Shadow of the Maze | Maze Runner [1]

FIVE

Electra desperately lashed her knife back and forth, but when the Griever began to lash back with its saw blade arm, she lost her grip and began plummeting down to the ground.

She dropped her knife to use both of her hands. They burned as she reached forward to try to grab any ridge of stone or vine of ivy she could find. She securely grabbed onto a vine, but felt thorns stab into her palm. She gripped the vine even harder, pushing the thorns deeper into her skin. Her palms burned but she decided that the tiny thorn wounds were much better than falling to her death.

Looking up, she saw the Griever still towering over the ledge, staring down at her as if she were its prey. Well, she sort of was. Electra rushed to climb down the wall, and jumped a bit sooner than she should've.

She landed on the hard stone ground and her legs gave out underneath her. Falling onto her knees, she could hear the sound of gears turning and a monster screaming to her right. She turned her head to see another Griever slowly approaching her, as if waiting for her to notice it before it attacked.

Electra saw her knife a couple feet ahead of her and crawled forward to grab it before standing up and racing in the opposite direction. Again, the Griever was close on her heels, its screeching only getting excessively louder.

She made a couple quick turns before latching onto ivy and pulling herself up. She hoped the other Griever that was on top of the walls hadn't followed her. If it had, there was no way she'd get out of this alive.

The Griever on the ground was fast, and it lashed with its sword arm as it jumped directly at her, the blade cutting right into Electra's right forearm. She screamed, falling off the wall and onto the stone cold surface beneath her.

The Griever towered over her, just like the one on top of the walls. Electra looked up at the Griever as it screamed in her face, saliva raining down on her. The monster was too fast, too smart, too strong. It was hopeless.

Minho. She remembered hearing his scream. Minho needed her help.

Electra took her knife in her left arm and stabbed upwards into the Griever, right where its eye should've been. The creature yowled in pain, scrambling backwards. She took the opportunity to get up and charge directly towards the creature. With every last bit of strength she had left, she leapt at the Griever and her knife landed squarely in the middle of its head.

The Griever tripped to a fall and sat there, motionless. This time, Electra knew better than to assume it was dead. The Griever she and Minho fought had taken more hits than this one and it still somehow lived. She ran in the opposite direction from the creature as fast as she could with whatever energy she had left. Which wasn't much.

While running, her left hand shakily pressed against her right forearm, quickly getting soaked with blood. Taking a quick glance behind her, she saw a path of blood droplets following her.

Reluctantly, Electra had to stop running to take care of her injury. Otherwise, her blood trail would reveal her location to the Grievers. Swinging her pack over her shoulder and onto the ground, she took a water bottle out and slowly poured the cool liquid onto her skin. Next, she ripped off the bottom of her t-shirt, and made a makeshift bandage. She wrapped it tight to try to keep pressure on the wound. As much as she wanted to run after Minho and make sure he was okay, she knew she had to get back to her Cove. There were actual bandages and limited medical supplies back there. Her wound would definitely get infected if she didn't treat it properly. What use would she be to him if she died from infection?

The trip back to her Cove was filled with pure agony. Thankfully, her legs weren't injured but she still miserably limped through the Maze, her left arm clutching onto her right and applying pressure onto the wound. She wasn't entirely sure how to take care of wounds, but the methods she'd used in her past three years hadn't killed her, so she must've been doing something right. Or perhaps she was just very lucky.