Alex woke from a dream. Sitting up with a gasp, covered in sweat and shaking. She had the heebe jeebes. The dream was creepy, full of lurching things that took human form. All of them chasing her through the maze screaming things at her.

"YOU BELONG TO THE MAZE!"
"YOU DID THIS TO US!"
"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE...THERE IS NO ESCAPE"

She was just trying to find Chuck, Alby had called a gathering. But Chuck, Matt, Pedro, Bark and her were just trying to play hide and seek.

She ran a hand threw her hair trying to steady her breathing. She looked around her, everyone was still sleeping. It was dark outside now. She could see the stars. She looked out the window for a little bit, playing with the necklace Minho gave her. She felt eyes on her, she turned her head just enough to see who was staring at her. It was the man in black who had helped rescue them. She stiffened, "Can I help you?" She asked quietly, not wanting to wake the others.

Why is he looking at me like that?

He didn't say anything, but looked away. Alex watched him for another moment and turned to look back out the window. She shifted so she was closer to Minho, who had his head leaning on the helicopter window, his head lolling from side to side, in time with the movement. She was surprised she had fallen asleep. Her mind was so full, so busy, but her body betrayed how exhausted it was. She knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, there was a growing anticipation, a growing unease in the pit of her stomach. She watched out the window. She saw a harsh glow in the distance.

"Is that where we are going?" She asked the man.

He glanced at her and nodded. She heard a faint crackle of static and the pilot pulled the radio close to his mouth speaking into it. He replaced it, and reached back to knock on the windowed door. The man opened it and leaned his head in. Alex tilted her head, and strained her ears to hear what was being said.

"Message from base. There's a swarm. It'll be a rough landing. Change of welcoming plans. There will be a ground squad to meet you."

The man nodded and closed the door. He caught Alex's eye, he narrowed his eyes but looked away.

Something is off with this guy.

"You might want to wake your friends. We will be arriving in 5 minutes and we'll have to run for it." He said with very little emotion.

Alex sighed.

Of course. More running.

"What are we running from?" She asked, trying to get some information out of him. He didn't say anything, just stared at her. She looked away, but she heard him say quietly with a little shutter "Monsters."

"Oh great! We've already done that today. We have lots of practice." Alex said with fake cheerfulness. His face didn't change from the emotionless mask, but she did notice the corner of his lip twitched.

"Wake your friends."

Alex nodded and gently shook the shoulders of the guys around her. Everyone was sitting up stretching and moaning. The man had replaced his helmet and was standing up.

"We will be landing right away. We'll get as close as we can to the doors. But you'll have to run. Run. And don't look back." He called as he unlocked the helicopter door.

The bright glow had turned blinding as they got closer to a huge building with many levels, fences and electrical wire everywhere. There were a few towers with giant spotlights and Alex could make out people in black holding guns. There was a loud siren walling. Alex's nerves were on edge. They were landing in some kind of dangerous situation. Again.

When are we NOT in a dangerous situation?

"Ok, we're going down. Be ready to jump and run!"

The helicopter lowered, but it was lurching side to side. Something made contact with the window. Making everyone jump and yell in surprise.

"Shit. They are throwing rocks." There was another loud thunk.

"WHATS GOING ON?"
"WHO IS THROWING ROCKS?"
"WHY ARE THEY THROWING THINGS?"

"WHERE ARE WE?"

All the Gladers were yelling over top of each other. No one gave them any answers. The helicopter was a few feet from the ground when the man opened the door and started waving his arm and yelling at them.

"GO GO GO!"
"SET A PERIMETER!"

Frypan and Winston were the closest to the door and they jumped out, they were met by more people in black holding guns.

"HOLD THEM BACK ON THE RIGHT!"
"COME ON KIDS! IT'S NOT SAFE! MOVE MOVE!"

They were being grabbed and dragged out, someone had grabbed Alex and was dragging her out the door when she realized she didn't have the wood carving from Chuck.

"SHUCK!"
She threw off the hand and scrambled back into the helicopter.

"ALEX WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET BACK HERE!"

"KID COME ON!"

"WE GOTTA GO!"

Alex scrambled around on her hands and knees. She found it, it had rolled to the back. She grabbed it, shoved it into her pocket. As she made her way back to the door she realized Thomas was still sleeping.

How the shuck is he still asleep?!

Alex grabbed him and quite violently shook him, he sat up confused.

"COME ON TOMMY! TIME TO GO!"

He stumbled after her as guards had grabbed them again and pulled them out into the night. The air around them was cool, it was dark, but the spotlights and facility lights made everything harsh and intense. The helicopter blades were whipping the sand up, flinging it all over Thomas and herself. It got into her hair and eyes, making it hard to see anything, aside from the harsh bright light. Alex heard yelling from the guards, giving instructions and shouting at them to run. She also heard gunfire. Lots of gunfire, coming from every direction. Over the sounds of helicopter blades and yelling she heard inhuman animalistic screaming. Terror filled her veins, spreading to every limp like ice cold water. She knew those noises! She swiveled her head back and forth trying to figure out where the screaming was coming from. But it was coming from every direction. The guard gave her another shove, making her stumble and cry in pain when he pushed on her cut on her back. Thomas caught hold of her arm and together they attempted to run, while their feet sunk into the sand.

"GO GO GO!" Someone beside her yelled.

"WE GOT A SWARM!"

The guard beside Alex knelt down, aimed his gun and started shooting. Over the side of the sand dune, to Alex horror, came a lurching creature that looked human. Just like the creatures in her dreams. Not just one, but a pack of them! All screaming and stumbling down the hill. Alex watched as they dropped. Blood spraying everywhere from the gun fire. She had stopped running, unable to rip her eyes away. She stood transfixed at the horror in front of her.

Thomas had come back and grabbed her arm, pulling her. Another guard appeared beside her pushing her, she still couldn't take her eyes of what was happening. They were almost to the door, she could hear people yelling for them. The guard beside her dropped with an ear persing scream, splattering Alex with hot sticky blood. Alex screamed, and stumbled. Thomas pulled her inside the big doors and they slammed shut. Shutting off the screaming of the animal people, and guards yelling and gunfire.

Alex couldn't breath, her eyes were huge, pupils were dilated. Her chest hurt. Her hands were numb. She could feel her chest tightening. She was turning her head back and forth trying to find a way out. She felt trapped. There were more of them...more monsters like Chris out there. Her lungs were burning, she couldn't get enough oxygen. Her head was feeling dizzy. Her eyes started to blur. She might have felt hands on her shoulders. She could vaguely see someone in front of her. She was gasping for breath. Her legs felt weak. Her head was spinning. She couldn't breathe. Her legs gave out just as the blackness took over.

Minho POV.

He turned around when he made it through the doors. He spun around looking for Alex. He saw Newt, Frypan, Winston, Teresa...The few guys from the other helicopter. But he couldn't find Thomas and Alex. He turned back to the door, and saw Alex standing beside a guard who was kneeling shooting.

What is she doing?

Thomas was pulling on her, but she was frozen. He looked to see what she was looking at and his stomach jumped up into his throat. Coming over the top of the sand hill was a herd of stampeding monsters...humans? But they were walking weirdly, stumbling, and screaming... like...Chis. And then he realized why Alex wasn't moving.

She's panicking.

A guard had come beside her pushing her towards the doors with Thomas. Newt appeared beside him. They glanced at each other, and started yelling at the two to run. Minho took a step back and his heart stopped when the guard stumbled and fell in a splatter of blood. He heard Alex scream in terror, he took a few steps forward. Thomas dragged her inside and someone hit the button to close the big metal doors. She was already in the middle of a panic attack. Her eyes were wild and terrified. She was gasping for air, her hands were flaling around trying to grasp something.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Alex! Alex! Hey! Look at me!"

He tried holding her face, but she pulled away, turning her head wildly. Her breathing was getting worse, her eyes were rolling.

Shuck she's gonna pass out!

And just as he thought it, her legs gave way and her eyes rolled into her head. Minho caught her before she hit the floor. He grunted as he picked her up and held her in his arms. Teresa and Newt were right beside him.

"MOVE MOVE! COME ON! MOVE IT!"

A guard was yelling at them. He was big and tall, his huge arms were full of tattoos. His face was covered by a scarf and helmet. A few more guards came behind the Gladers ushering them down a concrete hall.

"COME ON LET'S MOVE!" He barked again.

He pushed open a door and started pushing everyone inside. Thomas stopped "What's going on?"

The tattoo guard just pushed him inside, "Nothing we can't handle, kid."

He hesitated when he saw Minho holding Alex, he couldn't see his face. But the hesitation was odd. He nodded his head and as soon as everyone was inside he slammed the door shut. They heard a click as it was locked. Leaving them in darkness. Thomas spun around and banged on the door

"HEY! HEY! LET US OUT!"

"Thomas enough! They can't hear you." Newt said.

"Well this is shucked up." Minho muttered.

"Hey, Alex still hasn't woken up." That got Thomas to turn around and stop banging on the door. Minho slid down the wall, Alex still cradled in his arms. His worry for her was escalating. He placed her down between his legs and laid her head on his chest. Newt came over and crouched down beside them.

"She okay? What happened?" Teresa also slid down the wall beside him. Worry on her face.

"She had a panic attack, again" Clint answered simply, coming over to check on her.

"Those...things came over the hill, they looked and sounded like Ben...and Chris, I guess, but way worse. She froze. Me and a guard had to pull her. And then the guard was shot right beside her." Thomas explained as he also sat down. Fry and Winston, Leo and A.J. also came over. The last of the Gladers.

Everyone sat in a circle. It was quiet. All they could do was just wait. It was a few minutes and Alex moved in Minho's arms. He looked down and saw her eyes flutter open.

"Hey!"

She blinked a few times.

"What...where..what happened?" She croaked out. Minho sighed in relief.

She's okay..she's okay... breath you shank!

He tightened his hug for a second. And then let her sit up. She shifted so she was sitting between Minho and Teresa, who grabbed her hand. The girls sat together holding hands.

"What happened? And where are we?" She asked again, her forehead scrunched.

"You had a panic attack. And as to where we are...some kind of closet that locks from the outside." Minho answered.

They locked us in here..a little suspicious.

"Oh."

It was quiet for a moment. Everyone was starting to settle when the lights flicked on.