The First Gladers

Chapter 6: Into the Maze

All through the night dreams filled your head. Dreams of Leon dying in front of you. Dreams of that moment that seemed to last for eternity. Drams of that Beast. But now your restless night of sleep is over. Your eyes shoot open as a grinding sound fills your ears. You jump out of bed, running through the hallway where the rest of the boys have gathered. Four boy's panicked eyes meet yours. Without a word you walk out the door and your attention turns to the doors. As miraculously as they closed last night, they're now opening. Once more you rush forward to meet the opening walls, stopping at the edge. You hear the footsteps of the boys come to a stop behind you.

"Y/n, what now?" Will asks.

You don't know. You had no idea this would happen. This completely changes your plan. But you have to make a decision.

"I'm going out there. I'll look around a bit and come back, just to see what's out there. You guys continue on with our original plan." You state with a slight tremor in your voice.

"What!?" Chris exclaims behind you. "What about that creature?"

"Griever." Alex suggests.

"What?" You question, turning to Alex.

"Griever. I call it a Griever." He adds.

"Okay..." Chris mutters What about that... Griever Y/n? That thing killed Leon."

"Somehow I don't think it's there anymore." You admit, taking a step towards the fully opened door. "Don't worry guys, I'll be careful." You assure, looking back at their worried faces.

"You heard her! Get to work, she gave you guys jobs to do, go do 'em and let her do hers." Alby instructs. The boys shuffle off to do their jobs, Chris's gaze lingering on you. You look back into the long corridor of stone in front of you. You jump as you feel a hand on your shoulder. You turn your head to face Alby who looks at you with concern.

"You sure about this?" He asks.

"No. But we need answers and I'm tired of running from my fears." You respond.

Alby nods. "Just be careful alright. We need you."

"I will. I have this nagging thought in my head that whatever is out there is important."

"I get the same feeling." He agrees. Then with a pat to your shoulder, he walks off to start his job with Chris.

You take a deep breath and take a step into the corridor. Step after step you go deeper into the unknown. You take the first right, searching for the other side of the window. You freeze in your tracks. Blood stains the walls and the ground in front of you. You feel your knees go weak. You swallow and continue on. You step on something that's not stone. Slowly you look down, lifting your foot. If you had eaten anything that morning it would be exiting your body. A shredded blood-soaked shirt lies under your shoe. With shaking arms you read down to pick it up. There's barely any shirt left, just holes. You look around and find the window that looks into the courtyard. Chris looks back at you, with sadness in his eyes. You bite your lip and slowly trudge back to the courtyard, Leon's shirt still in hand.

As if in a daze, you walk up to Alby handing him the shirt.

"This may help with the tribute you were talking about." You mutter.

Without another word, you turned back towards the Maze. Yeah, that's right a Maze. You have a theory about the long strips of corridors and you're about to prove it to be true. Once more, you step through the massive opening in the walls. You walk slowly, taking note of every turn. Left, Right, Right, Left, Right, Left. On you go, turn after turn treading deeper and deeper into the Maze. Right, Left, Left, Right, Right, Right, Dead end. You come to a halt facing the massive stone wall, ivy growing and reaching up to the top. Gently, you run your hand across the ivy, savoring the familiar, yet foreign texture. You turn your head to the sky, the sun lays just about halfway through the sky. You should probably head back. 

You take several steps until you reach the first left or right turn. You glance down each corridor and your mind goes blank. You don't know where to go. You suck in quick shallow breaths, racking your mind for any memory that could help you. The last turn was... a right? That would mean you turn left, right? Or was it a left? Then you should go right... Your eyes darts across the surface of the walls, searching for any sort of recognition. They look the same. Every stupid corridor looks the same! Shuck, as Alex would say. You close your eyes and press the palms of your hands to your eyes, somehow trying to squeeze the information out of your mind. You heart pumps inside your chest. You're lost. One of those 'Grievers' could be around the corner and you'd be a goner, just like Leon. The others would never know what happened to you. There would be no body to bury, just a bloody shirt. You take a deep breath a turn your head to the sky. You let your muscles relax and you clear your mind. Letting out the breath you make a decision, you're going to go left. You have a gut feeling about it. Your stomach rumbles. Your gut is also begging for food. You sure hope the boys found something to eat.

 Another left turn. Gosh your legs are getting tired... have you really been walking that long? You look up to the sky to see an orange glow peeking from the side of the walls. You need to speed things up. Another left, then a right, another right then a left. A prickle goes down your spine, letting you know you're close. Just a little further... Right, left, right, left, left, left, dead end. Come on! You're so close! How could this be another dead end!? Think, come on, think! You re-trace your steps to the last turn and voices start to fill your ears. The Boys! Just follow the sounds. You take a right just as the ground begins to shake and a now-familiar screeching, grinding sound fills your ears. The doors are closing. You start to run. At the far end of the corridor the boys are waiting anxiously for your return. They're shouting at you to run faster. So that's what you do. You push your aching legs harder than you ever have before, the next thing you know, you're pushing your body through the closing walls of stone. All at once, the pain hits you, burning up your thighs and down your calves, aching inside your chest and through your arms. You crumble into the closest boy's arms, letting your self relax and breath in deep breaths. 

The boys circle in around you, all spewing out questions. The sounds bangs against your eardrums like tiny mallets being swung through your ears. The voices come from up high, down low and are spinning all around as your vision begins to wobble. You suck in another deep breath, ignoring the boy's questions. Sleep and food. That's all you want right now. That hard-as-stone bed is now seeming to be much more plush. And food. Man you could really go for a burger. A burger and a nap, that's what you need. But no, you have questions to answer... so many questions, all being shouted at you at once. It's too much. They need to shut up. Speak one at a time for sanity's sake!