~Y/N's POV~
I sighed to myself as I once again found comfort. Thomas and I were covered by the blanket because I reasoned that if I was cold, Thomas must undoubtedly be as well. I smiled to myself as I stared at the flowers that Newt had given me, and then I slowly but surely drifted off to sleep, ready to take on whatever obstacles awaited me the following day.
I felt my consciousness change from what I thought to have been comfortable sleep to something much more profound, a trip down memory lane.
Out of all the memories I've briefly dreamed of, this one felt as though it would stand out considerably more than the others, with a sense of importance concealed in it. It felt significantly different this time, felt significantly more connected, and like it was a continuation.
...
"I understand that we have never agreed on anything, but this is Newt we're talking about. You and Thomas ought to be aware of the repercussions before making any stupid choices, don't you think?" I could only make out one familiar voice in the darkness, it was a sweet voice, full of malice and treachery. Although I felt as if I knew who the voice belonged to, I was unable to identify them. I could also hear the echoes of my own voice, and even though I couldn't make anything out, I simply had the overwhelming sensation that it was a conversation between myself and a girl.
...
However, the very same voice spoke once more, "We are taking these actions to save lives. You must consider more than just your family and yourself. Consider the lives we can impact and the planet we can rebuild. You of all people should be aware of the necessity of thinking things through before acting, Y/N." The voice began to fade at the conclusion of that phrase, and the more it grew inaudible, the more I could hear my own fiery voice screaming in response, but I was unable to understand a word beyond the obvious rage.
...
Before the other voice completely vanished, I briefly heard it say, "Without you, he will die. That is something we both understand, as does he." Then the spotlight turned to my own voice, which I heard loud and clear this time, "When WICKED ends, we will decide. All of its illusions would be quickly destroyed if Thomas and I weren't calling the shots. And without us, who were once seen to be the most trustworthy individuals in this place, everything would fall apart. Without us, this place would just be an overflowing sewage system. There is no hope as long as this place is up and running. Now, if you keep quiet, maybe, just maybe, after we rebuild it into something less corrupted, this place won't have to reek of bullshit. We just need to give ourselves a little more time; and if you love Thomas so much, then help us avoid getting caught."
...
I instantly snapped out of what I believe to have been a memory as I slowly woke up, groaning. I was awakened by both the sound of shuffling and the sensation of being shaken, "Thomas?"
When I opened my eyes, the brunette was standing there with a lovely smile on his face, saying, "Sorry, I thought it'd be best to wake you up before we'd get out of this thing to head right into the maze."
I shifted from a lying to a sitting position and nodded a little before realizing Thomas sounded like he had been up for some time, so I asked him, "Did you not get much sleep last night?"
"I did, although I was a little uneasy when I awoke from a dream and didn't feel like going back to sleep." He responded quietly, briefly turning his head away.
I decided to try and get an answer out of him after noticing his body language, "Let's strike a bargain here. You share your dream with me, and I'll share mine. Fair enough?"
"You were in it," he reluctantly said after nodding and readjusting his shoulders a little.
"Are you sure this wasn't a memory?" I asked, staring at him to let him know I was listening and was all ears.
He shook his head, "No. This took place in the Glade. Grievers were everywhere, so I lost sight of you and then realized you were gone after hearing only a scream. At that point, as I opened my eyes, I realized I had woken up and that everything had been a dream. I was terrified because it had felt so real."
I took it all in and turned to Thomas with a pitiful look on my face, saying, "I'm still here, the Grievers can't get rid of me that easily, you should know that." In an effort to lighten the mood and reassure him, I smiled a little and made a small joke.
Before asking, "Now tell me what your dream was about," he grinned a little.
We could hear footsteps coming toward the slammer before I had a chance to respond and begin what I had assumed to be a memory rather than a dream.
As Minho appears and gives us both a warm smile, I relaxed, "Big day, Greenie. Are you sure you two don't wanna sit this one out?"
"Come on man, just get us out of here," Thomas grinned as he shook his head. Minho extended his hand to assist the two of us as he unlocked the gate to the slammer. We briefly caught up with one another and agreed that we should all gather at the maze entrance soon and get ready to go. We momentarily say our goodbyes and seem to be able to manage our anxiety as we dash out to take care of our necessities before heading out.
The thrill and fear swept through my entire body as I hurriedly grabbed some breakfast and shoved it down my throat. I kept the lunch Frypan had packed for me close to me as I made my way over to my room in the Homestead to change out of my filthy clothes and get ready to run the maze.
I swiftly opened the door to my room and noticed that my surroundings had changed from when I had last been there. Once I turned to look at my bed, I could see the silhouette of someone sleeping soundly beneath the covers, their breathing steady and noticeable. I saw that certain objects had been moved and adjusted from their original positions.
I hurried up to the bed to expose the culprit and ripped the blankets off out of rage. When the black-haired girl's blue eyes met mine, I was a little startled and taken aback. She asked, "Y/N?" in a groggy voice, evidently bewildered and partly asleep because I assume she hadn't even had time to register what had occurred.
"What are you doing in here?" I climbed off the bed and just stared at her with a blank expression and unreadable tone, trying to mask the obvious displeasure laced in my voice.
"Newt said I could stay in here in the meantime, until they figured out where I would stay," She sat up and turned to face me.
Once more, I was taken aback and asked her, "Are you sure that was Newt?" Since I couldn't afford to waste any more time, I simply decided to brush it off when she nodded. I ignored her presence and quickly grabbed a few clothes from the small nightstand cabinet.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" She asked as her eyes burned against my skin as she observed every step I made.
I resisted the urge to tell her to mind her business and instead spoke to her through gritted teeth in a considerably more polite way, "The maze. If it's okay with you, please turn around, I need to change."
She shuffled behind me while she spoke quietly and I heard her say, "Right, sorry."
My mind was filled with images of the previous night at the pit as I quickly changed out of my clothes and grabbed the lunch again, stuffing it into the same bag Newt had given me. I also threw in the knife he had given me and the water canteen before slinging the bag around my neck and getting ready to go.
Teresa said, "Good luck, stay safe," as I turned back and started toward the door. I had no intention of saying anything else to her at that point so I simply hummed a thanks and sprinted out of the room. I was determined not to be left behind, going towards the maze entrance where we had all agreed to meet.
I was relieved to discover that I was the first person there and grateful that I wasn't late because I detested feeling like the last person to a plan.
In order to prevent my shirt from moving or being a distraction during any encounters we might have in the maze, I made the decision to reposition my backpack and leather chest strap.
As I became aware that the doors would soon be opening and that I would have to confront the maze's ivy-looking abrupt curves with the possibility of seeing a Griever at any moment, my anxiety level began to rise. When I heard rushing footsteps behind me, Thomas and Minho arrived simultaneously, interrupting my train of thinking.
"Looks like you beat us here, couldn't wait to enter the maze again, huh?" Minho smirked.
I rolled my eyes, acknowledging that he was attempting to defuse any tension Thomas and I might be experiencing. However, when I glanced at Thomas for a moment, I noticed a hint of determination in his eyes that helped me feel more at ease. "Yeah, of course, can't wait you know?" I said sarcastically just before there was a rumble, the maze doors slowly started to open, and we had a fleeting glimpse of the overgrown vines plastered all over the inside walls of the maze.
Before the maze doors fully opened and the breeze struck our faces, we all gave each other a quick glance. Minho then exclaimed, "Let's go!" and made a dash for it face-first into the maze.
Thomas was a little hesitant at first because, when I turned around, he was still standing there. I'm not even sure when I started jogging closely after Minho, but as soon as the adrenaline started flowing through my body, my legs started to move. After a few seconds, I heard footsteps behind me, and I believed that Thomas had finally realized what was going on and returned to his senses.
We made a lot of hairpin bends, and each corridor appeared the same but was different in some way. Sometimes the corridors were wider or slimmer, longer or shorter, or they had a different pattern on the walls. I took into account that everything looked very different during the daytime when we had a different kind of mission in mind, like looking for a way out rather than fighting for our lives at night.
We soon came to sections that were completely different from the rest of the maze; there was a considerable amount of space and passageways that led to who knows where. Minho immediately exclaimed, "This way, not much further to the inner ring!" and kept yelling sometimes more inspiring things to keep us moving.
I observed that as we moved into more open areas, we passed by big walls with numerals like 5 and 6 painted on them. We soon reached 7 and dropped down to a fast walk, which caused me to feel a little relieved. I could feel sweat dripping from my Y/S/C forehead to my shirt and my legs were a little shaky from the running, but not enough to give out. Despite my racing pulse and labored breathing, I was intrigued to find out what lay ahead of us.
We hurriedly entered section 7 after Thomas and Minho pointed out that it wasn't meant to open for another week, and as soon as we came across these things that resembled sharp, rusted blades, I couldn't help but wonder, "What the hell is this place?"
"We call them blades," Minho responded, and I could hear his grin through his words. However, I imagined his smile soon disappeared as we came across some bloodied, torn clothing. Although it appeared to be in good condition, the rips on it led me to believe that the Grievers or whatever these Blades do when the maze is changing may have been responsible.
I lost track of the two boys' conversation as they discussed whether the clothing might have belonged to Ben. Suddenly, I heard a gentle beeping sound coming from Minho's backpack, and it grew louder and louder as the two boys fell silent, "Do you have a bomb ticking in there or what?"
Thomas promptly turned Minho around and opened his backpack, exposing the exact device that was creating the buzzing noise. The same device that the two claimed had emerged from the Griever the day they went outside just to search for answers without me there.
We followed Thomas as he walked while listening to the device to determine if we were even going in the right direction. As Thomas moved the device, it would occasionally be staticky and other times it would grow louder and faster. Thomas quickly concluded that the device was trying to show us something.
We ultimately find ourselves moving along a lengthy hallway whose edges clearly descend into a pitch-black abyss. There was only one way to go, and it was straight and appeared to lead nowhere. When I looked up, I saw a reflection of a WICKED sign where the sun was coming from, which made me shudder a little as we continued to walk.
I motioned to the device in his grasp that was the main cause of our arrival here, "Hey Thomas, hand me that thing would ya?" As we eventually arrived at the dead end, I had a strange feeling that there was more going on.
"Knock yourself out," he urged, handing me the device. When we arrived at the dead end, the device had just stopped beeping, so I quietly thanked him before moving closer to it.
The red flashing object on the device ultimately vanished when it clicked slightly and went green. A few seconds later, rumbling was audible, and the supposedly dead end in front of us suddenly gave way to a new secret passageway. As we cautiously drew forward, a closed hole with blades suddenly opened, but there was no light coming from it.
I just managed to get a faint glimpse of what was inside as I felt myself being pulled back, "Are you insane, Y/N? Trying to get a Griever to chop off your head?" Minho replies, and I figured it was the horrible gunk that drips from the Grievers as he shows me the slimy substance on his fingers. The thought crossed my mind right away, "This has got to be their home."
Thomas nods; he was going to add something when he was interrupted by a slight click, which was followed by the sound of a siren. Thomas shouted, "We gotta get out of here," so we all carefully backed up and realized something must have been accidentally triggered and caused all hell to break loose.
When we finally arrived at the blades, I grew a little hesitant and so did Thomas when we realized they had begun to move and close off any possible escape routes and exits. That's when Minho jolted us out of our daze, immediately activating my fight or flight response, and my legs began running faster than I could have ever imagined when he said, "Move, move! We gotta go!"
We were getting trapped, which made me stress even more, but I wouldn't let it get to me, so I raced as quickly as my legs could carry me. Minho kept shouting things for us to keep going, and I never looked back in hopes that Thomas was close behind me.
My anxiety increased as I yelled, "Come on Thomas, don't stop!" and Minho yelled similar things like, "Go, go, go, move!" I felt as though my heart was about to drop out of my chest; I had no idea what to do other than keep moving, and I was surprised when I realized Thomas was still stuck on the other side of the blades. Having essentially no time to come on the same side Minho and I were on since they were closing in on him.
Naturally, we were dodging some blades to avoid getting crushed, and as we were nearing a dead end, Thomas would be left behind like the Griever he killed the other day if he didn't join us soon. We were almost at the last blade when Thomas yelled and miraculously made it to our side. This made me feel so much better, but I knew we still had a ways to go and we couldn't let our guard down. Eventually, we ran past the blades area and arrived at some other areas that were also moving and changing.
The ground rumbled, and suddenly walls sprang up out of the ground around us. Suddenly, what appeared to be a bridge link was plummeting toward us and prepared to crash on top of us. But that wasn't all; additional links and passages continued opening and closing, and more things started dropping down that, if we stopped or slowed down for a single moment, could either kill us or cause us to suffer serious injuries. "Don't look back!" When I overheard Minho screaming, I mockingly said, "Thanks for stating the obvious!"
When we came to a dead end and there was nowhere else to go, I felt my blood pressure begin to fall. That is, until my eyes for a split second got hold of the closing B4 exit, "There, hurry!"
We started to crawl as quickly as we could. My breath was heavy, and I was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion, but I wouldn't stop until we reached the Glade safely. We all slipped out of the exit before it closed immediately behind us, and I held my breath the entire time.
Thomas was catching his breath next to me, so I quickly glanced over to him and overheard him say, "Holy shit," as I noticed him putting his hands on his knees.
I then turned to face Minho as he extended his hand to assist us both in standing up, "Come on, let's get going before it gets dark out. We need to fill the others in."
And with that, we returned to the Glade, happily with no further delays other than brief stops to catch our breath and consume some food we had brought in our bags, all thanks to Frypan.
As soon as we could make out the Glade entrance in the distance, I couldn't help but smile. Relief washed over me as I realized that Chuck and Newt, among other Gladers, were waiting for us there.
When we exited the maze and entered the Glade, I felt myself at ease, but Newt was visibly disturbed, asking, "What the hell's going on out there?" Since you could clearly hear the maze changing at night, I figured they could hear it when we were running away from the ruckus out there.
We intended to head straight to the mapping room to collect our ideas and make sure we didn't forget or miss anything out there, so I followed Thomas and Minho.
As they made an effort to keep up with us, I could hear Gally ask Thomas, "What the hell you done now, Thomas." I smiled when I felt Chuck yank at my shirt and offer me a warm welcome-back smile.
I felt Chuck release his grip from my shirt and pause in his tracks, so I turned around to look at him. Thomas had just revealed that we had discovered a new route and thought it might be the exit. Minho had confirmed the Glader's suspicions.
"Wait!, Woah, woah, woah, you're saying you found the Grievers home? And you want us to go in?" Chuck said, obviously concerned and not particularly motivated to go get eaten by those creatures.
"Their way in could be our way out, Chuck." I agreed with Thomas' statement by nodding.
Then I finally spoke up, "This may be our best option, Chuck, given all the ways you've all tried to leave this place, all of which have ended in failure. We should try because, if there is a way for the Griever to enter, it is through there, and that implies that there must be a route out. Maybe, just maybe, this will be our only chance to leave this place.
Gally replied, and I saw him roll his eyes at us, "Yeah, or there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side. The truth is, these two have no idea what they've done, as usual."
Gally's remark then rapidly enraged Thomas, who quickly turned around to confront him. As I heard Thomas exclaim, I quickly moved to defend him, "Yeah, at least we did something, Gally. I mean, what have you done? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?"
Thomas was clearly not going to back down, so Gally eventually got in his face as well in an attempt to frighten him. The two of them kept bickering back and forth about how Gally has been here longer than Thomas and I have, yet Gally hasn't done much to help get the others out.
I joined in as well because hearing Gally had agitated me as much, "Cut the bullshit, Gally. All you do is watch from afar, but maybe you should think about approaching things differently."
Teresa interrupted us as she was trying to grab our attention and Gally frowned at me as he had prepared to respond, "Hey! It's Alby, he's awake."
Before we all hurried to the Medhut to see how Alby was doing, Newt and I exchanged a quick glance.
When Thomas decided to kneel next to Newt and try to talk to Alby as well, he was still silent. Alby was sitting up on his bed, a blanket wrapped around him, staring off into the distance. When Newt approached him and knelt before him, he tried to catch his attention.
When Alby finally spoke, he added that we couldn't find a route out of the maze despite their back-and-forth discussion on how we might have done so.
Alby remarked, "They won't let us," while continuing to stare off into the distance.
He caught my attention as I stood up and asked, "What are you talking about?"
He said quietly, "I remember."
The next time Thomas questioned him was, "What do you remember?" I looked back and noticed that Minho, Teresa, Gally, and Frypan were all glancing at each other before turning to face us again.
Alby's lips quivered as he finally met Thomas and I's gaze and said, "You. The two of you. You were always their favorite. Always." Thomas and I exchanged bewildered looks as Alby continued and stated, "Why did you do this? Why did you come here?"
Before more could be spoken, there was a commotion outside the Medhut, and Winston entered shortly after, adding, "It's the doors. They aren't closing." Before he left, the others were even more astonished, and we all went up to check it out outside the Medhut.
As we left, we saw other Gladers sprinting through the fields while carrying weapons like torches and spears. They were all moving toward the entrance to the maze, and as we approached, we knew that it would soon be night, which was much more terrifying because the Grievers could enter without any proper barricades.
Then, in a flash, Thomas intervened and ordered Chuck to barricade the council hall. Newt then instructed Winston to accompany Chuck so that he wouldn't be left alone in case something went wrong. I had a nasty gut feeling that I should get ready to resume running as though my life depended on it.
More orders were given out. Gally instructed the other boys to gather everyone in the woods and hide them there, and Minho was told to go fetch more weapons and meet us in the council hall when he returned. The plan appeared to be coming together flawlessly as things continued to spiral out of control. The other three entrances to the maze were also opening, giving Grievers free access to enter and exit whenever they pleased.
And moments after hearing screams coming from the opposite entrance, Gladers could be seen running in the opposite way while yelling, "Grievers!"
The sounds of screeches and metallic footsteps drew my attention, while the roars of the Grievers and the screams of the Gladers heightened my adrenaline. I can't even remember the exact moment I lost sight of Newt, but he was nowhere to be found.
"All right, everybody hide!" I immediately ran after hearing Thomas speak. But when I heard no footsteps behind me, I turned around to find out why, and that's when I saw the slimy creatures running towards the Glade at a breakneck speed as Teresa stood there in disbelief. Although Thomas was able to move her out of the path and bring her along with him, they fled, leaving me by myself. Without wasting any more time, I dashed and made a decision to run straight for the tall grass and pray for the best. My hands were shaking from nerves and I could feel my heart racing, but I was going to get through it and survive.
In order to find Newt and my friends, I had to survive and get to the gathering room. The roaring screeches were getting louder and more frequent, causing me to come to the realization that I would eventually have to face these dreadful creatures again just like before, it was either life or death.
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Given that this is the first post of the month, I made the decision to lengthen this chapter and end it on a cliffhanger. It was enjoyable to write, and I'm glad I was able to fulfill my promise to publish this today. I hope that it wasn't too hurried and that you all found it entertaining. To avoid any misunderstanding, Y/N and Thomas have been in the maze for more than three days. I decided to make the times this way so the writing process would be a little bit easier!
~D <3