[ ELECTRA ]
Content Warning: Graphic Fight Scenes.
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Electra raced forward, her eyes darting to each Griever in front of her. The monsters started to sprint toward her, their legs piercing into the stone floor. When the horrid smell of burnt metal greeted her, Electra quickly swerved to the left in an attempt to clear the middle of the hallway.
Some of the Grievers followed her, while the others were focused on the other Gladers who were charging into the hall. Still, Electra found herself outnumbered more than she'd ever been before.
Just before crashing into the closest Griever, Electra slid under the monster and went for the second one. The first Griever seemed oblivious to her sliding under it, and it went for the Gladers behind her.
As Electra evaded the second Griever's saw blade arm, the realization finally set in. She'd been able to slide underneath the Griever. She hadn't been able to do that since before the Ending.
Electra kicked the saw blade arm away from her, causing the Griever to trip. While the monster was distracted, Electra climbed up one of its arms and then stabbed her knife into its head. The creature screamed in agony and tried to shake her off, but she twisted the knife in the wound. The Griever fell forward and she tumbled off of it. By the time she got back onto her feet, another Griever was snarling in her face.
She cast a quick glance at the one on the floor, and it lay motionless. She narrowed her eyes. This was too easy. Had the Grievers devolved?
The new Griever waited for her to make the first move, and she darted forward and threw herself at one of the Griever's arms, relishing in satisfaction at the crack she heard. The metal leg hadn't broken off, but once the monster tried to put weight on it, the limb crumbled under the pressure and the Griever fell to the floor.
Electra was prepared to deliver the final blow to her second Griever when her attention was diverted by a scream just past her monster. She hadn't noticed the utter chaos ensuing around her, but she saw Newt on the floor, an arm raised to cover his face, while a Griever loomed over him.
She stepped onto her Griever to run over to Newt but the monster roared back to life. It jumped up, sending her forward and landing on the stone. She fell onto her knees and rolled forward, trying to stop herself before she got dizzy. Once stopped on the floor, Electra cringed at the scrapes she felt on her knees and palms.
Electra looked up, and Newt was off the floor and hugging one of the Griever's limbs. The monster started to vigorously shake the boy off of him, and eventually, it was successful. The Griever flung Newt's body across fifteen feet, and the blond boy crumpled onto the floor. The monster stalked up to Newt's motionless frame.
She didn't have time to think through her actions. Electra raced forward and before the Griever could touch Newt she slashed it across the back. The monster roared out, spinning to face her and spitting at her. Electra blinked through the mucus now covering her entire face and grabbed onto one of the Griever's legs.
Again, the Griever tried shaking her off, but she climbed up its body until her feet sunk into its soft back. Just as she was about to stab it in the head, the monster tripped backwards. Electra shoved her knife into its body to keep herself from falling off. The Griever screeched as her knife was dragged down its back, and the monster fell to the floor.
Electra groaned on impact, before looking up and seeing Newt standing just beyond the Griever, putting most of his weight on his good leg. She noticed one of the monster's limbs laying on its own just beside the monster before Newt took his spear and brought it down square in the middle of the monster's head.
She pulled herself up slowly, flinging some mucus off of her body before Newt limped up to her.
"You saved me?" Newt asked, and Electra could barely process the words he was saying. She looked in the distance and saw Thomas, Teresa, and Chuck standing at the edge of the Cliff. Teresa dipped just below the edge before Electra turned back towards Newt.
"You're welcome," Electra said breathlessly, her head whipping back and forth to try to take in everything that was happening around her. "Be careful. Maybe the Griever isn't dead yet."
Electra put her hands on her knees in an attempt to catch her breath. This was the second time she'd saved this boy's life. She remembered when she'd been controlled to save Newt. Would she have saved him without the control? She wasn't sure if she would have. So technically, Electra reckoned she'd only saved this boy's life once.
Still, why had she helped him? Why hadn't she jumped in to help any other boy? What about Minho?
Minho. Where was he? She wandered away from Newt and frantically looked around the battlefield. She saw mostly boys' bodies littered across the floor. Most of the Grievers still seemed to be fighting, although some of them were missing legs or suffered deep stab wounds.
Electra forced herself to look at the dead bodies on the floor, needing to see if Minho was one of them. Where was he? She spun around, blinking through the madness in an attempt to see better.
Then, a Griever slowly stalked up to her, pulling her away from her search for her best friend. Electra wiped her knife on her pant leg and bolted forward. The monster in front of her was already decorated with multiple stab wounds glittering on its face and chest but acted as if it was perfectly fine. Had this monster fought one of the boys who were dead on the ground?
The monster charged at her, swiping with its sword arm. Electra tried to evade it, but the Griever was able to swipe its weapon right across her right cheek. Electra collapsed to the floor, reaching a hand up to her cheek and feeling her hand becoming coated with blood. When the Griever loomed over her, Electra wiped her hand on her pants and fell onto her back.
The Griever roared in her face, and Electra screamed as she took her knife in both hands and stabbed upwards through the monster's mouth. The Griever instantly recoiled, but Electra's knife was stuck in the Griever's mouth. The monster lifted her off the floor, and Electra tried to wiggle her knife free.
Luckily, the Griever continued screaming and didn't chomp down on her when she was precariously close to its mouth. Electra brought her other hand up and pushed against the roof of the Griever's mouth. The knife loosened and she fell to the floor, landing awkwardly on her elbow.
She cursed under her breath before the Griever stabbed into the floor beside her. Electra kicked out with one of her legs, and the monster lost its footing, falling on top of her.
This time, the Griever viciously snapped at her, trying to physically eat her alive. Electra squirmed backwards, waving her knife back and forth wildly and without any strategy. She just needed to get out from under this monster.
Electra tried stabbing into where the monster's eyes would be, then kept bringing her knife back up and down multiple times. She could feel her hands start to shake, and her mind became focused on the shaking. She remembered how she felt when the Doors stopped closing. How she couldn't stop shaking, how her mind refused to cooperate, how endless tears poured out of her eyes.
The feeling was all too familiar. A panic attack was rising from the bottom of her stomach, and it started to cloud her mind. After about 20 deep stab wounds, the Griever on top of her stopped moving, but she still struggled to get out from underneath it. She took her shaky hands and rested them on the Griever's head, trying to push herself out.
When that didn't work, she began furiously clawing at the stone floor. She felt her nails chipping, and the tips of her fingers scraping on the rough floor, but eventually, she was able to pull herself out from under the monster.
She didn't have time to look at the wounds on her fingers, her mind became consumed with the shakiness her body felt. Electra stared blankly ahead, and the world spun around her. She forced her hands into fists, and the scrapes on her fingertips burned as she pressed them into her palm.
Then, Electra's worst fear started playing out in front of her. It caused her vision to focus, and she screamed as soon as she rendered what was happening.
Across the battlefield a Griever kicked Minho, sending him flying even further than Newt had been kicked. Minho struggled to get up. A second monster was fighting another Glader and hadn't noticed Minho behind it. Before Minho could get back on his feet the other Griever kicked him the other way.
This time, Minho couldn't find the strength to get up, and simply lay motionless on the floor. Electra's vision became hazy at the edges but she pushed forward into a dash. She screamed out to him as the first Griever crawled up to him.
Electra avoided the other battles happening around her, and her eyes never left Minho's crumpled form on the floor. He couldn't be dead. Electra couldn't process the fact.
Then, Minho lifted his head to look at the Griever that was approaching him. Her best friend tried to crawl away from the monster, but he weakly collapsed back onto the floor.
A Griever snarled and a boy screamed to Electra's left, but she ignored it and kept running forward. She screamed out Minho's name again, and her eyes blurred with tears. The tears quickly crashed onto her face, mixing with the deep gash wound on her cheek.
The Griever was getting closer to him. She wasn't going to make it in time. There was no way. Electra tried to push herself to go faster, but it was useless.
Her best friend was about to die right in front of her and there was nothing she could do.
Electra wanted to close her eyes and save herself from having to see Minho be killed right in front of her, but she couldn't physically tear herself away from the scenario in front of her.
Just as the Griever brought out one of its arms, getting ready to deliver the final blow to her best friend, it stumbled backwards before crashing into the floor. It lay motionless right beside Minho.
Electra dove forward when she reached Minho, cupping his face in her hands, then somewhat retracting them when she noticed she was getting her blood on him.
Minho looked up to see her, before letting out a long breath. "Please tell me we're not dead."
Electra fought through the trembling tears and supported Minho until he was standing. She threw herself at him, and he welcomed her into a deep embrace. Electra felt her hands shake around his back, and she rested her head against his chest.
"You were about to die, and there was nothing I could've done," Electra whimpered, her voice catching on every other word as the panic attack threatened to seize her once more.
"I'm okay. Electra, I'm okay. I'm alive." Minho brought her face up to look at him. "They must've finally shut off the Maze. What happened to your cheek?"
Electra pulled away from Minho, looking down at her wounded fingertips, then bringing a hand up to her cheek. "Those Grievers fought like hell."
Minho draped an arm over her shoulders as she wiped her face with her forearm. Electra blinked a few times through the blurriness and finally was able to take in the scene around her.
Thirteen Grievers lay motionless on the floor, with their limbs scattered across the battlefield, and Electra wondered where the other two monsters could've gone. Even more boys lay dead on the floor as well, but Electra couldn't recognize anyone among the casualties.
Minho looked straight ahead, focusing on the Cliff's edge where the rest of the alive Gladers started to crowd around. Electra wondered if Minho noticed how many dead bodies littered the floor and then wondered if he felt to blame for all of their deaths.
Minho pushed his way to the front of the crowd, and Electra followed him. She peered over the Cliff and noticed an ivy vine rope hanging off of the edge. Minho must've made these when he and the Runners had come out here earlier that morning.
Electra expected the Gladers to wait for Newt's commands, but all the Gladers looked toward Minho. They all seemed to be waiting for him to climb down. Minho cast a glance back at the Cliff hallway, before reaching down to grab the ivy rope and swinging himself off the ledge. Electra went next, putting her knife into its sheath before grabbing onto the ivy. Other Gladers followed behind her.
Once Electra reached the bottom of the ivy rope, she jumped the rest of the way, and her knees buckled the tiniest bit once reaching the floor. Thankfully, she didn't fall. Electra noticed Thomas, Teresa, and Chuck standing in front of a computer, and a hallway to its left that ominously welcomed them.
Electra quickly tried to take in her surroundings. They were in a ten-foot tall cylinder and besides Teresa's flashlight, the entire room was pitch black. She could, however, notice the forms of two dead Grievers on the floor.
"Minho!" Thomas's voice was filled with relief. "Are you okay? What about everybody else?"
Electra caught up with Minho and supported some of his weight as he let in long breaths, "We lost a ton of people... It's a mess of blood up there... then they just all shut down. I can't believe it actually worked."
Thomas started counting the Gladers who'd survived, and Electra copied his actions. Including herself, there were twenty-one Gladers. They'd started with forty-two. Electra felt dizzy.
Teresa's flashlight drifted across each of the Gladers, momentarily blinding Electra as it glowed right in her eyes. Electra blinked a few times and tried to follow the light as it waved over several metal boxes. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the boxes, and she started to recognize them as coffins of some sort. She wondered if that's where the Grievers slept. Or, since they were essentially robots, where they recharged. The dizziness Electra felt turned into nausea.
"The rest?" Thomas asked in a small voice.
"Half of us. Dead," Newt said in a similar small voice.
Everyone fell into a sombre silence. Electra wasn't sure what to say. She'd never known any of the Gladers besides the ones that had survived, but she still didn't feel right about so many of them dying. She wondered if she hadn't ignored everything to try to save Minho if she could've saved another boy's life before the monsters had been shut off.
Minho stopped leaning on her and stood as tall as he could. "You know what? Half might've died, but half of us shucking lived. And nobody got stung; just like Thomas thought. We've gotta try to get out of here."
Electra tried to push away the thought of so many boys dying. The other Gladers around her didn't seem convinced by Minho's words.
Newt let out a deep breath. "Let's just get out of here. Right now."
"Where do we go?" Minho asked.
"I heard a door open down that hall," Thomas said.
Electra carried herself towards the hallway. Minho had the same idea, and they walked side by side until they reached the hallway, their fingers brushing.
Minho slipped into the hallway first, and his voice seemed too confident for the current situation. "Well, let's go then."
Electra followed him down the tunnel and hoped that the Creators were at the end of it instead of more Grievers or even possibly something worse. She felt the burning pain in her cheek, as well as the scrapes all over her body, and hoped that the worst of it all was finally behind her.
Maybe they were leaving the Maze for real. For some reason, Electra thought it was too good to be true.
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A/N: happy tuesday :)) i love writing battle scenes tbh even tho sometimessss i get a bit carried away lmao!! lmk what u think
also i'm not sure if the fight scenes were super graphic but i just wanted to put a warning just in case lol !! but if you couldn't read it basically they just fought the grievers, then thomas and teresa turned them off, and then electra, minho, and the others dropped down the cliff :))