The familiar sound of stone grinding on stone and rusty gears was heard. The doors in the giant walls started to grind open. Minho was bouncing on his toes, ready to go. As soon as there was a big enough gap to fit he ran in. Followed quickly by Thomas and Alex.

"LETS RUUUUUUN!" He called.

"Hey Minho! You totally THOMASED that maze door! I'll give you 8.5 on execution!" Alex yelled.

"Only 8.5?! Babe, how could you?"

"Did you just use my name as a verb?" Thomas asked, confused.

"Sure did. Anytime anyone fits through a small space..." Alex replied, running beside him.

"That's not a thing...," he argued back.

"Oh it's DEFINITELY a thing" Alex laughed at him.

"Sure is a thing!" Minho agreed.

Thomas huffed and was quiet for a while, following Minho as he led them deeper into the maze running most of the morning.

"We're almost there guys, come on! The faster we get there the more time we have to look around!" He called over his shoulder.

Alex and Thomas exchanged a quick glance and picked up the pace. They took a few more turns.

"Let's go! Not much further to the inner ring! Come on, come on!" Minho encouraged them.

Alex wasn't having any issues keeping up, she was surprised her breathing was still mostly even. This was the furthest she had been in the maze.

Minho rounded a corner and then slowed to a stop. He spun around looking at the walls.

"That's strange!" Minho said to himself, still circling.

"What is?" Thomas asked, spinning in circles too, trying to understand what Minho was seeing.

Minho took off running again, he looked back at Thomas, "Seven isn't supposed to be open for another week!"

A few more minutes of silence, running and focusing on breathing. The walls were rapidly becoming wider apart with less corners. Almost like it was spreading out. They trio came to a section with long skinny sharp looking metal flaps that went from the stone floor hundreds of feet into the air. There were rows and rows of them, all open.

"What the shuck is this place Min?" Alex huffed, her voice finally showing some strain.

"We call them Blades," Minho answered.

"Very original name." Alex rolled her eyes.

They slowed down to a brisk walk, grabbing their waters. Alex saw something up ahead on the ground and jogged over. She came up short, and took a step back. Thomas came and crouched, inspecting it. Minho gingerly picked it up. Alex recognised it immediately.

"It's Ben's isn't it..?" Thomas asked.

"Ya." Minho answered currently, looking up and around the area.

"What happened?" Thomas asked.

Minho looked at him sharply. "It's a little hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong!" He snapped, Minho dropped the bloody ripped up shirt.

"Tommy. Enough." Alex gave him a shut up you slint head right now look, and shook her head. Thomas had the sense to close his mouth. For an intelligent person, he was quiet clueless.

Alex was hesitant to approach Minho, his face was hard, and his body stuff. Ben was his running partner for a full year. Ben was a friend..a brother. Alex's heart squeezed when she thought of the heart ache Minho must be going through. And yet he kept his composure and did what needed to be done. She admired that. Minho stood up abruptly and walked away. Alex followed, she matched his pace and laced her fingers into his.

She asked quietly, "That must not have been easy." She didn't bother asking if he was okay, she knew he wasn't.

Minho just nodded, his jaw clenched. She squeezed his hand, not saying anything else.

*Beep*

Alex swiveled around, her heart pumping. She whipped her head back and forth trying to figure out where that beep came from. There wasn't anything different, just grey rock, green ivy attached to the stone somehow and grey rusty metal 'blades'. Minho gave her a questioning look. She shrugged her shoulders. Minho led them still deeper, when the beeping got louder, this time. Alex spun in a circle trying to figure out what it was, and where it came from. Thomas was doing the same until he stopped and stared at her.

"Can I help you?" She asked, a hand on her hip.

"I think it's coming from you! The cylinder thing! Where is it!" Thomas almost shouted, he bounded over when Alex pulled it out.

She handed it over and he turned it over in his hands, seeing the red flashing 7, it beeped every time the number would flash on the screen. He took a few paces to the right, it seemed to slow down. When he took a few steps the other way the beeping and flashing sped up.

"This is new!" Minho whispered, excitement in his eyes.

Thomas looked up, just as excited, "Guys, I think it's showing us the way!"

He took off at a sprint with the other two right behind. It led them through to the outer edge of the blades. Alex kept running, she passed by Thomas who stopped suddenly.

"Wait, wait, wait..." Thomas shouted.

He spun a few times his face twisted in concentration, listening.

"This way! Come on!" And he ran along a line of blades, and came to a few more towering stone walls, and a long stone bridge. The bridge led to a dead end wall. On either side of the bridge was a straight drop, no railings, just a straight drop with no bottom to be seen. The dead end stone wall was a different colour, this wall was almost black, but looked exactly like the rest of the maze walls.

"Wow" Minho whispered, looking around with wide eyes.

"Minho, you ever see this before?" Thomas asked.

"No. But it's just another dead end. It looks like the Cliff in section 4, just way bigger!" Minho replied, looking around.

Thomas was still looking at the beeping cylinder, and following the noise as it sped up to an almost constant beeping.

Alex looked apprehensively at Minho, "You sure about this?"

"Nope" he said, popping the p at the end.

He held out his hand, she gratefully took it and they followed Thomas across the drop off bridge to the dead end wall. The cylinder was now a constant noise. Without warning it shut off. The trio stood in silence for a second. Then a red light flicked on right in the middle of the wall, about 5 feet above their heads. The light lowered over them and then ran back up their bodies, almost like it was scanning them for something. It clicked off with a long buzz, followed by silence.

Alex jumped when there was a loud gear grinding noise followed by a long piercing metal on metal sound. The dead end wall slide apart to reveal another long dark corridor. The trio couldn't see the end of the tunnel. Thomas looked over his shoulder at Minho and Alex. They took a step forward so they were all shoulder to shoulder.

"Well? This looks inviting. What are we waiting for?" Alex asked, all the sarcasm thrown behind her words.

They all hesitantly walked forward. Alex's eyes were darting everywhere, trying to see something, anything. But it was so dark! Thomas had wandered off towards the left wall, Minho towards the right wall. Alex followed. It was so dark, she could feel her heart accelerating, and her chest felt tight and heavy. Small dark places reminded her of the box. Alex was trying to focus on slowing her breathing. She tripped on a stray piece of stone on the floor and flung her hands out just in time to catch herself on the wall.

"Ugh!" she whined, "Gross!"

"What is?" Minho asked, coming up behind her.

Momentarily forgetting about the heavy tight feeling in her chest, Alex was trying to look at her hands, she could feel they were covered in slime, she lifted her head, eyes wide with a new fear.

"Grievers!" she whispered.

A bright red light flashed again from the wall, the light revealed a weird flat computer screen flush with the stone wall, the screen flashed a number 7, from red to green.

"What the Shuck was that?" Minho asked, looking at the two. His face twisted in fear and confusion. Turn between Grievers and the unknown.

________________________

WICKED Facility

"Ma'am, they found The Griever Port. That is not the exit or end of the trial we designed for them." Said a red haired man sitting at a computer screen. He turned to look at his Director. She did not look happy. She crossed her arms and pressed her bright red lips together.

"Then do something. They should never have found that scanner! The cliff was to be their end. How did this happen?" She hissed, narrowing her eyes.

"I...I don't know ma'am. We did recruit the brightest children, with an uncanny knack for survival..." The man answered unsure. The Director narrowed her eyes even more, her face hard as stone.

"Fix.it." she hissed.

____________________

MAZE

Alex whipped around to the opening they came through, it was closing.

"GUYS! We've over stayed out welcome!" She shouted and took off towards the opening that was getting smaller.

"Thomas, give me the key thing! Give me the key!" Alex shouted, he tossed it to her, she easily caught it and slipped it back into her little bag on her thigh.

"MOVE MOVE! WERE GOING TO GET TRAPPED!" Minho shouted.

Just as before the walls shut the three dived out, landing in a heap on the stone bridge. Alex lay on her back for a second.

"High five guys, we just thomased that door!" Alex laughed, holding both her hands out, waiting for high fives. "I'd give a 10 out of 10, landing and execution was phenomenal! Though Tommy Boy? Try to sprawl a little more on your landing. The crumpled heap was good, but the sprawl would be better."

Minho laughed and gave her a high five and Thomas rolled his eyes. Minho held out a hand and helped Alex up. Just as Alex got to her feet the bridge started to shake.

"Okay, time to go! Go! GO! GO!" Minho screamed, giving Alex a push down the hall. Minho took the lead, with his phenomenal eidetic memory, he had no problems remembering the way they cane. The blade fins threw Alex for a loop, and was glad Minho remembered.

They had to make it back through the blades, which had started to swing shut, they all made it through the first row with no problems. Minho made it through the second row. But as Alex tried to run through she stumbled. Thomas grabbed her arm and hulled her back up. He kept her from falling but that slowed them both down and now they were on the wrong side.

"NEVER STOP RUNNING!" they could hear Minho screaming at them, they ran beside each other, with the blades slamming shut just before they could slide through.

"REALLY? I thought I could cartwheel my way through!" Alex yelled back.

Alex pushed her body even harder and right before the blade slammed shut she threw herself in between. It was so close she could feel it snag the end of her braid. Minho was right there to catch her and bring her back to her feet. Now it was Thomas's turn.

"Come on Thomas!" they screamed, sprinting down the corridor, trying to get ahead of the blades. He didn't have much room left. He flung his body through the closing space. All three runners safely passed the blades.

"Way to thomas that, Tommy !" Alex huffed between her gasping breathing.

"Shut. Up." was all he could manage.

"Come on move! Lets go! Lets go!" Minho was screaming at them.

The maze walls were moving, but not slowly, like they do at night. The walls were slamming and dropping, like it was falling apart around them.

Even though the trio had run all morning, skipped lunch and sprinted for their lives just now, Alex pushed her body past any limits. Alex didn't remember much from before, but she was pretty sure she never pushed her body this much before. They had to make it out of this section.

"Just follow me and run like your life depends on it." Minho called.

"Because it DOES!" Alex yelled back, following at his heels. Minho led them through the maze at a breakneck speed, jumping over parts of rising stone ground. Alex had to dive out of the way from a part of the wall that came slamming down above her. She rolled and came up running.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Alex, you okay?" Minho asked when he saw her dive.

"Ya."

"Just keep running! Okay, there's section 8! Almost there! GO GO GO! Come on Thomas! Move it!"

How Minho could scream at them and still sprint was beyond Alex's comprehension, she couldn't even get a word out!

"THOMAS DON'T LOOK BACK! MOVE!"

The wall was slamming down behind them every few feet, like it was trying to squish them flat. Minho took a sharp corner. He jumped up onto a wall that was rising, while the top of a section was lowering. He had to crouch and run through and drop to the ground. Alex and Thomas flung themselves up and had to army crawl, it was going to squish them if they didn't move it. Alex pushed herself mostly through the space and then rolled off the edge dropping a couple feet onto the stone floor. Thomas fell on top of her with a grunt.

"Made it" He huffed out.

Alex pushed him off and laid there for a second. Minho was breathing heavily. Thomas was gasping for air. All three lay on the ground for a second in silence trying to catch their breath. After a few minutes Alex's breathing had slowed down, she turned her head.

"Hey Tommy..!" Alex started.

"Nope. Alex I don't even want to hear it!"

Alex couldn't help it, she nearly died a few times in the last day, she laughed. She laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.

"Minho...Minho..." She gasped "We totally... THOMASED that wall!" Minho looked at her deadpaned for a few seconds, but then he burst into laughter too.

"We totally did! Man that was an EPIC THOMAS! Especially your flop onto the ground in a heap! Good ol' Tommy Boy took your advice, the sprawled landing was perfect! Definitely a 10 on landing!"

Thomas just groand.

"Guys!" he whined.

And that made Alex and Minho laugh harder.