A/N: Okie Dokie guys, next chapter is here. Had some really great reviews over the past couple of weeks. Will talk more about them at the end! Enjoy, my lovelies!
Chapter 15
A light knock on the door alerts me to Minho's presence. I tip-toe over to the door, looking back to make sure Teresa is still asleep. No reason to wake her early on her first official morning. Closing the door behind me, I put a finger up to my lips telling Minho to keep quiet. Once we are away from my room, I turn and say, 'Shall we free Thomas from the doghouse?'
Minho laughs and nods and we head over to the pit. As we walk, I think about Newt. Our talk last night ended before we had finished. Who knows what could have happened. Maybe nothing. But it could have been something! That thought sends a shiver through my spine.
'So,' Minho started. I look at him, waiting for him to continue. He doesn't. He just looks at me.
'What?' I reply. One eyebrow raises as if I should know what he is talking about.
'I was told something very interesting last night.' He finally continues.
I furrow my brows. 'Right?'
'Chuck said that he interrupted you and Newt. Together. In your bedroom.' I roll my eyes. Talk about dramatic.
'We were talking.' I say, sighing sharply at his nosiness.
'Uh huh. That's not what Chuck said.' He states, looking at me again with raised eyebrows.
'Well I don't know what Chuck said but we were just talking.' I finish before increasing my walking speed towards the pit. Minho speeds up as well to stay parallel with me.
'Well Chuck said that you were acting shifty.' Minho announces as if this is a grand piece of evidence that proves Newt and I were doing more than talking. I stop walking and look at him.
'Shifty.' I utter. 'Nice one, Minho. You cracked the case!' I mock. 'Seriously?'
Minho just keeps his eyebrows raised. With a sigh he says, 'Well okay, if you don't want to tell me I won't pry.'
'Hmph, that'll be the day.' I scoff. As we reach the pit gate, I see Thomas leaning against the wall, obviously anxious to escape the slammer.
'Big day, Greenie.' Minho calls grabbing Thomas' attention. 'Are you sure you don't want to sit this one out?' I giggle as Thomas breaks into a smirk.
'Come on, man. Get me out of here.'
We chuckle as Minho opens the gate. Thomas climbs out of the pit with ease and stands next to us.
'So where we going today?' Thomas asks excitedly. I smile at his enthusiasm. He's practically bouncing.
'We'll need to sort you out with a vest and pack first.' I say lightly. 'Then we'll decide where to go.'
Minho stands over the map, trying to decide where would be the best place to go, whilst I fit Tommy with his vest.
'Feel okay?' I ask, slightly adjusting the straps to fit him better. He nods, excitedly, brushing his hands over the vest. 'Getting real now, huh?' I smirk at him.
'Yeah,' he whispers to himself more than to me.
Minho eventually decides to go to section 4 via the inner ring; this meant we could show Thomas the numbers on the walls of the other unopened sections.
We stand outside of the wall, waiting for it to open. I look at Tommy to see him tapping his foot. 'Nervous?' I ask Tommy lightly. He grins at me.
'Little bit.'
'Don't be. You've done it before. This time its daytime and you have Minho and I to watch your back.'
Thomas smiles at the pair of us as the groaning of the wall starts. We line up next to each other, preparing ourselves to run. As the doors open fully, we smirk at each other.
'Let's go!' I say before sprinting off into the maze. Tommy and Minho's footsteps follow quickly behind. The excitement of finding a way out spurs us all on, moving faster and faster.
'This way.' Minho calls, running past me. 'Not much further to the inner ring.' We fly past 3, then 2, 1, and 8. As we go to pass section 7, Minho and I stop dead. We look at each other with matching looks of confusion.
Thomas, having noticed our looks asks, 'What?'
I turn to look at Thomas. 'This is Section 7. Where we think the griever I killed came from. It's open. Seven is not supposed to be open for another week. In all the time we have been monitoring these outer sections they have never broken pattern. Ever. Now 7 is open a week earlier than planned.'
'Should we take a look?' Thomas asks me.
I look at Minho who shrugs. I take a deep breath and nod. 'Yeah we will. Maybe something new has shown up?' We begin to jog into section seven and pause when Tommy asks, 'What the hell is this place?'
Large metal sheets rise from the ground, in rows, some facing vertically and some facing horizontally.
'We call them blades.' Minho answers. We continue to jog through the blades trying to keep in a semi-straight line. It's so easy to get lost in these things. Behind me Minho is explaining how we found the blades originally. I begin to tune out the story as I notice something on the floor ahead of me. A pack. And a blood-soaked vest top. I stop jogging and begin to walk slowly up to it. Minho also stops, finally seeing what I have seen.
I sigh. Poor Ben.
'It's Ben's, isn't it?' Thomas whispers as Minho picks up the vest with two fingers.
'Yeah.' He sighs, placing the vest gently, back down on the floor.
'A Griever must have pulled him down here.' I say standing up, and looking away.
As Thomas and Minho stand up, a small noise catches my attention. It sounds almost like… a machine beginning to work. I look at the boys to see if they hear it too. They are looking at each other obviously trying to find the source as well.
I walk over to Minho and spin him round so his back is facing me.
'Whoa, hey!' Minho yelps at the action. I reach into his pack and pull out the cylinder. It's whirring and clicking, a different pattern each way I turn. I walk away from the boys in one direction and the clicking slows. Not that way then, I think. I turn a 180 and begin walking the other way. The clicking speeds up to a pace so fast it's almost one continuous noise. I turn to the boys with a smirk; 'I think it's showing us the way.' I turn back and hurriedly walk in a straight line forward. I can hear the boys behind me, but only just. My heart rate is so fast now I almost can't breathe. This could be it. We could have found our way out. I could skip with excitement. But I won't. Gotta keep a cool façade in front of the boys.
We're almost running now. Trying to figure out where the cylinder is taking us. Passing the blades, one by one, keeping my eyes firmly on the object still resting in my hands. As I am about to pass the next blade, the clicking slows again. 'Wait, wait, wait.' I say putting my hand out to stop the boys.
'What, what?' Minho asks, anxiously, glancing around to try and see what may have caused me to stop. I turn slowly on the spot until I'm facing a different direction. The clicking speeds up again, making me smile. 'This way. Come on.' After walking for another 5-10 minutes we reach a gap in the wall were following. Inside is a stone walkway surrounded on either side by a huge drop. I peer over the side. 'I can't even see the bottom.' I look at Minho and Thomas, their faces mirror my own, confusion and excitement.
'Minho, you ever see this place before?' Thomas asks. His voice echoes in the huge space we are in.
'No.' Minho shakes his head in disbelief. At the bottom of the walkway is a door. With no handle. 'Ahhh.' He groans. 'It's just another dead end.' As I get closer to the door, the cylinder suddenly makes a high pitched noise and the light and the number change from red to green.
'Guys…' I begin, when an unlocking sound comes from the door. Thomas and Minho spin around to stare at it. My breathing accelerates and the door rises up into the ceiling. Behind it two more doors are also rising, to show a circular panel at the far end. This too opens up revealing a dark tunnel.
'Are you sure about this?' Minho says to me.
'Nope.' I say pushing forward past the door. Beside me they guys walk slowly trying to keep watch for anything dangerous. As we reach the tunnel, Minho wipes his hand over the entrance. He pulls it back and shows us. It's covered with Griever slime! We need to get out of here. Now.
'Grievers.' Minho confirms my suspicions. Suddenly a red light appears in the tunnel and forms a laser, which starts to scan us.
'What the hell was that?' Thomas breathes. A loud noise startles us. It sound like when the walls are shutting at the glade.
'We gotta get out of here.' I say out loud this time. We turn and run as fast as we can out of the hallway.
'Give me the key, give me the key!' Minho shouts at me. I toss it at him, which he catches and stuffs it into his pack. 'Move, move!' We make it out of the hallway only to see that the blades are shutting too. Closing up to form walls that will trap us here.
'We gotta go! Run, Thomas! We're gonna get trapped! Go! Go!' We run towards the blades trying to find a way through that can take us back to the inner circle. We weave in and out of the closing blades trying not to get separated. My blood is pounding in my ears, my legs screaming from the pressure.
'Go, go, go!' Minho screams at us trying to get us to run faster. My ankle burns at the constant pummelling against the ground. We start to run straight down the blades trying to get into the next one along when we can. I'm right behind Minho, but I can't see Thomas!
'Thomas!' I shout, still keeping pace with Minho.
'Kira! Minho!' Thomas voice comes from next to us, behind the next row of blades, which are now shutting. If he doesn't get through, he's going to be trapped!
'Thomas, get in here!' I scream.
I hear can hear Thomas panting and grunting trying to run faster than the blades are shutting. With one final cry he appears in front of us, having slipped through. I grab his hand and pull him along.
'Come on!' Minho cries as we slide round the corner into the main circle. We did it! Still running we begin to slow as we reach and open space in the circle. I take a breath, trying to slow my heart rate. I turn to grin at the boys. The pair grin back at me. Before I can say anything, spurts of dust interrupt our celebrations as the floor starts to move.
'What the fuck!' I scream as the floor a few meters in front of me rises up. Thomas grabs my hand pulling me back from the edge. Picking up the pace again we pelt down the circle with sections of floor moving all over the place and sections of the wall falling down behind us.
'Let's go, let's go!'
'Come on, move!'
'Keep going!'
'Keep going! Let's go!' Hurried shouts fill my ears, some even coming from myself.
'Whoa!'
'Go, go, go!' A section of wall in front of us unhooks itself from the rest and starts to fall.
'Oh, shit!' Thomas yells, once again grabbing my hand, pulling me to go faster and faster.
'There!' Minho points. A small section of wall is rising from the floor, and on the other side we can see the vine covered walls of the inner maze. We rush towards it throwing ourselves over the top. As I'm the smallest I am able to scuttle through the ever tightening space first. Spinning round I see Minho and Thomas crawling through the gap.
'Faster,' I scream. Minho reaches the end first toppling off the wall and landing on the floor hard. Thomas follows a few seconds later with a shout. I lean back against the wall with relief. Minho and Thomas lie on the floor, all of us breathing harder than we have ever breathed in our lives. I catch Minho's eye. A smile grows on both our faces. I start to chuckle first. Minho and Thomas join in soon after. Soon enough the three us of are full on laughing at the sheer closeness of that run.
Running out of the maze, we are met with the older Gladers and Chuck.
'What the hell's going on out there?' Newt says to me. I smile and take his hand, pulling him and consequently the rest of the Gladers away from the maze entrance.
'What the hell you done now, Thomas?' Gally jibes. I roll my eyes.
'Gally,' I say sternly.
'We found something, a new passage. We think it could be a way out.' Thomas tells Newt excitedly.
'Really?' Newt says looking at Minho and I for confirmation.
'It's true.' I say squeezing his hand. 'We opened a door, something we'd never seen before.'
'I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day.' Thomas continues. We had come up with this theory on the way back. We took a bit of time to process what we had discovered, as we hadn't really had time when we found it.
'Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa... You're saying you found the Grievers' home? And you want us to go in?' Chuck interrupts pushing between Thomas and I.
'Their way in could be our way out, Chuck.' Thomas says.
'They have to come from somewhere.' I agree.
'Yeah, or there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side. The truth is, Thomas doesn't know what he has done, as usual.' I could tell Gally's tormenting was getting to Thomas and he was about to snap. Slipping my hand from Newt's, I step between Gally and Thomas just as he spins around gaining on Gally. I put my hands on the boy's chests, separating them. I wouldn't put it past them to start a full on fight.
'Yeah, at least I did something, Gally. I mean, what have you done? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?' Thomas snaps. I look at Newt, with a small smile on my face. They need to get this out of their system, but I'm not gonna let punches get thrown.
'Let me tell you something, Greenie. You've been here a month, all right? I've been here 3 years!' Gally surges forward, putting strain on my wrist.
'Gally!' I snap.
'Yeah, you've been here 3 years and you're still here, Gally! What does that tell you? Maybe you should start doing things a little differently.' Thomas shouts, really starting to lose his temper.
'Maybe you should be in charge, what about that?' Gally says trying to get in his face. I push Gally back.
'He's right Gally!' I say, trying to stay calm.
'Yeah well, you would side with him!' Gally shouts.
'What's that supposed to mean?' My breathing is starting to become heavy. I can feel Newt come up behind me and take my hand. My heart rate slows slightly.
'It means that ever since he got here, you have been all, 'Thomas this, Thomas that, Oo look how special Thomas is!''
'Because, I think he was sent here for a reason! Whoever put us here wanted us to survive; they have seen us do that for 4 years. They want to see something else now! I think they sent him and Teresa here, to help us get out. And to be honest with you Gally, I've had enough of this place. I'm done being confined, surrounded by things that want to kill us. That's not living, Gally! We're trapped, and we may have actually found a way out and all you're focusing on, is this bloody feud you have with Thomas.' I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. Newt puts another hand on my shoulder turning me away from Gally.
'You need to calm down, Kira. Take a breath.' Newt whispers to me hurriedly. I take a deep breath, and feel the tension in my shoulders releasing almost instantly.
'I'm okay. I'm calm. Was I too harsh?' I ask Newt slowly. He shakes his head.
'He needed to hear it! It was very diplomatic.' He teases with a smirk.
I shove his shoulder. 'Shut up,' I chuckle. Raising my head, I see Teresa walking towards us.
'Hey,' I say smiling at her. 'You okay?'
'It's Alby,' she says quietly. 'He's awake.'
Getting near to the end now. Let me know what you think will happen, or what you want to happen in the last few chapters and the next story! I really want to see what your picturing and how it compares to what i'm thinking. And who knows, if I like your suggestion I might put it in!
Quick thank you to alohafd and Guest for your reviews.
alohafd - just a quick note that this is a Newt/OC fic, and the relationship with Minho is more of a older brother than a romantic interest. I couldn't tell by your review whether you just wanted more of the relationship in the fic or wanted that relationship to turn romantic. It will stay as a Newt/OC and won't turn into a Minho/OC/Newt because i hate love triangles with a passion! :) But thanks for the review!
guest - I have a vision that Kira is seen by most of the Gladers as a older sister or even mothering figure to some of the younger ones, and thus does act and feel responsible for them all. This is also why it effects her so much when they get hurt or killed. I love hearing what you like about the fic so this was a great review for me.
As per usual have a lovely week everybody!
Zoe xx
