Subject A250: The Fallen

Thirty-Nine: Get Off, Knee

A/N: 

it's me. hi. i'm the author, it's me. 

not many chapters to go! thank you for continuing to read this! comment as much as you like! i'm back to reading every one!

Trace was of the wrong impression that they would at least get a five minute break before heading directly down the path to danger again. She really shouldn't have been surprised when, after further explaining the details of the maze, the immunes, and the escape plan, Thomas just said 'let's go', and ran.

Newt, beside Trace, heaved a deep sigh and she swore she heard him mutter something along the lines of 'for god's sake, Tommy'.

But he had no time to argue; they had to run if they wanted to keep up with Thomas and Brenda at the front of the group. Vince and the rest of the Right Arm were not so happy about their decision to abandon the attack and focus on the rescue instead. If Trace remembered correctly, Vince's plan was to take the whole place down, regardless of who was inside. Thomas, as usual, didn't want to follow any plan set by anybody else.

"As we ran through the hallways, I knew, by some instinct, that I was leaving my old life behind. From here, everything changed. I-"

"Trace, what are you talking about?" Flint was giving her his most puzzled look yet.

"I'm just voicing my internal monologue, Flint. It's important that I-"

"Watch where you're-"

Trace hadn't seen the small set of three steps as they'd approached and instead proceeded to trip and fall down them. Thankfully it wasn't an entire staircase, but it did make a rather dramatically loud sound as she hit the bottom, narrowly missing a collision with Jorge.

The group stopped and turned to see what had happened.

"Someone note that down as a health and safety issue," Trace ordered, from the floor. She pushed herself up to her feet, entirely too aware that Flint was stifling a laugh behind her. "Let's go," she urged them.

And, because they were clearly very used to Trace a) falling over b) disrupting their plans and c) making a joke about both a) and b), the group continued on without a word.

Following the map that Thomas had received from Ava Paige herself, they snuck through the facility until they came to some stairs. Thomas, who'd been leading the group, slowed down.

"Be careful, Trace," he said, before hurrying his way down.

For some reason (common sense) it didn't surprise Trace that she was the only one he warned about the stairs. The others didn't so much as bat an eyelid at the warning and continued down. Trace didn't even have time to be offended before she was at the bottom of the stairs (not by way of falling, but walking at a brisk pace).

Blindly, she followed the others, led by Thomas. It turns out that from that moment he ran into the maze she knew she would follow him anywhere. Except she didn't, because she tended to do the same thing as him and run off on her own with everyone screaming at her not to.

Caught up in the idea of following Thomas, she was the last to react to his attack. They'd run along a long, dimly lit corridor and turned sharply to the right when a guard tackled Thomas to the ground. Less than a second later, she felt hands on her shoulders, gripping tightly and throwing her to the ground. She flailed like a heroic fish or piece of seaweed, distantly aware that the others were fighting off their own assailants.

Something suspiciously fist-like hit her in the jaw and she realised she was on her own to fight this person off. She pulled the knife from her pocket and swung desperately up at them, completely missing them as they leapt back. The person lunged forward as soon as the knife passed them, reaching out and pinning Trace's wrists to the ground. Trace kicked out and managed to make contact with their leg, which wasn't entirely helpful or effective. There was a whoosh and a heavy force landed on her stomach, knocking the breath out of her as her opponent's knee struck out and pinned her down.