I Know Places [Thomas The Maze Runner]

[20: The Way Out]

The group followed Minho and Thomas through the Maze. The deeper into the Maze they ran, the lighter it became. Oddly enough, the walls just outside the Glade were the darkest and most insidious. The Maze corridors were dirty and old-looking, as if the walls had been there for hundreds of years. Elle knew now that the Maze had only been built by the Creators to test the Gladers, so it couldn't be very old at all. She wondered how much she had to do with the look of the Maze, right down to the colour and murkiness of the walls.

Thick vines of ivy hung from the tops of the walls, resembling green mould from afar. Elle tried to stay close to the front of the group but made sure to slow down every now and again for Chuck's benefit. The youngest of their group was struggling to keep up with his short legs, so Elle took one of his bags to help lessen his load. Chuck never said it, but she could tell how grateful he was to be taken care of. Amid the chaos, he felt that his own fear may prevent him from being of any use. Luckily, Elle made him feel brave and appreciated every step of the way.

"You're doing great, I promise," Elle assured him with the biggest smile she could summon.

Newt was somewhere in the back of the group. Elle realised in the disarray of the day that she had forgotten about his limp and Newt's bad memories of the Maze. It was the first time he was back in the Maze since his fall, and it couldn't have been easy for him. As Elle looked up at the high walls, she wondered how Newt could have climbed them. They were just as dense as they were tall, and the vines at the top didn't reach low enough for anyone to jump onto. Elle couldn't stop the disgust from filling her mind as she realised the Creators had let Newt hurt himself without caring to interfere.

After everything she heard, Elle knew she could never be convinced to rejoin the Creators' side.

She was a Glader now, through and through.

Elle was surprised she wasn't struggling with running. Perhaps Thomas and Minho had slowed their usual pace to better accommodate the group, but the girl didn't feel out of breath at all. She wondered if she enjoyed running and had done it often in her old life or if she was trained specifically for this task before being sent up. It was chilling to think that her past self had predetermined parts of her life, such as her stamina, because she knew she would be entering the Maze. The thought tinged every movement with discomfort and guilt.

"Keep it up, guys, we're almost there!" Thomas called from the front of the group.

They were running past walls with gigantic numbers of them, painted from the number one through eight. Elle called to mind the model of the Maze that Minho and the other Runners had put together. She remembered the way it was sectioned off into eight separate parts. The model was incredibly accurate and detailed from the little of the Maze Elle had seen. When the group turned the corner to the Griever home, Thomas pressed against the wall and held up a hand to stop and silence the others.

"It is a Griever?" Chuck asked, fear and excitement lacing his voice. He was clever enough to know it was never a good sign to see a Griever unless they were trying to find its home. In that case, it meant they were on the right track.

Thomas nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed.

Murmurs sounded throughout the Gladers in the group, and Chuck sucked in a breath as he swore.

"You take this, Chuck," Minho handed Chuck the mechanical object he and Thomas had found inside the Griever Thomas killed. After discovering that it opened the Griever home, Thomas and Minho knew it had to be the key to getting out of the Maze. The young boy grasped it carefully, knowing the weight of its importance. It was supposed to be the way home, and it was a big responsibility for Chuck to accept. "Stay behind us," Minho added as Chuck's eyes widened in fear.