𝐍𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐄 ⎯⎯⎯⎯ THOMAS

013.

thirteen !

THE FOURTEEN GLADER'S ran side by side through the maze with Thomas, Minho and Brynleigh leading the way.

The group stopped and lined up against a wall while Thomas and Brynn peeked over the side.

"Is it a Griever?" Chuck questioned.

"Yeah." Brynleigh breathed.

"Shit." The boy muttered.

Thomas handed him the key, "You take this, Chuck. Stay behind us."

"It's okay. Just stick with me." Teresa assured.

"I'll tag along." Brynn added.

The blue-eyed girl smiled at her. Brynleigh sent a soft grin back.

"Once we're through, it will activate and the door will open. We stay close, we stick together... we get through this. We get out now... or we die trying." Thomas preached.

"All right. Let's go!" He finished.

The Glader's ran together, facing the creature. It growled as it pounced at them. The boys used their staffs to hold it off.

One of the Griever's many arms knocked the key out of Chuck's hand, causing him to yelp. He ran after the object that was rolling away, catching it just before it went over the edge.

Brynleigh's head snapped to where Chuck was when she heard growling from his area. She ran over to him, grabbing his legs and pulling him away.

She grabbed the boy and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, "Don't scare me like that."

"Can't.. breathe.." He mumbled into her body.

Griever's began coming from each side, climbing up the edges. Brynn quickly let go of the curly-haired boy and practically dragged him away.

"Thomas!" Chuck screamed.

Thomas turned his head to see more creatures prowling towards them. The boys moved with their staffs as Teresa joined Brynleigh and Chuck at the door.

"It works!" Chuck gawked.

"Brynn, Teresa, go!" Thomas instructed.

The trio ran under multiple lifting doors and approached yet another one. Each of them struggled as they tried to pull it open.

"There's gotta be a way out! Come on!" Brynleigh groaned when she realized the door was budging.

"It won't open!"

A screen lit up in front of them, showing eight numbers. Brynleigh knitted her eyebrows together in thought.

"An eight digit code.." She muttered to herself.

As much as Brynleigh loved to hold grudges, this was a life or death situation. That called for speaking to the boy she'd been angry at all this time.

"Minho! What's the sequence?" Brynleigh shouted out.

Minho was slightly caught off guard by the sound of his name rolling off of the girl's tongue, being he hadn't heard it like that in a while. Nevertheless, he began shouting out the memorized numbers.

"Seven! One!"

Teresa punched in the numbers as he spoke.

"Five! Two!"

A Griever dropped down from above, trapping Minho underneath. Everyone shouted his name in worry. The black-haired boy used all his remaining strength to hold off the monster from eating him.