Nepenthe (TMR FF) UNDER EDITING

Chapter 21

The Grievers had started making noises less than ten minutes ago, and Thomas had hidden me in a small gap underneath one of the Maze walls. Ivy covered my view, but I knew from the grunts from Thomas that he was currently trying to get Alby up the Maze wall as high as he could, using nothing but vines. I wanted desperately to help him, but as soon as the Griever first made a noise, I instantly froze, fear consuming me. Thomas decided that it would be best if I stayed in my hiding place.

"Almost done." He muttered, probably for me to hear. I let out a sigh of relief. As soon as he got Alby up high enough, he could come down here with me and we could hide out until sunrise.

I had begun to smile, that is, until another Griever let out a shriek. It was closer this time. Thomas let out a little noise, and my heart plummeted in my chest as I heard the sound of something hitting the concrete floor of the maze. As the thing scuttled past me, I held my breath. A beetle blade.

Everything was deathly silent for a moment until something else started to come closer. The sound of mettle hitting stone made my blood run cold. I instantly stilled, listening carefully. I felt like throwing up, something that I tended to do when I was scared or anxious. The feeling intensified when I realised that there wasn't just one, but two Grievers approaching Thomas, and they were right outside of my hiding spot. I held my breath, my whole body beginning to shake with fear.

Calm down, Emma. You need to calm down. You can't do any good when you're shaking with a leaf.

The creatures stopped, making noises that seemed all too familiar.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Click-click-click

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The noises repeated, almost as if they were taunting us.

One of the Grievers had continued to walk towards where Thomas was hanging with Alby, whilst the other one stayed in front of where I was hiding. It was like it was guarding me. I just hoped that they didn't actually sense that we were here.

All of a sudden, the lights that illuminated from the Grievers shot off, and my breath caught in my throat. Minutes past and nothing made a sound of movement, until suddenly the Griever closest to Thomas whirred back to life, and the sound of metal hitting a different type of stone alerted my attention. It didn't take myself long to figure out it was climbing the wall.

I heard Thomas grunt and although I couldn't see, I knew that he was trying to get away from the griever. I squirmed slightly, wanting to do what I could to help him, but the Griever outside of my hiding spot was still there, and it didn't look like it wanted to move. A few minutes later Thomas let out a shriek, and after hearing footsteps pounding against the cement, and the sound of metal following after, everything was silent.

I let out a quiet breath, tempted to sneakily escape my hiding spot, but I was almost certain that the Griever right outside didn't know I was here yet, so this was currently the safest place for me.

I looked around me, only seeing complete darkness. I couldn't help but think about how Minho was doing. He was one of the best runners we had, being the keeper and all. I didn't doubt that he could make it, but then again, a lot of our best have already died. Grievers were ruthless. They didn't care who they hurt or who they didn't. They were emotionless creatures created by emotionless people. The same people who sent me here. The same people who don't want me to remember anything about my past. They're probably hoping that I die from the Griever sting rather than get the grief serum, unless that was a part of their plan as well. Maybe they wanted me to get stung. They were just messing with my head.