"No don't!" Newt yelled watching in horror as she grabbed Tommy's arm and went running into the Maze. "Sadie!" He yelled but it was to late, the Maze doors closed with a heartbreaking boom trapping everyone Newt cared about inside the Maze. "No! No no no no no!" He shouted slamming his fist into the walls. This can't be happening! Why didn't they bloody listen to me! I hate the Maze. I shucking hate it! Newt wanted to scream but he had to do something. He rushed back over to the mess hall and told everyone what happened ushering them towards the East entrance. "We need to be ready for when those doors open!" He ordered limping in front of the entrance trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
"What's the point, they're as good as-" Gally started to say but was quickly cut off when Newt grabbed him roughly by his collar.
"I wouldn't finish that bloody sentence if I were you!" He growled shoving the Glader into the dirt before returning to face the closed doors. But Newt knew there was no hope. No one had ever survived in the Maze over night. He knew exactly what was waiting for Sadie and Thomas inside the Maze walls and the thought of it made Newt's blood turn to ice. They can't bloody die. They can't.
When the walls closed realization finally dawned on Sadie, she was trapped. Ignoring the slowly building panic she felt Sadie went sprinting after Thomas to where Minho and Alby had collapsed on the ground. She immediately knelt by Alby and felt for his pulse. It was there, but just barely a small sputtering heartbeat. Alby looked like he'd been dragged through hell and back. His arms and chest were covered in large bloody gashes and puncture wounds, he was unconscious and a sickly pale yellow. Sadie had no idea how long he'd last but she knew there wasn't much hope, and it killed her. She had never really gotten along with Alby, he was always so uptight and was even more stubborn than she. But it still killed her to see him like this. Minho didn't look much better but he still managed to look at Sadie and Thomas in absolute disbelief and disgust.
"You two are a pair of the shuckiest shucking shuck-faces to ever walk on this shucking planet." He said clambering to his feet and leaning against the wall. He looked terrible, not as bad as Alby, but he was still covered in bruises and sweat and looked like he was about to pass out. But that didn't stop Sadie's temper from flaring up.
"You know that kind of sounded like a thank you, but a little different." She snapped pulling herself to her feet.
"Thank you? You expect me to shucking thank you?" Minho asked rolling his eyes. "Now they have two more bodies to look for in the morning!"
"We couldn't just leave you guys out here!" Thomas argued his face turning red.
"We're all dead. But whatever if you two want to break the rules and get yourselves killed be my guest." Minho answered letting out a bitter and humorless laugh. He knelt beside Alby and checked his pulse again. If it was possible Alby looked even worse. His breaths were coming out shaky and uneven and his usual dark color was draining fast.
"What happened?" Sadie asked pulling off her jacket and using it to try and slow the Glader's bleeding.
"Let's just say that Grievers are shucking good at playing dead." He said trying to help her stunt the blood flow.
"Is he going through the Changing?" Thomas asked
"You don't go through the Changing unless you get the Serum. And since those god-forsaken doors are closed my guess is he'll be dead in about an hour. 'Course we'll be dead soon anyways so there's no sense crying about it." Minho muttered in a hollow tone. Sadie could feel her insides knotting as she looked from Minho to Thomas to Alby then back again. We're going to die. She realized her head spinning. It all felt too familiar, the Maze, the Grievers, she'd been here before. She knew it. The feeling of despair, anger, and terror felt all too familiar to her. But it did nothing to stop all of these feelings from flooding her veins. Just like my dream.
"So you're telling me we don't have a chance?" Thomas asked shaking his head and leaning against the wall for support.
"None."
"No. There has to be a way. The others they survived. We can too." He said frustration coming off of Thomas in waves. Minho let out an angry sigh and looked at the two of them like they were the biggest slintheads he had ever laid eyes on.
"Don't you shucking get it? They got back before the doors closed. We. Are. Dead. Get that through your thick skull!" The boys continued to argue Thomas trying in vain to come up with some chance of their survival while Minho shot down each and every one of his ideas. Sadie ignored them and scanned her surroundings pressing her already blood soaked jacket into Alby's wounds. Mammoth sized walls covered in thick wild ivy surrounded them. They were alone for now. But Sadie knew it wouldn't last long. She turned her attention back towards the boys and found Minho grasping Thomas by his collar yelling angrily at him. Sadie sprang to her feet and shoved the two apart.
"Cut your crap!" She yelled all of the anger and frustration spilling out of her like a waterfall. "Freaking out like a bunch of slinthead shanks isn't going to solve anything! Now get a shucking grip!" The boys looked at her with wide eyes and a look of shame washed over both of their faces.
"Man, oh man I'm sorry." Minho whispered holding his face in his hands. "God I've never been so scared dude." He admitted clenching his fist in his hair. Sadie knew exactly what Minho was feeling fear and terror was pumping through her own body so fast that she felt like she might explode. But more than anything she was frustrated by the odd sense of dejavu she felt. Thomas was about to say something more when a low rumbling sound echoed in the Maze. All of their heads snapped up and looked down the darkened corridor as the sound came again. It sounded like the metallic whirring of blades and click click clicked like fingernails against a window. But worst of all was the sound of a low haunting moaning that sent goose bumps racing up Sadie's spine. Sadie felt the blood drain from her face as the sounds grew closer, and closer.
"We have to split up." Minho said his eyes wide in terror. "It's the only chance we have. Just run and don't stop moving!" And with that the Runner sprinted away from them rounding a corner and disappearing from sight.
"He didn't just do that." Sadie croaked in disbelief. "Please tell me he didn't just do that.'' How could he do that? How could he just leave us here! Anger swelled inside of her, they had been here for less than a week and the guy who'd been a Runner for years just took off without them. If they didn't have a chance before they sure as hell didn't have one now. They had to do something, and quick because the grinding and groaning sounds of the Griever were growing nearer. Sadie could already picture it's sharp blades and needles, could already smell the disgusting oily sent of it. Let it be quick. She prayed her knees shaking. No. She snapped at herself trying to shake the impending doom from her head. I'm not going out like this. She looked around the Maze again and her eyes caught on the hanging vines of ivy. She hurtled over and tugged on one experimentally, her hands trembling.
"Sadie what are you doing?"
"I'm going to see if the vines will hold us Thomas. It's the only thing I can think of." She answered pulling a thick one from the wall and yanking it. She took a deep breath and pulled her knees to her chest clinging to the vine and exerting all her weight on it. It held but that wasn't saying much. She slowly pulled her self up the vine gripping the thick ivy like her life depended on it. And it did. She continued to climb and almost cried in relief when she found that most of the vines were strong and easy to climb. She scrambled down the wall and looked from Thomas to Alby.
"We aren't leaving him." Thomas ordered, and Sadie sighed in relief looking towards the wall.
"Okay. I- I think I have an idea." The two worked fast and dragged Alby's unconscious form towards the wall. Sadie picked an exceptionally thick vine and began to tie it around Alby like a harness her hands flying over him as she tried to block out the ever-nearing Grievers. She fashioned one for Thomas and herself too, and they started to climb the wall pushing Alby up as they climbed. Sadie was surprised by how naturally it all came to her like she'd been scaling these walls for years. They continued stopping ever few feet to untie Alby and retie him farther up the vine. Alby was almost too heavy for the both of them and they were moving painfully slow. Focus Sadie, you can do this. Just keep going.
They were about 20 ft up the wall when the first Griever rounded the corner. Sadie stared in horror as the thing that was part animal part machine and all nightmare came rolling towards them. It was huge and had a slimy slug like body with sharp and menacing looking blades sticking out from every angle. It was covered in greasy looking hair and had two glowing red eyes. Long metallic arms scraped against the walls as the needles clanged together echoing the sounds of chainsaws and sharpening blades. Sadie was sure her heart had stopped for a moment as her whole body turned to mush. She probably would have stayed hanging from the wall in horror if it wasn't for Thomas.
"Tie him Sadie!" He hissed snapping her out of it long enough to secure Alby to the wall. "Untie yourself I have a feeling we're going to have to get down pretty quickly." Sadie did as she was told and clung to the vine her and Thomas huddled together against the thick ivy praying not to be seen as the Griever rolled directly below them. Please go away. Go! Please don't see us. Please. Don't. See. Us.
The Griever continued to roll away before pausing. And for a split second Sadie almost thought it was going to leave. But the Griever let out a blood chilling moan it's blades and arms popping out of it's slimy skin as it whirred directly towards Thomas, Sadie, and Alby. The Griever seemed to pause below them as if it was calculating what to do next. Please god don't let them climb. Please tell me they can't climb! Fear was swirling through Sadie like a tidal wave. And she felt her last shred of courage drain out of her as it began to climb the wall.
"I'll distract it Sadie!" Thomas yelled over the sound of the Grievers knives burrowing into the wall as it ground it's way toward them.
"What!" But Thomas ignored her and started to swing away from her and Alby automatically catching the Grievers attention. Sadie watched in horror as the Griever changed direction following Thomas as he climbed and swung to the left. Sadie had no choice but to swing towards the vine to her right and climb away from Alby and away from her best friend. Her veins coursed with adrenaline as she continued to swing from vine to vine finally landing on the ground of the Maze with a thump. She whirled around and saw Thomas clamber to the ground as well, Alby was still tied securely to the wall but the Grievers attention was on Thomas as it landed with a loud crash back on the floor separating them.
"No!" Sadie screamed sprinting towards the Grievers back. She jumped at the last second kicking off one of it's appendages kicking it loose as she hurtled over it and landed in a heap by Thomas. The Griever let out an earsplitting scream as one of it's arms fell off it's body with a clang. Thomas yanked her to her feet and pulled her down the corridor at a break neck speed the Griever rolling after them.
"Go! Go! Go!" Sadie screamed sprinting alongside Thomas as they threw themselves around every corner. After hurtling down who knew how many corridors the pair came to a screeching halt as a second Griever rounded a corner and turned into the corridor in front of them. Well shit! The first Griever rolled in behind them trapping them in-between the two. This is it. Sadie thought. This is how I'm going to die.
Thomas quickly looked from one Griever to the other panic written all over his face.
"Sadie I have an idea!" He yelled in her ear.
"What?"
"Charge them and dodge them!" He shouted taking on a running stance.
"What!" Sadie repeated her eyes wide in fear.
"Charge and dodge!" Sadie looked back at him with a determined look and nodded. They turned and faced the closest Griever and with a final yell they sprinted towards it. The Griever seemed stunned like it couldn't believe how stupid the two were but continued to steam roll directly towards them. It grew closer and closer and closer. Until it was nearly on top of them, but at the last second Thomas dove to his left and Sadie dove to her right narrowly missing the Griever as it plowed into the one behind them with an echoing crash that shook the Maze walls. The two jumped to their feet and took off trying to get as far away from the Grievers as possible. But there were more, Sadie could hear their groans in the distance. It was only a matter of time until they ran into them too. A couple of corridors down a pair of hands reached out and yanked the two away by their shirts. Sadie yelped and punched randomly her fist connecting with something soft.
"Ow! Jesus chick calm down it's just me!" It was Minho who was now bent over after Sadie had knocked the wind out of him.
"You grabbed me!" She accused suddenly angry with the Runner. It took a second for Minho to catch his breath.
"That dive thing you two did back there…" Minho panted peering around the corner. "It gave me an idea, follow me!" Sadie and Thomas didn't hesitate to run after Minho as they continued to work their way deeper and deeper into the Maze. As they ran around another corner Sadie's breath caught in her throat in surprise. Directly ahead of them the corridor didn't end into another stonewall but rather opened up into a sudden drop. The Cliff. By the time the screeched to a stop there were at least six Grievers on their tail now. All of them stopped as the trio backed towards the cliff. They all lined up as if each of them were about to take turns picking the Gladers off.
"Okay face them and wait till-"
"I know." Thomas answered as the three turned to face the Grievers. "I'm ready." The first two Grievers charged towards them at surprising speed whirring and groaning menacingly.
"Not yet!" Minho yelled, as the Grievers grew nearer. "Wait for it…. Wait for it… Now!" He shouted Sadie and Minho dived to the left while Thomas took the right. The Grievers went flying of the cliff unable to stop their momentum. Sadie watched in amazement expecting them to hurtle towards the ground, but as soon as the Griever's left the cliff they disappeared from sight. That left four more Grievers but apparently they weren't to bright because they quickly followed the others over the cliff.
The trio continued to dive and dodge, dodge and dive until all of the Grievers had fallen over the side leaving them in the Maze alone in an eerie silence. They immediately collapsed onto the ground and dragged themselves away from the cliff their backs pressed against the wall as the sat huddled shoulder to shoulder. Tears streamed down Sadie's face as she gasped in relief her eyes staring off into the distance as the horror filled night finally caught up to her. Thomas was curled in on himself shaking uncontrollably as Minho held his face in his hands his shoulders trembling. Sadie wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but after awhile the sun started to rise washing the Maze walls in a soft hazy glow. It was Minho who spoke first resting a calming hand on Sadie's shoulders.
"We need to get going the Maze doors are going to open soon if we run back a ways we can make it." He whispered helping Sadie and Thomas to their feet.
"You think you can make it?" He asked brushing the dirt off of him as he looked over the cliff. Sadie knew she should make a sarcastic comment in return but she only had the strength to nod before mumbling.
"Alby… w- we left him on the wall."
"What?"
"Sadie came up with the idea. We climbed the walls and tied Alby up there out of reach." Thomas answered for her pointing in the direction of the East entrance.
"You- you mean he's still alive?" Minho asked a small spark of hope lightening his eyes.
"I think so." Sadie mumbled breathlessly. Minho nodded in amazement.
"Then we'd better get our shucking butts in gear." And with that the three tore off running down each and every turn until their surroundings started to look more and more familiar. Once they reached a certain point they all stopped doubling over and panting. Sadie had never felt so tired, so scared, and so cold in her entire life. As far as she could remember anyways.
"We can walk from here." Minho panted leading them farther down the corridor. "We're nearly there." Sadie didn't even have the energy to respond as she trudged after the two boys. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes before Minho turned and gave her a strange look.
"What?" She snapped rubbing at her face self consciously, he pursed his lips and turned till she was facing his back.
"Here, get on." He said gesturing towards his back.
"Excuse- what?" She sputtered her eyes widening.
"I said get on. You look shucking exhausted. We're almost back anyways." Sadie narrowed her eyes and let out a stubborn growl.
"What do you honestly think I can't walk by myself?" She hissed a sense of embarrassment and wounded pride rising in her.
"No I'm shucking sure you can. And I'm also sure you can beat the klunk outa me if I try anything. So just hurry up and get on." He ordered. Sadie wanted to argue further but she saw no point he was right she was tired. So without a word she walked towards him and clambered onto Minho's back. He hoisted her up holding her piggyback style before continuing to walk down the corridor. Thomas snickered beside them. Sadie let out a barely audible "Shut up" before she fell asleep.
Sadie woke up when Minho came to an abrupt halt. She sleepily looked up and saw that they had arrived back where they started. And that Alby was still hanging up in the vines. Sadie slid down from Minho's back with a yawn and peered up at the wall, the gears turning in her head.
"You got a knife?" She asked wresting her hands on her hips has she walked closer to the wall.
"Uh yeah?" Minho responded pulling out a wicked looking blade and handing it over to her. Sadie held the knife firmly and looked back towards the wall.
"I have an idea." She said grasping the knife between her teeth before making her way up the wall. She knew she should be concerned holding a giant knife in her mouth but Sadie was too busy focusing on climbing the vines towards Alby. She could hear Minho and Thomas let out low whistles as they watched her climb. When she finally reached Alby she grabbed another vine tying it around her waist before using two other ones to tie around Alby. She tied the new vines lower down then the ones he was currently attached to her fingers flying as she tugged and made knots. When she was done she removed the knife from her teeth and cut away the old vines holding onto Alby's arm with her free one. She slowly lowered Alby down until he was a few feet lower then before. She loosened her own harness and climbed down repeating the process.
"Dang the girls like a little shucking monkey." Minho commented from bellow.
"I heard that." Sadie snipped continuing to tie, cut, and lower herself and Alby over and over again. When they were only a few feet off the ground Thomas and Minho surged forward each grabbing Alby as Sadie cut off the last few vines before clambering down herself.
"He's alive." Thomas said in relief patting Sadie on the back. She smiled tiredly in response when a grinding noise suddenly pierced the air. The doors! They rushed over to the East entrance Thomas and Minho supporting Alby between them. Sadie wanted to cry in relief all over again as the Maze doors opened up and revealed a group of surprised looking Gladers.
"They're alive!" Someone shouted before everyone rushed forward yanking them out of the Maze. Showers of questions rained down on Sadie but she ignored each and every one. So tired. She thought her body sagging with dead weight. She made it about half way back to Homestead before collapsing on the ground curling up in a ball and sinking into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Newt found her like that. And he had never been so happy to see someone passed out on the ground. She was curled in a tight ball covered in bruises and scratches her body had a thick layer of dirt, grime, and sweat on it but Newt thought she'd never looked better. He sighed in relief before leaning over and gently scooping her up cradling her sleeping form in his arms. You're such a bloody idiot. He thought peering down into her sleepy face that was pressed against his chest. Such an idiot.