Bewitching

31|Flashing Lights

"In my soul, I knew Death was coming near, but not whom He was coming for, me or my colleagues? But, if it must be one of us, might it be me, because what else do I have to live for without my friends? My only real family."

I shoved Ricky off of me, already seething in rage. Under it all a fear lurked in the depths of my soul. In front of me loomed a night full of pain, terror, and uncertainty. A night where almost certain death lay in the shadows. I heard her staggering to her feet, her breath coming in ragged gasps. I whirled on her, faintly hearing Thomas shriek something about how this wasn't happening, and some hope. Ricky was staring at the Doors in shock. I screamed at her. "What the hell was that!" I shoved her against the wall, and she screamed, fitfully batting at me with her hands. "I had to! They made me!" I had too much on my mind to wonder what she meant. Thomas and Minho were setting an unconscious Alby on the crack in the all where the Doors met. I crouched next to him. "What happened to him?" I checked for a pulse, and found a weak one. I let his hand drop to his side, and looked up at Minho for an explanation. "They got him." He spat the words out like they tasted sour in his mouth. I shuddered as I realized what he meant. "W-What's going to happen to us?" Ricky sounded like she was on the edge of tears.

I whirled on her. "Don't ask what's going to happen to us." I snarled, poking her with a finger. She stepped back, eyes wide. "If it weren't for you, half of us wouldn't be in his mess." I snapped.

"So shut up and suck up girl, because we have a long night ahead of us."

"Chill Lizzy, geez." I shoved off Minho's hand, exasperated. "What! You're telling me to chill, after I just got shoved into the Maze by this...this malevolent girl, and you're telling me to chill! I'm probably going to die because of her! Minho looked guilty, and I could see Ricky looking sick. The situation was dawning on her. "I didn't want to." She muttered. I shook my head. "You don't get it. Want to or not want to, what's done is done. And it can't be undone." She looked a little relieved. "And now I'm gonna beat your ass." I started forward, curling my fists. I don't now where this sudden outrageous anger came from, but it was hard to control. "I said chill Lizzy!" Minho shoved me aggressively, and I slammed against the wall, smacking my head against the rough surface. I staggered to the side as everything spun. Thomas, or I thought it was Thomas, caught me as I fell. "Oh, shuck, Lizzy, I didn't mean to, I-" I knew he was falling for Ricky. My enemy. Lights flashed in front of my eyes, and I groaned. My head. Ow. "I won't let Ricky die." Minho stated. But I could die, apparently.

I blindly swing out with my hand, shouting. I felt my fist connect with someone's face, and then everything went black.

••••••••••••

"Lizzy. Lizzy, c'mon." I can't haul you up the wall too. Please. The Grievers are coming." That word drifted through my murky thoughts. And I tried to speak. "Wha happen?" I hacked a bit, and suddenly my back was pressed against the cold wall. "What's wrong with you?" I peeled my eyes open, and looked around. Even the slightest movement of my head hurt. The twilight had thickened, and the gray corridor seemed even more menacing. I barely registered Alby hanging about fifty feet off the ground, tangled in the vines, before I realized something else. Minho and Ricky. They were gone. Nowhere to be found. "They left us." I slurred, wondering why I wasn't functioning correctly. "You aren't okay. Shuck it, Minho. Must've gave you a shuck concussion. Perfect. I knew if if had any chance I'd just lost it. I forced myself to focus on one spot on the wall, wishing my mind to cooperate. "Just one night." I whispered quietly as my vision started to clear. "One little, tiny night."

"What? Lizzy what are you talking about?" My head slowly started to clear, but I kept staring as Thomas hauled me to the Wall where Alby was. Just as we reached it I hear a long moan from somewhere in the depths of the Maze, and everything snapped into focus, allowing my mind to fill with pure terror. I shoved Thomas away, and started to climb. "Wha-!" He fell into silence as I struggled to make my legs work correctly. Slow and steady. I told myself. Slow and steady. After a moment I heard Thomas start to climb after me. My finger tips were raw and bleeding, and my legs and arms burned. Every time I slipped Thomas would catch me. It was agonizing. I wondered how Thomas got Alby up there and came back down and was going up again. I tried to keep my mind blank. It hurt to think, and when I did, the fog started to creep around the edges of my mind. I couldn't remember what I had for lunch.

I cried out a bit as I slipped, smacking my forehead against the rough cement. It was five minutes before I could start climbing again. The griever sounds slowly got closer. At some point I finally got to Alby, and that's all I could go. Holding onto the vines so tightly I thought my already aching, bleeding fingers were going to fall off, I gently set my pounding head against the wall and closed my eyes. I could feel Thomas tying some vines around me, and I slowly relaxed until I was hanging. Minho had to have given me a concussion. How could he have down that? Ow. Why would he choose Ricky of all people over me? Double ow. And most of all, how could he leave us there, me unconscious on the floor with a concussion he gave me, and Thomas, the helpless newbie. Well basically newbie. Ouch! A sharp pain suddenly pounded against my skull, and I cried out. Thomas was faintly talking to me asking me if I was okay. Little hammers were being pounded around, and I was hearing weird things. It felt like....things were crawling around inside me. All over my brain, around my stomach. I turned my head to the side and vomited, feeling Thomas rubbing my back. It all swirled into a dizzying vortex, sucking me in like a black hole. I blacked out.

••••••••••

But there was no relief in unconsciousness. The pain followed, although it slightly changed. I was blinking up at bright lights, my vision blurry. I was thrashing around, screaming insanely. "The Flare is going to take over if you don't do something about it, AD Janson!" Someone screamed. "Wait, she can fight it." A high voice said calmly. The pain was unbearable, and I cried, still screaming, the tears burning paths down my cheeks. Someone said something I couldn't hear about immunes and not immune, whatever that meant. I was slowly losing consciousness in my memory, I assumed it was. I could hear the frantic beeping noise that had been going like crazy a few seconds ago, quickly losing pace. "We're losing her." Someone said. "Alright." The high pitched man sounded disappointed. "We'll give her a break for now. But she will be punished for this." Something sharp was put in my arm, and everything went black.

•••••••••••
I jerked awake, breathing hard, and immediately looked around. I was still hanging from the wall with Thomas, and he was motioning frantically at me. I could feel the tears rolling down my face, but Thomas didn't care right now. He held one finger to his lips while subtly pointing down. I slowly looked, and almost screamed when I saw what lay below us, a motionless blubbery ball.

A griever.

I don't know how long it sat there, but sweat began to roll down my forehead, and I lost feeling in my arms. I tried to spend time thinking about the dream. Memory? It seemed so real. What was the Flare? Why was it in me? Was it still in me? The things inside my brain. The pain. It was almost completely gone now, except for the worms crawling around in my stomach. I kid you not, it literally felt like little worms were crawling around in my stomach. I kept silently burping, and threw up in my mouth more times than I could count. My stomach was complaining at me, and the only thing keeping me from throwing up was the Grievers below me. I kept my pain in silence, though the pain in my head was coming back.

Just as my stomach was getting to its limit, the Griever suddenly whirred to life, causing me to almost jump out of my skin. Then it started to climb the wall, lights pointed directly at us.

A/N- OH MA GAWD 1K!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH I'M FREAKING OUT MAN!!!!

What do you thinks gonna happen? Does she actually have worms in her stomach? I mean, why else would she feel like she had worms in her stomach? I guess we'll find out;) Thanks again for the 1K reads guys, I started this story it even thinking I'd get 200. I just wanted to show my works to the world. I can't wait to see what happens next. Thanks so much.

Warriorbuzz, out!