CHAPTER TWELVE: "CHUCK?"
It was strange to run through the Maze with such a large group, but also liberating. Layla thought it felt too good to be true. They were actually leaving. She had to remind herself that there was still a fight up ahead. After everything they've worked for, there was no way they would be let out without a challenge.
"Everybody, this way!" Thomas called out in encouragement, glancing back and noticing how exhausted the Gladers were getting. Layla stayed at the back, making sure that no one fell too far behind.
"Keep it up, guys, we're almost there!" Thomas' voice echoed through the Maze. They sped past ivy walls and through the blades with ease. No challenge yet. Then, they finally came to a stop, and Layla got a second to breathe. She watched as Thomas peaked around a corner, sucking in a breath as he backed away from it.
Chuck watched fearfully, "is there a Griever?" He asked softly, dreading the answer.
Thomas sucked in a shaky breath and nodded his head, "yeah." He held his spear tightly in his hands.
"Shit." Chuck breathed out, panic evident in his eyes.
"You take this, Chuck." Minho held out the key to the small boy, giving him the safest job he could, but also the most important. They were betting their lives on that key. "Stay behind us."
Chuck took it, inspecting it as he twirled it around in his hands. "It's okay." Teresa mumbled as she tied up her hair in a low ponytail. "Just stick with me." She reassured.
"Once we're through, it will activate and the door will open." Thomas looked around at each of them, making sure they understood. "We stay close, we stick together... we get through this." He had never looked so determined, Layla was sure of it. "We get out now... or we die trying." He sighed, "ready?" He hit his spear against the ground. Layla nodded at him.
"All right." He nodded back, "let's go!" He shouted, they all immediately rounded the corner and began to run at the Griever. The Gladers screamed as they held their weapons aimed at the odd creature, causing it to look back at them and let out a screech.
Layla watched as the boys with spears began to jab them at the Griever, causing it to lash out. "Push it!" Thomas called, and everyone complied. Layla and Minho stood farther back, bows held tightly and aimed at the Griever's face. This angered the Griever, so it began to whip its tail around, attempting to swipe it under their feet.
Layla bottled up her shock as it screamed loudly, managing to grab one of the boys, throwing him over the edge of the cliff.
Layla let an arrow fly, just as Minho did. Each arrow soared through the air, hitting the target dead on. Both arrows hit an eye, and the Griever had been blinded.
Teresa swung her machete at the Griever, causing it to swing back and hit Chuck's hand. Layla watched as the key went flying, nearing the cliff.
"The key!" Chuck shouted, rushing to grab the key before it fell.
"Chuck!" Layla didn't waste a second before running after him, "be careful!" The boy managed to grab the key, but Layla's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he hung over the edge of the cliff, close to falling. "I got you!" She quickly pulled him back up, using her strength to heave him back up. She gasped as she saw another Griever climbing up the stone wall.
By the time Layla helped Chuck to his feet, the boys had pushed the Griever over the edge. But a new problem occurred when two more Grievers showed up, and Chuck and Layla began to run away from them. "Come on!"
"Thomas!" Chuck shouted, "Thomas!"
The boys' eyes widened as they saw the other Grievers hot on their tail. They quickly began to fight them, jabbing their spears into them.
"Layla!" Layla turned to face Teresa with wide eyes at the sound of her name. "Help us!" Layla nodded, tossing her bow and quiver to Thomas before following Chuck and Teresa as they ran through a small opening in the wall. Teresa began hitting the wall, panicking as it was a dead end. "Ah! There's gotta be a way out! Come on!"
"Why isn't it opening?" Layla panicked, but suddenly she squinted her eyes as a red screen appeared on the wall in the shape of a circle, numbers counting down from eight in the centre.
Layla was quick to make a connection. Teresa frowned, rushing towards the edge of the tunnel, but Layla called, "wait, Teresa!" The girls met eyes, and Layla continued, "I got it!"
The sections of the Maze always stuck to their pattern, but they didn't exactly have a beginning. Layla decided on her best bet. Start with seven, the section they were in. She clicked the seven, then one, five, two, six, four—
The boys behind Layla began to scream, and Layla's focus was broken. "Layla, come on!" Teresa called, pointing to the screen behind her. Layla barely heard her, staring wide eyed at the Griever that had pinned Minho to the floor. Layla had never felt so panicked before. "Get off of me!" He shouted, his spear against the Griever so that it couldn't bite him.
Layla rushed forwards, but Jeff, who was closer to Minho than she was, managed to get there first. Jeff shoved his spear into the Griever's side, giving Minho enough time to get up.
Layla felt relief flood through her the second he was on his feet—but it quickly turned to dread as the Griever got the better hand, biting into Jeff's side.
Layla watched in horror as the Griever pulled Jeff away, another one walking in front of it so that it could fight while Jeff was ripped to pieces by the first.
"Layla, what's the sequence?" Chuck's voice broke through Layla's shock, "come on! Quick!"
Layla ran back into the tunnel, her eyes adjusting to the light of the screen in the darkness. She clicked the last two buttons, eight and three. The boys had begun backing closer to the tunnel at that point, just nearing the edge of it.
"I got it!" Layla shouted back watching as the red screen begin to fade into green. The numbers disappeared and was replaced with one word that took Layla a few seconds to make out. Complete.
"The door opened!"
Layla turned around, watching as large stone doors began to close, squishing the Grievers under them as they attempted to reach the Gladers. One got close, but Thomas thought quickly. He aimed Layla's compound bow, letting an arrow soar and land in the Griever's mouth, which had been open as it let out a screech.
The final stone door came crashing down, crushing the Griever underneath.
They all breathed out sighs of relief, but a chorus of gasps rang out as the door to the tunnel closed, leaving them in darkness for a short moment. Layla was the only one who felt comfort in the darkness. It brought her a sense of calm after the long battle against the Grievers.
After a few seconds of silence in the dark, the door where Layla had typed the code opened up. She glanced back at the boys, and Minho nodded for her to walk through, beginning to walk over to her.
Layla slowly pushed open the door, cringing as it squeaked loudly. She frowned softly when she walked through the doorway, entering a long hallway that had pipes littering the walls. The lights above them flickered slightly, while others were off completely.
After a few moments, they began to turn on by themselves, lighting up the hallway. Each time a new light turned on, it would make a click sound, and echo down the hallway as it did so.
Thomas was suddenly at her other side, holding out her bow and quiver. She took them gratefully, sending him a nod.
The Gladers all made the silent agreement to begin walking to the right, still cautious of danger. Thomas had taken the lead, and Layla nearly bumped into him as he stopped, looking at a green light with curiosity.
Next to it was a door, it was opened a crack, causing Layla to tilt her head. Above the door there was a green exit sign.
Frypan raised a brow at it, "seriously?" He said. Thomas brushed off the comment, inching towards the door with an outstretched hand.
Layla furrowed her brows as he pushed open the door. The lights inside the room flickered, and there was smoke in the air. Her eyes widened as she spotted a few bodies on the ground, lifeless. Still, something felt off. There was something wrong, and she couldn't figure out what.
They began to make their way into the room with caution. Layla glanced up as orange lights flickered, an alarm blaring in sync with it. Blood stained the walls, smeared around the bodies. Layla frowned, wringing her hands together nervously.
When they passed into another hallway, Layla looked through a large window to see two bodies lying down on the bed. Blood was soaked into the sheets, and a few of their limbs had fallen off the table.
Minho stopped at the sight, but Layla gave his shoulder a gentle nudge as they continued walking. She frowned as they passed more bodies, and took Minho's hand, as her own shook slightly.
"What happened here?"
No one answered, because no one knew the answer. They just kept walking, through the doorway into another room.
They began to walk around what looked to be a lab, the equipment sparked and Layla could smell the smoke filling her lungs.
Layla glanced at Minho wearily, and he held the same expression on his face. "So they were watching us." Newt was the first to speak up, and Layla glanced at him to see him looking at a set of computers that had live footage of the Glade. "This whole time."
Minho and Layla walked around, looking at each computer. They paused when they saw files opened on three of them, one showing Layla, one showing Clint and one showing Gally. They had been studying the Gladers. "Layla." Minho spoke, pointing to her file with his free hand.
Layla leaned closer, having trouble reading. She hadn't realized how bad she was at reading until she saw the fine print documents on the computers, but she scowled at the screen and turned to the pictures instead.
Layla reached forward with her free hand, clicking on the photo of her. It made a high pitched noise, indicating that she'd interacted with it. She then swiped on the photo, and her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Minho and Layla could only stare in shock—because there, on the screen, Layla was sitting at a table in an all-white room with a scowl on her face, and what looked to be shadows surrounding her.
Minho and Layla stood silently for a few long moments. Layla then looked down to her hand, as if expecting it to bend the shadows to her will... but nothing happened. Deep down, she knew that her file wasn't wrong. Memories hidden deeply in her mind began trying to crawl to the surface.
"Layla?" Minho broke her out of her thoughts. "Are you okay?"
Layla was silent for a few moments. It was shocking to learn such a thing about herself, but it brought a sense of clarity too. Layla had always felt different, and now she was one step closer to finding out who she was.
"I'm all right." She sighed. She looked into his eyes and saw worry, but also shock. She supposed he was just as surprised by the news as she was.
"Hello." Layla whipped her head around after Thomas pressed a button on a small screen, causing a video to play on a much larger screen in the distance. Layla didn't recognize the woman in the video, but subconsciously glared, like a part of her remembered how much she hated her. "My name is Doctor Ava Paige. I'm director of operations of the World Catastrophe Kill Zone Department." WCKD. "If you're watching this, that means you've successfully completed the Maze Trials. I wish I could be there in person to congratulate you... but circumstances seem to have prevented it."
People in the background looked panicked, but she kept her eyes on the camera, ignoring it all. "I'm sure by now, you must all be very confused... angry... frightened. I can only assure you, that everything that's happened to you... everything we've done to you... it was all done for a reason. You won't remember... but the sun has scorched our world."
They saw videos of the sun, it covered the entire screen, and you could see the heat waves coming from it. "Billions of lives lost to fire... famine... suffering on a global scale. The fallout was unimaginable. What came after was worse." Layla tilted her head in confusion. "We called it the Flare. A deadly virus that attacks the brain."
Layla grimaced as clips were shown of doctors picking at people's brains, black liquid oozing out of them. "It is violent..." A man was shown laying on a bed, black veins covered his body as he began to lash out at the doctors. "Unpredictable. Incurable." A black liquid poured from his mouth. "Or so we thought."
"In time, a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure. But finding it would not be easy. The young would have to be tested, even sacrificed..." Layla frowned, finding herself growing angry. She couldn't believe that people willingly decided to do tests on children—tests on her. "...inside harsh environments... where their brain activity could be studied. All in an effort to understand what makes them different... what makes you different."
Layla tightened her grip on Minho's hand at the news. "You may not realize it... but you're very important. Unfortunately, your trials have only just begun. As you'll no doubt soon discover, not everyone agrees with our methods. Progress is slow, people are scared. It may be too late for us..." Layla noticed the gunfire in the background of the video, but Ava Paige looked calm despite it. "...For me... but not for you. The outside world awaits. Remember..." She held a gun to her temple, causing Layla's eyes to widen. "WCKD is good."
Boom.
Layla looked away as the gun went off, not wanting the sight of someone shooting themselves to be on her mind.
When she turned around, she quickly noticed someone dressed in all white in a room that looked exactly like the one from the video. Thomas seemed to have noticed it too, as he slowly walked towards it, stopping in front of the glass.
Layla gasped softly as an alarm went off, the sound of air pressure being released caught her ears. She turned her head with a slight frown as two metal doors began to slide apart, showing a long and dark hallway with a small light at the end. Natural light.
"Is it over?" Chuck asked softly.
Newt frowned, "she said we were important." He recalled. "Well, what are we supposed to do now?"
There was a long pause as they all thought for the answer, Layla's eyes immediately went to Thomas, but she sighed at his answer, knowing that she should've expected it. "I don't know." He whispered softly. He looked up, a more determined look on his face, "let's get out of here."
Just as Thomas was about to take a step forward, a new voice caught their attention. "No." Layla turned around, Minho let go of her hand as they looked at the boy in shock.
Gally.
Thomas walked forwards slowly, a confused look in his eyes. "Gally?"
"Don't." Teresa held an arm out to stop him, "he's been stung."
Gally's hands shook violently by his sides as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. In one hand he held a gun, while in the other he held the key, but dropped it to the ground as it no longer had any purpose. "We can't leave." He sobbed. Layla watched as the gun shook in his hand.
"We did." Thomas said wearily, "Gally, we're out. We're free."
Gally sniffled, pursing his lips at the comment. "Free?" He chuckled bitterly, gesturing to the lab that they stood in. "You think we're free out there?" He pointed down the hallway. "No. No, there's no escape from this place." He slowly raised the gun, pointing it directly at Thomas' chest.
"Gally, listen to me." Thomas chose his words carefully. "You're not thinking straight. You're not. Now, we can help you. Just put down the gun."
"I belong to the Maze." Gally cried.
"Just put down the gun."
"We all do." It all happened so fast. Layla clamped her hands over her ears as the shot rang out, and felt her eyes widening as an arrow imbedded itself into Gally's chest, Minho being the one to shoot it.
Gally struggled to breathe, dropping to his knees as he looked down at the arrow. The gun slowly slipped from his fingers as he was too weak to hold it. Layla watched with a hand over her mouth as he fell to the floor, his eyes staying open as he stared off into nothingness.
Layla stared with a swirl of emotions. Somehow she knew that he wasn't dead, but he still laid completely still. It unnerved her.
Suddenly, she furrowed her brows as she heard someone else struggling to breathe.
A gasp left her throat as Chuck stood there, swaying slightly. Layla watched as a patch of red began to stain his shirt. He looked up to Thomas weakly, "Thomas..." Thomas gasped as he caught Chuck before he could fall, gently laying him on the ground.
"Chuck..." Thomas cried, watching as the blood flowed fast, too fast for any of them to do anything about it. Layla crouched down, worried that her legs would suddenly give out as she watched Chuck slowly die. Her body felt numb.
Layla could feel Chuck's life slipping away.
"Oh, shit. Shit." Thomas frowned at the blood that coated his fingers, he quickly placed his hand back over the wound to slow the bleeding. "Look at me, look at me! You're gonna be okay. Oh, shit! Chuck, look at me, all right? I got you, buddy. Just hang on."
"It's okay." Chuck sighed softly.
"Shit, shit, shit..."
"Thomas... Thomas..." Chuck loosely held a hand on Thomas' shoulder, getting him to look over at him. He struggled as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small figurine. His breathing was heavy and his hand shook.
Thomas shook his head softly, "no, no, Chuck. You're gonna give it to them yourself. Remember, I told you that." Tears began to stream down Layla's face at the sight of the boy accepting death.
"Take it." Chuck breathed out.
"No..." Thomas frowned, because he knew that if he took it, he would have to accept that Chuck was really dying. But Chuck insisted, holding out the figurine once more.
Thomas let a tear leave his eye, sighing softly as he carefully took the figurine. He couldn't say no to Chuck when he was dying right in front of him.
Chuck smiled softly, "thank you." His voice was just above a whisper. He took rapid breaths, his smile fading as he began to grow weak. "Thank you."
"No, Chuck," Thomas shook his head quickly. "You're gonna get..." he trailed off as Chuck choked on his breath. Layla sensed his death, like a fog rolling in and filling the room. His chest stopped rising, and he stopped moving as his face was stuck looking up towards the ceiling.
"Chuck." Thomas placed a hand on Chuck's shoulder, refusing to believe that he was gone. "Chuck? Hey." He began to shake him, hoping to wake him up, but the boy was limp. "Hey, Chuck, come on! Come on, wake up!" Thomas rested his forehead against the boy's chest, a sob escaping his lips.
"Damn it!" He cried loudly, "we're out, we made it. Come on." Thomas looked down at Chuck, wishing that he would say something. Anything. "I'm sorry! God damn it! Damn it!"
Layla barely registered the light in the hallway behind them growing as another door opened. Minho shook her shoulders, calling her name to catch her attention.
Layla looked up at him, the tears on their faces were shining in the light, and she looked towards it with squinted eyes. Layla quickly stood up, nearly falling down as her legs continued to feel numb. Soldiers began rushing down the hallway, making their way towards them.
Thomas continued to cry, shaking Chuck's shoulders as he begged him to wake up and come with them. Layla watched as the soldiers began to pull Thomas away from Chuck, causing him to lash out at them.
"Thomas!" Layla shouted. She tried to make her way over to him but one of the soldiers pushed her back, shoving her down the hallway. Layla scowled at him.
Eventually, she complied as she began running with the rest of the Gladers. Layla squinted her eyes as they ran through sand, making their way to a helicopter.
Her eyes scanned the area around them. It was all... sand. No grass in sight, just the sand and broken buildings in the distance.
Frypan quickly helped Layla onto the helicopter, and she took a seat between Newt and Minho, watching as Thomas was thrown on the helicopter by the soldiers.
One of the soldiers removed the scarf that was wrapped around his mouth, and turned to face them. "You guys all right?" None of them answered. "Don't worry. You're safe now."
Safe.
Layla jumped slightly when the helicopter began to lift off, sand flying around underneath from the force of it.
A frown grew on her face as she leaned towards the window. From above, she could see the Glade and the four walls that surrounded it. Then there was the Maze; and around it there were many different narrow buildings, which she assumed to be some of the hallways that they had gone through.
"Relax, kid." The man called out again. "Everything's gonna change."
Layla believed him, but she didn't know if she liked it. She knew that she wasn't good with change. She liked things to be constant, which was always unlikely in a place like the Maze. She lost friends all the time, and could hardly handle it.
Despite Layla's dislike for change, she knew that she was changing. She was growing more numb to the loss, and she hated it. She just wanted to go home, wherever that was.
—————
lizzie speaks...
that's the end of act one :) hope you enjoyed. as we go through act two, she'll obviously get more memories and maybe interact with a few pjo characters 👀
ANYWAY, TIME TO START ACT TWO :D
Ava: My name is Doctor Ava Paige. I'm director of operations of the World Catastrophe Kill Zone Department
Everyone else: