They Don't Own Me

Chapter 31

Ivy stirred from her sleep when she heard metal shift and move. She groaned slightly, rolling on to her side. Suddenly, she heard a soft voice whisper 'hey.' Confused, Ivy opened her eyes a little and peaked over the side of her bed, finding Thomas doing the same thing over his bed. He was looking under his bed, gasping quietly at something under it.

"Come on," a voice said. "Follow me."

"What-?" Thomas muttered, confused.

He debated for a moment before silently getting out of bed and crawling under his bed. Ivy tilted her head slightly when she heard something moving against metal.

"Where are you going, Greenie?" she mumbled.

She listened to the faint sounds of movement on metal, indicating that Thomas and the person he was with were moving away from their room. Ivy knew that Thomas would be back, but couldn't help but wonder where he was going. As she started to drift off to sleep again, she heard a sound above her. She froze and opened her eyes once more. She scanned the ceiling, spotting an air vent above one of the empty bunks across from Ivy's. She watched the vent, stiffening when she saw the grate pulled away.

"Thomas?" she said, sitting up, careful not to wake Minho and wishing she had some kind of weapon to defend herself if she needed to.

Suddenly, a figure dropped down onto the bed, visibly wincing when it squeaked at the sudden weight.

"Sorry to disappoint," the figure said. The tone of their voice told her that the visitor was a girl. "Though I did hear him moving around in the air vents as I got here."

"Who are you?" Ivy asked, keeping her voice down.

"I'm not with them, if that's what you want to know." Ivy knew when she said them, she meant the people who had rescued and helped the Gladers. The girl moved further onto the bed so she could be seen with the light from above the sink. "My name is Nicole."

She was young, obviously a teenager but maybe a year or two older than Ivy. She had a small body yet appeared to have some muscle in her arms, shoulders, and legs. The things that caught Ivy's attention the most were Nicole's silver, nearly white hair and her vibrant purple eyes. Ivy had never seen someone like her before; she knew she would have remembered ever seeing someone with characteristics like hers.

"Listen," Nicole said. "You can trust me."

"How do I know that?"

"Because I know you don't trust this place. I've seen the way you've acted since you got here. I was the same way. My instincts are what have helped me to stay hidden for as long as I have."

"What do you mean? Why would you need to stay hidden?"

"I came from a Maze, just like you and every other kid here. My Maze was mixed, filled with guys and girls, only we were all different in our own way. Me, I have my hair and eyes. Others had similar appearances, some had different physical traits. I had a friend who had skin textured like scales. The first arrival to our Maze, a guy with reptile like eyes, had been there for four years. I was there for only two.

"Several weeks ago, Maze Creepers invaded our home during the night. They would kill off five people then slink back into the Maze, only to return and do the same thing the next night. After the third night, me and my one of my close friends found a way out. We told the others and immediately took our chance. We got our weapons and went into the Maze. Looking back now, I realized I should have helped more people along. More of us might have survived. We ran into the Creepers on our way. We made it passed them by climbing the vines, but we lost more than half of our friends. Some were thrown off cliffs or pulled down from the wall, some torn apart, some eaten alive. We ran as fast as we could along the top, Maze Creepers following behind us.