The Divergent Runner

Betrayal (PART 2)

For a few passing seconds, I felt free from everything. It seemed as if the whole world stopped, and I was frozen in time. It was peaceful, serene. It was something that I truly enjoyed. But then, my feet slammed onto hard concrete, brining the world back into motion. My ankles tingled as pain shot up my legs. I hit harder on the floor than I expected to. The space within around me was in total darkness, and obscured everything in front and behind and all around at the same time.

I heard voices around me, and I was glad to hear that they belonged to Gladers. I took three small steps forward, but soon rammed into someone's back. "You bloody scared me!" Newt yelled, as he nearly jumped from his own skin as if he were a snake, ready to shed.

It seemed eerily silent, except for a persistent hum that strummed through the air, source unknown. As I slowly crept forward, loud echoes from below my shoes pounded the undisturbed silence, and so did the other's.  I heard the last thump, as the last body made it down into the Griever Hole.

"Okay, here's the plan, we keep walking." Whispered Newt. Even a soft whisper erupted into a fit of echoes. And just when it couldn't have gotten worse, it did. My feet remained planted hard on the ground, unable to move. I stood, frozen in terror for what happened. Almost instantly, a light flickered on to my left, and a soft click sounded as the little bulb that lay outstretched on the ceiling above continued to flash, every few seconds. The light wasn't the scary part, for on the far wall, lay gigantic, white pods, illuminated by the poor light above my head. There had to be at least twelve, perfectly lined up pods probably filled with evil.

I barely even had time to take my last breath, for it occurred so quickly. A piercing shriek boomed suddenly, like nails dragging across a blackboard. And all at once, the dozen pods hissed, and released a fog. It was in perfect unison, as the pods began to crack at the top. But, that crack spiderwebbed  downwards, as the fog continued to roll out from within. Within seconds, horrific legs erupted from the cracked pods. They all shot out remarkably fast, almost too fast to even seem real. And, it didn't even take the vile things to fully appear to know that they were nothing more than Grievers.

My heart threw itself against my rib cage, and hurtled itself violently forward. My blood pulsed through my veins. I was terrified. Minho seemed to feel the same sense of terror, for he ran forward, as the lights continued to flicker. In the scarce light, a small screen was placed in the wall. Minho ran towards it, and when he was directly 5 feet away, the screen lit up, and cascaded a red glow. It seemed that the light was a trigger, for when the red flicked on, all the Grievers rolled out of the pods, and came toward us. Disturbed screeches boomed forward, as the metallic beasts rolled, popped open, and kept rolling. The sick tools lade upon their claws were slightly tainted with Crimson. Blood. Someone screamed, and looking back over my shoulder, someone was on the ground. Their bloody screams filled the small space, as Grievers plunged their claws deep into the flesh of the Glader. More screams followed, as others fell down.

Minho, ran towards the red screen, face pale with fear. "Everyone keep fighting these damn things!" He roared as he started to examine the screen. It seemed that everywhere I turned, it was a blood bath. To my right, a little boy no older than thirteen, that I didn't recognize, screamed as a sharp claw punctured his chest, and slid down, tearing his chest apart. I couldn't look at the sight, so I turned to my left. Which was worse. An older Glader, of 16, slumped to the ground as a buzzsaw whacked his head clean off, and the Griever wailed with pain as I stabbed it's head with my spear. It laid motionless, dead. "I got it! There are words on the screen. They are lighting up, like I should press them!" He said with a worried tone. "Should I try them?"

"What do they say?" I asked, as I helped stab another Griever.

"They say, FLOAT/CATCH/BLEED/DEATH/STIFF." He yelled.