teenage wasteland ;; the maze runner

1.22

    if someone told the florence from three years ago that her future self would be fighting grievers side-by-side with none other than antony, she would've laughed in their face.

    but, alas, here she was, dagger in hand as she ran next to antony. the boy beside her clutched sammy on his back protective in his stance, although it seemed he'd told sammy to do most of the work. antony had no hands to hold him, instead holding out a spear as he charged the mechanical monster. sammy was the one who grappled onto antony like some sort of monkey.

    florence could've laughed at the sight, the terrified look on sammy's face as his arms hooked around antony's neck and his knees hugged his torso suffocatingly tight. of course, she didn't laugh given the circumstances, but even so, she wished she'd had the ability to snap a picture.

    but, she didn't have time to stare and to enjoy the one positive of a whole lot of negatives. instead, she had to face said negatives head-on as she ran with the gladers, right at a griever.

    her heart rate quickened the closer they got, triumphant battle cries echoing through the air with each step. when the first line of boys hit the griever with their spears and sticks, a cry rang out from the monster, deep and earthshaking.

    florence froze, trying to regain her balance, but it seemed the griever didn't want to give her time. it recovered far quicker than she had, already stomping towards them with a new sense of anger after having been ambushed.

    the boots shoved spears into its chest, warding it off as best as they could, but for whatever reason, this beast was hard to kill. weapons stuck out of its shell, and yet it hadn't faltered once.

    "push it!" thomas finally called out a coherent order, shoving his weapon into its face. that threw it off balance, vision obstructed for the slightest moment, but it was enough to confuse the monster as more boys took advantage of its moment of vulnerability.

    even so, it was back on its feet in no time, and florence staggered backwards, a hand gripping antony's bicep as she kept the two of them steady. she didn't even dare look at him, didn't dare share a sad or sorrowful look, because she was not ready to give up.

    it seemed that antony wasn't ready either, as he stepped up quickly, spear clutched in hand. flo's brows furrowed when she noticed the boy missing from his back, until she looked down to realize sammy hid behind her leg. instantly, she took a protective arm to shield him from the scene.

    the griever stood up on its hind legs, tail preparing to strike while antony took a step forward. his stance mirrored the monster, each defensive in their own right, both preparing their very own attacks.

    unfortunately, the griever beat antony to it, its tail whipping to grab the body of one of the boys. flo stifled a gasp, her arm pressing sammy even closer behind her. her jaw tightened, her grip growing stronger on the dagger.

    in horror, the rest of the glade watched as their fellow brother was thrown out of the way by the griever and over the edge, falling deep into the abyss.

    there wasn't even a split second for florence, or any of them for that matter, to process what happened. instead, the griever stomped down a singular claw, nearly impaling teresa right before she slid away.

    florence stepped forward, swinging her arm outward to chop off the lower half of the griever's leg as it tried to pull out the claw that was now stuck in the stony ground. a grunt escaped her lips at the effort, and while her mission was a success, she managed to accidentally hit the key out of chuck's hand.

    chuck gasped, eyes widening as he scrambled to his feet. "the key!" he yelled, moving fast to try and catch it before it rolled off the looming edge.