Chapter 8: The Maze
AN: Oy wei, my Gladers and readers… You should never listen to me again. I couldn't keep my promise of a quick chapter. I've been a) struggling again mentally, b) a new workload (yeees, I've been finally offered work at my school!) and c) I just didn't know how to formulate stuff… but the good thing is, it's here now and hopefully well written. I loved the chapters in the Maze, so I hope I did them justice. And I added some little extras because I felt we needed a bit of background drama. I'm sure you'll like it.
We remember: The Runners have found something peculiar in the Maze- a dead Griever! Alby and Minho run in to investigate it. However, they fail to return at the agreed time, sending the Gladers into a frenzy. Shortly before the gates close, Stephanie sees Minho and an injured Alby and makes the decision to break one of the most important rules in the Glade: She runs into the Maze!
The characters except Stephanie belong to James Dashner. Steph is my baby.
And now finally enjoy chapter 8!
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X
THUNK!
With a deafening thunder, the gates closed, sealing off Minho, Alby and Stephanie from the Glade. "NOOOO!" roared Newt, his voice cracking with despair. He reached the stone wall and began to hammer his fists against it. That couldn't be! It couldn't be true, they couldn't be gone! "Alby! Min, no! Steeeph!" he yelled, hoping against hope that they could hear him. Newt ignored the blood running over his hands from his chafed and bruised knuckles. "You shucking piece-of-klunk Maze, give them back! Creators, do you hear me? Let. Them. GO!" Newt screamed himself hoarse, punching the wall each time. The tears he was holding back miraculously remained in his eyes. He was about to do something stupid, like climb the wall with a bad foot and bloody knuckles, when a strong hand gripped his shoulder and a voice called his name.
It was Gally. "What happened, Newt? I heard screams," Gally asked firmly. At first, the other boy was too shocked and angry to react, but then stammered: "Alby and Minho… too late and then Stephanie, sh- she ran in… They're in the Maze!" Gally's face turned from concerned to dark. "Stephanie did what?! Is she stupid? That's literally rule number 1!" he protested, but his anger evaporated when he saw Newt's shoulders start to shake. They were in the Maze, the blond thought. During the night. With the Grievers on the hunt and Alby already down. They lost one of their best healers, their leader and… Minho. Oh, his Minho, who had always promised him to come back. And there they came, the wretched tears finally started to flow.
Gally sighed deeply and when he saw that Newt could barely hold back a sob, he wordlessly pulled him into a hug. Although he didn't show it, the whimpers of his friend cut into his very soul. But he knew that for the sake of the remaining Gladers, they had to stay strong. "Newt, hey. Hey, pal. I know this is a shucky situation, but with Alby most probably gone, you need to be our leader now. Keep those tears in until you have spoken to the rest, they deserve to know. Now get your butt to the Medjacks so they can fix your hands and then tell them what happened. Afterwards you can do whatever you want. Just… just don't pull another stunt like last time, please. You owe it to Minho…" the Builder firmly told Newt. The blond bit his lip hard, but swallowed and nodded. After wiping his tears, he turned around silently and limped towards the Medjacks' hut.
BOOM!
Just seconds after Stephanie stepped through, the great door closed with a deafening sound, sealing her Minho and Alby out of the Glade for the night. At first, the girl only felt the prickling of the adrenaline coursing through her veins and a sort of stupid joy about how fast she had run through the gate. She had never known that she had that talent! Good at climbing and healing, yes, but running too? But then her gaze fell upon the hardly conscious Alby writhing on the floor and all her joyous feelings evaporated as the realization hit her. She had just run into the Maze, at night, where monsters lurked and nobody had ever found the exit of…
With her heart suddenly pounding fast, she looked more closely at Minho and Alby. The Asian was kneeling on the ground, desperately drawing in air. His hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, his shirt and trousers having several tears in them. Some cuts on his skin were peeking through and they seemed to be bleeding. But Alby looked unarguably worse. His clothes were almost torn to shreds. He was shaking and sweating, dried and fresh blood covering him. Alby's skin was clammy and ashen, despite his dark complexion. The boy was moaning quietly. Stephanie reached out her hand to touch him, but a pitch-dark look from Minho made her turn towards the other boy.
"If you think you've just done something incredibly heroic, you are so shucking wrong… You didn't do klunk. You whacker only doomed us!" he said, his voice a mix between cool and desperate. Stephanie felt hurt. She had just wanted to help. "What even happened out there? I thought you just wanted to investigate for a few hours," the girl shot back. "Yeah, that was the plan. But these shucking pieces of klunk know damn well how to play dead! It suddenly came alive and attacked us. We barely got out alive…" Minho muttered bitterly. Stephanie pointed at Alby and tentatively asked with a touch of morbid curiosity: "Will he die?"
"Since we didn't get out of here in time… most probably yes," he answered, "I don't know how long you last when you don't get the serum. But hell, we're going to die anyway in this klunk-hole." The girl felt bile rising in her throat, her head started prickling. "We… we really have to… die?" she stammered, her voice low with fear, "We stand no chance?" "None, my girl," Minho grumbled. Although she was terrified, the boy's pessimism was getting a little on her nerves. So she complained, trying to keep her voice steady: "Sto- stop it! There has to be something we can do! How many Grievers are there?" "I don't know." All of a sudden, an idea flashed in Stephanie's mind. "But what about Ben and the others that survived?"
"They all got the serum, damn it! You can only survive if you get the serum…" the Runner said, "How do you think the guys in the Deadheads got bumped off?" Stephanie's blood ran cold. So that's how the twelve had died… "And that's just those that we were able to find. There were more, but we never found the remains," Minho muttered defeated, "Grab Alby's feet, be a darling. Let's carry him to the gate. At least they'll have a body to find in the morning." The cold shivers got worse and Stephanie started to tremble. What sick crap he was saying… "This can't be true!" she yelled out.
After a slow, agonizing walk, Newt arrived with the Medjacks. The two boys were sitting on a bed, anxiously waiting for news. When he saw him coming, Clint jumped up. "Thank God you're here! What's all this talk about Alby and Minho being missing? Where are they? Where's Stephanie?" he blurted out. Newt wanted to break down right then and there, but he remembered the promise he had made to Gally. So he just took a deep breath and, keeping his voice as steady as possible, said: "Never got out of the Maze before the doors closed. And Steph is with them… That slint-head followed them right in…"
The two gasped in shock. Jeff went pale under his dark skin and pressed a hand to his mouth, Clint turned away and put his hands on his head in disbelief. "I- I can't believe that she would do that!" he stammered, "Why would she just throw away her life like this? And Alby and Minho of all people!" Newt shivered. If anything, Stephanie was jacked in the head for running into the Maze like that, but she was undoubtedly brave. Someone else had thrown their life away going in… Jeff was the first to come to his senses again. He wiped at his eyes and said: "No, Clint. Steph wasn't feeling tired of life and we know it. I can only imagine what happened, but I'm sure she did this because her heart is so shucking big. She cared too much for them to leave them alone."
Then he took a good look at their second-in-command and went into doctor mode. Jeff jumped up and gently grabbed Newt's chafed hands. "You're bleeding! What on earth did you do?" he asked. "I tried to start a fight with a wall…" Newt mumbled almost sheepishly, "Evidently I lost. My ankle also hurts again." "Ok, Clint, bring me some warm water, alcohol and bandages. And an anti-swelling cream," the black teen ordered. As the boy hurried to fetch the things, he led Newt to the bed and sat him down before carefully removing his shoe and sock to inspect his ankle. It was swollen from running so much. "This… I can imagine this must be hard. I know what Alby and Minho mean to you," Jeff said quietly as he sat back beside him. "Do you really?" Newt asked in a dull voice.
"Here's the stuff. Anything else, Jeff?" Clint approached them with the requested things. "If you could prepare an ice pack for Newt to use later, that would be very nice. I'll handle the rest, don't worry," his friend thanked him. When the other Medjack was out of sight, Jeff took one of the blonde's injured hands and worked on washing the blood away with a damp towel. "It's gonna sting, mind you. Your knuckles look as if they went through a cheese grater…" he warned the boy as he started to dab alcohol on the wounds. Newt hissed in pain, but gritted his teeth. "And to answer your question, Newt, yes, I do," Jeff said seriously, "I perfectly remember the days when I had to bring you back to life. Minho and Alby never once left your side. So believe me, I do know how much you mean to each other…"
It was Newt's luck that Jeff was wiping over a particularly painful spot when tears sprung from his eyes and he let out a hitched sob. The Medjack interrupted his work to affectionately press his shoulder. "I'm so- I'm so sorry!" Newt whimpered, gripping Jeff's hand for support and taking measured breaths to try and calm himself as soon as possible. "All is forgiven, my friend. You can always come to us," Jeff reassured him. After Newt's tears had dried up, he continued by cleaning the other hand and then bandaging both of them. "Alright, the hands are done. Now I'll take care of your foot. After that you should be free to go…" he said gently. In a matter of minutes, Jeff had applied the anti-swelling cream and Clint had wrapped an ice pack around his ankle.
"That should be it. Wear the ice pack for a day or two and it's gonna be as good as new. And of course, give the ankle plenty of rest," Clint explained. "Thank you, guys, for everything," Newt answered honestly, "Now to tell the rest of the Gladers the news… I'm not looking forward to it, but it must be done." The Medjacks looked at each other in concern. It would certainly not be a happy night. "Newt, wait!" Jeff stopped the blonde as he was about to go. "You look like hell warmed over. How about we get ourselves some tea from Frypan? Big guy always has tea and I'd rather you have something in your stomach before collapsing. Yes, we'll stop by Fry, Medjack's orders!" the teen decided. At first, Newt looked a little miffed, but then heaved a heavy sigh and concurred. And so, the three made their way to the Kitchens.
"This can't be true!"
Stephanie sank to her knees, suddenly overwhelmed by fear of death. She was shivering all over, tears stinging in her eyes, her hands gripping her hair. The thought of never seeing Newt or Chuck or Jeff and Clint again tore at her. It was all her fault. She knew she shouldn't have just sped into the maze like that, but her impulses had gotten the better of her! Would she really die here tonight in this forsaken hellhole, with one boy that had given up hope and another who was already on Death's doors? Would she never see her parents again, if they were even alive anymore? A tear made its way down her cheek and landed on her fist. The girl looked at it dejectedly for a minute before taking several deep breaths to clear her head. No, she swore to herself, it would not end this way for her!
"Where was he bitten? Can you see that?" she wanted to know, bravely wiping the tears from her face. "They don't bite, they sting. He's probably got dozens of stings all over his body. I probably have some too," Minho corrected her. "What do you mean, sting?" the girl asked, somehow finding stinging worse than biting. "You must see these things to get it," the boy quietly muttered. Stephanie remembered that Newt had shown her a Griever, but it had been so long that she couldn't see it clearly before her. "That piece of klunk will surely come back soon with his buddies to do us in with their needles," Minho glumly predicted, looking into the Maze that was ever growing darker. "Needles?!", the girl yelped. This thing sounded more and more disturbing by the minute.
Trying not to let desperation get to her, Stephanie looked around for something – anything! – that could help save them from this situation. Suddenly she looked up at the walls covered with vines and mentally slapped herself for not noticing it sooner. "Can't we climb up there?" she asked Minho, voice shaking with hope. When he didn't react, she repeated louder: "The vines- can't we climb them up?" Minho sighed, almost sounding depressed: "Do we really look that stupid to you, Steph? Don't you think we already had the brilliant idea to scale the goddamn walls?", he complained. Suddenly the girl felt anger rising in her. "I'm just trying to help, damn it! You're just criticizing everything I say. Why can't you explain all of this to me?!", she cried out.
Minho jumped up abruptly, still strong and agile like a panther despite his mood. Ignoring Stephanie's yelp, he grabbed her by the front of her dress. Then he shook her as he yelled: "Because you don't get it, you shuck-face! You don't know klunk about this Maze and you're making it worse because you still have hope! We're dead, get it through your thick skull! DEAD!" The girl didn't know what feeling was stronger at the moment- shock, anger or sorrow for Minho because he had given up every last shred of hope. Slowly it seemed to dawn on the Runner what he was doing and full of shame, he let go of Stephanie's dress. A bit peeved, she smoothed out the wrinkles. Minho squatted down and pressing his fists to his eyes whispered: "Oh man, I've never been more afraid in my entire life… Never."
Pity won over and Stephanie just wanted to place a hand on the boy's shoulder when she heard the sound. With a gasp, Minho shot up and the wide tear-filled eyes looked into the darkness. The Medjack felt her heart beat faster at the threatening noise and her companion's evident fear. It came from deep within the Maze, a low noise that made her hairs stand on end. It was a continuous buzzing, accompanied every few seconds by a rattle that reminded Steph of when Frypan sharpened his knives. Then a strange, terrifying clicking sound was added to the mix, like nails scratching on glass. Finally, a sound like the rattling of chains completed the horrifying symphony. It sounded so eerie that Stephanie shook like a leaf from fright. Suddenly Minho screamed in the darkness: "We have to split up, it's our only chance! Never stop running!" Then he darted off and in a matter of seconds, the Maze had swallowed him.
Inside the Glade, Newt, Clint and Jeff arrived at Frypan's kitchens. It was dark inside when they stepped through the door, the cooks had called it a day, except for their leader himself who was still cleaning glasses. He was whistling a happy tune to distract himself from the worries about the missing Gladers, but his forced smile dropped when he saw their anxious pale faces. "Medjacks, Newt!", he called out, jumping from his stool, "Are you ok?" Newt just wanted to shake his head, but Jeff kindly said for him: "I don't think any of us are, but before we tell you what we know, we'd really thank you for a cup of tea." Frypan's frown deepened at the words what we know, but he nodded and rushed away to heat up the kettle.
Clint and Jeff sat down at the table with Newt between them, the black teen laying a hand on the small of the blonde's back for support. After a few minutes, Frypan came back with four cups of hot mint tea and sat down in front of them. The boys sipped their tea and gradually Newt's shiver he didn't even know had overcome him, lessened. "Alright, talk Why are Newt's hands all bandaged? And where are Alby and Minho?" demanded the cook after finishing his tea. Their second-in-command swallowed. He just wanted to sink into his hammock and cry, but he took a deep breath and pressed out: "Not just Alby and Minho, but unfortunately Stephanie too. They… they're all trapped in the Maze."
Frypan's face changed from worried to surprised to horrified before settling on sad. He covered his mouth with his hands as tears came to his eyes. "I… but… I don't understand… All three… Without Alby… and Minho and… and poor Steph. Oh God!", he stammered before breaking into a sob. Newt had to blink like crazy to keep back his own tears. Jeff quietly squeezed his hand under the table to ground him. In the end it was Clint who took charge. He pressed the cook's shoulder and said more firmly than he felt: "This truly is one of the Glade's darkest moments, but Steph and Min and Alby would not want you to cry. As harsh as it sounds, they're lost, but they need us to continue living. We have to keep living for them…"
"I had no idea you had such wisdom in you, Clint…" Jeff smiled tiredly and dabbed at the wet corners of his eyes. Minho's close friend had shut his entirely and two tears trickled down his cheeks. How could he continue living without his best friends by his side? Life would forcibly go on, but would he be able to? He dug his nails into his palms to stop himself from breaking down completely right then and there and felt the fabric of the bandages under his fingers. This reminded him once again of the promise he made to Gally. He needed to tell the others first, then he could go to pieces however much he wanted. "He's right. And now we also need to tell the other Gladers. Will you come with me?" Newt asked, both shy and hopeful as he stood up from his stool. Jeff gave him a hug and gently said: "We're all with you."
The other two nodded grimly in support and stood up as well. Let's get this over with, the quicker the better. It makes it less painful…" muttered Frypan and dried his eyes on his apron. When they arrived at the Homestead, everyone looked up anxiously, eager for news about their missing friend. Gally was standing by the door, nodding seriously at them. "I haven't told them anything," he said quietly, "We were waiting for you, Newt. Can you do it?" "Just one more time…" Newt told himself. Then he cleared his tight throat and repeated for the third time on this dreadful day: "I'm deeply sorry to tell you that Alby, Minho and Stephanie have gotten trapped in the Maze. They haven't made it out. We have most likely… lost them."
Horrified silence met him for a minute. Then Chuck asked "Steph?" and broke into tears. The little boy's weeping was the catalyst of a cacophony of questions and cries of despair. The noise was almost enough to send the boy over the edge, but thankfully Gally saw him on the verge of tears and shouted: "No more questions for tonight!" before gently pushing him out of the Homestead. For a moment, the boys stood there, feeling the coldness of the wind that had come up. Then the Builder sighed deeply and envelloped Newt in a tight hug. "You did great," he whispered, "Go rest now. Tomorrow we can pick up the pieces…" Newt silently nodded, not trusting his voice. Gally pressed his shoulder encouragingly and jogged away to the Builders' quarters. The blonde looked after him until the darkness swallowed him, then finally made his way to his own safe haven.
It took longer than expected to reach Alby's and his little hut with this swollen ankle and the weight of his feelings on his shoulders, but then he managed to push open the door with shaking fingers. Kicking it close with his good foot, Newt pressed a trembling sigh through the rapidly growing lump in his throat- Safe at last to break down! The boy let himself fall into his hammock as his knees buckled under him and let the shaking overcome his whole body. He felt hot tears fill his eyes and this time did nothing to stop their flow. Newt wailed as the full implications of the events slammed into him like a tidal wave: "They're dead! They won't come back anymore! I'll never see them again!" He collapsed into his hammock, covered his face with his hands and started to weep his heart out.
END OF CHAPTER 8
EN: When I bloody tell you I've never been so happy to finish a chapter in my life, I fully mean it, my loves! I love every bit of this dramatic chapter and I hope you will too. If you can forgive me that that I was late as all hell again… I'm truly sorry again for making you wait that long, but life is brutal.
But until the next chapter, don't run into the Maze and make Newt cry!
Kisses and apology cake,
Yuna McHill
