The Transfer | Gally TMR

Chapter Nineteen

I woke up to loud, blood curdling screaming, followed my loud, steel clanking obnoxiously against the concrete floor. What was going on? I heard a very familiar voice shouting 'Go, go, go!' as foot stomped around me, the sound of spears hitting metal and flesh, screeching that could only be recognized as a Griever's shriek rang out against the still air. My head jolted up quickly, only to see that I was in a different location. They must have moved me while I was sleeping. I can't believe, in the heat of the moment, I fell asleep. How did I really fall asleep? That was just disgraceful...and downright pathetic. I noticed a terrified looking Zart squatting in front of me, facing away from me as he held his spear close to his body, ready to strike. Was he stationed to protect me? I cleared my throat, just loud enough for Zart to hear. He turned quickly, and his face relaxed slightly when he saw that I had awakened. I smiled, waving kindly as he stood, helping me up as I quickly realized that I had been left in a corner of the maze, a dead end alley of sorts. There were walls on three sides of me, probably on5 or 6 feet in width, and the fourth, open side was being guarded by Zart. I smiled, knowing that this must have been Gally's doing.

"Thanks." I mumbled, still feeling thoroughly embarrassed that I had fallen asleep. Zart smiled, shrugging his shoulders.

"Don't worry about it. You're not really the athletic type, but you make up for it 'cause your shuckin' smart. Mighta been a lot more awkward if Frypan had conked out on us! Could you imagine lugging that oaf around?!" Zart joked, chuckling light-heartedly as I smiled, laughing lightly before I realized what was going on.

"Griever attack?" my voice had been reduced to a whisper, as I realized it was still slightly sore from the sand and dirt before. Zart nodded solemnly. 

"Yeah, not too long after you passed out, we got the message. Thomas decoded it within minutes, and we decided to get a bit more ground under out belts before completely nightfall. We've just made it to the section directly before, when we were attacked. We still have one more section left, but it's too late now to travel much farther. The first group of Grievers we fought off pretty quickly, but another one came not to long ago. I was told to stand guard. And trust me, Gally fought me tooth and shuckin' nail for the job, but the group decided they needed him far too much to let him play guard dog." Zart chuckled. He always had been a light hearted fellow, even in the face of insult and degradation. I smiled.

"Well, thank you for making sure I didn't get eatin'...or something." he nodded, handing me a spear that had been propped up against the wall, handing it to me.

"Well now that you're up, we could use your help. Gally may've told me to keep you from fighting, but I think we both know that even tryin' is pointless, so I figured I'd just give ya the shuckin' spear, before ya use it on me." He smiled a wide, toothy smile as I chuckled, nodding promptly as I pushed past him.

"Good thinking, Zart." I said, as I charged forward, prepared to take on some giant Griever ass. I ran out from the alley way, and I was instantly greeted by the familiar faces of the Gladers, all holding spears, charging forward as my eyes suddenly connected with the massive hoard of Grievers that were charging towards us. I gasped slightly, making sure to stay mostly out of the eyesight of the others as I sprinted forward, not hesitating to jump up onto a nearby Griever's back. He shrieked out, thrashing from side to side as I decided not to waste time fighting with it. Plummeting my hand into the back of the Griever's neck, fumbling slightly with the wires as I yanked them rapidly from the interior of the beast. It's motions screeched to a hault, and I hurled my body off it's back before it had the chance to keel over on top of me. Sighing in satisfaction, I was just glad that everyone else was too busy dealing with their beast to worry about mine. I smiled, sprinting forward towards another beast that was about to sneak up behind Winston and attack. I considered fighting it like the others- using the spear- but I decided against it considering I didn't know the first thing about spear fighting, and it would most likely step on me before I could get a single blow in. Besides, my upper body strength was nothing to write home about, so I highly doubted the jab would make much of an impact. Throwing my body onto a second beast, I could tell this one would be substantially more difficult. It was a much larger Griever than the first, full grown I'd say. Possibly even the leader of the pact. I cursed silently under my breath, but I knew I couldn't let it get to my friend who was completely oblivious. I forced my hand down into the metal gearing of it's neck, but instantly felt the gears grinding against my flesh and retreated. Cringing, I could see the metal gear marks clearly on my forearm, bleeding profusely now. I bit my lip, shaking it off as I had to come up with a plan B. The gears usually went into emergency shut down when you reach into their neck for the wires. This one must be defective. I stabbed my spear violently into the same spot on it's neck. Its shriek pierced the air, and it felt like time was moving in slow motion. I could tell the gears were eating away at the primitive spear, but I didn't waste time. I dug deeper into it's metallic flesh, scooping up the still-connected wires as I yanked fiercely against the spear, pulling as much as possible, my spear now angled horizontally as I trapped the wires around the base of the spear. I could tell they were loosening, but the Griever was still growing closer to Winston, energy still pumping through it's veins as it grew closer and closer to the oblivious boy. I sighed, knowing I would have to blow my cover if I wanted to save my friends life.

"Winston, MOVE!" I shouted, straining my voice more than I should have, but it was worth it. At that instant, I yanked the wires from the Griever's neck, jumping from it's body as it began to collapse, and Winston turned around, gasping as he instantly sprinted away from the crashing body. I sighed in relief, running around the now giant mass of flesh and metal that lie lifeless on the ground, meeting up half way with a terrified, yet relieved looking Winston. He smiled, giving me a giant bear hug as I chuckled, just glad to see my friend alive.

"You saved me! Holy shuck, that was incredible! Like, like some sorta ninja, or somethin'!" He said in gleeful exasperation. I smiled, brushing it off as he patted me on the back one more time, thanking me repetitively before running off to fight the next Griever. Looking around, we had mostly outnumbered the beasts, for the most part the Grievers were being overpowered by the Gladers. I smiled, running up to a random, smaller looking Griever, jumping onto it's back in an instant and yanking out the wires from it's neck. I was about to jump off its quickly collapsing body, when I realized my foot had gotten trapped in it's metal scales. My eyes filled with panic as I tugged relentlessly against the ever tightening metal shielding. Must have been a last minute defense mechanism. Shit. Unfortunately for me, the Griever was also falling to the side which also held my ensnared leg. Which meant that all of it's weight would be applied to crushing me. Or, at least a limb of me. Great. I shouted, attempting to get anyone's attention, but no one seemed to realize my immediate situation. They were all too busy holding up other Grievers. In one last, feeble attempt to loosen my leg from it's trap, I knew it was too late. As much as my voice stilll hurt, I shook my head, feeling gravity take over quickly, the body collapsing, with my leg trapped underneath it.

"Gally!" I shouted, time suddenly slowing down as I felt my flesh hit the hard concrete, screaming out in agony as the rocks dug into my tender skin. I felt the weight of the Griever slowly compressing my leg, until it was too much to bear. I squeezed my eyes shut, almost praying that I could fall unconscious again, if nothing else then just to be temporarily rid of this growing, burning, aching pain that filled my whole body. I heard voices around me, knowing that as much as I wanted to, I needed to stay awake. I heard shouts, and a hand gently taking mine into it's grip. Gally. Gasping for air, I opened my eyes wide, only to see his concerned face hovering over me again. He bit his lip, and despite the circumstances, I smiled.