Bane Academy: To Run From Fear

Chapter 19

Fade

After putting a decent amount of maze in between the Grievers and ourselves, we finally set down again. This time nestled in the corner of two walls so we can make an easy escape if needed. Shae curls herself into the corner, Dale spread out on the floor to her left. I'm still cradling Becca, her fragile body curled into my chest. Such a familiar feeling, having her head buried in the crest of my neck, her long hair spilling down my chest in curls. She giggles sleepily and mutters to me.
"Scary monsters," she says, "almost fall."
"But you didn't fall," I reassure her, "Shae saved you."
"Shae," she ponders, voice going high and low at weird intervals. "I miss Shae."
"I'm sure you do." I say sadly.
I notice Shae's body stiffen a little, then relax a little too quickly, as if she was trying to hide the fact that she's awake.
"I miss Liam too," she mumbles, "and Fade."
A smirk pulls at my lips as my heart contracts, almost painfully.
"You miss Fade do you?"
"Yeah," her words slur disjointedly. "I didn't do right. I was sad and did wrong. Same with Shae." I tilt my head slightly to see droplets of starlight glistening on her face. "I want them to come back."
I pull her closer to me as she begins to fall asleep.
"They'll come back. As soon as we get out of here."
"Get out," her words start to deteriorate. "Like Thomas..."
And she was gone. At the exact same time, Shae sits bolt upright.
"Like Thomas!" Dale sits up with a grimace as if his head hurt.
"What?"
"I know how to get out," Shae takes a long look at Becca. "Like Thomas."

Becca

I never knew waking up could be so painful. I have to physically yank my brain out of it's subconscious, the thick, sticky pit of nothingness. I rip through several layers of sleep dust and take in my surroundings - dark, damp, closed in. The maze. That's when I remember what's going on.
Suddenly my hearing snaps on, as if a switch had been flipped, and sharp voices send a spike of pain into my brain.
"-to the Glade, I can find the code words and get us out of here through the Griever hole." Shae?
"Wait, you want us to go towards those things, not away from them?" Definitely Dale.
"Guys, look whose awake." Fade redirects all attention to me. I flinch and take a painful breath. My lungs refuse to expand normally.
"What the hell did you do to yourself?" Shae asks quickly, her voice shaky, as if her words can't decide whether to be mad or not.
I lift a hand to the faded rune on my temple and touch it with my fingertips. I don't answer.
"Whatever it was, it was really dangerous Becca. You could have died." Fade scolds in that way where the anger is overdriven by the protectiveness, even though he's trying to be mad.
There's a pause. "I'm sorry." I manage after a while. My voice sounds like gravel.
"Okay well anyway, Shae's got this craaazy plan to get us out, so can we focus on that please?"
"Yeah okay." Fade says as he extends a hand to help me up. I take it hesitantly. Rocks rattle at the base of my lungs.
"Alright so," Shae continues, "obviously something is up with the maze, it's under construction or something's gone wrong. So all the exits are blocked and the Grievers are currently free-range. I doubt we will be able to survive a whole night in the maze, so we need to get out. How? Like Thomas." Shae looks at me when she says this. For a little too long. I give her a confused look. She just shakes her head and continues. "So we get to the Glade, get the code words, find the Griever hole and get out."
"If it worked for Thomas, it could work for us." I agree.
"One question," Dale says, "weren't they numbers, not words?"
Shae and I laugh for a beat, snapping the tension. She starts off down a corridor and replies over her shoulder.
"The books got it wrong, bud."