"What's taking them so long?" I asked, poking Newt in the shoulder. He had a runner's pack on his back along with his machete and a spear.
"I'm not sure," he frowned and squinted at the Slammer. "There," he whispered, nodding his head towards three boys and Teresa and Thomas. One held Teresa's arms behind her back and two others dragged a limp and weird looking Thomas.
"Do you think the plan's going to work?" I whispered.
"It has to." I nodded and stood next to Newt and Chuck while Teresa and Thomas were brought forward. Teresa was tied to a post while Thomas was thrown into the grown; Gally stood in front of the Doors, just watching.
"Gally, this doesn't seem right," Clint said, frowning. I dozed off for a bit until I heard Teresa shriek at Gally, "An offering! Listen to him! He's crazy!" Gally refused to do anything else and ordered Thomas to be tied to the post. In a flash, just like he'd practiced, Thomas elbowed a Builder in the stomach and rolled with a spear in his hand. Teresa kicked her guard in the balls and Newt quickly untied her.
"We're leaving," Thomas said. Newt, Minho, Teresa, and I stood behind him, an arrow already notched into my bow. "You can't stop us."
"What?" Gally almost roared.
"You don't have to come with us, but we are leaving. Anyone else who wants to come, now is your last chance!" Thomas replied, the spear shaking in his hand.
Gally rolled his eyes and said, "Don't listen to him, he's just trying to scare you, all right?"
"No, I'm not trying to scare you. You're already scared. All right? I'm scared. But I'd rather risk my life out there than spending the rest of it in here. We don't belong here. This place isn't our home. We were put here. We were trapped here. At least out there, we have a choice. We can make it out of here. I know that."
I smiled at Newt and then watched as all but five Gladers and Gally joined us and stood behind Thomas. "Just come with us, Gally," I heard Thomas whisper.
"Good luck in the Maze," Gally replied and led the remanding Gladers to the wrecks of the Homestead. I glanced at Thomas and nodded; it was time for us to finally leave.
"Let's go," Thomas said, taking one last look at the Glade and then plunging into the Maze. I whispered, "Goodbye Ben," and then ran off after them. Newt's slight limp did nothing to his running skills; he was fast, and I could almost see his old Runner self. I stayed in the back with Minho and Newt to make sure Chuck was alright, who was breathing heavily.
"You good, Chuck?" I patted the young boy on the shoulder. He nodded feebly and waved a hand at me to indicate he didn't want to talk. I gave him an encouraging smile and kept running. Our group finally stopped next to a long corridor that I'd never seen before.
"This it?" I whispered to Minho who nodded and held his spear out in front of him. Chuck took a swig of water and then moved forward to stand next to Thomas. I nodded to Newt and pulled my spear out too.
"Is there a Griever?" I heard Chuck whisper, and Thomas nodded.
"We get out of here or we die trying, okay?" Thomas thumped his chest, as we nodded and cheered, and ran out to the Griever guarding our way out. I yelled and sprinted forward, out in front of Thomas, summersaulted through the air, landed on the Griever's back, and stabbed down with my spear. I heard other Grievers coming toward us, but I focused on putting down my first target. I stabbed until the Griever shuddered and collapsed; rolling, I pulled out the broken end of the spear, spun and tossed it into a nearby Griever. I took out two long knives and dived towards Chuck and Teresa who were backing away from two advancing Grievers.
"Get back and get to the door!" I yelled and threw my knives. They sailed home into each Griever eye and I took the chance while they were shuddering to pull the knives out and swipe again. Newt, Minho, Clint, and Bill appeared at my side, all carrying spears. We fended off the Grievers while Minho shouted out the code to Teresa.
The door shuddered open and we started to advance towards it when a Griever came out of nowhere and landed on Minho.
"Minho!" I screamed, jumping forward, but Jeff beat me to it. He stuck his spear into the Griever until it stood away from Minho, who rolled back to us. The bad thing was that Jeff was thrown into the air and off the pathway.
"Jeff!" I heard Clint yell who's eyes were wide with surprise and fear.
"Come on, guys! Move!" I pulled Minho to his feet and ushered the Gladers threw the door. We stepped out into a dark, badly lit hallway and stopped in front of a door with the sign, Exit, above it.
"What the hell?" I whispered to Newt, who shrugged. Thomas paused and then shouldered the door open; what we saw was repulsive. Bodies were everywhere, blood was flooding the floor and I saw mangled faces and bullets lodged into skin. Thomas kicked aside a gun lying in the middle of the hallway and moved forward. I couldn't believe it. These were the people who had ruined our lives and they were all dead.
I glanced at Chuck who's eyes were wide with fright and then paused behind Thomas, who was staring at a screen. He clicked a big red button and stepped back as the screen in front of us came to life. I frowned as I recognized who the woman on the screen was; the woman who had taken my family away from me.
"Hello. My name is Doctor Ava Paige. I'm Director of Operations of the World Catastrophe Killzone Department. If you're watching this, that means you've successfully completed the Maze Trials. I wish I could be there in person to congratulate you, but circumstances seem to have prevented it. I'm sure by now, you must all be very confused, angry, frightened. I can only assure you that everything's that happened to you, everything we've done to you, it was all done for a reason. You won't remember, but the sun has scorched our world. Billions of lives lost fire, famine, suffering on a global scale. The fallout was unimaginable. What came after was worse. We called it the Flare. A deadly virus that attacks the brain. It is violent, unpredictable, incurable. Or so we thought. In time, a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure. But finding it would not be easy. The young would have to be tested, even sacrificed, inside harsh environments, where their brain activity could be studied. All in an effort to understand what makes them different, what makes you different. You may not realize it, but you're very important. Unfortunately your trails have only just begun," the blonde woman told us. I frowned when i noticed guns in the background and people in lab coats flying backwards with a splash of red.
The woman continued, "As you'll no doubt soon discover, not everyone agrees with our methods. Progress is slow, people are scared. It may be too late for us, for me, but not for you. The outside world awaits. Remember...Wicked is good." And then she blew her head off.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Newt said, his eyebrows raised and his hand resting on his machete.
"What do we do now?" Thomas asked. He didn't sound like the guy I talked to in the Maze; he sounded like a scared little boy who didn't know what to do. I guess that's how we all felt.
"She said we were important," replied Newt. And just as we started towards the way out, we heard a crunch behind us and saw a gun pointed at us. Gally was the one holding it.
One more chapter and then that's the end of Gone! Please review and tell me what you guys think and let me know if you think I should write a sequel to this.