My breath hitched as I spun, back and forth, eye the grievers. The one previously pursuing us had slowed, a mechanical grinding emanated, as if it were laughing. The cackling taunted my deepest fears, and I remembered Adam, what he dealt when he sacrificed himself. I couldn't go through that a again, and as of reading my mind, Thomas screamed, and dashed towards the griever.

"Thomas!" The scream tore from my throat, as I swallowed every organ in my chest. The Griever charged, and they were about to barrel, head on, when Thomas dove to the right. I realized Thomas's plan, and smiled. But it vanished as soon as the Griever came towards me, unable to stop its momentum.

I darted to the left, before Thomas grabbed my wrist, yanking me along with him down the now cleared hallway. We pushed hard, and my muscles felt like they were imploding. Flying sideways, a hand had grabbed my shirt, yanking me into a side hallway.

"What-" Thomas gasped, as it was Minho.

"Shut up and follow me!" He shouted, grabbing us and dragging us along. We regained our footing and followed Minho throughout the maze, seemingly knowing where to go. "I just saw ... the dive move you did ... back there ... gave me an idea ... we only have to last ... a little while longer." He gasped, trying to piece together a statement.

The last turn we made didn't go anywhere. I fear Minho had less to a dead end, when I realized; it wasn't a wall.

The milky darkness shone, and impossible view. I saw endless black, and it took me long to realize that was the end of the maze. Had Minho found it and kept it from everyone? The thought scared me, that it wasn't the creators keeping us. "Don't get excited," Minho muttered, and I felt despair and gladness at the same time.

So this wasn't the exit, and thankfully it means Minho wasn't hiding it. We finally reached the end, a cliff. So that's what they meant. I had heard the term before, in a form of "I'll throw you off the cliff!"

I peaked over the edge, and decided that I would try to avoid that. Darkness and dimming stars surrounded us. Up, down, side to side. Just. Nothing.

Light was beginning to appear, making the details around me more legible. Surprisingly, I wasn't so shocked that this existed, the cliff. Everything here told me to think the impossible. For example, who could have ever concocted a creature such as a griever. that along is a freak of nature. It means they made life.

Also, sending a bunch of teenagers into a giant maze that can't be solved. They've been here for 2 years, the improbability of now it being solved has dwindled significantly, but yet raised, by added knowledge because of how long they've been here. Wait, no, we've been here. I mentally corrected myself, I'm part of the glade now, they're not gladers. We're gladers.

"I don't get it," Thomas whispered.
"Careful," the Runner replied. "You wouldn't be the first shank to fall off the Cliff." He grabbed Thomas's shoulder. "Did you forget something?" He nodded back toward the inside of the Maze.

I had already turned to look at the maze, the memory of oncoming Grievers reminding me of what'll happen. And it hit me, "minho you're genius," I gasped, and I could've sworn he winked.

The grievers came charging, a momentum that would definitely work. "These things may be vicious," Minho said, "but they're dumb as dirt. Stand here, close to me, facing-"
Thomas cut him off. "I know. I'm ready."

They moved in a single file, and I noted it as a tactical mistake. Minho was right, they were dumb. Well them, or whoever was controlling them. We were inches from the end, the cliff a drop behind us. "We need to be in sync!" I shouted to Minho. "On my mark!" He nodded.

The Grievers were so near, I could here the squish of their bulbous bodies. "Ready," Minho said steadily, "not yet... Not yet..."

They Grievers were terrifyingly close, and I wanted it to end. I wanted to stop being reminded of Adam.

"NOW!"

The scream jolted me out of my stupor, and I used every single last scrap of energy in my screaming body, to dive to the side. I heard the violent scream of a Griever, topping over the edge. But the scream cut short, an odd demise to the creature as it shouldn't plummeted to a despairing death.

I stood up to see the second one reach the end of the maze and topple over. The third also reached the edge, but it was dangerously close to me. It flung out an arm, latching on to my leg. My foot reeled back, kicking it, and it released. But i was now significantly closer to the edge, and knew for sure now, that the screams were abruptly ending. "JOANNAH!"

I didn't have enough time to comprehend before the fourth came barreling toward the edge. It latched on, teetering back and forth. Minho and Thomas came, prepared to kick it, but it latched onto my ankle. Unknowingly, they kicked it, sending me as well over the cliff. As we flung into the air, I used all my force to fling it off, and my fingers grazed the floor.

My hands found a nook, several inches below the edge, and I clung, my fingers digging into the painfully rough surface.

"NO!" The strangled cry arose, and I matched it to Minho. I hesitantly let one hand go, shooting it up to the ledge as fast as possible. Then the next.

"Help..." My feeble whisper caught their attention, and they yanked me upwards. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, Minho had me in an embrace. "Holy shuck..." He whispered, and I hugged back, "I thought I had lost my best friend,"

Before I knew it, the tears flowed freely through my face.

I could see over Minhos shoulder, Thomas was curled in a ball. I knew he was crying, but the kid had barely even been here a week and had survived a night in the maze. I still clung to Minho, and I don't think he was going to let go of me.

We had stayed frozen for 30 minutes, and I was still leaning on Minho. Thomas and I had ceased crying, for I don't think we had any tears left. Well I know I didn't. I finally detached myself from Minho, who then retreated to lean on a wall. Thomas was looking over the edge, and I sat next to him.

He rolled on his back, groaning in obvious pain. "I can't believe we're still alive," Thomas muttered, and I nodded. Minhos face was blank, devoid of any attention. "Are there more of them? Did we kill them all?" I sputtered, but Minho just 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 sighed, an unbelievable calm settling over me. I had overcome my fear. No, I had actually defeated it. Most would probably think I was no longer scared. But if anything, I was scared even more. The entire ordeal proved to me that I wasn't scared even.

"What did we do differently?" Thomas asked, his voice showing exhaustion. "I don't know. It's kind of hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong." Minho grunted.

"Seems like they disappeared or something after they went over the edge." I said, my brain tired of speaking.

"Yeah, that was kinda psycho. Couple of Gladers had a theory that other things had disappeared, but we proved 'em wrong. Look."

I watched as Minho tossed a rock over the Cliff, then followed its path with my eyes. Down and down it went, not leaving my sight until it grew too small to see. Thomas turned to Minho, who had been watching intently as well. "How does that prove them wrong?" Thomas asked.

"Well, the rock didn't disappear now did it?" I concluded, understanding Minhos points. "Then what do you think happened?"

Minho just shrugged, "Maybe they're magic. My head hurts too much to think about it."

"I can only think of one bad thing that came from us surviving," I said, causing Thomas to sit up, and Minho to chuckle. "And what's that?"

"No matter how i die, it won't be as epic as this. Honestly, young girl dies, saving her friends from horrendous, murderous creatures. Her sacrifice let her friends defy the single digit survival rates. Nothing would be more heroic as that. Now, watch me get back to the glade, trip on a shoelace and fall down the box hole,"

Minho laughed, a real laugh, "nice to see your humors still intact,"

"Learned all from you," I muttered. "We have to get back," Thomas said, rising to his feet, "gotta get Alby off the wall,"

In the chaos, Alby had completely been erased from my thoughts. Minhos face was placid with confusion, so I quickly explained.

Minho looked down, his voice a whisper, "no way he's still alive,"

"How do you know? Come on." Thomas said, and started limping back along the corridor.

"Because no one's ever made it ..."
He trailed off. "That's because they've always been killed by the Grievers by the time you found them. Alby was only stuck with one of those needles, right?" I asked, trying to show Minho our logic.

"I don't know, I guess this has never happened before. A few guys have been stung by the needles during the day. And those are the ones who got the Serum and went through the Changing. The poor shanks who got stuck out in the Maze all night weren't found until later-days later, sometimes, if at all. And all of them were killed in ways you don't wanna hear about." Minho sighed.

Thomas shuddered, "After what we just went through, I think I can imagine."

Minho looked up, surprise transforming his face. "I think you just figured it out. We've been wrong-well, hopefully we've been wrong. Because no one who'd been stung and didn't make it back by sunset has ever survived, we just assumed that was the point of no return-when it's too late to get the Serum." He seemed excited by his line of thinking.

We began walking, turning corner after corner. I tuned out of their conversation, and just focused on keeping myself from passing out, tiredness was slowly overtaking me.

Thomas poked me when we rounded another corner. I saw movements up ahead, and I could see Newt hurriedly limping toward us. I stopped, waiting a while so I could lag behind. I was hiding behind the corner, and caught snips of conversation.

"I don't know,"
"Here,"
"Medjacks,"
"Joannah?"
"Coming..."

They were walking towards the glade, and the three of them made it to the other side.

I began to walk, my steps reproachable. The minute I stepped over the doors line, Newt looked up from a conversation. "Joannah..."

Then he leaped forward. "You're alive..."

Then he kissed me. Every emotion I had been tucking away exploded, draining me from the little scraps of energy I had. I welcomed the darkness, and hoped my slumber wouldn't be terrorized my nightmares.