"Thomas," I groaned as Minho and I followed behind, the curiosity eating at our brains, "Where the hell are we going?"

He ignored my question as he kept his head down and followed the direction of the clicking. The key led us through the blades and to another part of the Maze. My wonderous mind turned into another void of uncertainty, and all over again I felt as though I had lost my memories for the second time. The only thing I knew was that I was in a Maze, and I was with my two friends.

We kept walking through the open part of what seemed like a whole different world, Minho and I were gaping at everything, it was almost like he'd never seen it either. Thomas had led us to what looked like a ledge of some sort. It was like a catwalk that was about the width of two people if they laid down. Maybe two Gally's.

"Have you ever seen this place before, Minho?" I asked him out of sheer curiosity. The boy shook his head, answering my question before he decided to respond.

"No."

I looked over my shoulder, paranoid. It's like ever since the night in the Maze and Ben's banishing, I've just been jumpy. Looking behind me every five seconds like someone was just going to come up and attack me. I knew that I was safe—or as safe as I could be—in the Glade, but that didn't stop my mind from wondering about the terrible possibilities. Like I said, when my mind wondered, I had no control over which direction it decided to take. I could either be daydreaming about a life where I was content...happy with everyone I loved around me. Or I could fall into the dark abyss where everything went wrong. It's happened more times than I would like to explain.

Turning back around, I was met with Thomas. I yelped and tripped over my own foot, slamming into his back and almost toppling him over. I stood back up with a grunt, "Sorry."

He nodded, "You're okay."

When I stopped to see what he had paused for, my heart dropped. I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest, staring at another dead end. I ran my hand over the wall and placed my forehead to the concrete as Minho groaned.

"Ah, it's just another dead end..." He leaned against the wall in disappointment.

Suddenly, Thomas' toy clicked again. He looked down at it once more with a confused expression etched upon his face and then back up at the dead end, which no longer was a regular concrete wall like the rest of this place. It suddenly started to rise, and more walls exactly like the one that just rose started to do the same thing behind it. Like someone put extra because they didn't trust just one wall. The grinding of the metal was softer than when the doors opened and closed in the Glade, but more intimidating. We were used to that noise. Now, Thomas had just opened something none of us were familiar with.

My heart beat against my ribcages as I watched the thick concrete walls arise, and a weird circular door opened up like a ninja star.

What's a ninja star? I thought.

Minho and I looked over at Thomas, who was gaping at the fact that he found something new. He looked unsure. But he didn't seem frightened.

"You sure about this?" I asked him, starting to feel my own doubt creep through my skin.

Thomas shook his head, "Nope."

He started to walk forwards, making me roll my eyes, "Well bloody fantastic."

Minho looked over his shoulder at me with furrowed eyebrows as he followed Thomas. I guess I've picked up some of the words Newt so casually said throughout the day. I always found myself admiring the way he talked. I would listen to him for hours if I had the chance. But I shook my head of the thought and hoped that Minho wouldn't tell Newt that I accidentally spoke in a British accent in a moment of uncertainty.

In a moment of short thinking, I stepped forward and followed Thomas and Minho, gripping the small knife I had stuffed into my pocket earlier. Looking up, I saw how the ceiling never seemed to end. The small hole seemed to keep going up and up until the small amount of sunlight shone through the top, allowing us to see the path ahead of us. The ninja-circle was in between the center of two half-triangles, if they were flipped the other way, they would be able to fit together. But the three of us swam in the hard concrete that looked only a little less worn out than the rest of the Maze.

The hole was dark, if I were to walk in there, I don't think I would be able to see my hand if I put it right in front of my face. I squinted my eyes, wondering what the hell was down there. In some ways, it reminded me of the Box. Dark—full of mystery and unanswered questions. Minho ran his hand along the surface of the metal opening, and looked back up at us, saying one word that sparked immediate fear in our veins.

"Grievers."

The word echoed throughout the whole place, repeating like a broken bell in our minds. I let out a shaky breath, clenching my jaw as I took a small step backwards. I gripped my satchel on my back, being reminded of Newt for a split second before being brought back to reality once again by the sound of another clicking. It didn't sound like the clicking of Griever claws, but a clicking like the one that had come from Thomas' key thing. When I squinted again, a red light made it's way into my vision, causing me to take another step back along with Minho.

It was like we were being scanned suddenly, without warning. The red light turned into a red line, and it moved down all three of our bodies before we had the chance to move out of the way or register what was actually happening.

Minho's flinch radiated onto me as he heard a loud clanging, like a giant church bell had been hit. from somewhere above us. The circle groaned, like it was releasing some kind of chemical, but nothing came into vision. I clenched my fists by my side as metal began to screech around us, but nothing seemed to happen to the concrete.

"What the hell was that?" Minho spoke up, reading my thoughts. We looked back at the opening ahead of us when again, a loud siren sounded from somewhere above us. Minho flinched as Thomas and I turned around to look at the giant concrete walls that had previously moved up to allow us to move in here. The groaning of metal against metal could only mean one thing now.

"We gotta get outta here," Thomas spoke. I nodded furiously as all three of us started to jog back towards the entrance to this place. Minho told Thomas to give him the key, and they ended up throwing it over my head, where the Runner skillfully caught it and placed it back into his satchel. I looked over my shoulder after we had gotten out from under the semi-walls, the ninja-star began to close, and the walls began to fall down to the ground again, slowly but just like the walls in the Glade.

Something came over all three of us at the same time, because a flip switched, and we started to sprint mercilessly towards the exit. I held my breath, trying not to hyperventilate as we halted to a stop, seeing the area known as Blades start to change. All of the giant metal plates started to move towards each other, looking like they were gonna trap us in.

"We gotta go," Minho tapped on my shoulder violently before he broke out into a sprint, "Run! We're gonna get trapped!" Thomas and I immediately followed after him. I was in between the two boys, running as fast as my little legs took me through the hard dirt floor. Minho was shouting encouraging words over his shoulder at Thomas and I as we tried to keep up with his panicked speed. At this point, I think he would do anything just to make sure we didn't have to spend another night in the Maze.

We ran through the Blades, barely making it as they closed behind us. Weaving and sucking in our stomachs to fit. My chest was heaving with the short breaths I managed to take over the fright of being squished to death from these blades. I groaned as I shuffled through another opening, but it wasn't enough to get Thomas through. Screaming his name, I alerted Minho, and we began running along the edge of the Blades, faster than we ever have before.

"Minho!" He screamed in terror. The doors were closing with the speed we were running, and my legs began to burn as I tried to keep up with Thomas. I wasn't going to leave him behind, even if he did get trapped. I would find a way to get to him, even if I had to dig through the floor. But as quickly as our little dilemma happened, Thomas let out a loud scream of exhaustion and pushed himself to go only a little faster, throwing his body to the side while his legs were working on autopilot. He rammed into my side, pushing me over into Minho, who held the two of us up and encouraged us to keep running.

"Keep going! Let's go!" He yelled at us. Thomas and I groaned in obvious exhaustion, remembering the only rule Miho had about the Maze.

Never stop running.

A few moments later, we made it through the last closing Blade, skidding across the dirt from the momentum as soon as we saw the same opening we had come through not even an hour ago. But we didn't stop. Not even to take a short breath, which was something I really needed right now. I could feel my head becoming heavy, and I could feel the beginnings of an asthma attack start to come on with every long step I took. But we kept moving, needing to get back to the safety of the Glade before something else came crashing down on us.

We grunted and groaned with the throbbing of our legs as they hit the hard concrete. Pumping our arms as if they would propel us to go farter and faster than we could actually run.

But before we could get back to the inner ring of the Maze, the ground beneath our feet began to shake, and spits of dust and pebbles flew up from the ground in a single line around the three of us. The boys reached their arms out to stop me from running any further, and I yelped as the ground broke ahead of us. The floor started to rise into what seemed like a bridge, and I finally got a glimpse of the metal underneath the concrete. I grabbed onto Minho's shoulder in a burst of panic, but as soon as the walls stopped rising into the air, a giant metal beam started to fall in between the concrete that had seemed to make a path for it. I let out a whimper and pulled both Minho and Thomas out of the way of the beam which seemed to increase in speed as it fell.

It crashed to the ground behind us, and as we ran, the only thing I could hear was the grinding of metal and the sounds of pebbles hitting the floor. I didn't look back in fear of slowing down my speed, but the two boys were gawking at the sight we were running away from. As I breathed, the dust floating around us stung my eyes and got into my lungs, making me cough as well. Minho noticed and grabbed my arm, pulling me along as he yelled for Thomas to run. I wiped at my eyelids, letting him guide me as I moved my legs as fast as I could. The squeezing feeling around my throat only got worse now that I had breathed in dust.

Everything was literally falling apart around us. The ground was breaking, rocks were flying around, the walls were coming down...Maybe we just made everything worse by going into section seven. It sure seemed like it right now as we ran for our lives.

Suddenly, Minho pushed me to the front, hoisting me above and onto a giant platform that was rising to the concrete above it. As much as it hurt and my body strained, I crawled as fast as I could to the other side, hearing the grunts of the boys from behind me. When the space above me became too small to crawl, I laid onto my stomach and crawled like that, willing myself to go faster. I could see the light on the other side, and with one long push, I grunted and pulled myself out from the space. I hit the ground hard, hearing two more bodies after me.

As soon as I registered that I could no longer hear the crashes of the platforms around me, I rolled over onto my stomach and started coughing up all of the dust I had inhaled. I wheezed for air, needing something to soothe the burn in my throat. I reached my hand behind me, trying to signal that I needed water of some sort.

"Mae," Thomas breathed, coming up to my side and placing a gentle hand on my back to calm me down, "Minho, water."

Before I knew it, Thomas was screwing off the top of the water bottle for me, and I snatched it out of his hand as soon as the cap was removed. I didn't hesitate to bring it up to my lips, chugging half of the bottle before slamming it to the ground and letting out one long cough. Thomas was rubbing my back in circles while Minho probably kneeled somewhere behind me, not having a clue what to do. I repeated the same words in my head that I usually did, matching them with Thomas' demonstrations of how to breathe properly.

In through your nose, out through your mouth. I heard the voice in my head. It sounded like Newt's voice. But I didn't have time to pay attention to the voices. I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth like I had done so many times before, attempting to calm myself down. After about five minutes of straight breathing, my chest started to decompress, and now all I felt was weak. I let out a deep sigh and nodded towards Thomas, who did the same thing and got up to his feet.

"What the hell?" He muttered, holding his hand out for me to grab, but not taking his eyes off of the scene ahead of him. I grabbed it, pulling myself up. The sound of metal grinding like a giant wheel was still echoing through the Maze, and I felt my heart drop at the thought of running again. Minho was jogging towards the noise ahead of us, but there was something different about it. I looked at Thomas, who had his eyebrows furrowed in just as much confusion as I did.

We turned a corner, and I immediately stopped in my tracks at what I saw ahead of me. In disbelief, I turned my head, looking behind me only to see the giant number 7. I turned back and let out a surprised huff, "Is that what I think it is?"

Minho smiled, grabbing my bicep, "Yeah. It's the Glade."

There was a narrow path ahead of us, following all the way from the Glade to section seven. I looked at both of the boys, confusion covering my demeanor as I looked around, wondering what the hell was going on.

"I think we just solved the Maze..." Minho breathed. My face dropped at his words, and I turned my head.

"Wh—You're serious?"

A huge smile broke out as he grabbed my waist and flung me around just like he had done all of those days where he had come back from running. Day after day, Minho ran the same patterns, not finding anything helpful, driving himself crazy. But now, we stared down one long pathway form the Glade to the ninja-star Griever hole. Maybe their way in was our way out. Either way, it made Minho unmistakably happy.

He set me down and cocked his head towards the Glade, "C'mon..."

We ran down the giant path, the smiles not being bale to leave our faces. It was like a newfound energy sparked every inch of my bones, and suddenly I didn't feel weak anymore. I felt...strong. Even though I had an asthma attack not even five minutes ago, it was like I unlocked a new part of me. A part that I didn't even know I had. Confidence.

Finally, the Glade was in sight. I let out an excited squeal and began sprinting towards the boy who stood in the middle. All the other boys took a step back at my excited burst of energy, and as soon as I ran over the threshold of where dirt meats concrete, I leapt into his arms. Newt caught me, stumbling back a little bit. He had one hand placed on the back of my head, and one hand on my back. My legs wrapped around his thin torso, and honestly, I was surprised I didn't knock him over. I had gone out into the Maze and not gotten stuck. I was able to make it back to the arms of the boy I wanted to without being injured or exhausted beyond belief.

"Are you okay?" He muttered into my hair, finally setting me down as Thomas and Minho came to our sides, "What the hell is goin' on out there?"

The three of us started walking, shaking our heads and breathing heavily as if we had just ran a marathon, because we did. Gally rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air, "What did you do now, Thomas?"

"We found something," Thomas started, ignoring Gally, "A new passage. We think it could be a way out."

Newt immediately grabbed my hand and squeezed it, "Really?"

I nodded, "It's true. We opened a door..."

"Something I've never seen before," Minho agreed not being able to wipe the giant smile off his face, "I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day."

"Wait...woah," A small high pitched voice came from behind me, and I immediately noticed it as Chuck. He jogged up to where Thomas was walking and placed a hand on his back to gain his attention, "You found the Griever's home?"

I chuckled and squeezed Newt's hand. He looked up at me, seeming more nervous than happy about the whole situation. I guess it would be hard to believe for some of them...going into a Griever hole doesn't sound like something I would do voluntarily either, but if that meant that we could get out of this place, I'd take a Griever over the Maze any day.

"There way in could be our way out, Chuck," Thomas spoke, making me nod in agreement.

"Ya, or there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side," Gally spoke up, making me roll my eyes and clench my fists, "Truth is, Thomas doesn't know what he's done as usual!"

In a sudden spurt of anger, Thomas turned around and walked towards Gally, making everyone stop in their tracks, "Yeah, well at least I did something, Gally. What've you done? Huh? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time..."

I let go of Newt's hand and crossed my arms over my chest, wanting to punch the Builder in the face right now.

"Let me tell you something, Greenie," Gally mocked, "You've been here three days...I've been here two years!"

"You've been here two years and you're still here, Gally!" Thomas' veins were popping out of his neck, and it was visible at how much anger was flowing through his body right now. I wanted to do something, but this was Thomas' battle to fight. Not mine.

"What does that tell you?" He starts again, "Maybe you should start doing things a little differently..."

"Maybe you should be in charge," Gally taunts, "Huh? Maybe you should just—"

"Guys..." A high pitched girly voice called from behind us. I turned my head and saw the girl who I had yet to know the name of standing behind us, trying to get our attention, "Hey! It's Alby! He's awake..."

At the name, I looked at Newt, and he stared right after her, not hesitating to scurry away towards the Med-Jack hut. I followed him, and I had a feeling that Minho and Thomas were following us, because the footsteps behind me grew louder and louder until we were inside. Suddenly the atmosphere changed drastically, and we were all met with the unsettling nerves of whether our friend was okay.

Newt placed his hand on my lower back and moved past me, "Alby..." He called to his best friend, slowly sitting on the empty bed next to him. The leader wasn't facing any of us. He had his hands flat on his knees, and his back was straight. He looked stiff...nervous even.