CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE ESCAPE

     Reyna knew that the others were impatient, so she began to read quickly, flipping to the right page within seconds.

     Layla's head felt foggy. All this newfound information was disorienting and she felt like she wanted to claw her own eyes out. Memories of war, fighting, swords and blood... why?

     Why was there a war?

     Nico grew more worried. He didn't like seeing her struggle like that, and he didn't want her to remember how hard a demigod's life was.

But Nico quickly brought her back. "We're helping you as much as we can over here." He said. He seemed eager to change the topic. "We're trying to figure out why you disappeared, but maybe with your memories coming back, you'll figure it out first."

"I'm sure I will." Layla said, like it was nothing to worry about. The truth is, she was terrified. What if what she remembered completely ruined her? What if she couldn't take it?

     That did not make Nico (or Layla's friends) feel any better.

Layla heard footsteps around her, causing her to jump. She looked around, slightly startled, but no one was around.

     The audience frowned in confusion.

"Layla?" Nico frowned, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I just..." she went silent for a moment. "I thought I heard something." She was whispering now.

Nico looked worried, "what did you hear?"

"Footsteps... and..." she listened to the muffled chaos ringing in her ears. Shouting, the click of a gun, cries and metal clashing against metal. She told Nico everything she heard, but held up a hand to keep him silent.

     "That can't be good."

     "No shit."

"Layla." The voice was soft, and careful, but Layla could easily hear the stressed tone in it too. He sounded urgent.

"Minho?" She muttered.

     "She can hear what's going on near her physical body." Annabeth perked up in interest.

Nico looked at Layla more closely, "who's Minho?"

     "My best friend, I met him in the Glade." Layla quickly explained. "Did Percy forget to mention him?"

     Nico shrugged like it sounded right, "probably."

Percy pretended not to notice the amused glances sent his way, "whoops."

     "I think I'm..."

     "Layla, we have to go!"

     Layla's heart began to race. All this time, she'd been in her own world, but she'd momentarily forgotten about her and Thomas' plan back where her physical body was still resting. Minho was trying to bring her back.

     "I have to wake up." She said quickly. Nico immediately looked disheartened, like he wanted nothing more than for her to stay. "I'm sorry but I can hear them—something's wrong. I have to go. Tell the others I'll be back soon, I just—"

     "Go." Nico stopped her rambling, like he knew keeping her there would only cost her trouble. He could lose her if she stayed. "I'll tell them, I promise. Just be safe."

     Layla sent him a sad smile, before giving into her gut feelings, and letting go of the world around her. For a moment, it went dark, and everything was quiet. Then, Layla could hear the chaos around her at full blast, and her ears were ringing with the newfound loudness.

     Minho was hovering above her, and as she met his eyes, she realized how tired she felt. "Minho?" She spoke through the pain and exhaustion. "What's going on?"

"We gotta go." Was all he said, and Layla trusted him. If Minho said they had to leave, she'd follow him blindly.

Thank gods for Minho.

"Guys?" Frypan's voice was heard over the sirens and the yelling. Layla glanced up to see the Gladers, Teresa included (which surprised Layla), either looking through the locked door or down at the doctors, who had been tied up and held at gunpoint by Thomas. "They're coming! Where do we go?"

Newt scanned the room at lightning speed, before readying himself. "Frypan, move!" He knocked over a small metal table, the medical supplies crashing to the floor with a bang. Both him and Fry shoved it in front of the door, and next to another metal table. It wasn't perfect, but it would give them time, and that was more than they could ask for.

Minho helped Layla stand, and she held back a wince. Her neck was aching. She reached a hand back, and felt blood dripping. "What?" She stared at the red on her fingertips, baffled. She quickly became angry. What did they do to me?

When the screen showed a short clip of the blood on Layla's neck, and then fingers, many people in the audience shared her anger. Clearly, they'd made a mistake—no wonder she started getting her memories back.

Nico's stomach churned at the sight of her hurt. He hated it.

The guards on the other side of the door began kicking at it, and throwing their shoulders into it to break it down. Every hit got them closer to entering.

"Get back!" Thomas pushed everyone behind him, as he had the gun. "Get back!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Whoever was at the door was stronger than Layla realized, as it was wide enough for him to reach an arm through if he wanted. If he had a gun, he could shoot them with ease.

"Okay, we gotta get outta here!" Minho called, panicked—but Layla would've never known if she didn't know him so well. He had a narrowed gaze, like the guards were only a mild inconvenience. "Where do we go?"

Thomas looked around for a split second, his eyes landing on a window, and then a small stool. He passed the gun to Minho without hesitation, and hefted the stool. "Everyone stand back!"

"...What's he doing?" Frank frowned.

Layla flinched as Thomas struck the window with as much force as he could muster, but the window was built to be strong.

The sound echoed in the room, and the big guy jumped. "Oh," Frank muttered. "Smart." Hazel managed a small, amused laugh.

The stool merely bounced off. "Newt," he called. "Help, help, help!"

Newt didn't question him, and rushed for another stool within a second. "Ready?" Thomas called, and with that, they smashed their stools into the window. It shattered in a million pieces, and the glass shards rained down on the two boys for a moment, but they payed it no mind.

"Go, go, go!" Thomas called, clearing the glass out of the way. And despite Layla's hazy mind, and pain, she did just that. She knew that if she didn't move, she'd probably end up dead.

Layla would not die today.

Layla had always been one of the more positive demigods. She didn't show her worry as much, and tried her best to be brave. It was nice to see that she didn't lose that.

Thomas hopped over the window, not even flinching as he rested his hand on a dozen shards of glass.

A few demigods cringed.

"Oh," Leo squirmed in his chair, "my hand hurts just watching that."

Teresa rushed to put a towel over the windowsill, and used it to climb over as Thomas helped her. Then, Thomas held out a hand and Layla took it, sliding over the windowsill with ease.

Minho, who still held the guards at gunpoint, shouted, "hurry! Let's go!" And once everyone aside from him had made it through, he turned around, and looked Thomas in the eyes. "Thomas!" He effortlessly tossed the gun, and allowed the other boy to catch it just as easily.

"That was so smooth."

As the others rushed off, Layla took another second to wait for Minho, before the two ran as fast as they could to catch up. Being former Runners, they did it no problem (even if Layla was injured).

"Stay behind me!" Thomas called out over his shoulder, before opening a door. Layla nearly ran into Frypan when everyone suddenly stopped, and when she saw the man on the other side, she realized why they did.

Thomas didn't even waste a second before shooting at him, and Layla watched as within the blink of an eye, the man was convulsing on the floor with electricity. Thomas looked down at the gun in surprise, before slowly beginning to run off. "Shit. Okay, come on!"

"Oh, wow." Percy grimaced. "That's gotta hurt."

Thalia shrugged, "meh."

As the others laughed, Percy squinted his eyes, raising a brow at the smug look on her face.

Layla didn't even spare the man a glance as she ran by him, hearing him faintly call out to them like it would make them stop.

As they made it to one final hallway—a hallway that Layla remembered—Thomas pointed to the door at the end of it. "There it is! There it is!"

Layla ignored the rushed voice over the intercom, and bolted for the end. The disappointment and panic, however, hit her in waves when the keycard that Thomas continuously tried swiping through wouldn't work.

"Shit." He cursed. "Come on! No, no, no, no, no!"

"Thomas!"

Layla didn't bother to hide her anger when she heard his voice. She'd never liked him, and despite not knowing what was going on, she knew that she was right to hate him from the start.

Janson was calmly walking down the hallway with his guards behind him, all armed.

"Oh, not this guy."

Thomas scowled, dropping the useless keycard as he pulled out his gun once more, aiming it directly at Janson.

"Open this door, Janson!" Thomas demanded.

Janson held his hands up, "you really don't want me to."

"Open the damn door!"

"Listen to me!" Janson was losing his patience, but he continued his agonizingly slow walk towards the Gladers, despite Thomas' clear fury burning in his eyes. "I'm trying to save your life."

"Liar!" Clarisse yelled out.

"The Maze is one thing, but you kids wouldn't last one day out in the Scorch." He paused. "If the elements don't kill you, the cranks will."

"Cranks?" Piper frowned.

Jason thought for a moment, "those things in the desert, right?"

"Who the fuck called them cranks, anyway?" Leo scrunched up his nose. "What an awful name."

The others hid their laughter poorly.

"Thomas, you have to believe me." He slowly put his hands down, and his voice got softer. "I only want what's best for you."

"I'm so done with this guy."

The way his lips pulled up at the corners, like he had them right where he wanted them, was enough to tell Layla that he was lying. That, and he was a horrible liar.

A few demigods snickered.

Thomas sucked in a breath, tightening his hold on the gun. "Yeah, let me guess, WCKD is good?"

"Oh, shit—"

Nico stared at the screen, suddenly furious—but he wasn't the only one. Several other demigods grew angry, all the while Annabeth and her siblings muttered curses under their breaths. ("How did I not realize?")

Layla's blood ran cold.

She expected these new people to be terrible. She expected there to be lies, and manipulation. She expected them to want them dead. Somehow, she missed the most obvious reason why. This was still WCKD.

Layla's gaze hardened.

Janson's hands dropped to his sides, and his smile was gone within seconds. An evil light danced in his eyes, and he subtly shook his head. "You're not getting through that door, Thomas." His voice made Layla want to rip her ears off. She was sure she'd never hated anyone more.

Except for...

"Could be so many people." Grover thought aloud as he munched on the cushion of his couch. "Luke," he spoke the name carefully, "Drew and her argued a bit." Drew raised a brow, but shrugged as if agreeing.

"Zeus." Percy suggested.

"Oh, yeah, him too."

Sparks flew off of Zeus, but Hera managed to hold him back, while rolling her eyes. He was so dramatic.

She shook her head of those thoughts. Her mind was still swirling with newfound memories and people she had forgotten. It would get her killed to focus on them at a time like this.

Behind her, there was a beeping sound, and the sound of air pressure being released. She whipped her head around to see the door behind them sliding up to the ceiling. When she saw Aris and Winston, she couldn't help the small smile from appearing on her face.

"Hell yeah! Love those guys!"

"Hey, guys." Aris said, completely casual. Layla would've laughed if it wasn't such a bad time.

She walked through the door with ease, "perfect timing, man." She pat him on the shoulder, earning a small smile in return.

As the others followed her lead, Newt turned to look back at Thomas. "Thomas! Come on, let's go!"

In a last effort, Thomas fired one shot after the other, attempting to shock the guards and Janson until the gun was completely empty. Due to their shields, none of the shots landed, but it startled them enough to buy the boy some time.

Clarisse scowled, "wish he hit them."

Ares nodded, equally upset.

Thomas threw the gun to the floor, and began running back towards the Gladers at full speed.

"Shut the main vault door. Shut the main vault door!"

Layla watched the door slowly began to close again, but Thomas was so far away that the fear of leaving him behind hit her like a truck. "Thomas, run!" She called, her voice was lost in the sounds of everyone's shouts, the sirens and the door closing.

"Oh, my gods." Drew mumbled, eyes wide with worry.

Just as there was only a small gap between the floor and the door, Thomas dropped down, and slid through. The door slammed shut only seconds after, causing Janson and his guards to run into it.

She released the breath she was holding. "That was close."

"Thomas, what's going on?!" Teresa cried, and Layla hid her annoyance. Wouldn't it make more sense to ask questions after they escaped WCKD?

"She's got a point."

Aris hefted up a large metal object, hitting the keycard reader on the door to stop it from working, and Janson realized that after finding that his own keycard no longer worked.

As Winston reached for a fallen guard's gun, Layla's eyes scanned her surroundings. A wall of weapons stood nearby, and as a bow and a quiver of arrows gleamed in the harsh lights, she wasted no time in grabbing them.

"Yes!" Leo clapped excitedly. "Archer Layla is awesome."

"You sound like a fangirl."

Leo whipped around in his seat, ignoring his friend's laughs. "Who said that?"

The metal was cool on her finger tips, but it felt comfortable in her hands. She put the quiver over her head, allowing it to rest on her back, and held the bow in a tight grip as she ran back.

She watched with the smallest smile as Thomas flipped Janson off, causing the man to curse on the other side of the door.

Minho stole a guard's small backpack, and pat Thomas on the chest as he ran. "Come on, Thomas, let's go!" Thomas sent Janson one final glare as Minho called, "come on!"

They weaved through large shipping containers and equipment, rushing under the flashing lights of the building as they search for the door that they first came in through.

As Layla glanced back, she could see the people slowly gathering, rushing to get to them in time. It only pushed her to go faster.

Hope swelled in her chest as they arrived at the door that towered above them. Thomas eyed the small red handle on it for a moment, before twisting it with all his strength.

The familiar sound of air pressure being released sounded once again, and the door slowly began to unlatch itself. Then, Layla watched with relief as it began to open.

They were welcomed with strong winds and blowing sand, but anything was better than WCKD, who'd do who knows what if they stayed.

Layla held a hand in front of her eyes, took in a deep breath, and ran into the darkness.

Reyna closed the book, done with the chapter.

"I think," they all turned to Hestia, who spoke up, "we should take a break before starting the next one. And, if we can, get some rest."

It dawned on them that they'd gone through an entire book and more without any rest, and yet, they were all still completely alert, so invested in the story that they didn't even realize how unhealthy it was.

Then, a door appeared at the back of the room, and a small paper was taped to the wall next to it. Conner Stoll, who was closest to it, jumped in surprise, before cursing under his breath as his brother laughed at him.

He stood up, squinted at the page for a for moments, before talking loud enough to be heard. "It has our names on it, and room numbers. Groups of... uh, four I think. For everyone."

Hestia looked pleased that her request had been answered, and nodded. "Well, we'll get some rest then, and continue in the morning, or..." she thought for a moment, realizing that time didn't exist there. "When we've all woken up." Her smile was warm, and comforting—nobody argued.

—————
lizzie speaks...

just realized i used book percy and show annabeth why did nobody tell me (would've preferred one or the other but whatever it's fine, i love both anyway)

Janson: *speaks*

Layla: