No Matter What - Book 1

Chapter 10

Fawn knew that she was shaking like a leaf as she stood between Minho and Newt. She was not sure why but ever since Gally marched Teresa and Thomas up to the maze and had them tied to the two posts at the entrance of the maze, the two boys had been standing beside her like centuries guarding Royal. Newt reached down and laced his fingers with hers, not looking at her but touching her closer to him and slightly behind him as Minho and Winston began to tie Thomas and Teresa to the posts when suddenly, the two prisoners broke free and Newt tossed Thomas one of the shearing blades, similar to the one that Winston gave Teresa.

"what are you doing!?" Gally roared as the small group of glade members surrounded Thomas like a shield, " they are responsible for all of this! Alby's death... all of it!"

Fawn felt Newt move to stand beside Thomas and she took a step forward until she stood before Gally. The boy looked at her, shocked that he was experiencing the day when he and Fawn were on opposite sides of the fence.

" Fawn... " he croaked, "what are you doing? Why are you doing this? You know you will all die if you go in there. Why are you siding with them?"

Fawn side, "Gally, death is inevitable whether it is in the maze or in the glade when the grievers come back tonight. But staying in the glade is like putting ourselves in a box with nowhere to run. We need to try and find a way out or we will all die here. Alby was important to me too but he would not want us to stay here and give up hope."

Gally's lip trembled as he looked down at the petite girl who was like a sister to him. Minho rushed forward and grabbed Fawn's hand, pulling her back as the gate of the maze began to slide closed. Fawn kept her blind eyes on Gally and though she could not make out his face, she could see his shoulders slump in distress and defeat as the maze swallowed them up.

The silence that followed the closing of the doors was temporary before Newt whispered to everyone to follow Thomas and Minho and he reached out and grabbed Fawn's hand gently in his. One could barely hear the tip tap of walking feet as a small group silently made their way through the maze tunnels.

" the chamber is just ahead, "Thomas whispered back to everyone but of course his whisper was drowned out by a loud screech followed by a scream.

Fawn spun around and felt her heart stop. The night before, Newt had gotten her into the Brig before she could get a good look at any of the grievers but now she wished she was 100% blind for even with blurry vision that could only see rough shapes, Fawn was shaken to her very core in fear of the massive creatures that came crawling down the walls like giant spiders.

She quickly activated her bow, and loaded it before yelling at Newt.

" clear shot!" she yelled, not wanting to shoot unless she was absolutely sure that none of the boys were in the line of fire.

"to your left!" Newt yelled as he pulled out his blade and began to Ward off a griever.

Fawn drew her bow and fired, the griever screeching in pain as the arrow buried itself in its neck, wounding the creature but not killing it. Fawn tilted her head, listening for another shot when she heard the deep growl of Drake nearby. Fawn saw the blurry shape of the dog run towards Newt who was struggling against a griever and Fawn reloaded her bow.

"I found it! " the girl heard Teresa yell, " what is the combination!?"

Fawn fired an arrow and disabled the griever that loomed over Newt.

" Minho what is the sequence of the maze!?" Thomas yelled.

As Minho began yelling out numbers, Fawn shot again and struck the same griever as before, killing at completely this time. she heard a scream as a griever grabbed the young boy Rodney by the leg and began dragging him away. Fawn was taken back to the night before when she had watched Alby freely let the grievers drag him off... She could not watch that... not again.