The Transfer | Gally TMR

Chapter Nine

"Just there, you see it, Lily?" Thomas whispered, pointing down the long alley way to where it obviously dead-ended. I don't know why he felt the need to whisper, but the same urge overcame me as I replied.

"Yeah, I see it. What now?" Thomas shrugged for a moment, before his eyes lit up, as though he had had an idea.

"Minho, the Griever piece! Give it to me!" He whisper shouted, as Minho dug a cylinder shaped metal piece of hardware out from his backpack. There were odd wires sticking out from all side of the thing, and in glowing letters, the number "7".

"Where did you guys get that?" I asked curiously.

"Before you got here, one of Thomas' first days actually. We were trapped in the Maze for a night, had an encounter with a Griever. Thomas managed to kill it, and the next morning we came back into the maze and extracted this from the corpse." Minho whispered, handing the contraption over to Thomas. I was in shock for a moment. It seemed near impossible to imagine that at the exact same moment I had been leading such a seemingly dull, repetitive day, Thomas and Minho had almost lost their lives, sprinting through the Maze, killing demonic monsters that threatened to kill them. Monsters that I created.

"Wow..." I murmured, as we slowly inched our way closer to the hole. Minho nodded, only half paying attention to what I had said as we neared the hole. Something that could set us free, or end our lives. And maybe, just maybe, achieve both. As we finally approached the dark door to what may very possibly be our freedom and/or death, we stopped. Thomas held out the Griever part, scanning it in front of the doorway. Suddenly, a green light appeared, and the doorway parted, opening up to a wide open walkway, flanked my two instant drop-offs and a concrete ceiling so high it was hard to say where the walls ended and the ceiling began.

"Wow...this is shucking weird..." Minho murmured under his breath as we walked forward into the giant room. There was another door at the end of the walkway, with a giant, illuminated screen. There were flashing numbers, and empty spaces below it. Almost like a code. Just as we were about to continue, I heard a loud, mechanical whirring noise from behind us. Close behind us. We all three spun around quickly, coming face to face with something I honestly never expected to have met face to face with ever again in my life. The things that Gally and I spent months designing. Alright, to be fair, it was actually Gally's design and project, I only helped with the later, physical simulations, and later design work, but none the less. I had still taken a large part in their creation, and I would hate myself everyday because of it.

"They're blocking our path..." Thomas whispered to Minho. None of us had so much as moved a centimeter. We were staying perfectly still, and so were the two Grievers in front of us. I swallowed hard, nodding.

"Lily, I need you to get behind us, and slowly make your way over towards the doorway. See if you can get it open." Minho whispered to me, only loud enough for me, and me alone, to hear. I looked at him, confusion stricken across my face.

"There's a passcode, Minho. I'm just a new kid, how should I know the code?" I whispered back. Thomas was still a few feet away, standing frozen. Minho looked into my eyes, raising an eyebrow. He knew.

"I think we both know why you're best fitted for the job, Lily. Listen, no matter what, I need you to get that door open, ok? It's our only chance at survival. Oh, but don't worry, your secret is safe with me" Minho said wryly, the smallest of smirks creeping onto his face, before slipping away again, back into its previous state of stoic rage. I nodded, slowly slipping behind Minho and Thomas. I had only just turned around to walk slowly towards the door, when I heard the mechanical noises whir to life, exploding in my eardrums like a carnival of demonic temptation and fury. I cringed just at the sound, cringed as I ran from the noise that had involuntarily faded from my mind as there were screams of fury, and the unsheathing of blades. I heard the metal legs clash against the solid cement with a painstaking jab as they ran at Minho and Thomas, and the dull, passionate thud of their boots as they charged. I didn't look over my shoulder to watch, I didn't want to see them die, and I didn't want to see them suffer. I was doing what I was told to do, and that was the work of a coward. When I finally reached the door, I didn't hesitate to start working on the pass code. There were letters and numbers, now that I had gotten a better look at it, and there were three different pass codes, from the looks of it. I swallowed hard. The first one was 12 spaces. Racking my brain, I finally thought of a possibility. WICKED is Good. Nodding, I typed in the characters, and the password was accepted. I breathed in relief, starting in on the second password. Without turning around, despite the screams of desperation, I finished the second pass code as well. It was the number sequence for the vile of the cure that I had developed in the labs back in Maze B, and sent back to WICKED's Headquarters. The last pass code, however, was stumping me. It wasn't something you typed, it was an audio recording, waiting for me to speak into the screen. Confused, I stayed silent, afraid that the wrong pass code might corrupt the entire system. Sighing, I tried to think of something, but the demanding pressures and screams from behind me became too much. I couldn't do this. I wouldn't abandon them to die. I turned suddenly, running away from the screen at the end of the walkway, sprinting back towards the scene of the horrific dual. One of the Grievers lay dead near the entrance, The other, however, had grabbed a hold of Thomas, and Minho was attempting to hold onto Thomas wile still somehow attacking the Griever. I sprinted as fast as my legs would carry me, until I was only feet away. With every ounce of strength left in my body, I propelled myself onto the Grievers massive, slime covered body. I didn't so much as have time to cringe once I had landed on it's back, before it's legs dropped Thomas to the ground, and had begun reaching for me. I was attempting to hold them off, but I knew I had only a moment or two before it got me. I reached towards the Grievers neck, remembering a very crucial part of their design had been the ability to manually shut them off, in case of emergency. Just as I had figured, there was a small set of wires near the bend of their hairy, thick neck. I grabbed a hold of them, tearing with all my might as I yanked the wires out from the Grievers neck, watching from above as it instantly collapsed to the ground, it's wires still firing and seizing dully in my hand. I was breathing heavily, my heart racing as I climbed off the Griever, Minho and Thomas running up to me to stabilize and congratulate me.

"Holy Shuck that was impressive! Hey are you ok?" Minho said, placing his hands on my shoulders to steady me as I wobbled a bit, nodding as I held my head a bit. I never thought I'd have to kill one of my most prized designs. Sure Gally did the physical drafts and what not, but I designed the scientific part of it. I designed the venom for their stingers, the gears of their mechanics, all of it. And I had just destroyed it, to save a friend. Ironic...

"Lily, that was incredible! It was like you knew exactly what to do!" Thomas said, his smile wide as he gave me a hug. I gave him a small smile, returning the hug as I got a suspicious stare from Minho. I bit my lip, looking away.

"Yeah, lucky guess I suppose." I lead them back over towards the door, thinking back over the possibilities for the third password. Then suddenly, it hit me.

"Guys, could you wait here for a second? I just have to go put in the third password, and then we can all explore it together, ok?" Thomas was about to protest, but Minho stopped him, nodding. I thanked him, running back over towards the giant screen.