just blended into the wall. They crawled into the tunnel and blocked the entrance with a mirror to gain more time. Because he was the one who mattered most then. This is how they found themselves in the sewers beneath the city, where a new stage of their lives began. Escape.

From that moment on, they hid themselves in the shadows to hide from the world.

They became invisible to survive this world.

...