LIMERENCE ﹐ the maze runner.

46

Clara found herself harshly hitting the ground at the bottom of the Cliff before she knew it. Thomas was there to try catch her, but fumbled slightly, dropping his girlfriend, but still breaking the fall for her. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. He breathed out in relief, more than grateful that she was alive. She was alive.

"Hi there," Clara said, laughing through her tears. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all good now. You?"

"Well, I'm still alive, so alright, I guess," Clara told him. Looking up from him, she saw Teresa and Chuck watching them. "Hi, guys," she greeted them. Usually, she would have been annoyed to see Teresa, but now, she really couldn't care. Teresa had promised to make it up to Clara, and Clara figured that since she had survived, she would attempt to not hold any grudges. "Thanks for saving us, I guess."

"No, we all did it together," Teresa replied firmly. "Every single Glader played a role in this." Clara smiled brightly, looking in Teresa's eyes. She was right - they had done this together. This was how it was meant to be, she decided - them all working together as a team. No, she mentally corrected herself. They were more than just a team, they were like a big family.

The moment was lighthearted, until the inevitable reality sunk in of what had just happened. "How many-" Thomas started, helping Clara up to stand, but she cut him off, "How many of us dead?" She breathed in harshly.

Clara didn't have a chance to answer the question. Minho was the next to make it to the Griever Hole.

"Minho!" Thomas shouted for his friend. "Are you okay? What about everyone else?"

Minho stumbled towards the curved wall of the tunnel, then leaned there, gulping big breaths. "We lost a ton of people... it's a mess of blood up there... then they all just shut down." He paused for a moment, and nobody said anything. There were too many gone. Too many innocent lives lost. He paused, taking in a hugely deep breath and letting it go in a rush of air. "You did it. I can't believe it actually worked."

Archie came through then, followed by Newt, and then Frypan. Then Winston and the others. Before long, eighteen boys had joined them in the tunnel, making a total of twenty-one Gladers in total. All of them were covered in bloodand Griever sludge.

"The rest?" Thomas asked.

"Half of us," Newt said weakly. "Dead."

Silence. Sad silence that hung over them, as if it was a wave that was drowning. There were too many gone. Too many innocent lives lost.

"You know what?" Minho said, standing up a little taller. "Half of us might've died, but half of us shucking lived. And nobody got stung - just like Thomas thought. We've gotta get out of here."

"Good that," Archie agreed.

"Let's get out of here," Newt said. "Right now." Clara looked over at her friend, wanting to comfort him. She knew that Newt had had a bad time in the Glade, and was sure he was ready to stop the suffering. She caught his gaze and smiled reassuringly at him.

"Where do we go?" Minho asked.

Thomas pointed down a long tunnel, that to Clara looked as if it was endless. Her stomach churned. "I heard the door open down that way."

"Well - let's go," Minho answered. He turned and started walking up the tunnel without waiting for a response.

Newr nodded, ushering the other Gladers past him to follow. One by one they went until only him, Thomas, Teresa and Archie remained. "I'll go last," Thomas stated.

"I'll go with him, then," Clara told him.

No one argued. Newt went, then Chuck, then Teresa, and finally Archie, who made Clara reassure him that she was fine before he left, deeper into the hollow tunnel.

"Let's go, Tom." She smiled, outreaching her hand for him to hold. "Freedom, here we come."

He smiled back at her and took her hand in his. Freedom sounded pretty good to him.

Clara walked into the tunnel first, Thomas close to her as they held hands. There is little light, as the fire from the torches were engulfed in the darkness. Clara felt herself hesitate - the darkness made her feel weak, unaware of her surroundings. It somewhat reminded of her of the Box, the monstrous cage that had transported her to the Glade.

After about a minute, the two heard a shrill scream from ahead, piercing the eerie air, followed by another, and another. Clara looked back at Thomas, petrified to walk further, but Thomas shrugged and squeezed her hand in reassurement. They really had no other option but to continue walking. Clara noticed that their screams seemed to fade, as if they were falling.

Murmurs made their way down the line, and finally Archie and Teresa turned to Clara and Thomas as they continued down the tunnel. "Looks like it ends in a slide up there, shooting downwards."

Clara chuckled, somewhat in disgust. She wondered if the Creators thought of this all as a damn game.

One by one, the two heard the Gladers' shrieks grow dim. It was then Newt's turn, then Chuck's, then Teresa's, and finally Archie's. "See you on the other side, bitch," Archie said to Clara with a playful smile.

"Bye, fuckface," Clara laughed. And with that, her best friend went down the slide, screaming at first, but then shouting in excitement.

"You ready, Tom?" Clara asked her boyfriend.

"No, wait, Clara -" Thomas said, but to no prevail. Clara had already pulled him down the slide with her, giggling slightly at his girlish scream.

"Baby," she mocked him mischievously. Thomas opened his mouth to hit her with a comeback, but couldn't think of one, so instead just replied with, "Cutie."

Clara laughed, smiling from ear to ear. Was this happiness? She wasn't completely sure. But she liked this feeling. She ignored the awful smell of the tunnel from the disgusting substance produced by the Grievers, and instead focused on the exhilarating feeling she got from going down the slide.

"It smells gross down here!" he shouted to her.

"Really? I thought it was just you," she said. He rolled his eyes, but couldn't resist laughing.

The two finally reached the end of the slide, bodies scrambled everywhere, people on top of people, groaning and squirming in confusion as they tried to push away from each other. Clara scrambled over to Archie, telling him how much fun the ride was, as Thomas crawled a couple metres away from them to throw up after the disgusting slide.

Clara looked at Archie, who looked back at her, his gaze soaked in concern. "Archie, what's wrong?" When no answer came, as he stood there in shock, Clara whipped her head back to take in their surroundings.

They were big enough to hold nine or ten homesteads in a huge underground chamber. The room was covered in all manner of equipment, tubes, ducts and computers from top to bottom, side to side. There was a line of about forty or so large white pods to the right of the room that resembled massive coffins. On the other side of the room stood large glass doors, although the lightning made it impossible to make out what was on the other side.

"Look!" one of the Gladers exclaimed. Clara snapped her head to look where the boy was pointing to.

A line of twenty or so darkly tinged windows spread horizontally across the building, one after the other, right in front of them. Behind each, a person-some men, some women, all pale and thin-sat watching the Gladers, looking with squinted eyes through the glass, as if they were trying to get a better look at them.

Clara balled her hands into tight fists. She was looking right in the faces of he Creators.

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gif is not related to this chapter in anyway but holland roden is a cutie sooo

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