ACT I SCENE XXV
HELENES

THEY STARTED WITH THE FIRST SECTOR. It was like a breath of fresh air. Her body loosened up, the tenseness in her shoulders melting away to raw muscle memory. She followed Minho closely, not wanting a repeat of that last time when she was in the Maze.

A couple of hours later, they entered the outer section of Sector One. Minho slowed to a stop in front of her and announced that it was time for a water break. Cassandra immediately slumped down against a wall and rummaged through her pack.

"I was thinking while running," Minho started. "Why were you talking with Nick last night?"

"You jealous?" she asked him slyly.

"Cassie..."

She laughed at his expense before explaining from the beginning; about the favour Nick asked from her, his obsessive concern with escaping the Maze and his ever-decreasing sanity. Even though he looked calm on the outside most of the time, she could see there was something off about him. It was the way he fidgeted constantly, like he was always anxious for something to happen. And when he talked about the world outside, there was a spark of terror in his eyes. It got worse by the day.

"He asked something similar from me too," Minho told her. "Told me to take care of 'em. Make sure they were safe. That we're safe."

Cassandra ate her apple in silent contemplation. She didn't think she'd ever say it out loud but she didn't want anything to happen to Nick. He kept telling them that he was going crazy, yet he was the most rational person in the entire Glade. She wasn't sure how they would manage without his level headedness and sheer determination. It was hard to admit but she kind of looked up to the boy. He never gave up on them or himself.

Minho broke her out of her reverie and they continued on their way to the outer section. She took note of every turn they made and each corridor they ran down. It felt like they were going in a large spiral, towards the very middle of the section.

A few more hours passed as they ran their hands along the walls of the Maze. She kept her eyes and ears peeled for any unwanted visitors. Minho turned around a corner and stopped. Cassandra stepped up next to him and surveyed the dead end in front of them.

Thick overhanging ivy covered the entire opposite wall. She glanced at Minho and they walked over to hack at the vines with their knives. A few minutes later, they crouched down to find a small hole at the bottom. It was too dark to see what was inside. The hole was just big enough for a person to crawl into and hide.

Her heart skipped a beat as Minho reached his arm inside. He paused as his hand managed to grab hold of something and started yanking it out. It was an old blood stained pack. He stuck his arm back inside and pulled out a brittle yellowing femur.

Cassandra had to squeeze her hands against her mouth to stop herself from crying out. Minho hissed a few choice phrases and threw the bone back into the hole.

"Shucking shuck of all the shucks I have ever shucked!"

She looked at him with wide horrified eyes then slowly lowered her hand from her mouth.

"Did you know him?" she whispered loudly.

Minho grabbed the old pack and rummaged through it. He threw out a few decomposed apple cores and soiled clothes. There was a piece of paper inside. It only said two words, written with dried blood in thick blocky capitals.

THEY'RE COMING.

"I think it was Carl..."

"Who was Carl?" she looked at him and saw his face grow grim.

"He was one of us in the first batch," he told her quietly. "It was... a really bad time. When we still couldn't figure out what to do with ourselves. Carl got into a fight with another kid, Ernie, and killed the poor shank. We threw Carl out into the Maze."

She stared at him speechlessly, not knowing whether she should feel sorry for this boy or glad that he met a horrible death with what he had done. Minho stood up, picking the pack up and slinging it over his shoulder. He cocked his head sideways.

"Let's head back. I've seen enough."

She nodded and straightened her legs to stand. They ran back, retracing their steps and thought about how there were eight sectors in the Maze. There were seven more potential hiding holes. Could there be seven more potential graves too?

"How many people have been thrown into the Maze?" she asked, running in pace with Minho.

He looked at her with disconcertion in his eyes, eyebrows pulled together as he frowned in thought.

"Too many."

"Do you think... maybe..."

"Yeah, it's a possibility," he breathed. "There might be a few more."

She hated the thought of uncovering more skeletons. But there were seven more sectors and one of them could point them in the direction of an actual clue. She still had to hold out on that hope.

They continued running in silence, taking a couple of water breaks in between. The light had just started to dim when they made it back through the Doors. They stopped at a patch of grass and bent over to catch their breaths.

She looked around the Glade and felt that something was off. It was emptier than usual. The Trackhoes weren't in the Gardens and the Builders were nowhere to be seen. She stood up and looked around again, then noticed the crowd of boys gathered in the middle of the Glade. Minho followed her gaze and frowned in confusion. The Box shouldn't be up again for another week.

"What are they doing?" he wondered out loud.

"Let's find out," she shrugged and they made their way over to the others.

She saw Newt and immediately went towards him, hoping to get some information on what they had missed out on. By the look on the blonde's face, it wasn't anything good.

Nick had managed to persuade some of the boys to make the longest rope they had ever made and to lower him into the Box's hole. Cassandra couldn't believe what she was hearing. She rushed forwards to the hole and peered inside. Gally and Zart held onto the rope that was Nick's only lifeline. It was so dark inside the chasm, she couldn't see how far the boy had already gone down.

"Nick?!" she yelled inside. "What the hell are you doing?! Get back up here, this is insane!"

"Yeah, we've tried that, he's not giving up," Newt came up behind her.

"If you don't come back this instant, I'm going to kill you! Literally!" she yelled again.

She heard a chuckle echo up from deep below the hole and felt a small comfort at that.

"Hey, you dumb shank! What do you see?" Minho called.

"What d'yu think, klunkhead?" Nick replied.

"He didn't bring a light with him?" Cassandra asked incredulously.

"The battery ran out," Newt rolled his eyes. "We tried throwing another one in but it hit him on the head and fell to the bottom."

"You do realise that it'll take him hours to reach the bottom at the rate he's going?" she asked then turned back to the hole and loudly repeated herself.

Another chuckle bounced up and she crossed her arms in exasperation. Even if he did reach the bottom, she highly doubted it would lead to a way out. She was certain that the people down there had the place locked up and they'd have to pull him out again anyway.

Several more minutes passed by as everyone waited with bated breath. There was a loud thunk that echoed up and Nick cried out in surprise.

"What happened?!" Newt leaned over the hole, trying in vain to peek through the darkness.

"Felt something above my head," they heard Nick say. "That was weird. Oh, sh-"

There was another loud thunk that sounded more metallic this time.

"PULL ME UP! PULL ME UP NOW!"

Cassandra dropped to the ground and leaned forwards anxiously. Newt was shouting at the other boys to help tug on the rope. She grabbed hold of it as well and pulled as hard as she could. Nick started screaming again.

"HURRY UP! HUR-"

His voice was abruptly cut off. Cassandra felt her heart hammering in her chest, beads of sweat rolled down her forehead and into her eyes. She continued to tug frantically, ignoring the burns that were starting to sting.

Finally, she saw the crown of his head and the mess of dark hair. She reached down to pull on his shirt and instantly felt that something was terribly wrong. Grabbing hold of his arm, she yanked him out of the hole. His torso came up over the edge and she dragged him across the ground.

But that was all of him.

The lower half of his body was gone.

Cassandra fell backwards and scrambled away. Everyone else stopped moving as if reality had imploded and they were all frozen still in place. Then she sucked in a deep breath and screamed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This chapter made me so sad, I really loved Nick :( xx