𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑.
[ chapter eleven ]

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

MINHO AND EVE KNEEL DOWN OUTSIDE THOMAS' PIT, and he lifts his eyes off the ground to see the two of them, small smiles on their faces in an attempt to try cheer him up after another dreadful, sleepless night.

"Big day, Greenie. You sure you don't wanna sit this one out?" Minho teases.

Thomas shakes his head, chuckling lowly, "Come on, man. Get me out of here."

Eve fiddles with the rope for a second before finally being able to lift the hatch up, allowing the dark haired boy to jump up with a helping hand from Minho, who passes them both a brown harness once their ready.

"You didn't sleep did you?" Evelyn says while she watches as Thomas pulls on the small vest, who just shakes his head, "Didn't think so."

The three of them are silent while the trudge slowly over to the large maze doors. The rest of the other Gladers not being awake and leaving the only noise to be the insects and animals.

"You ready?" Eve questions, flicking her wrists and tilting her head, causing it to crack and loosen up.

Thomas doesn't reply and just watches her as she preps her body for the long run ahead - noticing how relaxed and calm she looks. To say she's absolutely terrified of what lays ahead, she does a great job of covering the terror up. Before he knows it, she disappears from his side and the two best friends are in the maze, calling his name to follow.

He shakes his head for a second before sprinting off and slipping next Minho, Evelyn moving in front so she can lead the two boys. Her head whips around on high alert while they run, and not once does she slow down or pant for a breath.

She really hates this place. Thomas thinks, keeping a close eye on the back of her head on look out for problems.

"This way." She says when they speed around a corner, her voice not even sounding tired or croaky, "Not much further to the inner ring. Let's go."

They continue and their running turns into a quick walk once they finally reach Section Seven, causing Minho to stop his shouts of encouragement. Evelyn and the boys lift their heads, peering around at the tall thick walls, letting the bright sun shine onto their faces.

"Seven's not supposed to be open for another week." Minho mumbles while they walk through the dark passageway.

"What the hell is this place?" Thomas questions, motioning his head towards the thin metal rectangles, noticing how their stood up in a certain pattern.

"We call them blades." Eve tells him, knocking her knuckle against one of them, causing a loud clang to ring through the arena. She smirks mischievously at the dark haired boy before turning head, her eyes catching a glimpse of a harness on the ground and causing her breath to hitch, sparking Thomas' attention, "Fuck."

She jogs up to the material, both boys by her side when they kneel down, watching as Evelyn picks up the ripped cloth top that used to be white, but is now painted red with blood.

"It's Ben's, isn't it?" Thomas sighs, fiddling with his knuckles.

"Yeah." She mutters, biting her lip anxiously before rising into a standing position again, rolling her shoulders back, "A Griever must have pulled him down here."

Just when Thomas takes a step forward to comfort her, a noise stops him in his tracks, causing all three of the Gladers to turn to each other, their eyes wide in curiosity and worry.

Evelyn rushes forward, shoving Minho around so his back is facing her. He starts to complain about the roughness of her actions but she ignores him, pulling the metal device out that they found in the griever.

"Let me see that." Thomas gently removes it from her hands, and inspects it, realising that it's the source of the strange clicking noise. He steps back and forth for a few seconds before looking over at Eve, "I think it's showing us the way."

They continue their journey through the blades, the clicking from the machine starting to speed up the more they approach another passage, this time it looks more like a bridge, a dark voice either side of it.

"You guys ever seen this place before?" Thomas questions.

"No." Minho replies, shaking his head.

"I have." Evelyn states, causing both boys to whip their heads to her, "When I spent my night in the maze. I ran and ran and ran, and ended up here."

"What is this place?" Her best friend tilts his head at her.

She shrugs, "I don't know. It was dark. I had a massive fucking injury and I immediately left because I realised the the glade doors were opening."

Minho rolls his eyes at the girl before placing his palm on the wall in front of them, "Ah, it's just another dead end."

Eve steps in front of Thomas, glancing down at the mysterious device and watching cautiously as the light that was previously red turns green, the noise of doors open filling their ears immediately.

The three of them turn around, their eyebrows furrowed as three thick walls slide up, revealing a small circle doorway at the end. For a split second, Evelyn thinks about smiling, the thought of finally finding an escape filling her mind.

"You sure about this?" Minho questions the dark haired pair beside him.

"Nope." Thomas whispers before advancing forward, his fingers tightening around the device.

Slowly, they trudge down the passage way, looking at every little crack or bit of sunlight just incase there was a trap or something else waiting for them. Evelyn grabs both of the boys arms, not allowing them to jump up into the circle and get themselves killed.

"Let's not go in there just yet." She mumbles, holding back a laugh when Minho's hand gets coated in goo, and then realisation hits her and she takes a drop breath, "Grievers."

At the end of the circular tunnel a red light flashes, causing their heads to snap towards it on alert, taking a step back when a scanner projects from the light, sweeping them up and down.

"What the hell was that?" Minho asks, not blinking incase something jumps out at them.

Suddenly, a large rumbling noise fills their ears, reminding Evelyn a lot of the familiar noise that the box makes every month, "We gotta get outta here." She mumbles, motioning her head towards the exit, "Now, boys!"

They run past the three sliding doors, turning on the heels to watch them fall back to the places they were originally in when the runner arrived, shutting them off from the Griever hole.

"Move, move, move!" Eve shouts, causing the boys to run behind her, ahead of her she notices the blade sliding shut, making a string of cusses to escape her lips, "We gotta go."

"We're gonna get trapped." Minho gasps, "Run!"

Without hesitation, the runners start to full sprint, narrowly jumping past the closing blades. The boys end up in front of the girl and a wall slams shut in front of her, blocking her view of the boys.

"EVE!" Thomas let's out a yell, speeding up to try and get in front of her again so she knows where she's going.

Evelyn ignores his shouts and focusses on running as fast as possible so she can reach an open blade, letting out yells each time she pushes a little more. Finally, she can slip past one and rejoin with the boys, not being able to slow down, she crashes into Thomas, who securely wraps his arm around her waist, keeping her moving and upright.

"Come on." He encourages, pushing the girl slightly in front of him, "Keep going, keep going."

They swerve around the corner and into the centre of Section Seven, but not once do any of them slow down - the danger still not gone. The floor starts to shake and Thomas pulls Eve towards him, his hand rested on her wrist while they watch four stone slabs rise from the ground in front of them, spraying them with dust.

"Shit." Eve curses quietly, her eyes rising up the massive metal column that was released, slowly falling down towards them.

Her arm rips from Thomas' grip when they sprint to the side, all three of them almost falling to the ground at the massive quake. Eve pushes her body harder and harder until she's eventually in front of the two boys, the flooring behind them flying up and nearly taking them with it.

"Don't look back!" She screams, sweat dripping from her brows and hairline.

Everything around them starts to fall but Eve attempts to blank all that out, acting like it's just a normal run through the maze while focussing on leading all of them back to the Glade in one piece. She takes a sharp left and jumps up onto a rising stone, falling flat onto her stomach and having to shimmy along it until she can finally roll off the other end, landing in a crouched position back in the maze.

Minho and Thomas land beside her on their backs, their chests bumping up and down just as much as hers, sweat soaking all of their clothes.

"Was not expecting that at all." She pants, wiping the dust off her clothes and standing up, walking back and forth in attempt to catch her breath back.