RECKLESS [The Maze Runner || Newt || Book 1]

33 - I'm sorry

The small group ran through the maze, Thomas leading them through the path he'd discovered with Minho the day before. Clara ran at the back with Minho, making sure everybody was keeping up with Thomas. 

After a few minutes, they made it to a larger open space, Clara looked up as she had to stop her jaw from dropping, she'd never explored this part of the maze before, and she was amazed by what she was seeing. They approached what looked like a tunnel of sorts and Thomas suddenly slowed down, ducking behind a wall and gesturing for everyone to do the same.

"Is there a griever?" Chuck said, asking the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Yeah."

"Take this, Chuck," Minho said, handing him the key. "Stay behind us."

"It's okay, just stick with me," Teresa assured him, tying her hair back.

"Once we're through, it'll activate, and the door will open. We stay close, we stick together, we get through this. We get out now, or we die trying."

"What the hell is with all the inspirational speeches today?" Clara said, furrowing her eyebrows, and earning a slap on the back of the head from Frypan.

"Ready?" Thomas asked, slamming his spear down on the ground. Clara took an arrow out of her bag and got it ready to shoot, nodding her head. "LET'S GO!" He shouted.

They ran around the corner, and the griever at the end of the passage turned, galloping towards them. Clara aimed her bow above the heads of the boys, releasing the arrow which flew through the air, landing somewhere on the griever's body. 

The first wave of boys pushed forward, using their spears to shove the griever towards the edge of one of the cliffs that were on both sides of them. They jumped forward again, shoving their spears into it as its tail whipped around wildly, grabbing one of the boys and tossing him over the edge.

"PUSH IT!" Thomas shouted and they pushed forward again, the griever slammed one of its claws down into the ground in front of Teresa. She swung her machete at the metal limb, cutting into it, the leg went flying upwards and it knocked the cylinder right out of Chuck's hands, sending it rolling towards the edge of the cliff.

"THE KEY!" Chuck yelled as he went racing after it, skidding on his knees and grabbing it just before it rolled off the edge, landing with his body hanging off the side of the cliff. Teresa ran after him, grabbing his bag so he didn't fall off. Clara's eyes trailed downwards, and she saw a griever climbing up the wall towards them as Chuck frantically yelled for Teresa to pull him up. 

She quickly shot two arrows at the griever, slowing it down so Chuck could get back up again, and she swung back around where the rest of the group had knocked the first griever off the cliff. Just in time for two more to climb up right behind Teresa and Chuck,

"Thomas!" Clara yelled at the boy who turned to see the two grievers chasing the pair. She reached back, quickly counting her arrows, Seven. She loaded one and shot it into the griever on the left, doing the same for the griever on the right as she retreated backwards Five left, the other boys ran past her and jabbed them both with the spears. Holding them back Chuck and Teresa ran towards the next set of doors, which Clara heard rumbling open. 

She released two more arrows at the grievers, getting each of them in an eyehole, Three left. She and the rest of the boys slowly moved backwards, all of them jabbing at the grievers with their spears, just trying to keep them back. One of the boys raced forward, ramming his spear into the griever on the left, but the creature grabbed the spear in its mouth, pulling the boy forwards and grabbing him with a claw, tossing him over the edge. Clara shot another arrow at it, this time getting it inside the griever's mouth and it reared backwards, releasing a horrifying screech. Two left

"Thomas! There's a code!" 8 numbers!" Teresa shouted from behind them. Thomas looked to Minho as he realized what the numbers were,

"Minho! What's the sequence?" He yelled at the keeper, jabbing his spear at the griever, trying to keep it back,

"What?"

"The sections of the maze! What's the sequence?"

"Seven, one, five, two, uh six –" Minho was cut off as Newt yelled,

"MINHO, LOOK OUT!"

Clara looked up and saw a griever descending from above them, landing directly over Minho, knocking him to the floor. She quickly shot two arrows at the griever, one landing in the middle of its head and the other missing it, clattering to the floor next to it. 

Minho held his spear up as the griever snapped its jaws down at him, biting down on the spear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jeff charging the griever with his spear, stabbing straight through its head. But the griever quickly grabbed him, pulling him up and staggering backwards with him as the other two grievers jumped forward.

"Jeff!" Clara yelled, but it was too late, the griever had dragged him away already,

"Minho, the rest of the code!"

"Six, four, eight, three! That's it!"

Clara reached back into her bag for another arrow, but grabbed at nothing, looking back she realized there were none left.

"Newt, spear!" She shouted at him and he grabbed one off the floor next to him and tossed it at her. She rammed it into the griever closest to her and it stammered backwards a little, snapping at her. 

Suddenly a loud rumbling sounded from above them and the door farthest from them slammed shut, followed by the next, which trapped one of the grievers behind it. The third started closing, about to crush the last griever but it lunged forward, just escaping the door before it closed. Clara's stomach dropped as she realized that they weren't going to lose it. The griever was going to crawl into the tunnel with them. She quickly turned to face the boy on her right,

"Newt, you were right!"

"What?"

"What you said earlier, you were right. I would sacrifice myself to save someone else. And I'd do it again, and again, and again." She placed a hand on the back of his head, pulling his face towards hers and urgently pressing their lips together before pulling away, "I'm sorry."

Clara turned away from him, using her last burst of energy she leapt out of the tunnel as high as her legs could push her,

"CLARA!"

She raised her arms above her head, both hands on the spear as she slammed it down into the head of the griever.

"NO! CLARA!" Frypan screamed as he watched his best friend stab her spear into the griever's face. It kicked upwards, stumbling backwards and bringing her with it, the spear she was still holding onto firmly embedded in its skin.

She turned her head around and looked at Newt one last time, Winston was grabbing his arm and pulling him backwards. She moved her gaze to Frypan, who had collapsed to his knees, tears rolling down his face and she smiled sadly at him, her face disappearing from view as the final doors slammed shut.

She was gone.