The trio ran. Taking corner after corner, left, right, right, down a long straight, left again. The grinding was getting louder.

"The..maze ... it's changing!" Thomas huffed out from behind.

I nodded.

I have an idea!

That doesn't sound good.

Hey! That was rude.

Just saying...fine. what idea?

Moving walls-

Say no more!

"Min...go to the left...through.. section...7!" I gasped.

"But..it's... changing!"

"Yeah." I wheezed. "Trust...me."

He shrugged. At the next interesction he took a left without hesitation. We had ran enough times together, gone through too much klunk for him not to trust me. Up ahead, at the next coridor intersection a wall was slowly moving, slowly moving, like the doors.

"Start through!" I tried to yell, but it was more of a rasp.

Minho put in a burst of speed, and sprinted through. I however slowed down. Thomas doing the same. It's like we could read each other's minds, (ha! Good one!) And we looked over our shoulders, the lead Griever was coming down the hall, it's long deadly legs propelling it down the hall at an alarming rate.

I looked at Thomas who nodded grimly.

Together?

Together.

We stopped at the changing wall.

"COME ON!" Thomas yelled at it, egging it on.

Minho made it through to the other side of the wall, and turned.

"What the shuck?! Come on! Thomas! Charlie! Let's go!" He screamed at us, I heard the panic.

The Griever was closer.

"Come on! You hunk of junk!" I yelled.

It was now only a few yards away.

"THOMAS! CHARLIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LET'S GO!" Minho yelled.

We spun around, with the Griever feet from us, and ran. We had to run single file now, the wall was squishing us. The Griever hot on my heels.

"Let's go! Faster! Move!" Minho was shouting.

Thomas pushed his way free. I had to really squeeze. The wall slammed shut just as I pushed free, with a loud scream of pain. The Griever was slammed between the wall, squishing it like a spider. But the front leg had lashed out. Slicing me across the side.

I collapsed to the floor, both hands holding the long gash. My hands were already covered in warm sticky blood. Both boys dropped down beside me.

"Shuck it Tiger! Why?"

"Charlie?"

"It... got ride of...one." I groaned.

It was a burning hot pain. My heart was beating so fast that the blood seemed to ooze out quicker.

"We need to stop the bleeding." Thomas muttered.

"Runners always have medical supplies. Good thing I still have my backpack!" Minho said shrugging off his pack.

"Where's yours?" Thomas asked me as he helped me sit up and kean against the wall.

"Section four. Used it to kill a Griever."

As Minho pulled out gauze and bandages, handing them to Thomas. He wrapped the cut. It wasn't wide, but it was long and deep. It went right across my side, front to back, a long clean cut. It would definitely need stitches.

"That's the second one you've killed." Minho grinned at me.

I grinned back, but it turned to a wince when Thomas tied off the bandage.

We sat for a second. Trying to catch our breath. The moving walls around us were loud, echoing off the walls. The distant sound of the Grievers metal on metal and moans and screams were heard, not far off.

"We need to keep going. To the cliff!" Minho said, glancing over his shoulder.

I still saw the panic and fear.

"Dude!" I yelled, suddenly angry, I drew back and punched him hard in the chest. The force made him fall backwards from his crouch. I yelped in pain and then groaned, holding my side.

"The shuck Tiger?!"

"You ditched me! You left me! And Alby! Just abandoned me! I thought I meant more to you than that!?"

"And me!" Thomas added.

"And Tommy! You shucked face slint head!" I yelled, anger and hurt flooded my system like adrenaline.

Minho just hung his head. And rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ya... I'm..um..I'm sorry. I was a shucken coward. And I know there is no way to...to say how shucken sorry I am."

"You do it again Slint head and I'm going to beat you to death!"

"Tiger!" He cried, "That's a real threat!"

"What? Her beating you to death?"

Minho looked at Thomas with wide eyes.

"Shuck dude! She almost did one time, beat a guy to death! Dude seriously was out cold for two days, broke his jaw and nose...he was black and blue for a month! Chick is crazy." Minho told him seriously, a slight waver in his voice. He took my threat seriously.

Thomas looked around at me with wide fearful eyes.

"Don't call me a hoe or slut, don't ask me when it's your turn and tell me to get on my knees and we won't have a problem." I growled.

"Eww. No. Gross!" Thomas visibly shuddered, and even in the dark I saw his face turn pale and a greenish colour.

The Griever shrieked again, closer this time.

"Okay...we need to go!" Minho said anxiously, looking over his shoulder, "we killed one. Pissed off the others...these changing walls will only last so long."

I nodded. I tried to get up, but blinding hot pain shot through body.

"Whoa whoa! Slow down Sparky!"

Sparky? Another nickname from someone else. This one made me smile slightly through the pain. Thomas bent down and helped me stand through lots of hissing. Moving hurt. A lot. He put an arm around my back and took some of my weight.

"We won't be able to go as fast, but you won't be able to run otherwise."

"I'm fine, Tommy." I waved him off, and walked forward. I had to bit my lip to keep from crying out. The pain was hot and sharp. I could feel the blood still seeping out.

"Come on." I slowly started to jog down the hall.

"She always this stuborn?" I heard Thomas ask Minho.

There was a snort and "You have no shucken clue dude."

We ran. Running through changing walls and doors, we ran a short cut through a few sections, running as straight as we could, through to section four. We took another turn and finally Minho slowed down coming to a brisk walk. We were all heaving and sucking air hard.

I had been slowing down for the last while. My head was fuzzy. And despite running for almost a full 24 hours, my hands and feet felt cold. I knew I was loosing too much blood. My shirt was soaked with it. But I clamped my jaw shut, knowing if I stopped I was dead. The Grievers had picked up our trail and were following us. I had to stop. I bent over, holding the blood soaked area. I let out a small whimper. Thomas turned and frowned at me. Walking back over, he slid an arm around my back and took my other arm drapping it over his shoulder. Taking some of my weight. I didn't bother to protest.

"Hey...Minho...the...Cliff." I frowned and nodded towards the wall.

It didn't look like a hologram of the stone wall anymore, like it always did. Minho and I both stopped dead in our tracks, making Thomas stop as well. We frowned and cocked our heads.

"It doesn't always look like this?" Thomas asked, letting go of me and slowly walking towards the opening.

"Nope." Minho said popping his p, "definitely doesn't look like the end of the shuck world."

"It always looks like the rest of the wall...but it's shinnier." I added still frowning.

I didn't understand what I was looking at. The normal two ivy-covered walls on either side seemed to intersect with nothing but dark inky black sky up ahead. How could the Maze ended. Looking from side to side, nothing else looked different. Ivy and moss covered stone wall, blank space and then mossy ivy covered solid stone wall again.

"After years of searching...we found an exit?" Minho asked excited.

"I don't...I don't know." I said carefully.

Something was off, something didn't feel right. Minho and Thomas walked passed me and closer to the edge. Minho pulled up, holding his hand out over Thomas's chest  to make sure he stopped, too. I hung back a little, still leery of the sudden change in the wall.

Thomas slowed, then walked up to where the Maze opened out into open sky. I could hear the sounds of the on rushing Grievers, they were steadily coming closer. But it seemed Thomas's need for answers and his curiosity got the better of him, and slowly steped even closer to the edge. It really did look like they had reached a way out of the Maze. Ever so slowly I crept closer, hand clamped over my bloody side. I stood shoulder to shoulder with Thomas and Minho.

All I could  see  in  every direction, up and down, side to side, was empty air and fading stars. It was a strange and unsettling sight,  like I was standing at the edge of  the universe, and for a brief moment I was overcome by vertigo, my already exhausted legs feeling even more shaky. I grabbed onto Thomas and Minho for support.

The Grievers were loud now, right around the corner. I turned around to face them, the boys followed, we edged a little further away from the cliff edge.

I felt Minho take a deep breath and say, "Okay. These things are visious but seem to be dumb as dirt-"

"And not very agile."

"Remember that dive thing you crazy kids did earlier?"

"Ya Minho, we get it!" I snapped.

The three of us stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder.

"Sparky? You okay?" Thomas asked, eyeing me. I probably looked dead on my feet. We all did.

"Fine."

We waited as the Grievers came around the corner and stepped into our hall. There were three of them. All big and ugly like that last one. They hummed and screached. The constant whirring sound echoed off the walls.

"We gotta be in sync!" Minho yelled.

"We know!" I snapped back.

"We got it!" Thomas nodded. A grim determined look on his face.

"Wait for my signal." Minho called.

I had just enough energy to huff and roll my eyes.

The Grievers started to come at us. Slowly at first, single file down the hall.

"Wait..."

They were 30 feet.

"Wait..."

10 feet now.

"Hold it!"

5 feet.

"Almost..."

The first one opened its mouth to scream-

"NOW!"

Thomas and I dove to the right. Minho to the left. I tried to tuck my body and roll, but with the blood loss and exhaustion and everything else I didn't tuck very well, but I rolled. And slammed into the maze wall. I slowly, on very shaky arms got up to hands and knees to watch as the first monster flew off the cliff. The horrible screeching oddly cut off sharply instead of fading as it plummeted to the depths beyond.

I watched transfixed as the see the second creature tried to stop it's self, and tried slamming it's sharp legs down into the stone, but its momentum was too much. The nerve-grinding squeal of the biomechanical monster cutting through the ground sent a shiver up my spine. A second later the  Griever tumbled into  the abyss. Again, neither of  them  made  a  sound  as  they  fell, as if  they'd disappeared instead of falling. The third and last one had slowed down enough to stop itself from falling right off, it teered dangerously on the edge.

Thomas pushed off the wall at the same time as Minho and they both ran for the back end, screaming. The jumped and used their legs and pushed the monster over the edge.

"They're...they're just gone!"

"Don't sound so upset about it man!"

Minho rolled his eyes. He was laying flat on his back, breathing hard. I watched as Thomas crumpled to the ground, and finally let the tears fall. I saw Minho also wipe his face. My arms collapsed and I curled into a ball, my body felt oddly hot. Spots danced in my eyes. I closed them, the spinning was makitme feel sick.

I must have either fallen asleep or passed out. I opened my eyes to someone screaming my name and shaking my shoulders. While my head vibrated and heard screaming in my mind.

Charlie!

"Charlie!"

Charlie! Wake up!

"Oh shuck, please don't be dead!" Minho begged

"She's not! She's still breathing, dumbass!" Thomas cried exhaspirated.

Charlie! Come on! Please!

I slowly peed my eyes open. The sky looked lighter. Sunrise wasn't too far off.

"We...did it..." I croaked. My voice sounded as raw and sore as my body.

"Oh my shuck! You're alive!" Minho cried in relief.

"Are there more of them? Did we just kill them all?" Thomas asked, looking up alarmed, as if he expected to see more sneaking up silently from the end of the hall.

Minho snorted. "Somehow we made it to sunrise, or we would've had ten more on our butts before long." He shifted his body, wincing and groaning.

"I can't believe it. Seriously. We made it through the whole night—never been done before." I groaned, I tried to prop myself up onto my elbows, but the second I moved, I yelped in pain, and stayed flat on my back instead.

Thomas looked back and forth between Minho and I frowning, "What did we do differently?" He asked, his face pulled into a deep look of bewilderment.

Minho shrugged "I don't know. It's kind of hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong." He said as dryly as humanly possible.

I groaned out a chuckle. And then it turned into a giggle and then I couldn't help it, I was laughing, and wheezing and wincing in pain. Minho had joined in, both of laughing at the horrible dark sadistic joke.

Thomas was looked between us like we just killed a fluffy bunny. But if he had been in the maze as long as us, and seen the horrible klunk we had...he would have a sick twisted dark sense of humor too.

He shook his head. And with a lot of groaning he got to his feet. He held out a hand for Minho and hulled him up. They both turned to me and grabbing an arm each helped me up. The sudden movement made me gasp and cry out, my world went dark for a moment with the pain.

Thomas turned and just scooped me up instead.

"I can help." Minho protested.

"It's fine. You lead us back, you've been out here longer than me. I got her."

The guys slowly walked back towards the Glade.

"Hey..." I whispered, "think Alby is still alive?"

Minho spun around, mouth open and eyes wide.

"What?" He cried.

"He was when we left him on the wall." Thomas huffed.

"Again..." Minho said, looking between us, "WHAT?"

"We..used ivy, up the wall." I said horsely.

"We'll show you." Thomas agreed.

The sun has just crept over the walls when we came to the last corner. I insisted Thomas put me down and let me walk for a bit, he was starting to stumble and stagger. Instead both boys had their arms around me my arms wrapped around their shoulders.

Each breath was a knife to my side, the bleeding had slowed down since my heart rate wasn't as high, but my eyes could hardly stay open now. My entire body was protesting each step. The boys didn't look much better.

I felt the rumble of the stone walls opening.

"LOOK! THERE!"

"NEWT! LOOK!"

"THEY MADE IT!"

I felt a wave of relief hit me hard in the chest.

We made it!

We actually did.

I could feel the relief and joy coming from Thomas. Everyone was there standing with mouths open eyes wide. Chuck was jumping and fist pumping. Newt stood, red times eyes, chewing his nails. I tried to stifle a sob. I had just seen the face I thought I'd never see again.

Gally.

He was standing in the same spot when the doors slammed shut twelve hours ago. He was white as a ghost, his eyes red and swollen. His blond waves a dishevelled mess.

I pulled my arms off the guys shoulders and stumbled forwards. I just about came crashing down to my knees, but Thomas grabbed my elbow helping me to my feet. I saw Gally's eyes flash, but then locked to mine.

"Gally." I whispered and sobbed at the same time.

Stumbling forward, my hand clamped over my blood soaked side I collapsed into his arms.

_____________________________________________

**WE SURVIDED A NIGHT!**
**AND killed some nasty Grievers!**