Chapter 8
It must have been strange for the creators, seeing all their test subjects running through the Maze in one big herd.
I was in charge of being at the head of the group. We reached the corner that turned into the corridor that led to the Cliff.
I held up my hand, and the group slowed to a halt. I peeked around the corner, and crept back.
"What is it?" Asked Charlie. I looked over at her.
"There's a Griever. Hope you're ready to fight." I said to the rest of them.
They nodded soberly, pulling out weapons and clenching their fists.
Will pounded the bottom of his stick on the maze floor.
"We escape today, or we go down fighting." He shouted.
The Gladers cheered, and we ran around the corner, rushing straight at the Griever.
It whirled around at our yells, and came charging at us.
We hefted our weapons, aiming at the Griever. I chucked a knife at it, impaling it's blubbery skin.
As the Gladers clashed with the Griever, Will ran by me, shouting.
"Cleo, take Charlie and Bits, and see if you can make it to the lab."
I nodded at Bits, grabbed Charlie's arm, and sprinted for it.
We didn't bother with a rope this time, we just jumped down into the dark hole. We landed on our feet, and rushed into the lab.
As Bits led Charlie over to the computers, I looked around. It seemed that only one Griever was out at the moment.
"Hey Cleo! Come here!" Bits shouted across the room. I looked over.
She was bent over a computer screen, her short blond hair tucked behind her ears.
I hurried over as she looked up.
"I need the note," She said.
I took out the crumpled piece of paper from my pocket. I handed it to her, and took a look at the screen. It needed an 8-digit password, but all the keys were letters.
Bits took out her own paper, which had the sequence for the sections. It was 71526483. There were 8 words in the message. She put in the first letter of each word in the pattern of the sequence.
We heard shouts and grunts from above. Suddenly there was a loud thunk sound. We whirled around, and saw a Griever had dropped into the lab.
I grabbed a knife from my pack and charged at it, slashing the blade through the air. It shrieked and jerked back.
"How's that going, guys?" I called over my shoulder.
"We need your help, Cleo!" Bits shouted back.
Course they do, I sighed.
I smacked the Griever over the head one more time, then ran over to the control panel. Bits handed me the paper slips, and motioned towards the screen.
I was almost done when people started coming down the hole. Will, Gabe, and about thirteen other kids followed.
Charlie glanced around.
"Where's Joan?" She asked them.
Will was about to open his mouth to respond, when she dropped down the tunnel. She landed in a crouching motion, her shirt torn on the shoulder, showing a bleeding gash.
Bits ran over to her, helping her stand up. I was typing in the last letter, and a Griever came crashing through the door.
It landed, roared, then leaped at Bits. Charlie screamed, her voice echoing off the walls. I pressed the last key, and then the Griever stuttered to a halt, then collapsed in a gooey mass on the ground.
Joan wrapped her arms around a petrified Bits. Will exhaled a breath of relief. Then we heard a creaking sound behind us. I whirled around, and the door was opening.
I took a step towards it and saw there was a chute with a slide leading down. I turned to look back at the ragged and torn group.
Then I jumped down, whooshing down the metal slide. It was sticky and smelled weird, reminding me of the time I got close to the Griever pods.
The rest followed my lead, sliding down one at a time.
When I got to the bottom, I saw we were in a large empty room, with a huge glass pane for a wall on one side. And there were people looking at us from behind that wall.
Joan gasped.
"It's the Creators." She said quietly.
Gabe stared at her.
"The slintheads who put us in that nightmare?" He asked angrily.
Charlie nodded.
Just then a door in the side of the wall that had been hidden opened. Two people walked in, a tall, menacing lady in a lab coat, and a skinny, lanky boy in a hooded sweatshirt. The hood was covering his face, but there was something familiar about the way he moved.
The lady spoke.
"Congratulations, you have successfully completed the Maze Trials. And an astounding number of you survived." She said calmly.
I looked back at the group of about fifteen Gladers.
Joan stepped forwards.
"What the shuck you talkin' about, lady? This is one third of who we started with." She glared angrily at the woman.
The woman looked at her with a cold hard stare. Then she nodded, apparently to nothing. Then the boy next to her reached up and pulled down his hood.
There was a collective gasp from the Gladers.
It was Addy.
He reached for something at his side, and I saw a knife sheathed at his belt.
He drew his weapon, pointing it at Joan. She stumbled back.
"Wha-?" She gasped.
Addy wasted no time. I saw what was going to happen, I shrieked and grabbed for her. But someone was faster.
A girl with red hair she always held up with a bandana, her name was Marie. She leaped forward, body slamming Joan out of the way, just as Addy threw his knife. I saw it fly through the air, handle over blade, and impaled itself deep into the girl's chest.
Joan screamed and caught her as she fell.
"No, no, no, no." She cried, cuddling the girls head in her lap.
She stroked the girl's head.
"You said we'd have a fresh start in the new world." She whispered brokenly.
The girl smiled weakly.
"It was never meant to happen, Joan." She muttered quietly.
Then she went still.
Joan screamed, a deep, heart-shattering cry.
I understood what happened immediately. I knew Joan had been hiding something, and I guessed this was it.
My eyes burned with rage, I couldn't see clearly.
I let out a loud shout, not making any words. I leaped straight at Addy, my teeth clenched as hard as my fists.
I hit him as hard as I could, slashing upwards, snapping his head back. He stumbled, and I slammed him to the ground.
Punch after punch, I hit him with all the rage I had felt about the Creators since I had arrived in the Maze.
His face was a mess of blood and flesh when Will and Gabe pulled me off him.
When I had been in my little rage spell, a group of men in black had come in a different way and shot all the people in lab coats.
As they pulled me away from Addy, I saw a word on the chest of one of the Creators. It said WICKED in all capitals.
The men gathered us all and herded us onto a helicopter waiting outside.
Charlie and Bits were comforting Joan. I felt numb with shock, I just couldn't believe we were finally out.
I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders, and I turned to see Gabe smiling down at me.
"We did it, Cleo. We're finally out." He said weakly, and I knew the price of our escape might have been too much.
I nodded, and we stepped onto the vehicle.