'Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter Twenty Three - Hide and seek.

"What?" Newt said, sharply.

Winston shrugged, wide eyed. "I don't know! They just aren't closing!"

"Bloody shuck it." Newt cursed. "Tell everyone to get to the homestead, now. Spread the word, and tell the other keepers to make sure everyone gets to safety. Now." Winston nodded and ran off. "Riley, go find Chuck, Thomas and Teresa and go to the homestead."

"Bu-" she started to protest.

"No bloody buts. Go to the Homestead, now. I need you to be safe."

"Okay, Newt."

~~~~

Ten minutes later, Riley found herself in a room on the top floor of the homestead with Thomas, Teresa and Chuck. She stood beside the window, looking out at the Glade, illuminated in a gloomy light. Nobody was in sight, and the walls stood open, looming and proud. Chuck was, for once, completely silent. Thomas and Teresa talked quietly in the corner.

At that moment, Newt, Minho, Zart and Winston stumbled through the door, talking rapid-fire among each other. Zart nodded at Riley, before plopping himself down on the floor, Winston following shortly. Minho raised a hand in greeting, and sat down on the rickety chair in the corner. Newt gave a half-hearted smile, which quickly transformed into more of a grimace.

"What's going to happen to us?" Chuck whispered, speaking for the first time since he had entered the room. "The grievers are going to come, aren't they?"

Minho tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair. "We don't know, Chuck. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I don't care anymore. The shuck creators can throw all the klunk they want at us - if we die, we die."

"There's the happy thought of the day." Riley muttered, moving towards the bed and flopping against the pillow. Minho stuck his tongue out at her.

As if on cue, sounds began emitting from the maze. Low, haunted moans and clicking, grinding noises. The grievers were coming out to play. "Holy shuck." Zart mumbled. The noises were moving closer and closer. Everyone froze, sharing worried looks.

"There!" Newt hissed, pointing out the window. Riley rushed over, and, sure enough, a griever had rolled and clicked itself into the Glade, and was moving slowly through the West door. The griever was a huge, bulbous creature, a mix of robot and animal. Limbs were attached to its metal body, seemingly at random, claws and spikes producing from them. It was hideous, nightmarish, to say the least. Newt cursed softly. "Bloody hell."

Riley made a strangled noise and quickly backed away from the window, scrambling back into her previous position and hugging her knees to her chest. "What the shuck are we gonna do?"

Minho looked at her, calm and collected. "We wait. See what it does. Pray it doesn't get us. Not much else we can do about it, Riley. But I won't let it get you - or any of us, for that matter. Trust me. That shuck thing comes near any one of us, it will regret ever shucking coming out here." He said, his voice fierce and protective.

Newt shakily walked away from the window and sat down next to Riley, arms crossed over his chest. "Guess we'll just wait, then, huh?"

Suddenly, a loud creaking noise sounded from beneath the window. Chuck whimpered and buried his head in his hands. Teresa shuffled a little closer to Thomas. Both Zart and Winston's faces paled slightly, their eyes wide with fear. Riley bit her lip, as a clicking noise sounded. She jumped. Newt studied her face for a second, before sliding an arm around her and pulled her close. "It's bloody going to be okay, yeah?"

"Yeah." She mumbled, burrying her face in his chest, in an attempt to block out the noise. Minho made a disgusted sound, causing Chuck to chuckle [pun intended], but the sound was humourless and weak.

Another series of noises broke out, and Riley stiffened. Newt rested his chin on the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her protectively. "It's okay. I'm here. I won't let them get to you, okay?" And even with the fear pulsing through her veins and the looming probability of death, this was the most content she'd ever remembered being.

[a/n

Kinda short and kinda badly written so big apologies about that. Anyway, we're nearly at 500 comments! Whoop! Only like, four more and I'll have reached 500! Thanks so much to those readers who have stuck with this book from the start, and also to the more recent readers who seem to be enjoying it! I'm really grateful for you guys putting up with my crappy updates and rambly authors notes.

Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to @fandomsliveforever because they're basically the most amazing person ever. Their comments nearly make me cry and seriously they've been such an amazing reader and inspired me to continue this story when I felt like it wasn't worth continuing. So big thanks to you and keep being awesome <3

Love all you shanks!

- Delirious.]