The Maze Games

0 - Prologue

Get out of the Maze immediately! You and Minho, together, get out! Now! Teresa shouted in Thomas's head. Minho was right beside him, and they were resting after a long run to the Cliff.

Thomas frowned at the weird message. Teresa, what's wrong? Wha-

Get. Out. Now. Something's happening.
This alerted Thomas. He jolted up, his eyes darting to Minho. Minho was napping - his eyes closed and his breathing even. "Minho, wake up," What is happening? Thomas didn't know he could multi-task, but it didn't matter anymore, something strange was happening.

Thomas fast! The Doors are closing!

Minho woke with a small jolt. "What happened?"

Thomas panicked. He checked the time and it was only 11 am, the Doors shouldn't be closing any time soon. But they were.

"The Doors are closing. We need to leave now." Thomas quickly gathered his things and ran, Minho following behind him without wasting a second.

"Doors closing?" Minho asked as they rounded a corner. "Why are they closing? It's 11 am! Why-"

"Teresa warned me. She called us to get out immediately," Thomas cut him off. "but you sleepy shank dragged us down."

Minho grunted. "Fine." After several seconds of running, Minho spoke up again. "What did she say?"

Thomas would never forget the panic in Teresa's voice when she warned him. "She just told me something was happening. No further words."

After this corner. Thomas thought to himself. When they finally reach the hall of the corridor to the Doors, only half a meter or so gap was left. "Quick! The Doors are almost closing!" Minho shouted. They sped up and tried their best to reach the Door before they closed.

But luck didn't descend on them. At the last 100 metres the Doors closed. The deafening sound of the impact reverberated throughout the Maze.

"No!" Thomas screamed.

He ran up to the wall and started banging the hard rock. "No!"

Teresa! The Doors closed on us!

Teresa? Teresa!

Thomas felt an emptiness in his mind, like someone stole a piece of him away. The emptiness...of losing Teresa. Thomas's eyes widened in shock and screamed. "No! Teresa no!"

Minho slowly reached the wall and leaned his head on the wall. "This is the second time we are stuck in this freaking Maze."

A sense of Deja Vu washed over Thomas. He remembered that time when he mindlessly barged into the Maze when Minho and Alby couldn't make it to the Glade. He was stuck in the Maze with Minho and Alby through the night, when he was a newbie. Thomas didn't forget how dreadful that night passed. How he almost died so many times.

Defeated, Thomas slid down the wall and sat on the ground, Minho following with a thud beside him. Thomas leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes, the image of the Grievers haunting his mind.

Minho sighed. "How much food do you have?"

Thomas opened his eyes and checked his rucksack. "I have two apples, a bottle of water and," he gulped, moving the bottle away to reveal nothing. "that's all."

Minho sighed again, louder this time. "I guess we just have to starve, we cannot waste any food in this situation." He checked the time OK his wristwatch. "It's only 12 pm.

"How about yours?" Thomas asked, he wasn't going to give up so easily.

Minho took off his rucksack and tossed it to Thomas. Then he leaned his head back down and closed his eyes.

Thomas frowned and checked his rucksack. An apple and a bottle and a half of water. He sighed. These food were not going to last long. They are most certainly going to starve for the whole time while waiting for the Doors to open.

***

Nightfall descended quickly and the Maze turned dark. Thomas woken up with a jolt at a dream about Teresa and opened his eyes to the darkness. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. They have fallen asleep against the wall and now his back hurt pretty badly.

He stood up and stretched. "Mmhhughh," He groaned. When the time really registered in him, he shoved Minho to wake him up. Rather roughly.

Minho toppled to the ground and woke up with a snarl. "What the hell Tom!"

"It's night. That means something you know well enough and I don't want to say it." Thomas said. He didn't want to speak out the horrible name that had been haunting him since his last encounter with them. The Grievers.

Minho's anger subsided slowly and was replaced with fear. All the colour drained from his face as he looked around. "Right, the Grievers."

Thomad swore he shuddered when he heard the name. "Yeah...that." He observed the area around them. "We better start going before they start finding us," He said, and bent down to grab his rucksack.

"What the hell!" Thomas swore. He landed face first into the hard ground after Minho pulled him down roughly.

"Ha! That's my revenge for you shoving me so hard just now, you shank." Minho laughed. "Also I was going to tell you to refresh first."

Thomas scowled. "Refresh what? We have no time to waste."

Minho rolled his eyes. "Do you not remember our last encounter with the Grievers? Did you forget how energy-consuming it is to play hide-and-seek with them?" He said it in a 'duh' tone. "Sit down and eat first, shuckface."

Thomas couldn't agree more but he didn't want to give in so easily. Boys with their enormous ego, Thomas thought. Then he shuddered. That sounded like what a girl would say. Then again, what would a girl say? His mind was blank, as usual when he tried to think about his past.

Minho was staring at him. "What's wrong? Just sit down and eat man what are you waiting for?" Minho took a bite into his apple, the sound of it only triggered more growls from Thomas's stomach. "See, your stomach agrees with me, you shank."

Thomas can only sit down. "Eat." Minho commanded. Robotically, Thomas fished out his apple from his rucksack and took a bite. It wasn't until he tasted the sweetness of the apple in his mouth only did he realise how food-deprieved he was. Another bite followed another and another. In mere seconds he finished the entire apple, he even considered swallowing the seeds.

He grabbed the bottle of water and took a huge swig, before Minho's voice sounded. "Hey don't drink too much Thomas, leave some for the future you shuckface." Thomas stopped midway and pulled the bottle away from himself. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slipped the bottle back into the rucksack.

Minho stood up and stretched, his bone crackling so loudly even Thomas can hear it from beside him. He did some on-the-spot jogging and shoved Thomad slightly. "Ready to run, kid?"

Thomas jumped several times and nodded. "Let's do this."