Girl Who Ran the Maze • Thomas

09. The Escape

Sylvia ran by Newt as he limped along. Thomas at the front with Minho at the back. They got to the tunnel area. Thomas peeked over. "Griever?" Sylvia asks. "Yeah."

"Shit" chuck curses. "You take this Chuck. Stay behind us." Minho hands the key to Chuck. "It's okay. Stay with me" Teresa says tying her hair up.

"Once we're through. It'll activate and the door will open. All right we stay close. We stick together, we get through this. We get out now. Or we die trying. Ready?"

Everyone nodded and got out their weapons. "All right. Let's go!"

They pointed their blades and spears toward the Griever. "Push it off!" Sylvia yells. "Watch the tail!" Minho yells before everyone ducked as the tail swung above them. The griever grabbed onto a boy and swung him over the edge.

They pushed the griever to the edge and it plummeted down. They all cheered in victory until two other grievers climbed up. That quickly killed the mood. Chuck and Teresa ran to the doors as the others fought off the griever.

The griever held Sylvia's chest to the floor as it screeched on top of her. "Oh gross.." Sylvia hissed stabbing her sword into its head. The griever stumbled back as Newt picked her up.

The grievers pushed them closer and closer towards the door. "Thomas there's a code. Eight numbers!" Teresa yells.

"Eight sections of the maze. Hey Minho! Sylvia! What's the sequence?"

"What?"

"The sections of the maze, what's the sequence"

"7, 1, 5, 2" Sylvia yells as she stabs the grievers. "Uh 6, 4!"

"Heads up!" Newt yells. Looking up they saw a griever falling down towards them. It landed on Minho as he tried to keep it away with his spear. "Minho!"

Jeff runs up to the Griever. Stabbing it in the head with a spear. Minho crawls away as the griever claws at Jeff.

"What's the sequence come on!"

"6, 4, 8, 3" Minho finishes for Sylvia. "You got it?" They both yell.

The walls started closing. Smashing the grievers. Sylvia chucks a spear at the closest grievers head before it got smashed by the stone.

It went black for a few seconds. Until a door opened. Teresa pushed it open more and stepped out. With everyone following. There revealed a long passageway. Pipes lined the walls. The lights lit up. One by one with a loud clunk.

They walked through the area wearily. Until they reached a door. The word "exit" glowed above it. "Seriously?" Frypan asks. Thomas hesitantly grabs the handle and opens the door. Bodies revealed beyond the door with smoke. An alarm quietly rang as they walked through the place.

"What happened here?"

They waked into what looked like the main room. It was big and had holograms still up. Plus the dozens of bodies in the floor. The computer screen with the glade in it caught Sylvia's eye as Newt walks up next to her. "So they were watching us. This whole time."

Thomas stared at the screens. A flashing red button infront of him. He slowly pressed it. "Hello." A girl came onto the screens. "My name is Dr. Ava Paige. I'm director of operations of the World Catastrophe Killzone Department. If you're watching this, that means you've successfully completed the Maze Trials. I wish I could be there in person to congratulate you. But circumstances seem to have prevented it"

Everyone gathered infront of the main big screen as she talked. "I'm sure by now you must all be very confused, angry, frightened. I can only assure you that everything that's happened to you, everything we've don't to you, it was all done for a reason. You won't remember, but the sun has scorched our world." Pictures of the sun and fire came across the screen.

"Billions of lives lost to fire, famine. Suffering in a global scale. The fallout was unimaginable. What came after was worse. We called it the Flare. A deadly virus that attacked the brain. It is violent, unpredictable. Incurable. Or so we thought. In time a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly there was a reason to hope for a cure. But finding it would not be easy. The young would have to be tested, even sacrificed inside harsh environments, where their brain activity could be studied. All in an effort to understand what makes them different. What makes you different. You may not realize it, but you're very important. Unfortunately your trials have only just begun."

In the background the people in white suits started getting shot. "As you'll no doubt soon discover not everyone agrees with our methods. Progress is slow. People are scared. It may be too late for us. For me. But not for you. The outside world awaits. Remember." She pulled out a hand gun. "Wicked is good" she says before killing herself.

Everyone turned around. To see her laying on the floor, where she recorded the video. A door opened from next to them. And Sylvia could see the small crack of light coming from the outer door. "Is it over?" Chuck asks. "She said we're important."

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know" Thomas, very quietly whispers. "But let's get out of here." Sylvia adds.

"No." They all turned around due to Gallys voice. He stood there holding a gun. "Gally?"

"Don't." Teresa held Thomas back. "He's been stung"

"We can't leave."

"We did. Gally we're out" Sylvia says to him as his hand shook around the gun. "We're free"

"Free? You think we're free out there? No. No there's no escape from this place." Gally holds up the gun to Thomas. "Gally." Sylvia steps infront of him. With her arms out. "Gally listen to me. You're not thinking straight. We can help you. Please put the gun down" Sylvia says.

"I belong to the Maze."

"Gally, put down the gun." Sylvia repeats. "We all do."

"Gally!" Everyone yells. Sylvia felt a body step infront of her. She heard a gunshot. And then she heard Gally gasping. A spear plummeted through his chest. He dropped to the floor. Sylvia's mouth fell slightly open, her eyes widening.

"Woah. Thomas." Chuck mutters. Everyone looks to him. Blood in his chest. It spread. "Chuck!"he fell onto the floor. Sylvia let out a shaken breath as Newt brought her close. Chuck gives Thomas a little owl sculpture.

Chuck then stopped. He just stopped. Sylvia's chest heaved up and down as she watched Thomas sob. Light emitted from behind them as people started running in. Newt kept Sylvia in his arms as the people pushed them out.

They broke into a run. Sylvia didn't dare look back at the hell she came from. She focused on the sand, the earth. Her and Newt dashed to the helicopter waiting for them. One of the guard looking people shoved Thomas next to Sylvia. "You guys alright?" He asks.

"Don't worry. You're safe now. The Gladers looked out the helicopter window. It flew up, giving the perfect view of the maze. The glade.

Sylvia sunk into the helicopter seat. Watching Thomas fiddle around with Chucks sculpture. "Hey." She softly puts her hand over his. "He'll be proud of you. I know it" Sylvia leans her head onto his shoulder. He sniffles before leaning his head on her head.