Good Grief (TMR fic)

Chapter 31

I can't tell exactly how it works, but there's some sort of illusion. The edge of the dropoff is real, and I don't have equipment to test how far down it goes, much less see if there's a floor farther out.

But the walls on each side don't cut off. Instead it's a mental trick with the dead ends nearby and the visual lack of walls.

I can't let myself die tonight. Not now that I've figured this out. For the first time, I have hope.

There has to be a way out.

I'm not going to be able to figure it out on my own, though. I need my unbearably optimistic friend to help me, and preferably the Runner who knows the Maze best of all.

I'd better go rescue Thomas and Minho.

I instinctively know just how to take a shorter route to where I last saw Minho. I head there at a run, needing to find them before they get themselves killed.

"Ash!" Thomas's voice hisses at me, and I instantly change my course, slipping into the path Minho and Thomas are hiding in.

"Good to see you're alive," I say, keeping my voice down.

"Yeah, you too," Minho says. "Thomas and I were just talking. We think we know how to defeat the Grievers. Thomas did a fancy trick back there where he ran directly at it and dove to the side at the last moment. It overshot him by a long way. If we could find the Cliff, we can do the same thing-"

"And get them to fall off the Cliff," I answer. "I know where it is, I was just there."

Minho raises his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yep. Are we waiting until they find us, or-"

"There!" Thomas says, pointing up the corridor behind us. Three Grievers are rolling towards us at a desperate pace.

"We only lost them temporarily," Minho says as we all start running, me in the lead.

After several minutes we reach the Cliff and jog to the edge. Thomas is staring at it open-mouthed, and I punch his arm.

"No time to gape, Greenie," I say. "Let's get these Grievers off the edge. I'll go first, and if it doesn't work you two can go at the same time."

I didn't see what Thomas did earlier, but I have a good sense of it from what Minho said. The Grievers are going slower, as if they know we're trapped. Whoever goes first is in the most danger, because they might not speed up enough for the trick to work.

That's why it has to be me.

I won't let anything happen to Thomas, and Minho's life is more important than mine.

So I charge the Grievers, and watch as they start increasing their speed.

I sprint, and, at the last possible moment, throw myself to the side.

It hurts when I hit the ground. This is worse than being kicked by Gally. Much worse. My velocity drags me along the Maze floor, and I can barely keep my senses enough to see if it worked.

The first Griever tumbles over the edge behind me, but the other two stop in time. The second teeters on the edge, and Thomas kicks it solidly, sending it into a freefall.

The third, however, was focused on me. It quickly returned, rearing over me with metal arms flashing and dangerous. I push myself to my feet.

"Hey!" Minho shouts. "Over here, you useless lump of blubber and grease!"

The Griever turns to charge him, but as it swings past me, one of the more needle-like appendages slashes towards me, and I feel pain erupt in my arm.

I fall to my knees, biting back a scream. Hazily I see Minho and Thomas trick the Griever over the edge like the other two.

We won.

We...

All three of us are lying on the ground...

Dying...

Another wave of pain hits, and I clench my fists.

I'm strong.

I'll be fine.

"Ash?" Minho's voice is distant, and it's not until he reaches out to shake my shoulder that I snap into reality. I can't help it. I scream from the sudden spike of pain.

I can see his face swimming above me, and it pales at my cry.

As I succumb to the pain, I can hear him shouting for Thomas. 

~~

A/N: Do y'all prefer me to post chapters throughout the day or all at once when I'm doing more than one update a day? Also, whoops, I stung Ash. Sorry not sorry.