XX

Brenda bounced around the back of the fast-moving jeep like a helpless rag-doll, brushing shoulders occasionally with Sonya, who was sitting in between her and Aris.

Swallowing hard, Brenda gazed fixedly down at the floor. She wasn't willing to admit it, but her hands was shaking ... in fact, her entire body was shaking! What did she feel? Anticipation? Fear? Nervousness? Maybe a tad of all three.

Sonya, being the observant person that she was, leaned over to place a comforting hand on Brenda's knee. She gave Brenda a small smile, her deep eyes filled with compassion.

Even though Brenda appreciated her friend's kindness, she couldn't bring herself to smile back.

A rustle of movement erupted from the front seat of the vehicle as Harriet, who was driving, reached over to grab the car radio. "Jonas, this is Harriet. We're 1.5 miles away from our target, coming up on a 1 o clock angle to the southwest. How many guards will we have to deal with? Over."

"Searching cameras now. You have a couple dozen officers guarding the front base. Only half of them are fully armed. Over."

Harriet paused before responding, "Thanks Jonas. Keep us posted. Over and out."

As the minutes ticked by, the jeep jostled over bumps and hurtled through ruts in the uneven dirt track that was leading the rebels to their destination.

"What the hell?" Aris suddenly blurted as he leaned forward in his seat and gaped at the windscreen.

With a frown, Brenda turned alert eyes towards the sweeping landscape in front of them and gasped when she saw it.

Walls. Huge concrete walls. Walls so high that it looked like they touched the very sky.

It was the Maze.

"T-they're ... humungous!" Sonya stuttered, her voice a mixture of awe and terror.

Brenda's insides were twisted into a tight knot; she couldn't even speak. Not able to tear her gaze away from the massive, intimidating walls, Brenda watched as they crept closer and closer towards it.

It was only a matter of moments before they were upon their target. With Sonya updating Jonas on their present status, Harriet swung the jeep around so it was going parallel to one of the huge, solid walls.

As the WCKD labs, that had been built right off of the maze, came into view, Harriet called out, "Alright, you guys ready? This is going to be a close one."

In response to her statement, both Brenda and Sonya reached down to grab the rifles lying by their feet. In one quick motion, both safety locks had been popped off of the weapons and the cartridges had been loaded. Aris, who was unable to handle the big guns due to his small, wiry frame, was content with an array of knives and a small pistol.

"We're set," Sonya spoke for all of them.

"Good," Harriet nodded as she cast a quick glance through the rearview mirror at the trio. "Stay safe, stick brains, and don't mess this up."

Sonya rolled her eyes and Aris huffed in annoyance. Brenda, however, leaned forward and gazed intently at the car radio. Suddenly, two orange buttons lining the side of the device began to flash.

Sitting back, she inclined her head towards Aris. "That's the signal."

Harriet quickly snatched up the radio and yelled into it, "Jonas, Harriet here. All teams are in position, I repeat, all teams are in position."

When the jeep was a mere fifty metres away from the group's pinpointed entry, Harriet ripped up the hand-brake. This caused the vehicle to whip around sideways before coming to a shuddering halt right in front of the doors.

A line of officers were standing in front of the building, but before they had a chance to react, Harriet jumped into action. Shoving back the skylight gracing the car roof, she stood up in her seat and opened fire on the astonished guards.

"Go! Go!" she commanded loudly over the deafening gun-shots. "I'll cover you from here."

Aris kicked his door open and leaped nimbly out of the jeep, Sonya and Brenda right on his tail. Weapons cocked and at the ready, the trio took cover behind the car bonnet.

"Wait! I have to reload!" Harriet shouted as she dropped back down into her seat.

Grinding her teeth together, Brenda abruptly stood up from behind the bonnet and levelled her rifle towards the outstretched head of a clearly-inexperienced guard.

BANG.

As her gun went off, Brenda quickly ducked back down to escape a retaliating hail of bullets.

"Okay, I'm good. Go, go, go!" Harriet ordered as she flailed her arms about.

Giving her friend the thumbs-up, Brenda hurriedly darted out from the protection of the vehicle, Sonya and Aris not far behind her. Holding her rifle to her shoulder, Brenda gunned down the last of the men still standing in front of the doors.

"Aris, get us inside!" Brenda yelled at him as the trio neared the secured entry-way.

Aris, his pistol at the ready, lunged forward and plugged the entry code into the machine situated near the doorway. As soon as his passcode was accepted by the flash of a green light, Brenda kicked open the door and scanned the inside area with her gun. Sonya smashed the machine so no one else could follow them inside while Aris sent Harriet a hand signal, indicating that they were clear and she could move out.

As the roar of the departing jeep's engine ripped through the air, Brenda leaned over and slammed the door shut, locking it with a large metal bar.

"This way!" Sonya hissed as she started down a dingy set of stairs a few paces away from where they were standing.

Brenda and Aris, their senses fully alert, cautiously followed her down the dusky steps, through a lengthy hallway flickering with sparking electricity and past a series of white-washed labs.

A small smirk played around Brenda's lips as she saw the overturned furniture and the destroyed equipment cluttering the floors of the department. The two other teams, led by Jorge and Vince, had done their jobs well; clearing out the area so Brenda, Sonya and Aris could have full and uninterrupted access to the control room.

Tilting her head back, Brenda's eyes followed the line of overhanging light-bulbs, all of which had been blown out by the virus that was malfunctioning WCKD's system.

"C'mon!" Sonya's hushed tone urged as she sent pointed looks at both Aris and Brenda.

It only took them three minutes to reach their destination. As Aris plugged another entry code into a machine sitting right off of the designated doors, Brenda double-checked to make sure the perimeter was clear.

A flash of green illuminated the doorsill and the metallic entry-way automatically slid open.

They had arrived.

Gif: Shoot-out between the WCKD guards and the Elites.

Q: Your opinion: dislike or like Aris?

~ If you enjoyed this chapter or want to give me feedback on anything, don't hesitate to vote, comment or DM me. I'm open to any suggestions, ideas or constructive criticism. I love chatting with my readers and I love to hear what they think about my writing. However, any hate or negativity posted on here will be deleted and reported. Have a great day everyone! Catch you all soon. ~