The Maze In Her Heart (Newt, Minho ::The Maze Runner.) ✔

CHAPTER TWELVE: The Maze.

It's a long trek, but we casually stroll, due to my laziness and Newt's limp. The Maze was just as big as I imagined it. The stone floors and walls make everything seem like there's no way out, and a part of me knows it- there probably isn't. 

These thoughts swirl around my mind, and soon enough I have a headache. As we walk, I reach out and brush my hands along the ivy. Newt walks alongside me, toying with the sheathe to his knife.

"They said the griever was around area six." He said after a while of talking.

"Area six?"

"Yes. There are eight areas to the Maze. Each runner is assigned one area. And this poor bugger got smashed during the night while switching from Area five to six." He kept his gaze staring ahead.

"The Maze moves during the night?"

Newt sighs. "The Maze moves every night. One night, area six is open, and the other night, only area three is open. It varies each night."

"What happens to those who get stuck during the night?" I say, another shock of dull ache radiating through my brain.

"Nobody has survived a night in here. Except Thomas and Minho, of course, but that's a story for another bloody day." 

The statement send shivers up my spine. "I never want to get stuck in here."

Newt is silent, probably dwelling on memories of being a runner. 

Soon enough, we reach a large stone wall with the number six on it with bright yellow fluorescent paint.

"We're here." I point out, raising my finger to point to the number. 

Newt limps slowly across the opening. Stretching from each of the opening walls are plenty of side maze trails, and I walk past them with the same leisure as Newt. Ivy clusters hang from the walls like mazes of their own, vines stretching across walls and in the empty spaces between them. 

I paused a few yards away from Newt, looking into a cluster of ivy. Something had moved in there. I shake my head, and reach my hands up to rub my temples. I'm going crazy, and I can feel it. 

I turn back to Newt, and open my mouth to say something, when suddenly, something jumps on my back.

I scream, and try to reach behind me, my fingers grasping blindly. "New!" I try to grab at the thing on my back, but I can feel needles pinching through my tank top and into my skin.

Newt runs over and grabs it, yanking the thing from my shirt. Gasping, I clutch my heart, which was beating madly.

The thing in Newt's hand lets out loud screeching noise. He stares down at it for a moment, breathing heavily, before he snaps it in half with his hands and throws it across the clearing. It's remains slide into a wall and lays still- dead.

I glance up at Newt, gasping for breath. "Thank you." 

Newt nods, and breaths heavily still as he makes his way back across the clearing to two walls. They had been smashed together. 

The griever. It's a sluggish yellow, but that's all I can gather from its state. A sticky goo slides off the walls onto the floor, creating a thick puddle. It's a... griever pancake. Suddenly, the idea of being stuck in the maze with these things are even more horrific.

"How many grievers do you think there are in the maze all together?" I whisper.

"Hundreds."

I let out a low whistle.

"What are we looking for?"

"Just... taking some notes on the bloody thing. Maybe we can figure out how to kill grievers for future purposes. To maybe survive nights in the maze." Newt cleared his throat, and looked down.

I began to walk around again.

The sun had slowly started sinking under the walls, the sky a beautiful contrast of orange and pink. I stare up at it for a moment, in wonder. The emptiness of the maze caused wind to blow through, breezily. It was a great feeling, standing there with Newt there as well, the sky the color of soft sherbet. 

"Newt.. It's sunset.."I said breathlessly, brushing my bangs from my eyes.

Newt looks up, the wind blowing his hair around his face. "You're right. We need to bloody move."

The two of us begin to walk off, the wind guiding us along. For a second, I wonder why it was so windy when I realized that everything around us was empty space. It was so drafty, I wondered why I didn't hear the echo of our footsteps before, and the sound of our voices bounding off the maze walls. 

After a few more minutes of walking, I become uneasy. Looking over at Newt, I can see a frown on his face as well. 

"Are we lost?" I ask him suddenly. He looks over, with widened eyes and a panicked look on his face.

"No, of course not... I know this maze like the back of my hand. It's just been a few years, that's all." He cleared his throat, and I looked back ahead of us. 

I started to pay attention to the sound of our footsteps once again, when I heard something else. At first, it sounded like a low growl, causing Newt and I to pause in our tracks. He stopped, and placed his hand above his knife, gripping the sheathe. 

"Is is a griever?" I said with a shot of panic reaching up to my heart. 

"... I'm not sure.." He said quietly, but I could hardly hear it over the growing rumbling, and the sound of blood rushing in my ears. 

"Newt... Newt, that isn't a griever! The walls are closing!" I suddenly shouted, and started to break into a run. My heart began to pump in adrenaline, and soon, every inch of my body burned with the exercise. 

Newt was lagging right behind me, panting, his leg dragging in his limp. I turn bacj, and grab his hand, trying to hoist him along with me. "Come on! We can make it!"

The rumbling persisted, and bits of rubbles and stone were falling around us. The soft sherbet color in the sky I adored began to face, and give way to a dark, inky blue. We were running out of time. 

Newt smiled in pain and started to run along my side. I kept our hands clasped, determined not to let him down. I could figure out where we were now- I recognized it. The maze may have looked all the same, but I knew some landmarks from my careful gaze.

"Be ready to turn!" I shout over the growing rumbling. I could barely hear my own thoughts, or the racing in my mind and heart. 

Newt shouted something, and I turned to look over at him, but it was too late. I slammed right into the wall of the maze, and blood flew from my nostrils. I stumbled back, bringing Newt down with me. I scrambled along the floor, looking through my blurred vision to see him scrambling to his feet, struggling.

I pushed myself up, but the maze above us seemed to come crashing down- rubble and ivy and all. Everything was going to hell, and I could barely see. I could hear Newt's accent in my ear, his shouts of fright.

I could hear him shouting only one thing- "The Maze is moving!" 

I shook my head groggily, and scrambled up, trying to get to my feet. Newt's arms hooked under my armpits and I kicked my legs up.

The walls were too fast- as soon as I had gotten up, the walls came swinging forward. Walls that looked like they couldn't be moved began to swing back and forth like they were on hinges, puzzle pieces fitting into a whole bunch of different designs.

I didn't feel the pain at first- only felt the crack in my leg. Newt was yelling now, and I was too, but I couldn't even hear it. He was tugging my body, and my body was obliging, except for my left leg, which was stuck between the two rotating walls. 

I was gasping for breath, for air, the pain starting now. I felt it in my foot, then my leg. Everything tingled, almost numb but not quite yet. The pain was unlike any other. I began to cry from it, tears streaming down my cheeks. 

The walls rotated back and my leg popped free like a cork from a bottle. I flew backwards, collapsing onto Newt as the walls rumbled back into place, and the Maze suddenly fell silent again. 

I sat there, clutching my leg and crying, blood running down my lip. I knew that we were stuck before Newt caught his breath again, and held me close, whispering, "We're shucked."