Chapter 13- The Maze

Finished Date: 5/27/17

I have exams in a week and i wont be able to write as much so I'm posting twice today to make up for it.

I tumbled to the grey concrete floor of the maze. My legs wouldn't support my body. They felt like jelly and I had no idea how I would ever get myself out if I couldn't walk. I had no idea how I would survive if I couldn't run. I was unbearably vulnerable, but thankfully luck was on my side and I hadn't run into any Grievers. Yet.

I clenched my eyes shut and slid down the wall. I ignored the strange puddle my hand had landed in and took a deep breath. I just needed to think outside the box. Maybe use the extra 90% of my brain. I just needed to think of something.

My eyes snapped open and I felt along the wall frantically. I dived behind the ivy, ignoring the spike of pain that ran throughout my entire being. I listened intently for the sound of footsteps to resume. As they began again I realised it wasn't only one pair of footsteps but also two. Accompanying the footsteps was also the sound of scarping.

It felt like forever as I sat there behind the ivy. I could hear the footsteps gradually getting closer and closer and with the noise were strained breaths. I shifted the ivy slightly to look into the corridor.

"This isn't gonna work. We gotta go," I froze in surprise at the sound of Minho's voice. I was hoping that he would have gotten out.

"We gotta go!" Minho repeated. The panic in his voice was so blatantly obvious that I was surprised that he wasn't trying to hide it. I knew for a fact that Minho didn't like to show fear or panic.

Who was Minho talking to anyway? Did Alby not get out either? I cursed under my breath at the thought. Things were taking a turn for the worse.

"What are you doing, we have to hide him!" A voice shouted that was definitely not Alby. I sighed in irritation and squeezed my eyes closed. The voice belonged to Thomas. I was starting to think that this kid had a death wish.

"Where?!" Minho exclaimed. I peeked through the ivy to look at them and had to stifle a gasp. Propped against the wall was Alby. A very dead looking Alby.

"I don't know. Just think. There isn't a single place we can take him?" Thomas said. Minho let out a cry of frustration, lunging towards Thomas. He pressed him against the wall whispering harshly.

"Take a look around, there is no where we can go!" Minho threw himself backwards staring at Thomas.

"You don't get it Greenie. We're already dead."

I rubbed at my eyes and sighed heavily. I was hoping that they would have gotten out on time, but obviously they weren't that lucky.

Thomas groaned whilst pulling the rope of ivy he had clutched between his hands. They were tying Alby up on the wall, supported by the ivy. It was dark and I could barely see what they were even doing anymore.

A shriek of a Griever echoed through the halls. This wasn't the first time that I had heard this noise. It was like the Grievers knew that we were stuck in here. It was like they ha been waiting for us the entire time

"We gotta go!" Minho said, repeating himself over and over again. He looked wild and frightened. I barely heard Thomas pleading with him to stay a little longer before Minho let go of the ivy and began running away

"Minho!" Thomas shouted. Thomas was pulled forward by the sudden weight that had fallen onto him. It was only then that I started to hear and smell the Griever that was approaching from down the corridor.

Knowing that we had limited time, I launched to my feet and dragged Thomas behind the ivy with me. In his surprise Thomas almost let go of the ivy, but I managed to grasp Minho's discarded piece to prevent Alby from falling. As I hid us under the ivy, I realised how close the Griever had been to us.

I tried to slow down my breathing, so we wouldn't be heard. I could now see the Griever moving down the corridor. The ivy obscuring my vision did nothing to hide the grotesque body of the Griever. I closed my eyes, the only thing I could hear was the Grievers growls and my thudding heart in my ears. I squeezed Thomas arm hard to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

We waited until the Griever had passed, before we both let out simultaneous sighs of relief. I was the first to move away from ivy.

"Thea!" I heard Thomas whisper. I glanced over to him.

"No time to talk," I said quickly and began to hurriedly tie the ivy off.

I looked around us as we did this, looking out for the Griever. I tried to ignore the glances Thomas threw my way. He hadn't bombarded me with questions yet and although I was surprised by this I was thankful.

A flash of metal caught my attention. I clutched Thomas' arm and pulled him around the next corridor and against the wall, where I knew we couldn't be seen.

I hesitantly looked around at the empty corridor, tapping my finger on Thomas' hand to tell him it was clear. I started to half walk half run away from the spot, determined to get away. I knew Thomas' was following me, but when I heard him suddenly stop I whirled around. He was looking at his foot, which was in a puddle of slime.

My eyes widened and realisation struck me a second to late.

The Griever plummeted to the ground and let out a deafening roar. I watched as Thomas slipped and I darted forward to push him out of the way of one of the Grievers prongs. I hauled him to his feet and we were off.

I took in uneven breaths, supposedly random information filling my head. By the rate the Griever was running we had at least 30 seconds before it caught up with us.

Long story short, the Griever was too fast and we were going to die.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to me.

"SPLIT UP!" I screamed. There was no time to think. I threw myself to the right when an intersection came up and just as I had hoped the Griever followed me.

"THEA!" I ignored Thomas and continued to run. In my head I was mapping out every single turn I made. A map of the Maze was forming in my mind.

Left

Right

Another right

Straight forward.

I skidded to a stop, staring at the dead end in front of me. I turned to go left but saw another Griever blocking the way.

I had to climb.

I launched myself at the wall grappling and pulling at the ivy. With a strained huff I pulled myself up onto the top. I barely dogged the swipe at my legs.

I began to run again before barely catching myself from plummeting over the side. I let out a scream of frustration.

"F*CK YOU!" I screamed to the sky. I knew they heard me. I hoped they all burned in hell.

I turned back knowing that I wouldn't be able to go back that way. I stared at the Griever.

I had to think of something. Something.

Anything.

My solution came in the form of a blurry mental image.

I breathed out in surprise.

"The neck," I whispered in shock. At my words the Griever let out a deafening roar, like it knew what I was planning. I had no doubt that it did.

My mind saw the plan in a matter of seconds. The red flashing dot on its neck. The loose bit of swinging ivy. A small rock to the side.

Before I even knew what I was doing I was launching myself towards the ivy, simultaneously grabbing the rock and swinging myself behind the Griever.

I landed lightly and before the Griever could gather its bearings, I threw myself onto its back, careful to avoid its metal limbs. The Griever started to swing its body wildly, screeching. I held on, my legs and hands sinking into its soft flesh. I raised the rock and smashed it down onto the red light.

The effect was almost immediate, but not what I was expecting. The Griever froze and let out a high pitched whine, like a dog.

I jumped off of it having a weird sense of deja vu. The Griever turned to look at me and sat down. Was it smiling? It was looking at me like how a dog would look at their owner.

This was weirdly like what had happened when a Griever had got into into Glade.

"Good Griever?" I said, not quite sure what I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to run? I should be running, but I wasn't. The Griever let out huff, the sound a bull would make, in response.

"THOMAS!" I started at the shout. It echoed around me and I immediately knew who it was.

"Shit," I exclaimed. The Griever responded to my curse, whining in concern. I didn't spare it a glance and sprinted in the direction of the voice. It would be my fault if Thomas was hurt. He had followed me into the Maze and I had abandoned him.

In my panic, I dimly registered the sound of the Griever following after me. The shout was loud from where I was so I knew that they were close to me.

I followed my instinct and almost barreled straight into them. Thomas caught me before I could run into him.

"Thea!" Thomas shouted, a look of relief in his eyes. I only nodded my head before grabbing his hand and running to catch up with Minho.

"We killed one of them," Thomas breathed out. I quickly glanced behind me to see two more Grievers behind us. I blinked in confusion. Where was the one that had been following me?

My question was answered, when it dropped from the Maze wall and started to attack one of the Grievers. I stumbled in shock. It was helping us?

I stopped and stared, an emotion akin to sadness overriding me as I watched it be knocked down by the other two.

"What are you doing She-Bean! RUN!" I flinched at the coldness of Minho's hand on my arm and began to run. The two Grievers had resumed their chase of us, leaving the other on the ground.

Minho led us down many, seemingly random, paths. I knew it wasn't random though. He had a plan.

Minho suddenly stopped. I looked around us and realised that we were standing in a small clearing of sorts. It wasn't really a clearing, it looked more like a cliff. The Cliff.

I heard Alby threatening to throw people of the cliff on numerous occasions, some of which were aimed at me.

The pieces came together. I knew what he was planning and it seemed like Thomas had already known what the plan was. We all stood at the edge of the Cliff and waited for the Grievers to approach.

They came barreling down the corridor, their limbs propelling them forward to go faster. I clutched Thomas' arm, readying myself.

They came closer. Closer. And Closer. So close that I thought I could feel them breathing on me.

At the last possible second we threw ourselves to each side. Me and Thomas going right and Minho going left.

Just as we had all hoped, the Grievers went toppling over the edge. I didn't hear them land, but I didn't care. We were alive. Alive.

I laughed breathlessly.

"We're alive," I said, I laughed again, squeezing my eyes shut. I didn't bother moving from my sprawled out position on the dirt covered floor.

I was elated. I grinned wide, rolling onto my back and looking up at the fake night sky.

We were alive.