LIMERENCE ﹐ the maze runner.

18

Thomas and Clara seemed to stare at the spot where Minho had run off.

The horrifying noises of the Grievers grew louder and louder.

Thomas turned and looked at Alby, then he pressed his fingers to Alby's neck, checking for a pulse.

"He still alive?"Clara squeaked, then cringed at how scared she sounded.

But she was scared. Scared of dying, scared of Thomas dying, scared of Minho dying, scared of Alby dying. She was just scared.

"Yeah,"Thomas answered. "We can't leave him here to die."

"Thomas, I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I'm not even sure if we're going to make it out of here alive,"Clara said.

"We're going to make it, okay?"Thomas replied.

Clara stared at Thomas for a second, then nodded hesitantly.

"Clara, help me over here,"Thomas commanded.

Clara nodded, then reached down with Thomas to grab Alby's arms. Each of them took an arm, and tried to pull Alby up.

They groaned as they picked up the dead weight, straining themselves to keep him up.

"Thomas, I can't,"Clara breathed, trying her best to keep Alby up. "Oh, God, Thomas."

Apparently, Thomas couldn't hold Alby up either, and they both fell over.

Clara groaned as Alby fell to the side.

"Thomas, what are we gonna do?"Clara asked.

"Let's try something else,"Thomas said. "Let's drag him."

"Okay,"Clara said.

They started to drag Alby ten feet or so, until they realized he was too heavy.

"Thomas, we have to leave him,"Clara said. "Otherwise we'll all be dead."

"There must be a solution,"Thomas reasoned as he sat back against the wall he had leaned Alby against.

"Like what?!"Clara snapped.

"The walls,"Thomas said.

Clara furrowed her eyebrows. "What about the walls?"

Thomas walked a few feet along the wall and found a thick growth of ivy. He grabbed a vine and wrapped his hand around it.

He pulled it, and it came unattached from the wall.

Thomas started to test the strength of the ivy, pulling on it with all his might.

"Let's hang him up with the ivy, so that the Grievers can't get him,"Thomas explained.

"Thomas, are you sure?"she asked. She wasn't too fond of the walls since that day.

"Well, we don't have any other options!"Thomas said over the noises of the Grievers. "Come on!"

They grabbed vines and frantically started wrapping them around Alby's arms tightly.

"What about his circulation?"Clara asked, worried.

"It's worth the risk!"Thomas decided.

A few minutes passed as they tied Alby with the ivy when Thomas said,"Clara, start climbing."

"Thomas-"Clara started.

"Just do it!"Thomas commanded, and so she started climbing, taking a deep breath.

She clutched onto the ivy, using that to heave herself up onto the wall

It was difficult climbing the wall, but the adrenaline kicked in and Clara ignored the fact that her arms felt as if they were on fire.