Bittersweet → TMR, Newt

( xv ) THE MAZE

Rising from the ground, she positioned her hand in front of her, narrowing her eyes and concentrating as much as she could. Remembering the visions she had, what she was capable of. The Griever cried out painfully, cowering back from her. Red substance fell from her nose and she stopped when the creature slumped to the ground lifelessly.

Catching her breath, Victoria jogged away from the corpse and exhaled with relief. Focusing her hearing, she could faintly hear male grunts. Hoping they belong to her friends, she followed the sound and turned a corner to see Minho and Thomas trapped between a wall and a Griever.

Following the same process, she used her ability to neglect the Griever, much to the boys' shock. They snapped their heads round to see their friend controlling the creature, blood on her face. Once the Griever was unconscious, they approached her and held her steady as she had a moment of weakness. Probably from using her power.

"Woah, what the shuck was that?" Minho was the first to speak, staring down at his friend with disbelief.

"That can wait, look!" Thomas pointed out the second Griever that had decided to join their mini reunion. As Victoria straightened her posture to fight off that one too, Minho shook his head and pulled her away.

"Not this time." The three of them ran, the two boys supporting Victoria who was still weak but managed to keep up. "It's changing, come on, come on, come on!"

"This section's closing, we can lose him down here."

Wrapping his arm around the girl's waist, Minho got the two of them to the end of the closing tunnel of concrete. Only to see Thomas hadn't budged. "Thomas! What're you waiting for? Get out of there!" He shouted.

"Come on!" Thomas challenged the Griever to his left and it shrieked, bouncing towards the boy who started running between the concrete with the creature on his tail. Minho continued egging him on to hurry. It was a close call, but the raven boy threw himself into the clear a second before the Griever was squished between the walls.

▃▃▃▃

"GUYS, GET UP!" Chuck called out as the doors started clanking open. The company of Newt, Chuck, Frypan and Adrian had expanded to more boys waiting with them. They all got up from the ground and looked into the entrance in hopes of seeing their friends waiting. They didn't.

"I told you, Chuck," Newt placed his hand on the young boy's back. "They're not coming back." Holding back his tears, he turned and slowly started trailing away. He wanted to scream and punch and cry at the realisation. He was never going to see her again. Nor his two best friends. Even the bloody Greenie who was too curious for his own good.

"No way. . ."

"Yeah!" The sound of Zart and Chuck caused him and the other boys to stop and look back their way. In the distance, they saw Alby being carried by Minho and Thomas. The other Gladers ushered them to lay the First in Command down as soon as they had stepped foot into safety.

"Where is she? Where's Victoria?" Newt went to grab Minho's top. "If you've shucking left her—"

"It's okay!" Her voice chimed through his ears and everybody turned to see her stumbling through the doors wearing a small smile. "Slow coach, sorry."

Huffing out, Newt threw his arms around her, so tight she might've suffocated. "Why the hell would you do that to me?" He cupped her face in his hands, examining the dried blood and dirt. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"