CHAPTER THREE: NOT ENOUGH TIME

     It was decided by Alby that Ben's footsteps would need to be retraced, as a way to see what had happened to him when he split off from Layla and Minho. The leader himself would be accompanying the two Runners, which only happened when absolutely necessary—the last time Alby went into the Maze was long before Layla even had arrived in the Glade.

     Newt stood by the three early that morning, waiting for the Maze doors to open as he bid them good luck. "Hey," he turned to Layla, "be careful out there, all right? He was stung." He reminded, "you watch each other's backs, yeah?"

     Layla nodded in an instant, "always." She agreed. It was her first time speaking since Ben's banishment, and her voice was scratchy and hoarse, but she didn't care. She wanted to know that Newt could trust her, and that he knew she would be careful. He frowned, seeming to finally take in her puffy eyes and and lack of a smile, before nodding in approval.

     The Maze doors opened exactly on time, just like they always did, with a booming sound. Layla watched as they stretched wide apart, clicking as gears and chains shifted into place. Layla didn't bother to question how it worked, however. She had stopped asking questions like that a long time ago, and focused more on the important ones—like who she was, and if she would ever leave the Maze.

Layla turned to Newt as the two boys began running, and smiled softly, despite her sadness over Ben. "See you later, Newt."

Newt smiled back as best as he could, and nodded. "See you, Layla."

Then, Layla quickly caught up with the other two boys, following them through twists and turns. When they had made it to the fork in the path, they turned left—the way Ben had gone. They followed the path, going the way the Ben had most likely gone, before stopping at another fork in the path.

     Alby turned to Minho and Layla, "best we stick together." He said. "We don't wanna end up like Ben." Layla flinched, her mind swirling with thoughts of the changing and what it could do to you. "Good that?"

     Layla nodded in agreement, not feeling comfortable splitting up again. "Good that." She said, as Minho nodded.

     Minho then pointed to the left, one way that Ben could've gone. "This way leads to another fork, and both paths eventually lead to dead ends." He then pointed right, "this way would've lead down to an open section yesterday, but today it closes off early. So if we wanna look there, we won't find much."

     Alby thought for a long moment, "best to check out both sections. We'll go left first."

     Both Minho and Layla agreed, and they were quickly off. Layla's legs soon began to burn, as she kept her breaths controlled, but she made no move to stop—a Runner never gives up.

     Just like Minho said, they came to another fork. Layla expected it, as she had been a Runner for quite a while, but she trusted Minho's word more than her own. The group made the silent agreement to take a left first, and that was around the time when Layla got tired.

     Minho noticed, and glanced at her, "best we don't stop for a break until we know it's clear." He panted, "don't want to be caught by anything."

     Layla lazily nodded, hoping he caught that so she didn't have to answer out loud. She was sure if she tried to speak once, she would go up in a coughing fit.

     They made it to the dead end, and nothing was found. Alby huffed, but didn't show his annoyance in any other way. "There's gotta be somethin'." Was all he said, before taking off the way they had just came. Layla sighed as Minho pat her on the shoulder before the two followed their First in Command.

     Upon making it to the fork, they went right that time. They didn't stop at all during their run, and upon making it to the dead end, they turned back in an instant.

     They ran back to the fork, completely passing it that time as they went for the final path that Ben could've taken. As they arrived at the fork, they turned and jogged at a steady pace. The path was a lot longer, and more treacherous. The three Gladers slowed, taking the trail in as they watched with careful gazes. "Ben was here." Minho muttered, pointing a few feet away.

     Drops of blood were seen on the ground, trailing from up ahead. Vines had been cut and thrown across the path, which Layla avoided to make as little noise as possible. Something felt off.

     They took a right turn, a left, another left, a right...

     Alby was the first to see it, then Layla, then Minho. Up ahead, down the path was... something monstrous. Layla had never seen anything like it, but it sparked memories within her mind that she hadn't thought of in a while, and she held onto them tightly.

     She had seen monstrous things before—somehow she knew it, and she wasn't alone when she fought them either.

     This monster, however, was different. It looked both flesh and metallic, which was definitely new. It's legs were sharp and pointed, like giant claws. It's head shined in the dimming sunlight, like it was covered in slime—it's head was not robotic, like it's legs were. To Layla's surprise, it even had a tail, which looked like it's only purpose was to kill.

     But above all, the monster looked dead.

     The strange creature was a great distance away, remaining completely motionless. It didn't twitch or wiggle, it didn't screech or make any noise at all, it just laid there... unmoving.

     It unsettled Layla, but the most unsettling thing was that she knew it was a Griever. How could the Griever possibly have ended up dead?

     Alby held out a hand, stopping the other two in their tracks. The three stood silently, taking in the sight. Layla thought she would never have to see a Griever, despite it being a higher possibility for a Runner. She had hoped that she would never cross paths with one... but there it was.

     No one knew what to say or do. They could only stare at the creature that had haunted every Glader's nightmares. What were you supposed to do when you came across a horrible thing that felt like a legend, only to see it dead?

     Despite the Griever looking dead, none of them spoke. Each Glader kept their guard up, their instincts taking over.

     The Griever twitched, a groaning sound escaping from the metal hinges on it's legs. Each Glader flinched, taking a large step back. The Griever twitched again, a leg pushing hard into the ground as it began to attempt to gain balance. Slowly, the small group began to retreat, and when the Griever let out a menacing screech, they bolted.

     "Go, go!" Minho shouted, taking the lead. Layla glanced back, despite knowing it would only slow her down, and her eyes grew comically wide at the sight of the Griever gaining on Alby.

     Layla looked ahead once more, keeping her legs pumping. Her heart was racing in her chest as the Griever picked up in speed, screeching and groaning as the Gladers tried to escape.

     At the sound of a horrific scream behind her, Layla immediately turned to see that the Griever had finally gotten ahold of Alby. She shouted his name in terror, Minho holding her back as she tried to rush to save him, despite it being futile.

     The Griever raised it's tail, and for the first time, Layla noticed it's stinger, which shot out viciously fast and got Alby in the chest. "No!" Layla cried, watching as the Griever threw Alby away like he was nothing.

     Just when Layla thought the Griever would pounce on her and Minho, it turned away, crawling up the walls and around the Maze, leaving the two Runners to deal with the aftermath. It left as if it's job was done, and everything had gone according to plan.

     Layla and Minho slowly made their way closer to Alby. The boy was heaving in rapid breaths, the veins on his skin darkening as the sickness spread within him. He thrashed around, looking to be in pain, before going eerily still.

     His eyes shot open, and he turned to face Layla and Minho, an angered look in his eyes. "Alby..." Minho muttered, holding a hand out as the boy slowly got to his feet.

     But Alby didn't seem to care for Minho—he looked directly at Layla. "You." He seethed. "You were always different. They always liked you." He glared, as if trying to murder her with his own eyes. "You could've helped us. Why didn't you use it? We could've gotten out!" He began to shout, growing angrier as Layla grew more and more confused.

     "What?" Her voice shook as she spoke. "Alby, what are you—?" But Layla couldn't finish her sentence, because Alby was lunging at her.

     Layla screamed in shock as Alby wrapped his hands around her neck, tightening them until her face began to go purple. Minho reacted in an instant, shoving the boy off of Layla. He charged, pushing him into the ground before pinning him down. "Alby, enough!" Minho shouted, glaring daggers at the boy. He knew it wasn't Alby's fault, but trying to reason with Alby wouldn't do anything—you couldn't reason with those who had been stung.

     Alby looked past Minho and directly at Layla, who was catching her breath. "I saw you!" He screamed, trying to rip Minho's hands off of him. "I saw you!"

     Layla had decided that she could catch her breath later, and ran up to help Minho. She pushed her hands down onto Alby's right arm, while shoving her knee into his thigh, trying to keep him as motionless as possible, while Minho did the same on his left.

     Still, Alby had always been strong, and he nearly broke free of their grips a couple of times. "Alby, calm down!" Layla screamed, despite how useless it was. The boy only shouted insults return, going on about how he had seen her.

     Layla had never seen someone get stung, she had only ever seen the aftermath. But to watch as Alby was immediately hit with pain after getting stung, his eyes shut tightly as he shook around on the floor, was horrifying. Many other Gladers had mentioned things about how useless trying to escape the Maze was, or how they had seen the people who had sent them in the Glade, but none had ever mentioned Layla.

     She had seen the way they glared at her, or how they looked at her in a new light... like she was different from them, but Alby was the first to outright shout that she had done something wrong. What could she have done?

Suddenly, Layla remembered what Ben had said to Thomas. "I'll kill you!" He cried, "I'll kill you both!"

Layla could feel the dread pooling in her stomach in an instant.

     Still, Alby was not the first to reek of death. As Layla held him down, she tried to ignore the cold feeling settling in her bones, and the deep sadness that followed. It felt as though Alby was slowly deteriorating, his soul being ripped from his body.

     "Hold him down!" Minho called out to her, "don't let him up." He he met her eyes, and Layla nodded, leaning forward to put her full body weight on Alby as she placed a knee on his chest, pinning his arms to the sides of his head to keep him from breaking free.

Minho immediately rushed off, going as quickly as he could. Layla couldn't be sure what he was planning, but she trusted him. Alby struggled harder under her grip, taking the lack of Minho to his advantage. He kicked with his legs, attempting to knee Layla in the back, which caused her to groan in pain, but she didn't move. Just hold him down, she thought, don't let him up.

Alby scream, glaring at her. "Why didn't you help us?"

Layla was completely clueless, her mind drawing blanks as she tried to figure out what Alby could've possibly been talking about. She would always help her friends, so why was Alby saying otherwise?

"Layla!" Minho's voice came from up ahead the path, and she risked a glance up to see him holding a rock about the size of his palm. "Move!" He shouted, and Layla immediately complied.

She shot to her feet, dodging Alby who had gotten up just as quick. Minho managed to wedge himself between the two before swiping the rock through the air. A smack was heard as the rock collided with Alby's head, knocking him out. Alby collapsed, but Minho was quick to catch him before gently laying him down.

Layla leaned forwards, checking for a pulse. He had one, and she breathed out in relief. She knew that Minho would never purposely kill Alby, but she had to be sure. She ignored the part of her that told herself she would've known if he had died.

Minho and Layla panted heavily, before Minho turned to her. "Are you okay?" He breathed out.

Layla nodded slowly, her hands on her knees as she heaved in and out. "Yeah," she said, "you?"

Minho sighed and nodded as well. Then, he said, "we need to get back to the Glade. The sun's going down," he glanced up, "we don't have much time left."

     Layla knew that despite how tired she was, she couldn't take a break then. There wasn't enough time for one. So, she helped Minho hoist Alby up, and the two began to drag his limp body back to the Glade.

     They struggled the entire way; tripping over rocks, their vision blurring from pure exhaustion, their legs aching, the constant fear that the Griever would return—it was all too much. The panic began overtaking Layla as the sun had nearly hit the horizon, because she knew that the doors would be closing soon.

     The time seemed to pass faster with the weight of being stuck in the Maze weighing on them, and by the time they had reached the entrance to the Glade, they were nearly passing out from fatigue.

     Thomas was the first to see them, of all the Gladers hovering by the doors, and pointed ahead, "there!" He called out.

     Layla could faintly make out Newt mumbling something back to him, with a worried expression on his face. He was too far for her to hear, and she was too tired to care for what he'd said.

     "Come on, guys, you can do it!" A voice broke through the haze, which Layla recognized to be Chuck's. Soon after, all the Gladers began to shout out words of encouragement, but it fell on deaf ears. Layla was too focused on making it into the Glade to care.

     Minho let out a shout of frustration as the two began to drag Alby faster, despite their legs being numb. Through all the chaos, Layla heard someone shout, "Thomas, no!" And lazily looked up to see Thomas squeezing through the nearly closed doors. The boy managed to make it through just before the doors slammed shut, with a boom echoing in the Maze as the gears and chains locked themselves in place for the night.

     Layla collapsed to her knees, taking Minho and Alby with her, before the two Runners slowly laid Alby down with shaking arms. Layla's eyes met Thomas' before she glanced behind him, her eyes trailing up the closed doors with defeat.

     For the first time ever, Layla had failed to make it back to the Glade in time.

—————
lizzie speaks...

guys, it's my 18th birthday today :')

tried to write in more reactions this time bc i felt i wasn't doing enough. do you guys prefer this?

first of all, i don't think they react to the changing that quickly once they're stung but idc, this was more fun to write

anyway i hope i did justice on the scenes i've written. i've had to make up how i imagined things would go. because i'm pretty sure in the book it mentioned the griever played dead (i haven't read the books in quite some time), and blah blah, so if i need to fix things lmk... but if they don't bother you, i suppose they can stay. anyway, i hope you're all enjoying.

also ALSO, this is mostly a maze runner themed book. as much as i would love to have pjo characters in it throughout the book, i just don't think it would make sense. i can put them in memories and have glimpses of them here and there, but they unfortunately probably won't actually be there until the very end (but there is something else with them i'll add, no more spoilers than that :) shhh). it makes me rly sad bc broooo i love pjo, but for the sake of not ruining the plot like i tend to do with my books... they won't be switching universes

see you next wednesday <3

Alby: "You could've helped us. Why didn't you use it? We could've gotten out!"

Layla: