After the Death Cure ( The Maze Runner )

Chapter 23

"Ready when you are, Miss," one of my soldiers says, as he stands up with the rest of the crew. I stand to my feet, and pick up my bow and arrows. They all line up behind the exit, and watch me. The look of terror on my face is apparent as I walk in front of them.

"Ready," I say, and the door opens. The light shines through, and I feel my heart skip a beat. We all march out of the Berg, and I see Minho, Thomas, and Newt walking towards me.

"We're going to make a barrier with our soldiers four hundred feet in front of the Bergs. Then us, and the Gladers will make our way to the city to collect the immune. If they are going to fight, then they have seen us by now. We'll wait half an hour for an attack, then we will go to the city," Thomas seems more professional now. I guess he has to, since he's the leader of over a thousand men. I nod, and they all turn, and walk to the next group. Newt turns his head to me, and smiles. I smile back.

"Alright," I say as I turn around, and I realize, I like this power, "You know where to line up. Let's head out four hundred feet." I turn back around, and march with another group towards the city. We reach four hundred feet, and I stand in the front center of my group, about five feet ahead. I feel my heart trying to claw its way out of my chest. The other fifty groups catch up with us, and we all stand in one big line facing the city. Thomas and his group are to my left, and Newt and his group are to my right. I feel more nervous by the minute, so I pull out my bow, and examine it. I look through the scope, and zoom in on the city to get a better look. They're coming... "Thomas," I say as I turn to him, and I can see by the look on his face, he knows. There is only about fifty of them, so my nerves calm. I hear some soldiers laugh from behind my head. And then I realize...they're headed for me. I'm the one who was in the video. Through my scope, I can see some of them point at me. They are after me.

Thomas looks over at me, and I can see the concern on his face. He turns to the crowd, and yells with the loudness that I had no idea he had, "Alright! This is going to be a short one!" Some of them laugh. "Ready, on my count!" Every one pulls out their guns and arrows. The group starts to run toward us. "Aim!" He turns around, and points his gun. He waits at least thirty seconds. I can't do this...I have a Cranks head in my scope. I can't... "Fire!" I hear gun shots and arrows fly all around me. And I realize, I haven't shot yet. Most of the Cranks in the front are gone, but there are still some left. "Again! Ready!" Shoot this time. Shoot! "Aim!" Another ten seconds; they are almost up to us. "Fire!" I let go of the arrow this time, and it hits my target in the arm, but other gunshots put him out of his misery. I did it.

Thomas puts his hand in the hair, and motions everyone to follow. All of the soldiers except Thomas's stay back, like we planned. We all march toward the city, but we have to pass the group of dead bodies first. My heart sinks as we approach the lifeless Cranks, and I spot the one that I shot with an arrow. My view of him becomes more clear, and I can see his wound where I shot the arrow.

We march about a mile before reaching the city. Thomas holds his hand up to stop us, "They might have a surprise attack waiting in the city."

Minho is the first to respond, "Yeah, with their big army of three men; better be careful, Thomas."

He rolls his eyes, "Good that, let's go then," he turns to the soldiers, "Wait here." All fifty of us head into the city, and a group of about seventy people stand in the center of it. We hold up our weapons, and they all raise their hands. "Lower your weapons, they're with us. Alright, come on!"

The people run over to us, and follow behind. We walk out of the city, and Group 1 follows behind the seventy people. We march to the boarder of soldiers, and they let us through. We test all of them for the immunity as they load onto Berg 50, 49, and 48, and the rest of us climb onto our Bergs. One more stop, and we can head back to WICKED. Just one more stop.

This trip only takes thirty minutes. We climb off of the Berg, and use the same procedure. The army lines up, and the leaders stand in front. Newt is on my right, Thomas on my left. We wait ten minutes, and the Cranks have already come out. There are a hundred of them. Running. Screaming.

"Ready! Aim!" He waits entirely too long, they’ve already started throwing things, "Fire!" We shoot, and the ones in the back survive; about ten, maybe? They run up to us, and Thomas punches one in the face, then pulls out a knife, and stabs him. I shoot one, and two men behind Thomas kill two more. I hear some shots, and when I let my bow down, they're all dead.

The leaders make our way to the city. Same thing, all of the people are in the middle of the city. We walk back to the Berg, and test them for immunity. It's over. Just for today, but it's over.

We head back home, but the ride feels shorter than the way here.