Her || The Maze Runner

Twenty Seven

Her eyes flickered open, a sudden rush of pain flowing through her body as she stared into the pitch black void of emptiness above her. She abruptly sat up and lifted her left hand to her forehead, the victim of pain, and rubbed it as the pain dimmed. Her breaths were quick and uneven as she worriedly looked around her, her line of vision falling down extended corridors with their walls made of the same materials as the one in front of her, solid stone covered in thick ivy. They reached out beyond her vision, twisting and turning into even more pathways. The air was stale and cold, death lingering all around her.

It was the same as before. Was it real? Had she been dreaming the entire time? She didn't understand what was going on. It seemed that Mara was in the same situation she had been in on her first night in the Glade. There was only one thing that would confirm her suspicions.

Mara looked up to the wall, and just as there had been before a boy was hanging in the knotted ivy, almost strangling whoever hung there. Her head was spinning. The last thing Mara could remember was Ben's Banishment and her needle prick. Had everything been a lie? How long had she been out? The sky above her indicated nighttime, just like it had the time she first woke in the Maze. But this time she knew what she was up against. She knew what lurked in the Maze during the nights. Grievers.

That was their cue, their screeches piercing through Mara's skull like knives. It was close by, maybe even around the corner from where she was. Mara had to go, she had to run and get away before it got her. She was not going to die.

She had to run like she had never ran before.

Mara scrambled to her feet, using the ivy-laced wall as her support. Her head felt unattached to her body, like it had been cut clean off and was just sitting on the top of her neck. Everything was nauseating, she felt drunk on fear.

That didn't stop her. She was on her feet, which were moving on their own, their pace quickening to speed through the Maze like lightening. Mara was sprinting as fast as she could with no intention of stopping, she wasn't even going to look behind her. If she did she would get even more fearful than she already was. Another metal squeal pierced the air, it seemed further away than before.

Mara slowed her pace as she reached a part of the Maze that split into different halls. Which way was the Glade? Even if she did survive the night, which was unlikely, she would still have to find her way back to the Glade. She stopped to catch her breath. Her hair was down, she could feel the beads of sweat running through her hairline and down her forehead.

A low rumbling sound came from the wall next to her, making Mara jump. It was moving. The Maze was changing. The wall to her left was closing in, locking her away from the rest of the Maze hallways which had disappeared. 

A few minutes the rumbling had stopped abruptly and Mara stood facing a recognisable ivy straddled wall. She turned on her feet, heading back in the direction she had came. It was her only option.

Left, right, left, left. She tried to memorise the path she took. Right, left, left, right. It felt like she really was a Runner, and it felt good. Even though Mara was so close to death, she felt free and it might sound stupid since she was going to die, but she smiled. She couldn't help it, the sense of claustrophobia she had had in the Glade was gone to be replaced with the sense of freedom.

But then she skidded to a halt. Movement. She could see movement ahead of her. The smile faded as quickly as it had arrived at the sight of her company. Suddenly she longed more than anything for the claustrophobia to be back, she wanted to be back in the Glade.

The bulbous creature was coming towards her with hast. It's spikes and metallic weapons were protruding from it's grimy body, roaring with enthusiasm. The beast was rolling across the ground with its spikes digging into the cracks, closing the gap between itself and Mara.