Strange Atmosphere | Aris Jones [1]

19 || The Fight

The journey into the Maze made my adrenaline pump as hard as it could, my heart beating fast. The tension and excitement was filling the air as we ran faster, getting deeper in the Maze. Lillie gave me a calm expression as we got to Section Three. Once we got to Section Seven, we slowed down our pace.

"Okay, everyone, we're almost there," Rachel told us. We got up against a wall, creeping cautiously at the next corner. Rachel peaked over and let out a gasp, taking a deep breath afterwards. "It's a Griever."

"We figured," Maeve replied. "Here, take this, Piper." She handed me the object from my first trip inside the Maze, our key to getting out of here.

I nodded my head, then tossed my sword to Aris, who swiftly caught it. "Looks like you'll need it more than I do."

Rachel huffed a sigh. "Okay, once we're through, it will activate, and the door will open. We stay together, got it? We stick together, we get through this. We get out now or we die trying." The look of determination was now all over everyone's faces. "Ready?"

"Hell yeah, we are," Harriet replied.

Rachel gripped her spear tighter. "Let's go!" With that, she cut the corner, followed by the rest of us.

We all yelled as loud as we could, charging after the Griever. Rachel and Maeve were able to stick it with their spears, almost pushing it to the edge of the cliff. Everyone took their spears and began to shove it over the edge.

"Come on, push it!" Sonya yelled.

The spikes from the Griever came swinging at us. We all dodged and ducked at every swing it had. Finally, the creature managed to knock Helen off, resulting in her flying in the air and falling to her death. Aris took the sword and hit a spike, but the key flew right out of my hands.

"Damn!" I cursed, running after the key before it fell over the cliff.

"Watch the edge, Piper!" Maeve shouted my way.

"I got it!" I assured her, sliding on the stone. I grabbed the key just before it got too far away from me. Now, I was hanging over the edge. I tried to pull myself back up, but I was struggling to do that with no hands. Then, I heard a snarling not too far from me. Looking down, I screamed at the sight of the Griever crawling up the wall. "Shit! Someone, pull me up!"

I felt two hands grab my shirt, yanking me up. I saw that it was Lillie. "Be careful next time, will you?"

"I'll try," I said, panting and giving her a teasing smile. "But I can't make any promises."

We watched as the others managed to push down the Griever, letting it fall into the black abyss. Then, once the Griever was gone, its friends decided to show up behind us.

"Run!" Lillie shrieked, grabbing my hand and dashing back towards the others. "There's more of them!"

"Go, you two! We can handle them!" Rachel shouted.

We ran past everyone and towards the dead end. The key began to beep, many doors opening up. "It worked!" I exclaimed, looking back at the Glenners fighting off the Grievers. "It worked!" I repeated.

"Go!" Rachel yelled, motioning us to keep going.

Lillie and I did as we were told, running towards the hole, ending at a sealed door. "Damn!" Lillie cursed, trying to find some kind of handle or opening. "We did not come this far just to find a sticking dead end!"

As we kept looking for some kind of entrance to the other side, the others kept moving backwards, the Grievers trapping them. I was beginning to panic a little, attempting to see an entrance, looking more closely. Then, I was blinded by a red light with numbers flashing at me. "What the hell?" I muttered. I turned around, facing the others. "Rachel! There's some kind of code with eight numbers!"

She looked confused, then widened her eyes in realization. "Maeve! What's the sequence?"

"What?" she shouted back.

"The Sections of the Maze! What's the sequence?" She yelled some numbers, to which I tried to make out what Maeve was saying, but it was so loud that I couldn't understand her. "Wait, what was the first number again? I can't hear you!" She replied again, but it was still not loud enough for me to comprehend. "Three? Is that what you said?" When she still sounded muffled with her next response, I looked at Lillie. "What did she say?"

Lillie rolled her eyes and ran back out, pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil from her pocket. "Okay, Mae, say it!"

"Who carries pencil and paper with them?!" I called out

Lillie ignored me, listening to Maeve saying the numbers. However, before she could finish the sequence, a Griever fell down on top of her. "Mae!" Lillie shouted.

Maeve grunted, using the spear to push the Griever off of her, but she had no luck with it. Then, a Builder and a Cutter came to her aid, sacrificing themselves to the Grievers, letting them get devoured while Maeve scrambled to get away from them.

"Okay, the sequence!" Rachel yelled, getting everyone inside the hole. "Put it in, Maeve!"

While Rachel, Sonya, Harriet, Aris, and the others used their spears to prevent the Grievers from coming in, Maeve rushed to the front, studying the numbers.

"Hurry up!" Sonya shouted.

"Don't rush me!" she shouted back, entering the numbers carefully. "Three...Eight...Four...Six...Two...Five...One...Seven! Got it!"

The doors began to close on the Grievers. One by one, the Grievers were being smashed, their guts spilling all over the place. Before the last one could attack us, Harriet took her spear and threw it, hitting the Griever straight on, resulting in it being smashed by the door.

We all let out sighs of relief, our fear and worries finally gone. We panted, trying to regain our breaths after the long fight we put up with.

"Well, that was fun," I blurted out, making the others let out a few chuckles.

Suddenly, the doors closed, leaving all of us in the dark.

A/N: The fight is over! They're out!

What do y'all think so far? Are you ready for the end?

Song above is Final Fight by John Paesano.

Comment, vote, there's one more chapter left!

-A