Her || The Maze Runner

Thirty Nine

"Mara wake up." Newt's gentle voice was ringing through Mara's groggy mind. She thought she was sleeping, but she could feel his hands shaking her awake. 

The girl sat up in worry, what was going on? It was never good when she had to be woken up, something bad must have happened. Or she had just slept late. Hopefully, the second option was the real one. 

"What's going on?" 

"You need to see this." He told her, confusion sparking in his shimmering eyes as he took her hands and pulled her from her bed. She obeyed, allowing Newt to lead her from their room, though and out of the Homestead.

Most of the Gladers were up, dotted around the Glade with dazed looks on their faces. Even every one of the Runners had put their busy schedule on hold to see what was going on.

At first, Mara didn't know what all of the fuss was about, but then she realised where all of the Gladers were actually looking.

Up.

Every inch of the sky above them was a solid grey colour; no sunlight, no sun. It was colourless and dead looking- like it represented death itself. There was nothing, no stars or clouds, no bright blue background to look up at as they worked. Just a grey slab of nothingness, as if there was a ceiling over their heads made of grey brick.

Mara looked down at her watch- it was past the wake up, so where was the sun? It couldn't have just disappeared over night, could it? No Mara thought, it wasn't possible. 

She looked back at the sky, half expecting it to change back but it didn't. There really was nothing there, then sun had disappeared.

"That's not possible?"

"If it's not possible how has it happened Mara?" She turned to see Minho, arms crossed, staring up at the sky just like the rest of the Gladers. Newt still stood beside her, holding her hand the whole time. She shrugged; there was no answer. "Exactly. Well that's a way to wake up. If anything, it gives us more of a reason to get our butts out to the Maze. If that sun's really gone the plants and animals will start dropping dead soon, too. Our desperation's been kicked up a notch."

He was right; the sun gave them what they needed for food, and without it they would starve. They must have been getting closer to an exit, Teresa had 'triggered the ending', whatever that meant. Surely that meant they were getting closer. An ending meant an end to the Maze and the Glade, or that's what Mara hoped for. She knew she should have told someone about Teresa, but it didn't feel right. She didn't even know if the girl was really in her head, or just a fake voice.

Mara looked over to Newt, who was watching the sky with intense focus. "Come on, we better get going." Newt sighed, switching his focus from the sky to Mara, who narrowed her brow in surprise. There was one word out of place in that sentence.

"We?" She asked in confusion, and a long, humorous smile spread across the boy's face.

"Surprise! I'm joining you out there, love." He grinned, taking Mara by the other hand. "I think it's best we have as many Runners as possible out there, never know what'll bloody happen. I'm not limpin' like I used to, I can run." He pleaded, trying to convince Mara that it was a good idea. Except he didn't have to convince her, she agreed.

"It's a good idea, Newt. It'll get you out of the Glade for a while, get you back into running."

"Glad you're on board, love. You wouldn't have had much of a bloody choice anyway." He winked, leaning his forehead against Mara's.

"Okay, shanks," Minho interrupted, physically prying Mara and Newt away from each other by pushing their faces away with his hands. "I think its time to go a-running. I'll get Thomas, go get ready and don't get too distracted." 

Mara shook her head and laughed as she watched Minho run off towards the main crowd of Gladers. She looked up to Newt and smiled. "Let's go run."

-

Minho and Thomas had decided to go different ways to Mara and Newt, but before they could split up they found a Griever blocking their path between Section Eight to Section One. 

Both Thomas and Minho had been running slightly ahead of Mara and Newt- who was still getting used to running again- when the two in front had skidded to a stop. They had both jumped backwards into Mara and Newt, sending them falling to the ground.

"Shh," Minho whispered, pulling them both back up to their feet. "There's a freakin' Griever up there."

Mara's eyes widened; what was a Griever doing in the Maze during the day? She could remember the night she had almost been killed by one, sending a shiver down her spine. Despite that, she couldn't help but want to take a peek, but Newt held her back.

"Don't do anything stupid, M." He told her in a low voice. "What's it doing Minho?"

"It's just sitting up there- almost like that dead one we saw." 

"So, what do we do?" Mara asked in a panic, raising her hands in a 'w' shape. She hadn't dealt with this before, so how was she supposed to know what to do? All she could do was hope the others had some idea of what to do.

The four of them all exchanged looks of confusion and slight worry, then all slowly peeked around the corner of the wall to see exactly what Minho had said; a Griever, just sitting in the middle of the path. But there was something else there too; a girl, the girl who had been in a coma for most of her time in the Glade.

What was she doing there? She couldn't have just appeared in thin air, someone would have noticed if she was missing. Teresa smirked and narrowed her eyes. Her entire body was covered in scratches and bruises, what had she been doing?

"Hello." She said, that same sweet voice that had been in Mara's head had turned so evil and unpleasant.

Mara began to walk for the girl, oblivious of the Griever that still sat there, blocking their path. Newt pulled her back and she stumbled a little with the boy holding her up for balance. She looked back up to Teresa and the Griever, but they were both gone.

"What..." She mumbled, darting forward to where Teresa had stood. There was nothing there. She didn't understand, where had they gone?

"Come on, daydreamer," Minho rolled his eyes, barging past the girl who stood in utter shock and confusion. "We're gonna follow the shuck thing." He told her, but she barely heard him. The boy had already pulled ahead, turning corners and out of sight.

She turned to Newt, not knowing what to do. "You saw her, right?"

"The Griever? Yeah, we all did, love. I don't know if it was a girl or not, but I don't fancy checking." Newt shrugged, taking Mara by the hand and running, dragging her with him. 

The two sprinted after Minho and Thomas, who were both already out of sight. They turned left, then right, eventually catching up with the two boys ahead of them. At every turn they slowed down slightly so Minho could check for the Griever, and every time he said he saw it disappear around the next turn.

This continued for a good ten minutes until they reached the long corridor that ended in the Cliff, which was now just a dark and gloomy grey sky. But that was exactly where the Griever was headed; the Cliff's edge.

Minho slammed to a stop, making Thomas, then Newt and Mara do the same thing. Mara nearly lost her balance, but Newt had held her upright. Then, she watched in shock at the Griever threw itself over the edge of the Cliff, into the abyss below it. It disappeared from sight, swallowed up by the sky's shadow.