Girl Who Ran the Maze • Thomas

16. Simulation

Months. 6 months to be exact went by. During those months wicked had the kids on the move. They chains them up to a seat on a train.

The train she was in suddenly stopped moving. "Sylvia!" Sylvia heard Thomas's voice outside the box. He banged on the walls. "Thomas!"

---

{Thomas}

Newt sawed open the door. Thomas walked in first. "Aris. Hey, you guys okay?" Thomas puts a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah we're fine" Sonya answers.

"Jesus."

Thomas walks down the middle scanning the kids for a familiar face. "It's okay. You guys are safe. All right? Just hang on."

Thomas got to the back. Realization soon set in. They grabbed the wrong box. Newt looked around frantically. Checking if they missed her. "She's not here"

---

"Took you guys long enough to rescue us." Aris grins as Thomas, Newt, and Minho sat down infront of them. "It's good to see you too bud. So what happened?"

"I fought back. Tried to anyway."

"You're lucky you found us at all. They had us on the move a lot. It felt like something big was happening."

"Any idea where they were heading?" Newt asks. "All I know is, they kept talking about a city."

"I didn't think there were any cities left" Harris says. "That's because there aren't. Not still standing anyway." Brenda informs from behind them.

"Okay, well what about Sylvia? Why wasn't she on the train?" Minho asks. Aris and Sonya share a look. "I'm sorry guys. She was"

---

{Sylvia}

"Oh no they're not going anywhere" Janson says causing Sylvia to look up. "He didn't get what he really wanted." He mutters.

By now everyone knew Thomas and her friends took a box from the train. Helicopters still whirred above them looking for them.

Sylvia knew Thomas was going to come back. She didn't care if it would take a week or years. All she cared was that they tried to get her out. And they'll never stop till they did.

---

{Thomas}

"There that's it." Thomas points to a circle on the map. "It's a few hundred miles. Based on the railways and everything that Aris told us that's gotta be where they're headed. That's where they're taking Sylvia."

Vince brushes through his beard. "We take everyone who can fight. Follow the roads where we can. We can make it back within a week."

"A week? It took us 6 months to get here. We got over 100 kids here now. We can't just hang out here forever after what we just pulled. You wanna wander off to some random point on the map. You don't even know what's there." Vince obviously didn't get it.

"I do." Jorge walks into the room. "It's been a few years but I've been there. The Last City. That's what wicked called it. It was their whole base of operations. If that city is still standing, that's the last place you wanna go, hermano. That's the lions den."

"It's nothing we haven't done before"

"Yeah with months of planning and reliable information, the element of surprise. None of which we have now?"

"Vince, I've thought this through. Would you just hear me out?"

"Hey! The last time we went off half-cocked I lost everything. You remember that?"

"Sylvia is some people's everything. We started this whole thing and now you just wanna quit?"

"Look, I know it's Sylvia. Alright? But you can't ask me to put those kids on the line for one girl. I won't do it."

It was silent. Until the radio started to static. Wicked came through. "Shit. Get the lights. Let's go!"

Thomas and Vince ran outside to see helicopters scanning an abandoned city next to them. "Jeez, they're getting close."

"You're right. We can't stay here."

Thomas snuck through the sleeping teens and to the truck. "Where do you think you're going then?" Newt asks as he climbed up the stairs. He turned on a lamp.

"Newt" Thomas sighs.

"Don't be a twat about it. I'm already in. Come on."

"No. No, not this time. Look even if we find her, there's no guarantee we make it back from this."

"Well you'll need all the help you can get then, won't you?" Newt opens the car door to reveal Fry in the drivers seat and  half awake Minho in the other.

"If you thought you were leaving by yourself. You're one greenie mate."

---

{Sylvia}

Sylvia's eyes fluttered open. As green grass blades hit her face and the smell of fresh air filled her lungs. Sylvia sat up confused. Until familiar walls filled her vision.

"Bloody hell not this shit again" Sylvia mutters pushing herself up. Sylvia squinted at the sight of three people. Oddly looking like Chuck, Winston, and Alby. "Hey!" She yells. Their heads snapped towards her in a scary manner.

Suddenly twigs snapped from beside her. She looked over finding a little boy running. "Hey. Hey no no no. Wait!" She chased after him.

The boy looked back at her before running into a house. Sylvia pushed the door open suddenly in a creepy hallway.

"What?" She mutters to herself. Her eyes went big when familiar clanking came from behind her. She turned around. A stone door was opening. Metal claws walked out.

Sylvia sharply turned around starting to run. Sylvia made turns, the hallways became a maze. "How's she doing?" A women's voice echoed in her head. "Breathing levels look strong."

"Oh shit." She repeats as Sylvia tries to outrun the griever. Suddenly a bright light flashed. An old man popped up infront of her.

Suddenly she couldn't move. He body got stuck in gravity. Her body flung to the ceiling, like it was glued there. Sylvia immediately shut her mouth due to the sound of a griever crawling right next to her.

A claw slammed right next to her head. The grievers face right infront of her. "Ugh" Sylvia cringes. Before everything went black again.

---

After what felt like an eternity for Sylvia, color started fading back. This time instead of behind stuck to a ceiling. She stood in the maze. Back against a wall. She found herself running like she used to with Minho.

Suddenly the sounds of groans came from deeper in the maze. Sylvia dashed to the sound. Finding Newt one the floor with his ankle twisted in a way it wasn't supposed to be twisting. "Newt!" Sylvia bolted over to him. Gravity strucking her body once again. "No!" Sylvia pushed her legs trying to get over to her brother.

"Newt!"