The Labyrinth: Chapter Eleven


I snapped my eyes open. My breathing rapid and laboured. Surrounded by complete darkness. No sound. No movement.

I gasped for air. My head felt fuzzy, foggy. A little dizzy. Lifting my head was more of a chore than a natural reaction. I let it fall, banging one side against the floor.

I drew my arm from beneath me, it trailing along the floor as I struggled with every movement. And I mean everything. Every part, every little nerve ending to muscle screamed as I tried to right myself. Nothing felt broken in my arms. My wrist throbbed, but it had calmed down since it gripped the vine for dear life.

The floor.

How was I on the floor?

Then the dreaded thought.

Where was the Griever?

One minute I was preparing for the creature to attack. The next everything was silent with barely a noise past my laboured breathing.

Drip.

Drip.

I froze. The fear sinking deep within my bones.

What was that?

I dragged my body across the floor away from the noise. The Griever already knew I was here. The darkness meant it was ready to pounce. I needed to get up and move before it had a chance.

I leant back onto my knees. My head filled with grogginess from waking on the floor. The side of my face cold, my hair and clothes damp. Something wasn't right. I went to put pressure on my right leg when …

I cried out in pain. I couldn't help it. It was agony. Heat flared in my ankle, searing at every nerve ending. The entire structure disintegrating the moment a touch of weight was placed on it. It felt like someone drew knives all over. There was so much pain. And in the moment it happened, I clamped my hands over my mouth and fell to the floor. I screwed my eyes shut, wriggling in agony, and waited for the lights to blast on and all of it be over.

I waited for the moment.

The Griever would have heard me. My pain echoed all over the walls down the Maze.

I bit hard down on the bottom of my lip to stop any more screams from escaping. The taste of cooper filled my mouth.

Not this again.

Please.

My heart threatened to burst through my chest.

Minute passed.

And nothing happened.

I slowly let the hand from my mouth go and opened my eyes. There was still darkness around, but there were no flashing lights. All there was was silence.

I sat up.

Something wasn't right. There had been a Griever here a moment ago climbing up the wall. How could I have forgotten everything between that and now?

A scuttling of metal on stone startled me and I froze. The noise, a lot softer than of a heavy creature. From the corner of my eye, I spotted red lights blink above. A Beetle Blade. I relaxed almost. Then thought again. The were vicious creatures.

I kept my eyes trained on it as it scuttled down the side of the wall and towered me. Before I had time to react, it stopped metres from me. I readied myself for the next part. Why wouldn't these creatures just go away?

I sensed it studying me face and the rest of my body. I drew myself away from it, wincing every time I moved.

A second passed, and it seemed the thing had had enough. It scurried forward, taking a large path round me into the dead end. I followed it, making sure my eyes never left where it was going. At some point, it stopped again. The tip of it's red lights touching the stone in various parts. It scuttled in a circle, the it's red lights pointed upwards. I followed where it was staring.

In the faint light I made it out. A large mass dangling straight above.

I gasped and back up away from it, knocking my ankle in the process. I hissed in pain.

Drip.

Drip.

More droplets fell. They weren't water, but liquid goo that foamed in the Griever's mouth. Now dead Griever's mouth. It hung open in a scream, illuminated red by the Beetle Blade below.

The small creature scuttle forward to the wall and climbed up it so far until it caught itself on one of the vines. It snaked long until it managed to balance itself on top of the Griever's head. The light was dim, but made out what had happened to the Griever. Two metal legs protruded from its eyes. Another stuck solidly in its chest.

I cringed and turned away. How did that happen? There was no way it was me. Whatever the answer was, something else was sure to follow. I needed to get out of her before I ended up like the Griever strung up high in the Maze.

I sucked in a breath, knowing that the next part was going to be painful, and started to drag my body across the floor until I reached the side of the wall. Not only was my ankle in pain, everywhere else hurt, including my wrist. There was not one part that didn't feel like it could help me in anyway.

I fumbled with the vines on the wall, until I found a sturdy one, and dragged myself from the floor till I managed to balance myself on one leg. I rested my head against the wall and nearly broke down in tears. How could I keep going if I could barely get up from the floor without it being a mission?

You've survived worse.

I tried my ankle, hoping that it was just the sudden movement and waking up that had caused all the pain. Placing even the slightest amount of pressure on it ended in excruciating pain that I nearly blacked out. I would have too extremely careful from now on. Surviving and getting back to the Glade were the only two things that I could focus on.

I glanced up and was greeted by a lighter shade of the dark sky with a hint of a green streak. There were still more hours I would have to spend in the Maze, but by the looks of the sky I guessed that I was closer to it finishing. I was lucky. I must have been out longer than expected, meaning that whatever had killed the Griever in front of me had left me alone. What more, no others had found me.

I wasn't going to let this luck run out fast.

I wiped away a tear with the clean sleeve and tried to think of the next plan.

Get out of this dead end.

I gripped the vines in my hands, and hobbled to the end of the corridor. The vines were my only support for the moment. I couldn't think of anything better.

This was going to be slow.

I managed to get to the end of the corridor, covered in sweat, and leant up against the wall. I counted down then peered round and came face-to-face with a stone wall. That wasn't there earlier. I stepped back and took a better view. I swear I came from this direction. How could a wall just magically appear?

I turned my head in the opposite direction (half expecting see a Griever waiting for me) and noticed that the opening was on the other side that went in a different direction. I faced the current wall beside me. There were no vines on it. Not from where I stood to the corner. I brushed my hand against it. I wasn't sure what I was expecting.

"Okay," I whispered. "New plan."

I sucked in another breath and braced myself. I let go of the vines and hopped from one side of the corridor to other as quick as I could without putting my injured leg on the floor. The more I hopped, the more the pain increased. I thrusted out my hand and, at the last second, clenched the vines before I fell to the floor. The pain exploded in my ankle. The pain like needles that had been dipped in fire and jammed through my skin, like my leg had been replaced with ice and electricity wired straight to the nerve endings. How was I supposed to carry on like this? How was I even supposed to defend myself when I could barely move three feet unaided by vines?

This wasn't going to end well.

"Not like this," I muttered to myself. "I won't go like this."

I had to survive and find my way back. They were the two things I needed to focus on. Staying here proved nothing. The likelihood of being found was slim, and that was with surviving. I had to save myself, or at least try too.

I readjusted my grip on the vines, my arm muscles screaming that they had had enough, brushed the wisps of hair out of my face and attempted to drag myself along the wall.

This was going to be an even longer night.


It had been hours since my encounter with the Griever. Hours. Not once did it feel like it. It felt more like days stretched over an endless, painful starry night. The pain worsened over the next few hours, the ache never really going. Searing hot fire licked its way through my bones and nerves, poking sharply with every slight movement.

Movement was slow. My shoulders, arms and back ached in agony as I continued my journey of finding the Glade. What should have taken me no longer than a minute to walk down a corridor now took nearly thirty. I barely stopped. No matter how much I needed it. I had to stay on the move. To keep away from the Grievers and for my sanity's sake.

The Beetle Blade, from earlier, had followed me the whole way. As soon as it noticed that I was leaving the area, it had bounced off the dead Griever and trotted along the top edges of the wall. I didn't want to know what it's intentions were. Staying the distance away from me was uncomfortable enough.

You're not going to last the night. Not even the sturdiest could.

Had Newt mentioned that the walls move? I was sure that he didn't. Maybe he did. The Maze changed at night. The sounds of the walls grinding into different locations more prominent here then within the safety of the Glade. I knew that it had changed. I heard the soft booms and clacks from my bed just as I drifted to sleep. There, it was only a dream that I was certain that I was never going to wind up in. Out here it was a waking nightmare.

For one thing, they were far louder and threatening. As if they were happening right in front of me. I couldn't prove that. The noises would happen then thirty minutes later I would come to the end of the corridor I see that there was nothing. It almost felt like the Maze was changing for me. Which was strange to think of. Even if Newt had or hadn't mentioned the Maze changing, surely it was random. Not deliberate.

And the Grievers.

I could hear them in the Maze, they're moaning and whirring and clicking. Yet since my encounter with one, I yet to see another. The only creature I had seen since that moment was the Beetle Blade, which still slowly followed me, keeping its red beady eyes fixated on me.

It watched everything I did. That was unsettling. Imagine having a little creature watch everything you do and have no explanation as to why it was doing it. Surely that wasn't natural for such a thing.

Was anything really natural out here?

Still I carried on. Determine to survive and save myself.

My head dipped with every passing moment. The energy flitting from me. I tried so hard to keep my eyes open. So very hard.

My muscles spasmed, and my grip on the vines weaned. The sudden weight I needed to catch landed on my bad leg. The pain in my leg ramped up the from stiffness all the way to searing, blinding agony faster than I could blink. And just as the pain was at its worst, the world fell sideways and an inky darkness opened it arms.


The shouts and the screaming alerted me first. I thought I was alone in the Maze. No one else was here. Their faces were foggy, a distortion that I barely made out what was happening part from the shapes of the figures. White blotches and cool tones made up in total six blotches. A flash of icy yellow and black caught my attention.

"Pull her away from the girl." Strong arms wrapped around me and dragged me away. I forced myself against it, digging my feet into the ground to stop whomever from taking.

The icy blotch buzzed, jumping from one white blob to another. "Get her away from me, she's crazy." A squeal. One that didn't belong to anyone I knew in the Glade. It was too high, shrill. Annoying.

"I'm trying, it's making her too strong." I used all the strength in me to dig my heels into the ground.

"Let me go," I snarled, attempting to pull apart that force from me.

"Clarke? It's Clarke."

"What she doing here?"

"I dunno."

"Get her contained, she cannot be allowed back like this."

Sharp pinches pricked at the side of my head, I jerked my head away and swung my hand out to protect myself. "Get off me," I growled at whoever at tried to stab me.

"We have too, orders from above. They aren't ready for her extraction." I fought harder as a stronger forced weighed down on my shoulders. I hissed at it. Like that would do anything. "Subside her, wipe everyone and send them back."

"What is happening to her? Is she sick?"

"Look at that on her face. Some of her veins are black."

"Urgh what is it? Has she been stung?"

"I don't think so. We don't react like that."

"Clarke? Can you hear me? Wake up."

"That won't hold her."

"It'll do for now."

The force around me realised and I flung myself forward to the floor. I scrambled away from the white blob that had held me to the one that mixed with black and cool tones.

"What did you do Clarke? What did you do?" A voice of utter disgust. A pinch in my heart when the words were spoken. They were disappointed and I knew it.

"Clarke? Can. You. Hear. Me?"

I swatted the close face away with my free hand, striking contact with my open palm. A yelp startled the now still air. I rubbed my hands over my face. What just happened?

"What is going on?" I groaned. My head pounded. I sensed I was not upright. Mainly due to my head resting on cool stone and my body very much flat and not swaying. Still with my eyes closed (rookie mistake) I edged myself up until I leant back on my elbows.

I didn't have time to process the recent flashes of dream when my shoulders were shaken to an inch of their life.

"Are you awake?" I was asked very loudly.

I snapped my eyes open and came face to face with eyes of… "Thomas?" I breathed. I blinked. Then again. And shook my head. "No. You're not real."

I shoved the imaginary Greenie away and glanced upwards. The streak of green had been joined by lighter blues that stretched further across the sky. Time had passed on from falling to the ground. The Maze was lighter. Which in a way fell to my benefit, but only for a few hours till the sun set again. The vines above were still in the same place as before, draping over me like a green curtain that sought to conceal. I reached out and looped my arm round the vine closet to me. I gripped it as tight as I could attempted to pull myself from the ground. I slid around, the uneven weight of doing this on one leg.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting myself up so I can find my way back," I scoffed. The imaginary Greenie was just as annoying as the real life one. Why did it have to be him? Couldn't it have been anyone else. "Just go away back to the dream place you came from. I haven't got time for this."

Someone laughed. Well, more snorted. "She doesn't think you're real."

I stopped. I turned my head to see a tall figure, his dark hair slicked to one side and his arms crossed in front of him. Why was Minho here as well? "This is so weird," I murmured. My eyes darted between the pair. The Greenie crouched his hands near me as if anticipated something and Minho who seemed to have a cross between bewilderment, amused and anger in his face. (Don't ask how that looked. You had to be there.)

I pointed a finger at them. "You're not real," I stated. "Nope. This isn't real. I'm alone. I'm imagining you."

I edged away from the Greenie and dragged myself until I stood. I rattled my head until stars appeared in my vision. I screwed my eyes shut and counted from five. They'll be gone. My mind was just playing tricks on me.

Nope.

I opened them a crack. Then fully wide. They were both still there. This time the Greenie now standing.

"To answer, we are real," Minho chided. He rolled his shoulders and glanced at the end of the corridor.

My brows raised in astonishment. No one could be this lucky. "How?" I asked.

Minho smacked his teeth against his lips. "Nah nah nah no. You don't ask the questions round 'ere. I do." Minho's arms fell to his hips. He stood square on, his face now just full of anger. "First of, why you here shank?"

"Ah no I'm not doing this," I responded sharply. "I'm not answering any questions from you."

"Fine," Minho said. "We'll just leave you here. Come Thomas."

"Wha-" I mouthed the words but I didn't have to say anything further.

"That's not how it works." The Greenie turned to face Minho. "You see she's not right. We're not leaving her here cause she said no to your question."

Minho blinked once, twice. Then regained himself. "I think you're forgettin' something. I'm the only one out us three that knows where we are and how to get back. I can leave you as well if I want to."

"Go on then," the Greenie challenged. "I know you won't though."

Minho stared at the Greenie. His cheeks sucked in as he tried to contain his anger. He looked away, at the end of the corridor then back at us again. He huffed, crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "Fine," he spat. He stared at me. "This doesn't end here."

The Greenie faced me, the small victory almost illuminating his face. Concern swiftly replaced it. "You alright?" he directed at me. "You don't look alright."

I didn't answer him. As they had their stand-off, the world around me started to spin. The dizziness returned, like it had when I woke up in front of the Griever. Once there were two, then there were four of them. The spun around and blurred. I tried so hard to refocus my vision, but any attempt swirled the contents in my belly. I swayed on my one leg. My death grip on the vine the only thing keeping me upright.

"Grab her," Miho instructed. "She's gonna fall."

The Greenie caught in my arms the moment my hands released the vines. There was no way that I could support myself, and the tiniest amount of pressure place on my bad leg erupted in fire. The pain was intense, so all-consuming that the vision in front of my shifted to bright white. A scream escaped from me, sharp just like the hot electricity that ripping through the nerves. The Greenie hooked his arm around my waist and lifted my completely from the ground. He rested me on his chest and gently lowered us to the ground.

My breathing was so heavy that I had just about another time to lift myself from him and expel the contents of my stomach all over the floor beside him.

"That is so gross," was all the Minho said. He stepped back, checking his shoes on the process. My face twisted into disgust at the sight of the sick all over the floor. It didn't smell, but I agreed with Minho. Gross.

"That's not good," the Greenie commented. "I think we need to get back asap."

"Ya think."

"Thomas," I whispered. "Tom it's my ankle. It hurts so bad."

Thomas peered down with concern in his eye. "What happened?" he asked.

"No time for questions," Minho cut in, still sour from the rejection. "We have to get moving. You take one side. I'll take the other."

He bent down and wrapped his arm undermine and placed his hand on my waist. I flinched at the touch and held a breath.

"Ready," he said. I nodded, still holding the breath. This was gonna hurt. Thomas had joined Minho on the other side and copied his motion. For now I would have to let them touch. It wasn't for long. Not for long. "Gently does it Thomas."

Both the boys slowly helped me to the floor, taking all the weight from me so that I stood upright on one leg. They supported me from both sides. Readjusting themselves for my height. They're shoulders just coming to the top of my head.

"Ready to go?" Thomas asked us both. I nodded at him and faced Minho who had yet to reply.

"Okay you two," Minho said with his stern voice. "We ain't that far away from the Glade. Luckily, we closer than we think. But we're gonna have to work as a team to get there. Got that. Means no stopping until we cross those, Doors. Pain will have to wait for then."