Chapter 17
Once again I was younger than I was now and I was no longer in the Glade, instead I was standing outside of the building I had been in when Caleb was sent away the first time and a man and a woman stood next to me. Their faces were blurred but their posture was stiff as they looked down at me.
I wasn't saying anything and neither where the two adults who I presumed where my mother and father. The woman crouched down to be at my height and grasped my hand in hers hut I shook it off as I felt an anger so powerful I was sure I had never felt it before consume my thoughts and my body as I stared at the blurry faced woman and glared at her and the man next to her.
"Skylar stop this silly behaviour at once! You know what we are doing is for the best." The woman scolded
"Don't call me that! You know it's not my name." I hissed at the pair of them
I was confused as to why I was acting like this and denying what my name was just made me all the more confused while the anger I had felt before still clung in the air. It was like I was two separate people in one small body; present day me who was feeling all the confusion and smaller and younger me who was feeling all the anger.
"Stop this. Just do as your told and go with the nice lady so we can all be nice and safe." The man snapped at me.
"I know what your doing. I heard you on the phone. You selling me. Using me like you used Caleb to get that stupid cure. Well it's too late for you! Your both already crazy if you think selling your children to a couple of scientists is going to stop the disease from getting to you!" I shouted, gaining the attention of the people wearing white who were waiting in a black van behind me.
The woman stood up straightened herself before a stinging sensation was left on my right cheek and my head snapped to the side as the loud sound of her hand slapping my face rung in the air. I fought back angry tears and glared at the two people in front of me as I took a steady step back from them.
"Don't talk about things you don't understand Skylar and don't you dare talk to me like that, I am your mother and you will respect me." The woman stated
I took another step back but didn't look away from the two as I took in a large breath looked her dead in the eye. "You have never been a mother to me." I spat before turning around and stalking towards the woman wearing white as she opened the sliding door into the van so I could step in.
I didn't look back through the tinted window as the van drove away from my 'home' and away from my 'parents'. The last thing that crossed my mind before everything turned black was, at least I'll be with him again.
Once again it was shouting that awoke me from my sleep but this time I was thankful for it. I sat up with a gasp and leaned back on my elbows as I steadied my breathing and tried to stop my heart from beating out of my chest at the same time. After regaining my breath and steadying my heart to its usual and normal pattern, I listened closely to the shouting that I could hear from outside the glade only it was hard to catch onto what everybody was saying as they were all shouting over each other.
I hastily stood from the ground and jogged through the trees of the deadheads where I had been sleeping to be met with a panicking Glade as people were still running around but more frantically now. A large group of the boys where gathered around the north wall so I decided to head over that way to get answers.
I ran towards the group of boys and squeezed my way to the front of all of them to see what was going on. Once I did I didn't see what the problem was, there seemed like nothing was different about the interior of the maze from where we were stood so I didn't understand why everyone was panicking.
"Can't we send someone in for them?" The Greenie said from one side of me which just sparked my curiosity further as I temporarily forgot about the even more confusion dream I had just awoken from.
"It's against the rules. They either make it back or they don't." That was Gally and he was crouched down on the floor.
"Someone tell me right now what the hell is going on." I ordered as I looked at the crowd of boys but nobody seemed willing to speak.
"Alby and Minho aren't back yet and the doors are closing in five minutes." Chuck told me from where he was standing next to the Greenie. The whole glade was gatherd around the door now, everyone looking tense as we all waited for some sign that Minho and Alby where coming.
From next to me I could see Newt nervously biting on his bottom lip as we all waited for Minho and Alby to make an appearance. Suddenly, as the doors began to screech and announced it was closing time for the night, the Greenie shouted and pointed at something far back in the maze. We all turned to see what Thomas was talking about and saw Minho was jogging towards the doors with Alby but something wasn't right.
Minho was carrying Alby on his back and they were going too slow to ever think about getting back to the Glade in time. As this realisation hit everyone else, everybody started shouting for Minho too hurry up although some were announcing that he should leave Alby and sprint.
Minho stumbled and lost his balance as Alby fell to the ground and just when I thought he would try picking him up again, Minho did the opposite and listened to the boys who told him to save himself. He left Alby lying motionless on the floor and sprinted into the Glade, crashing into me and the boys at the front as he forgot to stop in time.
For one fleeting moment I wondered if Minho had done the right thing but I couldn't even bring myself to imagine what he did as right. He had abandoned Alby in the maze, alone where he would surely be killed if he wasn't already dead.
The doors where still closing with only half a minute left until they completely sealed for the night and it was in half of that time that I realised I couldn't let Alby die. I had to try to help him because he would do the same for me and any of the other gladers, or so I hoped.
Without sparing time to talk myself out of my decision I sprinted into the maze and ignored every shouting voice that told me to stop. I managed to get through the doors without being squished between them in time and didn't stop running until I got to Alby's body so I could check for a pulse. I found one but it was faint and it was only when I relaxed enough - knowing he was alive - did I take in his appearance and notice the huge purple lump on the top of his head and sickly green vine like lines that were surrounding it.
I knew as soon as I saw it that he had been stung but knew that my decision hadn't been in vain as there was a chance he could be saved. Possibly. I stood up and grabbed onto Alby's arms so I could pull him up with me but he was so heavy so I almost dropped him twice.
I carried him over to a wall and leaned his back against it while I thought of a plan that would allow us to survive a night in the maze, something that hasn't been done before. "Your going to be alright." I whispered to Alby although I was mostly reassuring myself.
"You sound confident." Someone muttered behind me. I snapped my head back, thinking it was Davis or Ben but it was neither, in fact it was someone I never would have expected to find in the maze.
"What are you doing here Greenie!?" I hissed
"I could ask you the same thing. Your not a runner right?" He said quirking an eyebrow and crossing his arms.
"You've been here two days. I've been here three months and for two weeks of that time I went through something that was too familiar to the changing for my liking. I know things that you wouldn't even be able to imagine so I suggest you start praying for your life and telling me some god damn answers." I hissed as I took in the darkening of the sky above us.
"Alright girlie keep your panties on. I only came out here because someone pushed me. You came out here through your own free will so I think we can both agree that I am the more sane one right now." He said with amusement in his voice and eyes. I glared at the dark haired boy as he leaned against one of the walls with a carefree expression on his face.
"Do you even know where we are? We're as good as dead in here and your acting like you don't even care!" He just shrugged his shoulders "As far as I'm concerned, we were never actually living in that place anyway."
I groaned in annoyance at his carefree attitude and decided I would try my best to ignore him while I thought of a plan to get Alby to safety before the Grievers came out to play. I looked around the walls to try and find an opening or hiding spot underneath the ivy but there definitely wasn't a single spot big enough to fit an almost fully grown boy in there.
"Why don't you tie him to the ivy?" Mr cheerful asked me once I had stopped looking behind the ivy. My head snapped back to look at him in shock as I thought it could actually work, we had about three hours until it was completely dark and the Grievers would definitely be out so until then I could tie Alby to some vines and pull him up the wall so he wouldn't be spotted by a Griever.
I got to work straight away, testing out each vine to see how strong it was before securing them around Alby's limbs and torso so that he was dangling a few feet in the air. Once each vine was secure around him I started pulling on them individually so that slowly but surely his body started moving higher up the wall.
After a few minutes of doing this my libs where already tired but I didn't stop since I already knew that I needed to try and save Alby. Suddenly, some of the weight of the dangling boy was gone and I looked up quickly, hoping nothing bad had happened to our leader but to my surprise he was still fine - or as fine as a boy who had been stung in the head by a ruthless evil creature could be.
I looked to my left and saw that the Greenie had grabbed hold of some of the vines and was pulling on them so that Alby was being lifted higher and higher now. Without a word we both started counting back from three and pulled at the same time so that the dangling boy was getting safer and higher at a quicker pace.
It was only when I heard the distinctive clicking and whirling of a Griever did I realize that the sky was ink black and we had been securing Alby on the wall for hours. Without a word both me and Thomas tied the ropes and made sure they were definitely going to hold Alby before we stepped back and looked to the right where a Grievers huge silhouette could only just be seen in the darkness.
"Good luck." I muttered to Thomas before sprinting to the left and further into the maze. I could faintly hear footsteps behind me before they were cut off and I could only presume he had turned down a different corridor while I continued running straight.
I could no longer hear the Griever behind me but I didn't stop moving forwards so to save energy and strength I settled for jogging through the eerie corridors. Screeching followed by the terrifying clicking of a Grievers joints was what made me sprint towards a dead end. I could hear one maybe two Grievers behind me so on instinct I ran in the opposite direction, not noticing that the way I was going would not only trap me but also insure my death.
I looked around frantically to try and find a hidden corridor I could escape through but I already knew my efforts where pointless as my end was obviously coming. But I wasn't going down without a fight. As the first of the Grievers started sliding its way towards me, I made my plan although I already knew it was dangerous and the possibility of even surviving was slim so I had near to no hope but that wasn't going to hold me back. I literally had two options; I could either wait for the Griever and its friends to slice me open and spread my blood along the wall like a can of paint so I would die, or I could fight for my life and attempt to stay alive although realistically I would probably die. One way or another I would die and I would prefer to die a death where I could happily said I did everything I could to stay alive than to die a death where I would know I could have fought harder.
So as soon as the Griever had halved the space between us I grabbed onto one of the longer vines and shot upwards, climbing as fast as I could until I was twenty meters above the oncoming death machine. The Griever and his two equally disgusting rifting friends both stopped as if watching me and it was only as I stopped moving completely and looked around when I noticed the dozens of beetle blades with their blinking red lights all frozen along the wall.
Instead of wasting time wondering why so many beetle blades where watching me and not the other gladers, I moved quickly and grabbed onto a large vine a few meters away from me and swung myself forwards so that I was moving across the wall. This tactic proved to be extremely useful so I continued doing this until I got to the the end of the corridor but while I had been focus on not falling off the wall, I hadn't played any attention the the three Grievers that I was trying to escape from.
Whirling and clicking, the Grievers had started sliding towards me but their slimy bodies now had dangerous mechanical arms sticking out of them at every angle. I didn't try to look at it for too long and instead, I chose to slide down the thick green vine that was supporting weight. Ignoring the horrendous burning sensation that spread across my palms as I descended to l o my god vine, I took off running as soon as my feet hit the ground.
Somehow, I managed to lose the Grievers that had been chasing me but at a price; my legs where burning and my heart was beating out of my chest as I struggled to breath while keeping up my fast pace and running around corners and random corridors. Escaping the maniac death machines was not only one of the hardest
things I have ever done in my life I can remember, but also the most tiring. I felt physically and emotionally drained as I subconsciously started slowing because of my aching limbs.
The will to continue on slowly started fading out of my body but I somehow managed to drag myself towards the nearest ivy covered wall where I tried my best to half heartedly disguise myself behind the large mounds of overgrown weeds. Once I was almost twenty five percent certain that I might be able to survive the rest of the night, I slumped against the wall and let darkness consume me.
I could only hope that I survived the night
