That afternoon, after the sun had begun its descent from the highest point in the sky, Gally and his goons had dragged Thomas and Teresa to the entrance of the maze. "This is such a waste." Gally huffed as a crowd of people formed around him and Thomas.
"Gally," one of the boys, Winston, spoke up. "it doesn't feel right, man."
"Yeah, what if Thomas is right?" Jeff questioned. "Maybe he can lead us home."
"We are home." Gally took a step towards the boys who had dared speak out against him. "Okay? I don't wanna have to cross any more names off that wall."
Gally gestured to the wall where the names of every person to ever step foot in the glade were carved into the cement. Most were untouched, but some had a line through them, indicated that they had died or been banished.
Teresa scoffed as one of Gally's men tightened his grip on her arms. "You really think banishing us is gonna solve anything?"
"No." Gally shook his head. "But this isn't a banishing. It's an offering."
"What? Wait!" Teresa started to panic as Gally's men tied her to a large wooden pole that had been driven into the ground. "Gally, what are you doing?"
"You really think I'm gonna let Thomas back into the maze after what he has done?" Gally snapped. "Look around you! Look at our Glade! This is the only way. And when the Grievers get what they came here for, everything goes back to the way it was."
I made eye contact with Newt and Minho before spotting Chuck out of the corner of my eye. He had gathered and was now carrying all the supplies we would need if we wished to survive and escape the maze. "Are you listening to this?" Teresa looked around at the crowd. "Why are you all just standing there? He's crazy!"
"You shut up." Gally turned to her.
"If you stay here, the Grievers are going to come back." Teresa kept rambling to buy time. "They're gonna come back, and they're gonna keep coming back until you're all dead!"
"Shut up!" Gally yelled before looking at Thomas. "Tie him up! Do you hear me? I said tie him up!"
As Gally's men reached for Thomas, Thomas sprung into action. This was our cue. Pulling out our various weapons, we fought our way through Gally and his men until we had gathered in a group in front of the maze's entrance. Thomas, Teresa, Newt, Minho, Chuck, the glade's cook, Frypan, and I all stood side by side; weapons ready in case Gally tried to challenge us.
"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Gally stood there, ironically unsurprised by the stunt we had just pulled.
"You don't have to come with us, but we are leaving." Thomas pointed his spear directly at Gally as he spoke. "Anyone else who wants to come now's your last chance."
Gally turned back to the small crowd of gladers. "Don't listen to him. He's just trying to scare you."
"No, I'm not trying to scare you. You're already scared. All right, I'm scared. But I'd rather risk my life out there than spending the rest of it in here. We don't belong here. Okay? This place isn't our home. We were put here. We were trapped here. At least out there, we have a choice. We can make it out of here. I know that."
Stepping forward from the crowd, Jeff and Winston started making their way towards us. "I'm sorry." Jeff gave Gally one last look as a few more people joined us. "Gally, it's over." Thomas sighed. "Just come with us."
Gally stared at us for a while, his mouth moving slightly as he decided between staying silent and getting one last word in. "Good luck against the Grievers." he finally told us; a look of defeat and betrayal etched into his face.
With that, the small group that we had formed spun towards the maze and ran inside. The tall cement walls gave an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia and the vines that tangled their way down the sides and over the edges of the maze made it seem like we were lost in a forest that we would never escape from.
Thomas and Minho lead the way as we passed small patches of yellow, dry grass and ran through parts of the maze that opened up so wide that it wasn't hard to tell just how easily someone could become lost in there. We ran for a while with Thomas yelling words of encouragement back at us before we finally came to what must have been our way out.
We stopped along a wall with our backs pressed against it as Thomas peered into the area we had to venture into. Sliding beside him, I too peeked around the wall. A long walkway stretched over a far drop towards the other end of the section, where a Griever stood, guarding what I assumed was our way out.
"Is it a Griever?" Chuck asked.
Thomas swallowed hard. "Yeah."
"Shit." Chuck's face flushed red.
Holding out a decently sized electronic device, Minho handed it to Chuck. "You take this, Chuck. Stay behind us."
"Once we're through, it'll activate and the door will open," Thomas instructed. "All right, we stay close, we stick together, we get through this. We get out now, or we die trying. Ready?"
The sound of blades being unsheathed followed Thomas' speech as half of the group pulled out their machetes. The other half of the group, of which I was a part of, gripped their spears tightly and gave a solid nod. "All right. Let's go!" Thomas shouted as we charged onto the platform.
The Griever let out a shrill screech as it spotted us; its teeth gnashing and tail rapidly swinging back and forth as it charged right back towards us.
The people with spears, like me, rushed to the front of the group and held them out firmly towards the Griever. When we made contact with the giant, angry monster, the tips of the spears stabbed and slashed at the Griever's skin. "Push it!" Thomas encouraged as we backed the Griever closer and closer to the edge of the platform.
The Griever let out a cry as it swung its tail at us; clawing and biting at person after person before it finally grabbed hold of a boy towards the back of the group and tossed him over the edge. In the panic of trying to back up from the now thrashing monster, the device was knocked out of Chuck's hand. "The key!" Chuck cried as he chased after it; nearly missing it before grabbing it seconds before it rolled off the edge.
Running over, I grabbed onto Chuck's shirt and tugged him back up into a standing position. "Look out!" Chuck pointed down to where another Griever was now climbing up the side of the platform. "Go!" I pushed Chuck out of the way just as the Griever clawed its way up towards me. The creature let out a loud yell as it swung its tail at me, hitting me a few times in the sides and legs before knocking me onto my back.
"Norah!" Chuck yelled.
Turning to him, I waved my arms frantically. "Go!" I repeated. "Get the Key to Thomas!"
Chuck looked torn as he glanced from Thomas and the group before turning back to me. Finally, he realized what the right choice was and started sprinting towards the others. A slight feeling of relief washed over me as the Griever pulled itself up onto the platform; it's slimy body and metal, spider legs now standing directly over me.
I swallowed hard as out of the corner of my eye I watched Chuck and Teresa approach the other side of the area, where a section of the cement wall lifted, revealing a passage. So there was a way out.
There was a way out and I was going to get through it.
Reaching to the side for my spear, which I had dropped before helping Chuck, I clasped my hand around the wooden pole and swing it wildly at the Griever. Rolling to the side to dodge one of its legs spearing me, I made a quick jab at the Griever's face and managed to stab it right in the eye.
Taking my chance, I jumped up and took off towards the others, who were on the other side of a newly formed hoard of Grievers. "Norah!" I heard Newt yell from the other side. "Turn back! Stop!"
I slowed down slightly as I came upon the line of Grievers that blocked me from the others, but this time I wasn't going to let a split-second decision screw me over. Picking up speed once again, I waited until I was directly behind the Grievers before dropping to my side and sliding through their spindly legs. Once on the other side, I crashed into the group and almost knocked a few of them over, but they managed to re-group themselves quickly and continued to fight.
A hand dropped down in front of me and I took it instantly. I strong force pulled me up before I came face to face with Newt. "Thanks." I breathed, not having time to say anything else.
"There's gotta be a way out!" Teresa clawed at the metal door that was now standing between us and safety. "Come on!"
"It won't open!" Chuck bellowed as an electronic circle with numbers appeared on the face of the door.
Running back over to the group, Teresa started yelling. "Thomas! There's a code! Eight numbers!"
"Eight sections of the maze," Thomas called back. "Hey, Minho! What's the sequence?"
"What?"
"The sections of the maze, what's the sequence?"
"Seven, one, five, two, six, four!" Minho started calling out the numbers, but before he could finish a Griever came down from above and landed directly on top of him. Minho grunted as he fought off the Griever's mouth with his spear, but just when it seemed like he was going to lose, Jeff ran over and stabbed his spear right through the creature's head. Minho got away, but Jeff was swallowed into the hoard of Grievers.
"What's the sequence?" Chuck asked again; his tone dripping with panic.
"Six, four, eight, three!"
Just when we thought the Grievers were going to back us into a dead end and kill us all, the door blinked green as Teresa finished entering the correct sequence. The cement slabs that had been activated and lifted by the key then began dropping down again one by one, crushing and killing each and every Griever as they did so.
A sense of relief washed over the group before the door in front of us slammed shut and we were plunged into complete and utter darkness. So much for a chance to catch our breaths.