Hope for Us (NEWT) [COMPLETED]

Ch 50 - Escaping the Maze

~Sara~

She stared at the initials wide-eyed. No one said a word as they watched all of the beetle blades begin to scatter away.

"It's her," Sara whispered, and Newt gave her a timidly hopeful look. "The plan is on," she said, nodding at him.

Chuck frowned and tilted his head to the side. "But what's the plan, though? How are we gonna get out?"

"Same way I got in," was Sara's response.

"Shouldn't someone give a pep talk or something?" Minho asked, out of the blue.

"Go ahead," said Newt.

"Be careful, don't die," were Minho's words of advice.

"Great, we're all bloody inspired," Newt muttered and rolled his eyes.

"I'll do you a better one," said Sara.

Newt flashed her a smile. "Please. You're the boss, love," he said as he stepped aside.

Sara turned to the crowd, raised her hand, and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Alright, listen up! No one's gonna have to sacrifice themselves, alright? I promise, we're all getting out of here safely. Tonight is when it all ends. And we're going out there to fight the Grievers, but don't worry, none of you will die. So you better take your butts out there and fight—I'm not accepting cowards! I promised to get you all out, and that's exactly what we're doing right now."

There was silence for a few seconds, then an uproar of shouts and war cries filled the atmosphere. Everyone raised their weapons in the air.

"That better?" she asked Newt and smirked at Minho.

"Uh... yah," said Newt, who stood there, gawking at her.

She knew it was too much, and knowing herself, she was acting way more courageous than she truly was. Relieved that Rebecca was quite literally saving their existence, she still felt self-conscious as she realized just how dependent of Rebecca she was.

Minho scoffed. "Mine was better."

"Let's go!" Sara shouted, and they set foot in the Maze, jogging past the massive, unclosing doors.

Newt and Sara took the lead, but they kept the pace at a jog so that he wouldn't have to strain his leg so much. Sara really hoped it didn't hurt him as bad as his face was telling her.

They made sure that Chuck was running right beside them too. He was to be protected at all costs.

"You okay?" Sara asked Newt. He breathed in and out rapidly as they moved along, the others in tow. Sara knew it wasn't because he was already exhausted, but because he was in pain.

"Yah, haven't really lost my Runner sense," he replied in a joking manner, but Sara could see the sadness in his eyes. "Are you ready for this?"

"I am," she replied. "I trust that trying to escape the complex itself will be harder than escaping this Maze."

Led by Minho next, they rounded the first corner, jogging across the corridor, leading to a two-way end. They turned left, then right, they took another right, and then... they spotted them.

A group of Grievers were huddled together near the Griever Hole, forbidding the entrance, but also seemingly just... waiting. As if they were already expecting the Gladers to get there. The Gladers stood still, hoping that they wouldn't alert them into chasing after them.

But then Alby went entirely off the rails of the plan. "I'll be the distraction, you guys escape," he told them before rushing to the front of the crowd.