Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

22. Sunrise

The next morning, much too early to my taste, Newt woke me up by gently touching my shoulder. At first I just wanted to turn around again, but then I realised that I was not in my hammock, but in the grass, and I would immediately go back into the maze.
I opened my eyes and looked into his brown.
"Good morning," he smiled.
"Morning," I murmured as I sat down.
It was still a little dark, the sun had not yet risen.
"I wanted to show you something." With these words he stood up and then he pulled me up, too.
I was too tired to ask, so I just followed him, noticing that he really tried hard not to limp too much. I wondered how long it would be before his leg was fully recovered, but then I remembered that his accident hadn't been that long ago and the splint bandage was probably not as effective as a cast.
We reached the glade and just at that moment the sun came up and the first rays shone over the walls.
"That is what I meant. Isn't that beautiful? I often get up so early to see that. The sunrise and sunset is the most beautiful thing you can see here, I think."
I could only nod, because the spectacle had literally left me speechless. I was completely amazed at how beautiful the first rays of the sun could look when they shone over the walls of the maze. The sky was red and orange and completely clear, which meant that today would be another hot day.
"This is really beautiful."
"If you like that, you should come out of the maze a little earlier today, then you have to watch the sunset. This moment just before the sun disappears behind the walls is just incredible."
Again I nodded. "We will hurry."
Just when I thought of him, I saw Minho crossing the glade and already on his way to the kitchen. We wanted to leave when the gates opened and that couldn't be much longer.
That's what I told Newt and together we also set off for Fry Pan, passing a sleeping Gally that was still lying on the tree trunk. I imagined this position extremely uncomfortable and was sure that he would be in pain everywhere today.
We got our breakfast and sat down with Minho, who was the only one who was already there and ate.
"Good morning," I greeted him.
"Morning. Well, fit for the maze?" he asked me and grinned.
"Of course. I'm not running blind today. If we hear anything again, we will only run as far as we have to and then we will listen again. Agreed?"
"Sure. Good idea." He nodded and then turned back to his food.
We ate up and then picked up our food from Fry Pan.
"Thanks, Pan. See you tonight," I said and waved goodbye to him as I strapped my rucksack on.
"Take care," he replied.
Newt accompanied us to the gate that would open today - the third clockwise since I was here. We got ready, walking a little on the spot and stretching before the wall split with a loud noise.
I quickly kissed Newt on the cheek again and then jogged through the gate with Minho, looking around once more and waving over my shoulder as we turned the first corner.
We explored as many corridors as possible and only stopped for a break when the sun had already left its zenith.
"How big do you think this thing is?" Minho asked as we ate our sandwiches.
"Way too big." Yes, I thought so.
"Ready to go on?" he asked as we finished our meal.
I nodded.
"Here we go."
We kept on walking, aisle by aisle, and I was sure this was the best way to get ahead.
At some point, when I was about to ask Minho if we wanted to start walking back slowly, he turned a corner and stopped just a metre in front of me, so I ran into him.
"Hey, what the-?" I started, but then fell silent when I saw why he had stopped so suddenly.
In front of us there was no further aisle, but a large area with at least 200 metres of sides. As I said, I really wasn't good at determining distances, so I could have been completely wrong - but what I knew was that what lay ahead of us was pretty big.
In the middle were wing-like metal sheets arranged in several rows, at least 4 metres high. On the other side there was another corridor, but it seemed to end easily after a few metres. A dead end?
We stood there speechless until a thought came to me that I had to get rid of.
"What if it's those gates we hear at night?" I pointed beside us, where obviously there was normally a gate like in the glade.
"Possibly. We should observe this. But the passage back there confuses me. Why does it end so suddenly?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe it's just a dead end."
"You really think so? Looks like there's a gate there, too, somehow."
He was right. But it was locked, so today we couldn't find out what was behind it anyway.
"Let's call it a day, Minho. We can come back here tomorrow," I suggested and he nodded.
So we turned around and jogged back the way we had come. Far away we heard the cry of a Griever, so we accelerated our steps a little without panicking again. So we reached the glade, this time unhurt and just a little out of breath, just in time before the sun set, as I had promised Newt.