The Dark Side of the Maze

25-The End?

Harriet's POV

We ran through the maze, just as we planned. There was something wrong with that, something should have gone wrong by now. Something always goes wrong. Then it hit me, We were finally leaving! After two years of working hard just to survive, we were finally about to leave! We didn't stop to take any breaks, even though the girls seemed very worn out, they weren't nearly as tired as I had thought they would have been.

And after about thirty minutes of jogging and not running into any griever's, I was suddenly rising in my hopes. but that's when we reached the griever hole. they stood just outside of it, waiting for us.

"Is this part of the plan, Rachel?" I asked in a hushed tone. She grabbed my hand and whispered something into Sonya's ear. Sonya nodded and put on a brave face. Rachel pulled me aside from the group as Sonya began a speech for the girls.

"Our job is to get into that hole without being attacked by the griever's. Sonya is going to lead the girls into battle, and get as little amount of casualties as possible while we go in there and shut those greiver's down." She said, obviously a little terrified of me still from the Beth incident, but I was surprised that she had chosen me to help her with ending this thing.

"You ready?" She whispered to me.

I saw Rachel turn to Aris, and he put his hands on the side of her face. He pressed his lips against hers, softly at first then passionately. I couldn't help but smile at the way they looked together. They seemed so contempt and happy, which was sad considering there was a chance they could both die. "If you're done, we could use some help," I whispered loudly. Aris jerked away and their faces flushed. "Let's go," Elizah said, changing the subject.

I nodded and Sonya looked as if she had finished her pep talk and had began to stare at Rachel. Rachel pulled off of Aris, nodded at Sonya and Sonya began the attack on the griever's.

Me and Rachel had started to sneakly edge towards the griever hole. I watched as girls I had known since the beggining of the maze drop like flies. My eye's teared up. Not now Harriet, I scolded myself. Their lives depend on you getting to that hole. (Thats what she said lol)

We were half way to the hole when we we were spotted by a group of griever's.

"Run!" I yelled at Rachel, who was just slightly ahead of me. We began to run, dodging any griever's that came in our way.

Hell broke lose from every corner. The sound of sharp clanking pierced the air. Metal clammored on stone. I could hear screams echoing in my skull. The battle cry of the Grievers was loud and shrill as conpared to the low shouts of the girls. I turned at just the wrong second as a griever ebb dug a menacing claw into a girl's body. She didn't have time to scream before it opened the claw, tearing her apart. I jerked away. But the image of her blood clouded my vision and burned into my brain.

We made it to the cliff and braced ourselves. We leapt from the edge; we were closely followed by grievers, and rachel and I immediately looked for a button, a switch or a lever to stop this madness. We landed in a pool of sticky yellow glue. A horrible smell assaulted my senses and I gaged. I wandered through the thick gooI in total darkness.

I heard a scream from Rachel behind me. I turned just in time to see a Griever land almost on top of her. She was almost absorbed by its fleshy yellow skin. I saw her wiggle out. The Griever hissed and snapped aclaw at her. She fought against the beast feverishly.

"HARRIET, GO FIND IT NOW!" she yelled. I turned back, now frantic to find our lever or button.

I saw something in the edge of my eye. A pulsing red button pressed aginst the side of the goo tunnel.

It read, Initiate Force protocol for group A, WICKED trial pt 1 end.

I wasn't sure what it meant but I didn't see any other option. I ran for the button, stymbling over the goop. I nearly tripped as I smashed my fist into the button.

A large light illuminated the dank tunnel. We could hear the mechanisms dying and shutting down. For moments everything was still, then Sonya tumbled through the Griever hole. Aris rolled in after and helped aid the 35 some girls through. 35. This morning we had 60. 10 stayed back at the Glade, which left 50 to fight. 15 dead.I knew there was going to be death, and 15 was a small number considering the Griever's power. But still. The 2 years I had spent in that Glade, knitted us into a family. These were the only humans I had ever known, not including the splotchy charcters from my memories. A few of the girls such as Elizah and a younger girl named Hammy looked pained, poor Elizah could barely stand on her weak ankle.

I looked at our group. Our blood spattered, bruised, dirty, mangled, muddy, girls draped in yellowish goo. Sonya looked wild-eyed and horrified. She shook her head.

Then elation rose in my chest.

We are free at last.

My realization was confirmed when the other side of the tunnel slid open, like the walls of the maze every morning. A bright light shone in and I squinted my eyes. We're home. I whispered in my head as I walked into the light. My eyes adjusted to a large room.

This is home? I wondered.

Does this really mean the end?

Like I said before, Something always goes wrong. Maybe this is the part....