It had been a long night for River. She spent it lying beside the doors, desperate to be there right when they opened. She had almost convinced herself that they were coming back.
"Come on," she mumbled under her breath, "it's Minho, Thomas, and Alby. There's no way they're not going to be there." It was hard to convince herself when the looks on the faces of other Gladers didn't exactly back her up.
Finally, the doors gave a giant groan and began to pull apart. River scrambled up off of the ground and stood facing the widening gap. Other Gladers had begun to take their place behind her, hoping to see some familiar faces on the other side.
When River was able to see into the maze, the sight she was faced with plunged her heart into her stomach. There was no one there. Sighing and shaking their heads, the other Gladers slumped back to get breakfast. River stayed. Forcing tears back, she spun on her heels and started walking towards the map room.
"River! What the bloody hell are you doing?" Newt shouted from behind her, having an idea of where she was going. He ran up to her, hopping a little bit because of his limp.
"I'm going in." She stated simply, refusing to turn around and look at him as she walked faster to get her gear.
"To the maze?" Newt furrowed his brow, following quickly behind her.
"Yes, to the maze."
"No you're not." Newt chuckled, finding it amusing.
"Yes, I am."
"No, you're not." Newt said, a bit firmer this time. River stopped suddenly and turned around to face Newt.
"I have to go in there. I have to find them!" She threw her arms in the air.
"River. They're gone. There's nothing you can do about it now." It was obvious Newt was trying to hide his pain as he put on a brave face. More for his own benefit than River's.
"You don't know that. No one knows that for sure." River took a step closer to the tall boy in front of her. "And no one is going to find out unless I go in."
"River, let's talk about this!" Newt pleaded.
"There's nothing to talk about, Newt." River turned and started walking to the map room again.
Gearing up, River found her backpack a bit heavier. Either that or it was the giant weight of pressure on her shoulders. She had no idea what she was doing, but she knew she had to do it. There was still a chance that they were alive, and if they were, River was certain that she would find them.
Exiting the map room and walking out into the rest of the Glade, River noticed that almost all eyes were on her. Newt must have told everyone what she was doing. She groaned under her breath and ran towards an open gap in the walls to her right.
As soon as her feet landed on the maze floor, she felt like she was in a foreign country. The sound from the Glade died out, and she was met with complete silence. She immediately felt terrified, it was completely different being on her own.
Her footsteps echoed on the concrete floor as she ran through the passageways, her breath shortening as she pushed off of her feet with every step. She didn't have a set path to run in, she just turned down different corners and tried to remember the path she had taken to get there. Eventually, she lost track of where she was.
She had been running for over two hours and she realized that she wouldn't be able to find her way back on her own. Every turn she took looked the exact same. Even the ivy on the walls of the maze were in familiar patterns across the stone. She wondered, for a moment, if she was going in circles.
Her lungs felt like they were on fire. But she had good motivation and was able to keep running. She only ever slowed down to take swigs of water from her water bottle, and a few times to check to see if the sound she heard came from her imagination or not.
The walls were going to close in about an hour. She was well aware of that. But she was so driven to find the boys that she didn't even think about heading back. As the air started to cool, signifying that the day was going to end soon, River heard something.
"We're not making it back!"
"Calm down, we'll find a way out of this."
"Don't you get it, shuckface? We're lost!" The voice spat venom through it's teeth as it continued. " I have no idea what part of the maze we're in now! We're never going to get back to the Glade, we're never going to escape this place, and I'm never going to see River again!"
An unmeasurable amount of relief flooded River's chest. She somehow had just wandered out into the maze and stumbled upon her friends. She rounded the corner, walking towards the voices and saw Thomas and Minho standing there, arguing.
They were covered in blood. It almost looked like someone had painted it on them. Like the grievers were the paintbrush and they were the canvas. Their clothes were ripped in places and sweat was dripping down their faces. They both looked exhausted.
"Thomas, Minho." River smiled, walking towards them. The boy's necks snapped towards the sound of her voice so quickly, that River would be surprised if they didn't get whiplash.
"River." Minho exhaled, his eyes widening in shock. Thomas stood there, speechless.
"Hey!" The grin across River's face was stretched so wide it almost looked creepy. No other words were exchanged before River and Minho both ran up to each other. It was as if everything that they wanted to say was communicated through this hug. Minho had his face in River's hair, breathing heavily against it.
"I thought you were dead." River whispered. Minho didn't respond, he simply hugged her tighter.
"Yeah, this is a great reunion and all, but we really need to get going." Thomas scratched the back of his head awkwardly as the two refused to budge. "Guys?"
Something inaudible was mumbled from River as they continued to stay in each other's arms.
"Guys!" Thomas shouted. The two woke from their trance suddenly, jumping away from each other and facing Thomas. "How the hell are we getting out of here?"
"Wait." River paused, sudden realization hitting her. Someone was missing. She couldn't get her mouth to form the words, so she just spoke one. "Alby?"
The boy's eyes saddened as Thomas just shook his head slowly, not making direct eye contact with her. River cleared her throat. She knew that they didn't have time to mourn his death just yet. So she focused her attention on escape.
"How are we getting out of here?"
"The only way we can. Run." Minho lead the two runners around corners and down corridors. River didn't feel any pain this time. She was too elated with the fact that Minho and Thomas were alive. She found herself smiling sometimes and had to force herself to wipe it off of her face.
Half an hour later, they saw the doors to the Glade. That little motivation caused them all to break out into an even faster sprint, racing through the door and out into the busy field.
They were gasping for breath. Thomas was bent over, hands on his knees, staring at the ground.
"Oh my..." A young boy, about thirteen, widened his eyes when he saw them, dropping the plank of wood that was in his calloused hands. "They're back!"
________________________
Author's Note
Aww we've got some Rinho (Rinho/Miver/___?) fluff in there. They seem pretty happy to see each other, huh? And we've also got Alby's death. Probably not very shocking to some of you, but maybe to others.
This story is gaining views like crazy and that makes me really happy tbh. I'm surprised people are actually reading this.
I've also got a Stiles Stilinski fanfic that I'm writing. If you click on my profile you can find it. It follows the story of Teen Wolf and I added in another character (like most stiles fanfics).
So yeah, let me know what you think in the comments! :) Thanks again for reading! <3
Marin