Gladiolus ~ The Maze Runner

1~12: Griever Goes Boink

Shit.

You know, I'm getting really fed up with these plot twists. 

While everyone is staring at the Doors in shock and terror, I turn to Chuck. "Chuck, go to the Homestead alright? Start barricading the Doors. Teresa, go with him."

Chuck and Teresa nod anxiously and run off.

"Winston, Jeff, Clint, get Alby and go with them."

"Got it," Winston says, pulling Jeff along.

"Get the others," Gally says to some Builders. "Go to the Deadheads, go hide now!"

I turn to Minho and Newt. "Get a small group, round up the weapons. Meet us at the Homestead, okay?"

As they go off, I address the others and say, "Alright, the rest of us-"

My voice is cut off by the scream of a Griever that barrels into the Glade.

"Alright everybody HIDE!" Thomas shouts. Nice one. Now everyone's going to stampede off in a panic.

I don't have time to round up everyone and move though, because more Grievers appear and soon, three of them are barreling right for us. I grab Thomas and we run for the cornfields, followed by Zart and Frypan with a few other stragglers.

We make it pretty far in, and then Zart pushes us all down, out of sight. We crouch, trying to be as silent as possible so that our location isn't given away. I hear a scream of some unfortunate boy who must have been caught.

Suddenly, a Griever tail appears out of nowhere and latches onto Zart.

"Zart!" I exclaim, lunging for him. But I'm too late. Zart is torn from us as his screams fade away into the darkness. No no no, not Zart.

I don't even get to process his demise because more screams from other boys follow, and we are forced to run. We continue until we make it through the field and start making a roundabout trip back to the Homestead. We pass through the sleeping area only to falter, as screaming Grievers seem to be coming in hot from all sides.

"What do we do?" Frypan shouts.

"Keep going, run!" Thomas replies, grabbing a machete off of a post. He tosses it to me and finds another for himself. We try to continue on, but skid to a stop as a Griever crashes through a lean-to and lands in front of us, sharp fangs bared. We're trapped.

Kill switch. The word flashes through my mind. I'm back in a laboratory. I remember something. Someone put a kill switch on the Grievers. And I know exactly where it is.

The Griever's tail slices through the air, and I grab onto it at the last second.

"Hanna!" Thomas screams, arms swiping to grab me. I kick him off and launch myself onto the Griever's back. Its body is grossly bouncy, and no sooner do I land on it, I shoot back into the air. I use the momentum and drill the machete down into the Griever's back.

It screams in a rage, trying to buck me off, but I slide underneath it so that I'm staring directly at its segmented abdomen. I force my fist into the skin violently, feeling around until I hear a heavy click. The sound of gears grinding to a stop, the final screech of the monster, and it collapses on top of me. Dead.

I'm gasping for air under the weight of the enormous creature, unable to get out. Thomas runs over with Frypan, and they grab my arms, dragging me out.

"Holy shit," Thomas stares at me wide-eyed. "How'd you even do that?"

"I have no clue," I reply. "But we gotta go right now!"