From The WICKED Start | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

13. The ladder

Quietly and quickly we moved through the air shaft and turned off from time to time, just as Newt had memorised. He seemed to have a good memory, because I would definitely not have been able to memorize this path.
After minutes of silence he stopped abruptly and I bumped into him, causing a rumbling sound. I froze and listened.
Only now did I notice that I could see something, too. A few metres ahead of us the shaft ended in a wider flap than ours. A large room.
Through the flap some light came to us and I could hear whispering voices - now that we were listening completely motionless.
Slowly Newt crawled on and I followed him, knowing that we had reached our destination.
We stopped in front of the flap and I could sit down next to him, as there was enough room now. Carefully I peeked through the slits and saw a large room with bunk beds, where some lamps were still on, because some girls were still awake too.
I looked over to Newt and saw him biting his lower lip and visibly struggling with himself. I put one hand on his shoulder and followed his gaze.
When I saw her, I was sure I would have recognised her even if Newt hadn't already looked at her.
She looked quite similar to him, had blonde hair, too, a little lighter than his, but her face was so similar to his that I knew it was her, even though there were other girls sitting next to her.
None of us said anything, we just watched the girl talking to her new friends and obviously being fine.
I was glad that we had found her like that, because I was sure that Newt would certainly not have taken everything else well.
We just sat there for a long time and watched as the girls decided at some point to go to sleep and each one went to her own bed. I didn't know what time it was, but I was sure they should have been asleep by now.
Before they turned out the lights and only the emergency lamps gave a little light, Lizzy once looked up directly at us as if she had heard something, although I was sure we hadn't made a sound. Maybe she felt she was being watched or somehow felt our presence.
But she did not look more closely and had soon fallen asleep, looking very calm and peaceful.
Again I noticed that Newt was struggling with himself. Of course it was good to see that she was all right, but still I could imagine how hard it was to be able to watch her, but not to talk to her, not to be able to take her in the arms.
I stroked his back and it didn't take long and I had him in my arms. I felt that he was crying because my shoulder was getting wet, but it did not bother me. I just held him tight, knowing how he felt.
So we sat there and I had completely lost track of time when he separated from me at some point and ran his sleeve over his face.
"We should go back now, it's time we got some sleep, too."
I nodded and he crawled back again.
When we had already taken some turns I paused. I had seen something that gave me an idea.
"Newt? Look!" I pointed to the right, where you could see something again, because light was coming from there. And I was pretty sure that I could see a ladder shaft.
Without thinking further, I crawled towards the shaft, this time at the front, so Newt had to follow me.
I reached the ladder and looked up. A few dim lights illuminated the shaft and I was sure that nobody had been here for a long time.
Carefully I shook the ladder and noticed that it was rusty but stable. I put one foot on one rung, then another and began to climb up.
"What are you doing?" I heard Newt ask beneath me, but then climbed up the ladder too and followed me. Silently he counted the floors, we climbed up to find the right one later. Good that he thought so much. Otherwise I would have had a problem.
I climbed and climbed and didn't know how high the ladder would take us when I almost hit my head. There was a hatch above me.
"I don't know if we should do this, we don't know where we're going to get out...," Newt remarked, but I didn't care. I had to know what was above me.
So I turned the wheel and heard the lock unlock. Carefully, I pushed the hatch up and found it was quite heavy.
When I had pinned it open, a cool gust of wind came towards me.
A gust of wind.
I almost fell down the ladder.
We were outside - I had not been outside for almost 13 years.
I was dizzy and I pulled myself up with trembling arms and climbed out of the shaft. With a beating heart I looked around while Newt arrived on the roof.
For there we were - on the roof of WICKED.
I saw the stars, felt the wind on my skin and smelled smells I had almost forgotten.
All this overwhelmed me and I burst into tears. Tears of joy, of overstrain and tears of sadness that I could not have all this for so long.
Newt put his arms around me and I buried my face on his chest while the sobs shook me.
It took me a while to calm down again. We had sat down on the edge of the roof and Newt had put one arm around my shoulders, keeping me warm on this cool night. My head leaned on his shoulder and we waited for the sunrise without either of us having to say it.
My first sunrise in 13 years. Basically the first one I would really notice.
I hadn't seen the sun for so long and I was tingling inside when I thought that I would finally feel it on my skin.
And there it was, the first ray of sunshine in so long.
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the slight warmth, but then I opened them again to absorb everything there was to see.
A vast scorch stretched out before us and seemed endless, for all I could see was sand on the horizon where the sun had just risen.
Yes, the sun had pretty much burnt everything, they had told us.
Between the dunes, further away, I could see scattered people who seemed to be wandering around.
They must be cranks.
Just as I was letting my eyes glide further across the scorch, I suddenly felt Newt cramping up beside me.
"What...?" I started, but he only pointed to the left of us, and as I followed his gaze, I too froze at first, but then picked myself up and ran in that direction, completely speechless.
There it stretched out, huge and winding.
The maze.
I had often imagined how big these things might be, but this sight surpassed everything I had imagined.
In the middle, too far away from us to see anything, I could see the glade. I realised that Gally and my other friends were there at that very moment and the thought was overwhelming.
It was as if I could just walk on the walls and get to them, because the outer walls bordered directly on the roof where we were standing.
Newt stepped next to me and together we stared at each other, unable to say a word.
Then suddenly I heard a sound that was getting louder and louder and it took me far too long to understand what it was.
A helicopter.
We had to leave immediately, if anyone saw us, we would be sure to land in a memory chamber by noon today.
I grabbed Newt's hand and we sprinted to the hatch, climbed in as fast as we could and locked it.
Totally out of breath we held on to the rungs and needed some time before we could make our way back.
Finally, I followed Newt through the shafts back to our room, but neither of us made a sound. We were still much too overwhelmed.