⁰⁰     ▇ ¨. ༢ ͎۪۫ 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 ... ❜

━━  ❛  the 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅. ❜  ‧˖˚. ☄︎ ͎۪۫ ◞⁺.
❪ part 02. location: the glade.
©kiiizones, all rights reserved ❫.

𝑷𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑪𝑨𝑴𝑬 𝑨𝑵𝑫 went in varying waves. Through her eyes Emis caught glimpses of a red-tinged sky, of fire and smoke, of spinning stars and thick, inky darkness, all blurring into colours as dizziness and nausea overcame her.

As if from a distance she felt herself move, and a flare of razor-sharp pain shot up her spine. The pain was cold and left behind it a thousand buzzing nerves, and with a gasp, Emis felt everything spin into silence.

For a moment she wondered if this was it; if she had died trying to save her friends, which was better than most ways to go, before a surging energy shattered through her veins. The waves of pain slowed until they became only ripples along the line of her bloodstream. The energy was warm and somehow comforting, lighting the insides of her eyelids into a bright, hot-pink.

She felt air trickle into her lungs, as if someone was pressing heavy weights against her chest. But suddenly, the pressure was relieved, and she could breathe again. With a spluttering gasp, she opened her eyes.

Blue sky.

She blinked. Was this her mind playing tricks on her? Or was she dead? Was this heaven? Could heaven actually look like this? She imagined the clouds parting, and angels streaming through them wielding harps and trumpets and sporting little wings like an old rococo motif, and the thought seemed to shake her. She squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them again.

Nope. The sky was blue, bright, and hot and streaming with sunlight, dotted with a few clouds. She was lying on her back, the shadow of something shielding her from the sun━the underside of a wall that had come loose in the night. This was real. She was alive. This was real.

She hauled herself into a seated position as the memory of last night came over her in a cold wave. Her body felt heavy and weak, and every part of her ached, especially the back of her head. The memories danced like fire behind her eyes; a broken Alby waking up, the doors to the Maze remaining open and cold, the thunderstorm of chaos that had raged itself over the Glade.

She remembered battling the Griever, pulling the infrastructure of its skull apart like tissue-paper; the mess of its corpse lay in a heap several metres away, spears and knives buried into it as if it were some mutilated, terrifying pin cushion. She remembered its long, metal plated tail swishing towards her and slamming into the back of her head. Pain seemed to rise up from the memory, too, and her eyes watered as she ran her hand through her hair and found it matted with dry blood.

As she got to her feet she realised that it was silent. A thin layer of smoke seemed to linger everywhere as the fires from last night died out, the grass under her feet was crunchy and dry. There was no one in sight; it appeared the Glade was deserted.

With fleeting panic, Emis advanced towards the Council Hall. "Hello?" Her voice was raw and broken as it scraped up against her throat. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

She felt her heart drop as she rounded into the Village. Or what had been the Village.

It was a pile of smouldering ash, now, the Med-Hut and the Council Hall and the other spindly huts collapsed in heaps of smoking wood. The hammocks were all but destroyed; there was a huge, haphazard gap between them now, in its wake a mass of splintering wood and cloth where something had obviously crashed through it.

Her breathing elevated now, Emis stumbled through the woodsmoke and tangled blankets, kicking planks aside as she searched, desperately, for somebody. Anybody. "Can anybody hear me?"

"Emis!" She whirled to see Ed running towards her with an expression mixed between incredulity and relief. He kicked aside the wood as he picked his way towards her through the rubble, and she was shocked as he pulled her into an awkward, but desperate, hug. "God, you had us all worried, there."

She pulled away hastily. "You made it? Did the others━did Newt━"

"We're okay." He said, but his voice was solemn. "Newt's okay. We━we lost some."

She felt her heart cave in on itself. Chuck? Alby? Minho? How many of them were left? "Who?"

"C'mon." He didn't answer her question. "We should get back to the others━Newt's been beside himself, but, of course we all knew you'd have to make it. I mean, you're shuck Emis━" He cut himself off with a strangled sort of laugh. "You're not really the type to just die out on us."

Despite herself, she smiled. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

"So, what's happened?" She asked him as he began to lead her away from the Village. "Are there many people left?"

"More than expected." Ed said shortly. "Less than we'd like, of course, but that's not all."

She stopped him. "What's not all?"

He sighed. "Well, Gally━"

"Emis!" A voice interrupted them. Over Ed's shoulder Emis could see Newt half-jogging, half-stumbling towards them as he carried his limp. He looked as relieved as she felt, a half-smile on his face that made a happiness expand inside her chest so strongly her heart felt close to bursting.

"Newt!" She darted towards him, leaving Ed muttering in her wake, and crashed into Newt with so much force that they were knocked a few feet backwards.

He stumbled to keep his footing, arms going around her waist to stop her from falling, and he was kissing her, suddenly, hurriedly and awkwardly but kissing her, as if he couldn't bear to waste any time. "I thought you were gone." He said, in-between kisses. "I thought you were━you━"

"Well, I'm not, so━" She pulled back, finally, gasping for breath. He pulled her into a hug. "━I'm good. Newt━" She released a gasping laugh. "━can't breathe━"

She felt him shake with laughter as he pulled away. "You shuck idiot, Emis, God━" He cut himself off as he leaned in to kiss her again.

"Okay━okay gross, guys! Not right now! Let's make babies later━" Ed said in a loud voice. They sprung apart, and Emis felt her cheeks heat up. He was looking away, face red. "I have had a trying night, and I━frankly━do not have the time, or the energy━or the interest to deal with your love life right now."

Newt shot him a glare. "Shove off, Ed. It's not everyday your girlfriend comes back from the dead."

"No one said you had to look." Emis tried to ignore the violent flutter of her heart against her ribcage when Newt had said 'girlfriend'. She supposed she'd never really thought about defining the terms of their relationship; somehow singular words like girlfriend and boyfriend didn't match the extent of how she felt about him. "And what's the hurry?"

Both Newt and Ed exchanged a look. It was Newt who replied.

"Tommy's got himself into trouble." He said. "Let's go. Come on."

Approaching the Pit was like walking through an invisible curtain that transported them from a Glade that was smoking and deserted into one that was suddenly ripe with life, and the aftermath of the night before.

It was almost silent. There were no corpses━the Grievers had left nothing behind, it would seem━and boys were huddled together, some with their heads in their hands, some still frozen in shock, some were crying. She saw that there were a few people milling around on their feet, trying to help, dishing out what they could salvage to the injured. It was like the calm after the storm, everything dead or destroyed in its wake.

Newt led them to the Pit, somehow he had taken her hand in his without her realising, and he squeezed it a little before releasing it. "Look who we found." He said, crouching down to grin through the bars.

"Emis!" She was surprised to hear that it was Teresa who spoke, voice filled with relief. "You're okay!"

"Yeah." She gave a tentative smile, going to crouch next to Newt. Minho and Chuck were there too, and she felt relief spill through her as she realised that neither of them seemed to have suffered much injury.

Teresa was knelt next to Thomas with a hand in her lap. There was the ridge of a cut along her cheek, dark hair in a messy spill around her head. Her eyes were hollow and weary, and her face was so filthy that her blue eyes gave off the impression that they were glowing.

Thomas was bleary-eyed, blinking slowly as if only just being woken up. Teresa had a cautious hand on his shoulder, as if worried he might collapse.

"What happened?" Emis wasn't surprised to find that her voice was almost gone. "Ed said Gally's taken over. Where's Alby?"

"Well," Ed sounded indignant. "If you and your boyfriend here hadn't decided that right now was the perfect time to reproduce━" he ignored Newt's splutter of protest, "━then you would have let me finish. Gally's taken over, and Ryan━" He cut himself off, wearing a conflicted expression. "Ryan's been taken too."

Emis felt no remorse. "Good." She almost spat it. "He deserved to die."

"Emis." Chuck sounded appalled. "How━how can you say that?"

"I don't think he was taken, actually." Minho cut in. "Shank's been missing ever since he went off on a strop after you got thrown in the Pit."

"Really?" What had been justified relief turned into a flutter of panic. "What━where could he be?"

"Dead, hopefully." Ed said. "Sorry Chuck." He added.

"But━wait." Said Emis. "So Gally's still in charge?"

"Yep." Chuck sighed, voice heavy with defeat. "He's Banishing Thomas at sundown."

Emis blanched. "What?"

"He's Banishing me, too." Teresa said, in a small voice. Her eyes passed onto Emis. "Did you have another dream, Emis? Any memories?"

Emis opened her mouth to ask Teresa how she knew about her dreams, but closed it with a snap as she noticed the way that she was angled towards Thomas, who was still silent. They had obviously shared everything. With a pang of annoyance, Emis shook her head. "No." She said, "but what else happened? After I passed out, I mean."

There was a moment of brief silence. It was Chuck who broke it. "Well," he said, in a shaky voice. "They almost got me."

"What?" Emis felt her blood turn to ice-water. "Are you okay? Did they━"

Chuck cut her off with a shake of his head. "I'm fine. But━" There was another pause as he breathed in. "They got Alby."

The ice-water in her veins seemed to crystallise into solid ice. She felt frozen, almost distant as Chuck's voice trailed off into a meaningless stream of things like, "━there was nothing we could do━" and "━saved our lives━" and "━please, Emis, calm down━" but it was a blur, a high-pitched ringing sound in her ears. Alby was dead.

She couldn't remember the last thing she'd said to him. Alby━sensible and calm and the knot at the end of the fraying, spiralling noose that was the Glade. Flashes of him reeled through her mind; his smile, fire dancing in his eyes, his odd, half-tight laugh. A strangled lump had lodged itself in her throat. Alby, who had been the leader, whose body Emis had helped haul through the shadows of the Maze in the hope that he would survive. That they could save him. And they had, hadn't they? The nightmare, the serum, it had all worked, hadn't it? Hadn't she done everything she could to help him stay alive?

A tidal wave of anger seemed to crash into her, suddenly, roiling the tide of her bloodstream until it was a thundering rush in her ears. No. None of this was their fault. It was no one's fault. No one's fault but the people who had sent her, and all of them, up into this hell of monsters and mazes and green fields rolling with nothing but the ripe promise of trauma and death. It was their fault. And she was going to make them pay for it.

"Emis." It was Newt who managed to bring her back from the buzzing anger in her ears. She jumped, as if being woken from a daydream, and felt her eyes flash with the bright surge of red that she had almost grown used to, again. It flared off, and the red was replaced by the stinging blur of tears.

"I'm going to kill them." She said, in a voice quiet and tensed like the string of a bow. "I'm going to kill them all."

"Yeah, well." He shifted, a smile ghosting across his face. "You're at the front of a very long line, love."

She swallowed. "What happened next━after I passed out?"

"Well." Chuck sounded almost offended. "Thomas was an idiot━"

"━as usual━" Ed cut in. Minho elbowed him in the ribs.

"━and he went and stung himself."

"What?" Emis turned to stare at Thomas, unable to hide the shock on her face. "You━you went through that willingly?"

"Yeah." Thomas's voice cracked. It was the first time he had spoken from where he was sat, in the well of the Pit. "I had to. I had to remember. Gally was right."

"Well." Ed shifted. "That's a surprise. Because I'm starting to think Gally might be as buggin' crazy as Ryan was."

"He's managed to convince everyone that you're the reason that all this has happened." Teresa sounded as if she couldn't quite believe what she was saying.

Thomas gave a sharp breath. "Well. He's been right so far."

The weight of his words wrought up a silence that was heavy and crackling with shock. "What are you talking about?" Minho asked, finally.

"This place ..." Thomas spoke carefully, his words delicate and fragile the way that bombs were. "It's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison; it's a test." No one replied.

He went on. "It all started when we were kids. They'd give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us."

There was a collective pause for breath. Emis felt sick. There had always been some part of her that had known that she wasn't natural━an experiment. But hearing it from Thomas was like seeing it confirmed in bright red flashing letters. Experimenting. And not just on her, but the others as well. That familiar flash of anger came surging back like the flash-flare of an explosion, white-hot and almost blinding. She felt Newt take her hand and squeeze it tightly. She turned to face him and saw that his eyes were wide and dark with shock and sorrow and sympathy. She squeezed it back, telling him, silently, that it was okay. She already knew.

"And then people started disappearing." Thomas's voice had started to break, trembling. He sounded on the verge of a breakdown. He glanced at Teresa. "Every month, one after the other, like clockwork."

"Sending them up into the Maze." Newt's voice was quiet with the realisation.

"Yeah." Thomas said, "But not all of us."

"What do you mean?" Newt replied. There was another pause of static silence.

"Guys," Thomas said in a soft, heartbroken voice. "I'm one of them."

There was no response. Emis felt her heart seize up in her chest, as if someone had reached in and gripped it with enough pressure to squeeze it dry. Thomas seemed to take their silence as a reluctant invitation for him to continue.

"The people who put you here, I worked with them." His eyes went to Teresa, briefly. "I watched you guys for years. The entire time you've been here, I━" He cut himself off, voice tight as if he could not breathe. "I was on the other side of it."

He looked at Teresa, now, properly. She was trembling, the tears turning her eyes to sparkling sea-glass. There was a pause as silence hung between them, and then Thomas said, "And so were you."

It was like the final fray between the threads of Emis's memory had been sealed and repaired. Teresa, her dark hair in thick braids sitting in that chair in front of her and talking as if the world was somehow answerable to her━of course.  Of course, she had been one of them. 

Teresa's eyes had widened with shock. "What?" She said, in quiet, trembling voice.

"Teresa, we did this to them." Thomas's voice had sunk to nothing but a whisper, now. Heartbreak was written all over Teresa's face.

"No." She said, so quietly, so sorrowfully, that Emis felt the betrayal of tears sting her eyes. "It can't be true."

A part of her was desperate to hate them, both. The chemicals that burned through her veins, the electric current riding the tide of her bloodstream, everything about her that ripped apart her humanity until only a weapon was left behind━the fault of it belonged to them.

But another part of her couldn't believe that. She had seen Teresa once, yes, but just the once. The rest of her scattered memories had been nothing but isolation and people in white with masks and sharp objects. There had been no children. No one but herself, trapped in a white world with monsters that wore human faces. Somehow, distantly, she knew that what had happened to her was not of their doing.

"It is." Thomas replied. "I saw it."

Pearly tears were splashing down Teresa's face into the well of her hands. "Why would they send us up if we were with them?" She asked, in a voice like cracked glass.

"It doesn't matter." Thomas said.

"He's right." Newt said after a pause, his voice gaining strength. "It doesn't matter. Any of it. 'Cause the people we were before the Maze━they don't even exist anymore. These creators took care of that."

Teresa gave a small, strangled gasp. She looked up at Newt, and her eyes were wide with silent apology. Newt didn't seem to notice.

"But what does matter," Newt said, "is who we are now, and what we do, right now." He was looking at Thomas with a fierce admiration that made Emis realise that Alby hadn't made Newt Second-in-Command just for sympathy or convenience. Newt had all the attributes of a leader as well. "You went into the Maze, and you found a way out!"

"Yeah, but if I hadn't," Thomas said, "Alby would still be alive."

Newt sighed. "Maybe." He said, and his voice wavered a little. "But," he went on, "I know that if he were here, he would be telling you the exact same thing. Pick your arse up and finish what you started." He drew in a sharp breath. "'Cause if we do nothing, then that means Alby died for nothing, and I can't have that."

"Okay." Thomas said, his voice stronger. "Okay, but we got to get through Gally first."

Ed smirked. "Let's go get this son of a bitch." He said, standing up. "Minho, come with."

"Where're we going?"

"Well, we need ammunition, don't we? Weapons? Arms? I have a feeling Gally's going to want to put up a fight."

Emis felt the corner of her mouth tilt up a fraction. "I have a feeling that this is a fight he's not going to win."

𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 Emis reached the doors to take up her position, they were still as wide open as they had been the night before. There were two tall, wooden poles sturdy and upright, buried into the ground directly in front of the entrance. Gally stood a little ways to the side,  carving through Alby's name on the wall. When he saw her over his shoulder, his eyes widened a fraction.

"You're alive?" He was speechless. Emis glanced over at the thick, ugly line through her name and tried to level out the anger in her eyes.

"I'm sure you were the first to step up and cross my name off that wall." She said, in a voice made of ice. Gally flinched.

"Emis. It's not like that, I━"

"I don't want to hear it." She said, her voice finally breaking. "I will never, never trust you. I never wanted to be your friend. And I never will." His mouth parted in shock. "You are a coward." She finished, almost spitting it.

Something flashed through his eyes━sadness, reject, betrayal, one of the three━before it was masked again by an anger black as coal. His jaw tightened. "Then I hope you watch this." He said, venomously. "And I hope it almost kills you. I hope it breaks your heart." He inhaled sharply, releasing a sour laugh. "If you even have one."

Emis fought the rising urge to launch herself at his throat, and instead put her hands behind her back. She swallowed, and turned away from him. His words were spiteful, but they had bounced off her easily. She felt his voice warm and shivery against her neck as he moved closer, and said, "You're just in time for the show."

Emis felt a small twinge of satisfaction. Gally had no idea that a plan had shifted into motion like clockwork. That there was nothing he could do, now, but let it happen.

Both Teresa and Thomas were being marched towards the doors like prisoners being marched towards the gallows. Thomas, feigning unconsciousness, was being dragged, his ankles trailing behind him.

Gally stepped around Emis as Thomas's body was flung onto the ground. Sand kicked up around him as Gally pulled out a blade, and said, "This is such a waste."

"Gally." Winston's scratchy, wavering voice rose up against the silence. "It doesn't feel right, man." He said.

Jeff joined him. "Yeah, what if Thomas is right? Maybe he can lead us home."

"We are home." Gally said. "I don't want to have to cross anymore names off that wall."

Emis cursed through her teeth. Teresa was glaring at him.

"You really think Banishing us is going to solve anything?" She said, in a defiant, almost patronising voice.

Gally seemed unwavered. "No." He said, as if it were obvious. "But this isn't a Banishing." He paused to turn the knife over in his hands. Gliding sunlight glanced off it in a flash. "It's an offering."

"What?" Teresa's arms were wrenched up above her head. "Wait━" She was thrown against the pole with so much force that her back made a huge thud against the wood. She let out a sharp exhale as the pain struck her. "Gally━what are you doing━" Her wrists were bound to the pole just above her head by a thick wind of fraying rope.

Gally whirled, his face alight with rage. "You really think I'm gonna let Thomas back into the Maze? After what he's done?" His voice was a mixture of incredulity and anger. "Look around you!" He turned to speak out to the entourage of Gladers that had come to watch. It was as if a spotlight had been cast on him, and he was preaching lines to a stage in front of a captivated audience. "Look at our Glade━"

Out of the corner of her eye, Emis saw Newt and Minho exchange a nod. Newt turned to glance over his shoulder, and she caught his eye. Very slowly, he moved his head a fraction to the left. Move.

As nonchalantly as she could, Emis took a step forwards as Gally continued his soliloquy. He seemed to take no notice, and so she continued to move until she was between the doors and the wooden poles. She had taken up her position. The fight was coming. Her veins thrilled with that familiar surge of adrenaline. Chuck had taken up his position too, a ways off, arms full with heavy supplies.

"━and when the Grievers get what they came here for?" Gally was still speaking. "Everything goes back to the way it was."

"Are you listening to this?" Teresa's voice was high and breathless with disbelief. "Why are you all just standing there? He's crazy!"

Gally took a step towards her. "You shut up." He said, the tension trembling in his voice.

"If you stay here," Teresa went on, that familiar defiance tilting her jaw, "the Grievers are going to come back. They're gonna come back, and they're going to keep coming back until you're all dead━"

"Shut up!" Gally's voice rose to a shout. "Tie him up." He said to the two boys who had hauled Thomas to the doors. There was a moment of hesitation as Teresa's words hit. "Do you hear me? I said tie him up!"

Reluctantly, the boys bent down to haul Thomas up. Emis felt her heart flutter with excitement inside her chest, and then suddenly Thomas was springing into action, throwing a hit into the boy on his right and flipping the pole out of his hands.

In a flash of movement, Newt had pulled out his heavy butcher's knife, Minho had a blade against the back of Gally's neck, and the two boys who had gone to haul Thomas up lay in a groaning heap on the floor. Ed had taken up the boy who had been in charge of Teresa, and with a swift, almost effortless movement he clapped him around the side of the head with the handle of his blade and watched as he crumpled to the floor.

Emis did not need weapons, she already was one. The others seemed to realise that, though, and her position at the mouth of the Maze did not waver. Nobody came for her.

Within a heartbeat Thomas had a pole in his hands pointed straight at Gally's chest. The others had collected around him, Newt and Chuck and Ed and Teresa and Frypan and finally, Minho. There was a pause of silence as the shock of what had just happened seemed to register.

After the pause, Gally spoke. "You're full of surprises, aren't you?" He said, bitterly.

"You don't have to listen to us," Thomas said, "but we are leaving." His voice rose to a shout. "Anyone else who wants to come, now's your last chance."

"Don't listen to him." Gally said, his voice hurried. "He's just trying to scare you, alright━"

"No," Thomas cut in. "I'm not trying to scare you, you're already scared. Alright? I'm scared." There was another pause. "But I'd rather risk my life out there than spending the rest of it in here." He said, and Emis could see that his words had hit with power and force. The others were glancing at Gally with slightly worried expressions. "We don't belong here." Thomas went on. "Okay? This place isn't our home. We were put here." He said, and the others were staring at him with wide eyes and shock all over their faces. "Okay? We were trapped here. At least, out there we have a choice."

Gally was staring at him as if he had slapped him across the face.

"We can make it out of here." Thomas said. "I know that."

There was another pause. Gally opened his mouth, as if to interject, but suddenly, Winston had broken away from the group and went to take a place up next to Ed. Jeff was next, and as he stepped forwards he said, "I'm sorry," to Gally, before going to take up his place in the line.

One by one, boys tore away from the crowd behind Gally to go and stand with Thomas until the two groups finally reached an imbalance. Not everyone had chosen to go with Thomas, but the scales had tipped. Gally had lost most of his support.

He was frozen in shock. Thomas gave him a pleading look. "Gally, it's over." He said. "Just come with us."

Gally lifted his head. There was a pause. "Good luck against the Grievers," was all that he said.

And that was it. There was no going back, nothing more that could be said. Thomas gave Gally one last nod, before turning on his heel and racing off into the shadows, the others following swiftly after.

𝑹𝑼𝑵𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮 the route of a Maze that was no longer a mystery seemed to take much less time than running the route of one that was far away from being solved.

The group had just passed into Section Three. Up ahead, Emis could see the light of the setting sun glancing off the huge, towering Blades and scattering light against the floor. She ran alongside Newt, near to the back, with Thomas taking up the front, and Ed and Minho taking up the back to make sure nobody fell behind.

Emis could tell that Newt had been a Runner, once. He timed his breaths evenly, and despite his limp carried himself without stopping to catch his breath.

Occasionally, Thomas would throw back an encouraging shout. Things like, "━c'mon, this way━" and "━keep it up guys, we're almost there!" But other than that, nobody spoke, and there was no sound except for the clatter of their feet on the concrete and the distant thuds of the Maze changing.

Overhead, the sky had cast into a spill of topaz and gold sunset, and it would have been beautiful if it weren't for the rising knot of anticipation in Emis's stomach. They turned the final corner into the huge, concrete courtyard, the sky now nearing the pale blueness of dusk.

Eventually, they came to a stop, huddling against the wall adjacent to the opening of the final chamber. Thomas put a finger to his lips, turning to glance around the edge of the wall.

Abruptly, he yanked his head back. Emis heard Chuck draw in a shaky breath.

"Is it a Griever?" He asked. Thomas nodded.

"Yeah." He replied. Chuck swore. Emis couldn't help but smile. The influence of his older companions had obviously brought with it some colourful language.

"You take this, Chuck." Minho handed him the Griever key with firm hands. "Stay behind us."

"It's okay." Teresa said, tying her hair back. "Just stick with me." She was almost smiling.

"Once we're through, it'll activate," Thomas said, "and the door will open. All right, we stay close, we stick together, we get through this."

Emis felt Newt take her hand again and give it one final squeeze. She looked up at him, but his eyes were fixed on Thomas.

"We get out now." He continued, "Or, we die trying." There was another pause as he seemed to steady himself. "Ready?"

A few murmurs came up in response. Emis squeezed Newt's hand again before releasing it, finally, her heart hammering against her chest.

"All right," Thomas said, and Emis felt the world flare into its familiar shade of red again. "Let's go!" He roared, and the group released a battling outcry, descending into the echoing passageway as one.

Thomas had been right. There was a Griever stationed at the far end of the passage, almost guarding the gate, and it responded instantly to their uproar in a clatter of metal and chemicals. It came surging forwards, releasing a high-pitched cry.

The group advanced towards it, the ones wielding weapons cutting through into the front, and it was a whirlwind of metal and wood and shrieks and Emis heard Thomas yell, somewhere in the chaos, "Push it!"

Spears were thrown up against it in a feeble attempt to push it over the edge, but this seemed only to aggravate it more. The Griever shrunk back, but only briefly, coiling up like a snake and winding its huge, metal-plated tail towards them in a flash. It latched onto one of the boys and crushed his torso in a vice-like grip, flinging him upwards into the air. Emis felt her stomach flip as the boy scrambled at the edge of the bridge, trying to gain a foothold, but to no avail. He slipped, his hands springing free, and his screams fell into silence as he disappeared into the chasm.

They didn't have time to register his death as one of its legs came crashing down into the concrete, almost crushing Teresa. With a grunt, she threw her knife at it in a clean slice. The Griever kicked its leg out in reflex, and simultaneously knocked the Griever key out of Chuck's hands. Emis watched in horror as it clattered to the floor and rolled dangerously close to the edge of the bridge. It was their only way out. "The key!" Chuck gave a strangled yelp, and was racing off towards it in a scramble.

"Chuck!" Teresa shouted, "Watch the edge!"

Chuck skidded onto his stomach, half of his torso dangling over the edge and into the chasm as he locked his hands onto the Griever key. He gave a shallow breath in relief, but it was short-lived. "Oh no." He said, as Teresa caught onto the back of his shirt, and heaved. "Pull me up, pull me up━!"

Emis turned to whip her head over her shoulder. At the other end, the others had managed to push the first Griever clattering over the edge, but their triumph was misplaced. Another two had sprung over the edge in their haste and distraction, and Teresa and Chuck rushed past her, Chuck clutching the key to his chest.

"Emis, come on━" Teresa began, but Emis cut her off.

"Go!" She said, heat and energy surging like fire through her veins. "Get to the others!"

"Teresa, leave her!" Thomas yelled, but his voice was echoing and distant as Emis advanced forwards.

The Griever seemed to recoil at her━Emis saw it waver, only for a second, but with her heart soaring in her chest she realised that it was afraid of her. Seizing its distraction as an opportunity, she leapt into the air, body twisting, a leg flying out, and kicked it with a force that sent it flying back until it was teetering over the edge.

She ran towards it, bringing her fists out in front of her as if she were wielding weapons inside them, and tried to dodge the fly of its snaking tail as it came towards her. She managed to avoid most of the blow, but she felt the sharp edge of the pointed end snag up the side of her arm, tearing it open.

Releasing a scream wrought by both the agony and the anger, she ignored the pain pouring from the gash in her arm and threw herself forwards. It would heal, anyway, and the pain was almost temporary. Besides, it gave her another kick of adrenaline, and that was always helpful.

With all the strength she could muster, she slammed her fists forwards into the Griever as it tried to gain its footing, and the force of it sent the creature flying over the edge with a strangled shriek.

The others were still fending off the third Griever with fading energy. It was descending upon them in a clatter of metal and rubbery flesh, fountains of the gasoline and ink-like liquid that ran through it instead of blood gushed forth from its body where the blades cut into it.

Teresa and Chuck had managed to get through to the door, and there was the familiar rumbling, dragging sound as the cement blocks rose up to clear the way for them.

Emis battled her way forwards, skidding around the Griever as she came to take a stand with the others. "Hold him back!" Thomas was saying, and one of the boys tried to stick it with his spear. The Griever twisted the weapon into its grip and the force of it snapped it in half like a toothpick. The boy was flung upwards and over the edge of the chasm as if his body weighed nothing.

"It won't open!" Chuck's panicked voice came floating out of the alcove. Emis turned to throw a fleeting glance over her shoulder and saw amongst the darkness a huge circular screen had flashed up in front of Teresa, casting her into a shadowy silhouette.

"Thomas!" She came running forwards. "There's a code! Eight numbers!"

"Eight sections of the Maze." Emis heard Thomas say. "Hey, Minho━!"

"━What?!" Minho was trying to swat one of the Griever's sharp metal legs away from him.

"What's the sequence?" Thomas yelled.

"What?"

"The sections of the Maze━" Thomas shouted hurriedly, "what's the sequence?!"

"Uh━" Minho swatted another leg out of the way. "Seven, one, five, two━" Another pause as he swung his spear forwards. "Uh, six! Four━"

There was an echoing shriek from above, and Emis saw that there was some kind of opening in the ceiling above them, and inside it a Griever was scaling its way downwards.

There was little time to react. The Griever slammed into the ground, throwing the others back, and landed directly on top of Minho. She heard herself scream, rushing forwards, he had only a wooden spear to defend himself, but there was a flash of hasty movement from beside her, and with her heart inside her throat she saw Jeff throw himself forwards. Minho managed to scramble free as Jeff slammed his spear into the Griever's head, but it had little effect.

"Jeff, no━!" Her voice was tight and strangled, heart seizing up inside her chest as she watched the Griever sink its teeth into his body, his screams hollow and splashing cold shock over the surface of her skin as if someone had just plunged her into freezing water.

"Emis, c'mon━" She felt someone━Newt━take her shoulders and yank her backwards as another two Grievers sprung up from out of nowhere.

"Minho!" Chuck yelled, "What's the sequence?! Come on!"

"Uh, six━" The group was being forced backwards, squashing into the alcove as the Grievers were almost upon them. "Four━eight, three━That's it! That's it, you got it?"

There was a trill beeping sound, COMPLETED flashing up onto the screen. Emis felt her heart dislodge itself from her throat as they hastened backwards, the roar of chains and pulleys and groaning stone filling the air, before the cement doors came slamming down one by one.

The last of the Grievers gave one final surge forwards, and Thomas slammed his spear into his head with enough force to send it recoiling backwards. It reared up with a shriek, the concrete crushing it into the floor with a horrible squelch. Hot, green-black liquid splashed onto the floor like burning gasoline, but before they had time to register it, the ground underneath them tipped backwards, and they were shot into darkness.

The ground continued to slope down, flattening out and smoothing into a steep incline, like a wide, slippery slide. The red-tint cast everything into a ghostly shimmer. Emis could see that they were still inside some sort of chamber, the ceiling low above them, and there was no light. As far as she could tell, everyone else was completely desensitised. The sloping tunnel reeked of damp and petrol and rot, and Emis felt her stomach churn. She would have thrown up if it weren't for the fact that she hadn't eaten a single thing since the previous morning.

Eventually, they stumbled into a pile at the foot of the slide. Emis got to her feet in haste, reaching out for Newt, who was stumbling blindly in the darkness. "Who's that?" He said, in a flinching voice.

"It's me." She replied. "Emis."

"Who's that?" Someone else gave a shout.

"It's Winston, you idiot━"

"━Shuck, my foot's cramped up━"

"Eugh! What the heck is that?"

"My face, slinthead━"

"Ugh, gross. It smells like you, Ed━"

"━Shut up, Minho━"

"Are you okay?" She asked him. He fumbled for her, and she fought the urge to smile. "I'm here." She said, taking his hands and putting them on her shoulders.

"Ah," He said. "Thank God. Can't see a bloody thing, 'cept maybe your eyes. Is that your eyes? The red?"

"I can't see anything!" Someone else called.

"I think, you know━" Ed gave an odd, shocked laugh. "I think we're all in the same boat, there!" He said sarcastically.

Teresa's voice, which had been quiet, came floating up. "I've found something! I think it's a handle, hang on━"

She was fumbling in front of a door. There was a huge round handle, metal and slightly damp and rusting. "Got it!" She yelled, and with a heave, pulled it towards her.

The door clanked as it unlocked, rust flaking onto the floor, and white-blue fluorescent light spilled in through the widening gap as it swung open.

They stepped out into an empty, shadowy hallway. Pipes and dials lined the walls, and there was a soft concordant of overlapping sounds that were not unpleasant; liquid rushing and dripping through the pipes around them, the low whirring buzz of generators and electricity.

From the distance there came the sound of something thudding, and Emis whirled to see the lights overhead bursting into life, white and fluorescent and snaking down past the tunnel in front of them. It appeared that there was no end to the hallway as it curved gently away from them. The night-vision trigger must have realised that there was enough light now, and the red tint to the world clicked off like someone had pressed a button inside her head.

They moved through the hallway in an eerie, shock-filled silence. Emis hadn't released Newt's hand and found it anchoring and comforting to hold onto as they descended this unknown passageway. Every so often he would squeeze her hand, more out of reflex, as if some painful thought had passed across his mind, and she would squeeze back.

Eventually they stopped, after walking for what felt like hours, in front of a steel door, with a grated window, and a bright green sign above it with the words EXIT written across it.

Frypan made a sound of annoyance. "Seriously?" She heard him mutter to Winston. He was right. As far as exits went, this one was overwhelmingly anticlimactic.

Thomas stepped forwards, brought a shaking hand to the door handle, and pushed down.

     ⁰⁰ ❛ 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 . . .☄︎ ⋆࿐໋ ˖

love, 𝒓𝒊𝒓𝒊. *♡・.