AN: I'm back! And today, I've brought to you a chapter! Hope you like it. School has just ended the other week and I wanted some time for myself so I decided to rest up a bit before writing again. Updates will be more frequent now because it's officially summer here! Happy reading! (::)
The darkness of the night made it difficult for the two groups to navigate around. The Runners were only used to the sunlight as they ran their rounds.
It was awful to hear the howl of the Grievers. Even fire was not enough to kill them. What more is that they actually didn't completely solve the code.
But their plan was simple. Trick the Grievers to go into one of the holes while the rest of them get through the other, unscathed. And most of the people who were to divert them were great Runners. Leo was forced to stay put with the rest, along with Lilli, a second-in-command at the moment. They were reunited at one point, staying at the Griever hole, waiting for the signal that the volunteers would give so they can finish the code.
It was six of them, Nicole, Margie, Chen, Mei, Teddy, and James. They were the ones to divert the Grievers' attention. Even if they had to die doing it.
As they neared the pack of Grievers, they all screamed and yelled, attracting their attention. Margie could definitely smell the pungent odour of burning Grievers, and as did the rest of them.
"Ugh! Stupid Grievers shucking stink!" Nicole complained, which was part of the plan.
"Great acting, Niks." James commented, laughing.
"You do know they're watching us?" Chen harshly whispered.
"Yeah, one little wrong thing, can make them snap." Mei agreed.
"Shhh!" Teddy scolded, the Grievers were closer now, one turn and they could see the group.
That was when Nicole screamed as loud as she could. Part of the plan: Scream as loud as you can, Grievers will be after you.
"Chen, James, get to the other group, now. They need to crack the code to open both of the exits." Teddy commanded, his voice strained to keep panic from forming over his words. Both of them nodded and ran the other way, James knew the maze like the back of his hand so it was easy for him to navigate.
"Margie, Mei, get inside zee Griever hole and try breaking zee code. We'll follow you once you give zee signal." Nicole instructed. Both Mei and Margie got to where they needed to be, and started inputting the letters they had figured out. Mei noted that the machine had numbers from 1-9, and pointed that out to Margie. Margie nodded, and began typing in the letters.
L, then, A, followed by B, right after is Y, and soon, until it formed a broken word.
And it had two letters missing.
H
Then, it hit them. DAEDALUS. He was a historical figure for his inventions, most notably a maze. A maze that he called the Labyrinth. That was the code.
The code was so obvious that it didn't occur to anyone of them that it would've been the code.
Margie quickly typed in the remaining two letters, making the blood red lights of the screen flicker into a sickening green. Then, Margie felt the ground swallow her whole.
"Margie!" Mei yelled, there was no sign of Margie. She was just there a second ago, and now, she's disappeared. Mei stood helplessly as she waited for the other two to come inside. The countdown had begun. From 10. And Mei couldn't help but worry. But she couldn't speak. She was in too much shock.
5…4…3…
Teddy dived in, with Nicole in his arms, just as the doors were about to crush them.
Mei immediately ran to their aid, helping them both get up.
"Where's Marj?" Nicole breathlessly questioned, still tingling from the sensation of Teddy's touch. She has always liked him, and never told anyone, not even Em.
Teddy looked around, for any sign of Margie but found nothing.
"The code. We shucking solved it." Mei uttered.
"But now, we're trapped. And they can't have a signal." Teddy replied, eyes filling with worry almost instantly at the realisation.
"Remember that they could hear─" Nicole got cut off.
"Hey! No fair! You shuckface!" The trio heard a voice from below. It was Gale's.
"Oh, keep quiet, will you! You're acting like a bloody slinthead." This time, it was Em who spoke.
"You heard zat? You shucking heard zat?" Nicole needed to confirm that they all heard it and that she wasn't mad.
"Are you shanks coming down or not?" They heard James' voice.
"Is Margie there?" Mei questioned hesitantly. She didn't want to sound weak.
"Yeah, with some bruises but klunkin' alive." Margie replied happily. Relief flooded Mei's face. All was well.
It was over.
"So who goes down first?" Nicole asked.
Mei didn't need to reply as she already dived.
"Ladies first." Teddy stated.
With a sense of braveness, Nicole grabbed his right hand and they jumped down together.
All was going great.
They finally made it out.
Claps and cheers erupted. Group C managed to escape.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, we've finally managed to level up to Phase 2 for group C. I trust the preparations have been made?" The people nodded as the Chancellor asked.
"Excellent. It is very unfortunate that our celebration be cut off short." Ava smiled. "But, work must be done. I will see you in the morning." Ava remarked. All of them exited the room, talking in groups.
They did a bit of walking around. Until they found an exit. Then they heard gunshots. Screaming and cries for help followed.
It was early morning by now. As James glanced down his watch. 8:00 AM. The gunshots stopped. So did the screaming. That meant everyone was dead.
All of a sudden, a woman came into view. She had a partially shaved blonde head, and she had brown eyes. She was wearing a grey shirt under a black leather jacket. She had ripped jeans, and muddy brown combat boots.
"You Group C, aye?" She turned towards them, staring at them like they were specimens.
"Why should we tell you?" Nath breathed heavily.
"Don't 'ave to be so stubborn now. We're taking you to a safe place─"
"Safe place!" Gale yelled, her tone disagreeing to the lady's.
"You want them out of your life, right?" She pointed to the WICKED seal in the room.
Most of them looked at each other, a silent sign to ask if they should trust her or not.
"Right, I see you're questioning me. I'm Kendra. I'm getting you out with the help of my team." She smirked.
"C'mon, we don't got much time. I'm Killian." A man urged, he had a stubble, and his face had a scar from his cheek to his chin. He had a muscular body. His dark hair was cut into an army cut, with a straight line cut like a laser. He wore an outfit similar to Kendra's.
Everyone was too dazed to say anything. So, Kendra led them out.
When they thought of escape, they thought of lush green grass and fresh air. And everything they saw outside was the exact opposite.
It was a desert outside. There were sand dunes and the wind blew with sand particles.
This was not what they expected.
Not at all.
AN: They made it out! But, the story's not over yet! There has to be a scene I need to add in before I end it.
Replies:
softball007: Thank you! And now, you've read the continuation of the events of the last chapter. Hope you liked it!
StarRunner1: Mei and Chen had to split but there'll be more of them the following chapter. Thank you for those kind words too! :)
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