little trigger warning! mentions of death ig? i just decided to put one in case.
The sound of eery screeches and shrieks echoed throughout the abandoned shopping center, filling Mae's ears and raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Each of the creatures woeful sounds created such a stir of emotions in her head- fear, curiosity and sympathy. She resorted to tuning them out to the best of her abilities, instead focusing on the safety of Thomas and Minho, and trying to make it back to the rest of the group.
Each of their flashlights could only cover so much of the area, giving the trio only bits and pieces of light that made it near impossible to figure out which directions were safe to escape too. Nevertheless, just standing there wasn't the solution either.
And just like that, Mae, Minho and Thomas were running again. The familiarity of her heartbeat thumping in her ears and her chest burning as she took in minimal amounts of oxygen sprung the melancholy feeling of deja-vu into her mind, the sight of Minho and Thomas sprinting a few feet ahead of her causing the Maze to appear in her mind.
Using the beam of light from the tool in her hand, Mae tried her best to keep up with the former Runners, dodging the stray boxes and debris that were in her path as she ran. They reached the start of the broken metallic staircase they'd used to get down into the lower level, what Mae remembered as an escalator, and Minho and Thomas started climbing up them first.
She felt ashamed to not have been able to match their pace and to slow them down, but she know she didn't have the same training that Minho had, or that Thomas had to summon while he was in the Maze. Minho reached the top, glancing back at his friends with a hurried anxiety, where as Thomas was perched half way to the end of the escalator, holding his hand out firmly for Mae to take.
With her left hand on her backpack strap to keep it from falling, and her right on the railing on the escalator, the girl hurriedly went up the steps, trying her best to ignore the certain disaster that would occur if she moved any slower. Thomas's eyes were pleading with her to go faster, but he didn't say anything as he looked up to Minho, who was waiting restlessly for the pair to reach him.
After what felt like hours of dragging herself up the escalator, Mae finally got close enough to grasp Thomas's hand with hers. The warmth of the girl's hand finally in the safety of his gave him enough strength to help haul her up the rest of the way, knowing how she was still in weak condition from whatever the doctors at WICKED did to her.
They reached the top of the staircase and Mae felt a rush of relief flood throughout her system.
"Thank you," She muttered softly to Thomas, who barely heard her. And if he did, he thought nothing of it and was already starting to move forward in the direction the trio had come from when they first separated from the larger group.
Despite the momentary victory, they still weren't safe, and neither were their friends.
Minho gave Mae a look so full of fear and conflicted emotion that convinced her to push away the exhaustion weighing on her shoulders. This time, both of the boys let Mae get a head start so that she wouldn't fall far behind, and they resumed their sprints, on a mission to find the rest of the group.
With each pounding step forward, Mae could feel the brittle bones in her feet on the edge of shattering from the impact of the speed she was running at. The sound of snarls and malicious growls from the decaying human like figures that had caught up with trio powered up her ambition to keep bolting forward.
They rounded a corner that they had previously turned earlier that night, and as Mae's flashlight darted the beam of light in every direction as it swung with her hands, it landed on the figures of some familiar teenagers.
"Guys, run!" Mae screamed. Although her voice was hoarse, the sound traveled across to the group. Minho and Thomas had spotted them as well, joining in on the warnings to convince their friends to start moving.
Mae watched each of their faces contort in pure terror as they caught a glimpse of the monster-like humane things that were chasing her, Minho and Thomas. She watched as they scrambled to pick up their supplies, reeling with fear. And she watched as Teresa let out an audible sigh of relief when she saw her sister was safe.
Mae couldn't even pause to regather with the others, she just darted forward between them as they followed after. It's not that she didn't want to stop and make sure they were able to start running, it's the fact that she was using all of her built up energy that she had left to keep moving, and if she stopped, she worried she wouldn't be able to start back up again.
They sprinted forward, each of their flashlights casting a beam of light in every different direction. Mae was toward the front of the herd now, glancing behind her to make sure the others were trailing behind. When she looked over her shoulder, she not only saw the Gladers, but also the mass group of diseased and bloodthirsty creatures that were after them.
Whipping her head back around so she wouldn't have to stare at them any longer, Mae slowed her pace slightly as they approached yet another escalator. She threw her arms forward, latching onto both sides of the railing with her worn hands. She used them to help haul herself up the steps, hearing her friends panting and yelling behind her.
"What the hell are those things?" Winston exclaimed, his voice just barely carrying over the sounds of the said creatures scrambling up the escalator after them.
"I don't know, just keep going!" Thomas called in response, being the first to reach the top of the longer staircase. He quickly made an executive decision to turn left, and the whole group finally caught up.
Mae's eyes widened as Thomas skidded to a halt. She did the same, almost crashing right into him, but she held her hands out in front of her to lessen the blow. Her hands were clasped onto his shoulders now, and she had yet to let go. When she looked past him, her heart rate quickened at the sight of yet another individual of the same species of beings that had been terrorizing them so far.
It moved with a disturbing beauty, intriguing yet horrifying, like a car crash you couldn't look away from. Mae felt herself frozen in place, unable to tear her eyes from the terrifying sight. It reminded her of the first time she saw a Griever, the last night in the Glade, how she'd been so petrified Gally had to shove her out of harms way.
She hadn't even realized when Aris picked up a stray metal bat he had found, holding it up in front of him threateningly. The boy practically shook with fear, yet Mae held such an admiration for him. After all, the bravest people are always the most filled with fear.
Still, everyone knew it was too dangerous for him to approach the creature and it would surely have consequences.
"Aris, no!"
The creature grew closer, and Aris still did not back down. Up until that last moment, Mae was sure he would get tackled and mauled by the merciless thing. But instead, Aris took off at a start, holding the bat near to the ground. When the zombie-like monster tried to charge at him, the bat tripped it and sent it flying to the ground between Teresa and Mae. The group parted as not to touch it, and it began thrashing around on the floor, squealing like a pig.
Avoiding the one on the ground, the Gladers quickly scrambled for a new way out. Thomas turned to the first thing he could find, another escalator, and took a few steps upward. Teresa was close behind, with the decaying figure still on the floor beside where she had stood. Mae, Minho, Newt, Frypan, Jack and Aris were about to follow, but out of the shadows more creatures appeared, blocking their path to the escalator.
"Go around," Thomas called, taking another step up the escalator.
Mae nodded, turning swiftly and urging her friends forward. There was another escalator a few yards away, parallel to the one Thomas and Teresa were traveling up. She figured that was their best bet.
Minho and Jack reached the base of the steps first, with Frypan not far behind. Mae and Newt were trying their best to keep up, but with Newt's bad leg and Mae's compromised health, it was easier said than done.
Jack stood at the bottom of the escalator, ushering his friends upward. Minho and Frypan started climbing the steps, glancing back down every once and a while to make sure that the others were with them.
When Newt and Mae finally reached their friends, they started hastily climbing up the escalator. Jack let Mae go first, and she flashed him an appreciative look swiftly, letting him know his effort did not go unnoticed. She turned away from the smaller boy and continued up the steps, her feet feeling so heavy she could just barely make her way.
Suddenly, a gut wrenching sound wrung in Mae's ears. She turned around to see poor Jack with an undead looking human latched onto him. It dragged him by his arms, immune to his screams of terror.
Mae let out a gasp, her friends higher up on the escalator noticing the situation as well.
"Jack!" She half-yelped, half-whispered as she lunged forward down the steps.
Mae might not have known this boy at all, in fact, she had just learned his name a few days ago, but she could not handle someone dying when she knew she could help.
She tried to reach out to take him by his feet, but the creature had pulled him too far out of her grasp. Just as she was just almost going to wrap her hands around Jack's ankles, another figure shot out of the darkness, crashing into the one that held the boy so firmly.
It sent him barrelling into the glass railing that bordered the upper level and kept people from falling down to the lower. It shattered into pieces, leaving Jack grasping onto the edge with two creatures latched onto his feet, making it a challenge for him to pull himself up.
"Frypan!" He yelled out in anguish to his friend.
Mae felt someone brush past her toward Jack, and she know instantly that it was the boy he had called for. He grabbed his arm, trying to hoist him back over the remaining railing with all his strength. Mae quickly joined Fry, gripping Jack's hand with as much power as she could muster.
Just when they thought they had him, yet another monster threw itself from the other part of the railing, falling down to the lower level and taking Jack with it. Mae felt his arm slip from her fingers, and all her breath left her chest for a moment.
She turned her head slowly to look at Frypan. The former Cook's lips were parted in sorrow, his eyes wide and empty as his gaze remained on the darkness where his friend had disappeared into.
The pair stood there for a moment, unmoving. Mae's mind was swimming with all the possibilities of the things that could be happening to Jack at that moment. Would the fall have killed him? Maybe they're ripping him to shreds right there? Or maybe, he'd escaped and was hiding alone somewhere?
Whatever it was, she prayed that it was a painless death.
A hand wrapped latched onto her shoulder, pulling her from the darkness of her mind.
"We've gotta go Mae," Minho spoke, his voice soft yet urgent at the same time. The girl nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat and turning back up towards the top of the escalator, while Newt urged Frypan to continue moving.
HEYYYYY SO HOW YALL DOIN? HOPE YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER! It took we way too long to write but that was only because I am lazy lol. Can we talk abt how cute and amazing thomas is my bby ugh. Also RIP Jack :( Forgot he existed but I think his death kind of symbolized the transition from the first to the second part in a way. Ugh I'm not ready to write the next one, I'm going to be sad. Thank you so much for the love and support!