Maze Games

Thirty-Three

Thomas's POV

(Songs for this chapter:
Never gonna leave you: artist unknown)

"KATNISS!!" I scream.

I climb to the top of the hole. I look around at the ground for Katniss's body.

"Katniss." I whisper. I hang my head. Tears sting my eyes.

"Thomas?" A feminine voice calls. I look up at the cliff to see Katniss. "You coming?" She asks.

"Katniss!" I say.

I finish climbing out of the hole and jump over to the cliff where she is at. I land barely missing her. I quickly get to my feet and pull her into am embrace.

"I thought you jumped off the cliff." I whisper in her ear. I let a tear roll down my cheek.

"No." She says. "I just jumped over here."

"Then why did you say 'I'm sorry Thomas'."

Her expression darkens.

"Because you knew all these people longer than I have. It must hurt to see so many of them dead at once. It's like when Snow blew up twelve. Everyone was gone, and those who survived would never be the same."

I look deep into her beautiful gray eyes. She looks so pretty, even with dirt smeared on her face.

"Uh... Thomas..." A smile creeps across her face. "What you looking at?" She asks.

I guess I was staring. No need in lying, so I tell her.

"You. You look so beautiful."

"Um..... Thanks but I kinda want to get out of here first." She says pulling away.

She walks over towards the others. I follow her. No one says anything as we arrive to the spot where everyone who survived stands.

"So many." Newt mumbles.

Many of the boys' eyes are wet with tears.

"Before we start morning and that sort of thing, we need to get out of this shucked up place." Minho says.

Everyone agrees and we head for the edge of the cliff.

"You jump last, Thomas, so you can make sure everyone makes it." Newt instructs.

Katniss jumps in first, then Peeta, and the rest of the boys follow. It doesn't take to long for everyone to get in but it's to long for me. I don't want to spend another second out here with all of these dead bodies. Finally everyone else is in and it is my turn. I jump in the hole where I thought Katniss had met her doom.

"Did we get everyone, Thomas?!" Katniss shouts from the front.

"Yup." I reply.

"Good."

She turns back to the hatch that had opened when I had pressed the button. She takes a deep breath and climbs into the hole.

"Guys it's a-" she screams as her voice fades away.

Everyone falls silent.

Everyone bursts into chatter. "Is it a drop off?" Someone says. "What if it's a trap and theirs Grievers down there?" The more at questions where asked the more panic rose inside me. Eventually Newt fixed the problem.

"ENOUGH!" He screams. "We won't know until we go down there, and at this point I don't care if it's a shuck trap. At least I won't die in this bloody maze."

And with that he turns around and goes into the hatch.

"SLIDE!" He screams as his voice fades away.

"Did he say slide?" Someone in the crowd asks.

"JUST GO!!" Multiple people yell, Minho being the loudest.

The boy goes down the chute. As he does he squeals.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Multiple people laugh but one by one they slowly go down the chute. It's my turn once again. I look down the chute. Its walls are covered in a nasty slime of some sort but I don't care. I swing my legs in and my butt hits the metal... hard. But I don't stop even stop the slightest bit, I speed down the chute. The odor of death and vomit fills the air. I gag a little bit. I keep going down the tunnel, going and going. The smell seems to get worse. I fight the urge to puke. I keep going and I can't do it anymore. I try to turn around as much as possible and puke. I don't even stop sliding the slightest bit. Eventually I stop and face back to what is in front of me. In the distance I see a small patch of light. The exit. Slowly the patch of light becomes bigger and bigger until finally I fly out of the chute onto a concrete floor. I let out a moan.

"Thomas, get up." Minho whispers.

"Why are you whisper-"

I stop. Because before me and the other gladers is a box with multiple people in lab coats, with their mouths all wide open. Their eyes seemed to be trained in us. But... Something about them stemmed.... wrong. I squint to see better. Blood stains a woman's coat. I notice multiple people with similar marks.

They've been shot. I think to myself. Just as the thought crosses my mind, their killers come out from behind the box they are in, holding their weapons.