Day Seven Hundred and Thirty Five

So many familiar names were scratched off the wall.

David, Charles, Connor, Clint. Alby, Zart, James, Adam. All of them, gone. Dead.

She hadn't seen their bodies, had steered clear of the pile as she and Newt made their way to the other side of the glade, through the rubble and wreckage. Gally had watched them, he and the other builders somewhere by what was left of the Homestead, trying to gather whatever food and water was left.

She knew there wasn't anyway. Nothing was salvageable. The massacre had been fierce and brutal and had wiped out not only most of their population, but their means of survival as well.

Ada stared out at the name wall numbly from the outside of the slammers, the hardness of the ground beneath her making her tailbone ache fiercely. She refused to move, though, not when she was leaning back against Newt's chest, his arms wrapped loosely around her waist, keeping her anchored to him. His chin was propped on the top of her head, his eyes shut. She wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not, but his breaths were even and slow against her back.

Minho and Chuck were beside them, the former sending them knowing smirks every few minutes that had Ada seriously wanting to slap the smug look straight off his arrogant face.

"He's been out for a while," Chuck said anxiously, peering into the slammer. Thomas was still sprawled across the ground, twitching occasionally from visions they weren't privy to, head on Teresa's lap. Her hands were running through his hair soothingly. "Do you think he's alright?"

"Yeah, kiddo, I'm sure he's fine." Ada nodded, the movement disturbing Newt. His chin slipped off her head, his forehead landing on her shoulder as he groaned in protest. "His body's going through a lot right now, but I'm sure he'll be up soon."

"Idiot." Minho said again, rolling his eyes. He had been in a particularly sour mood all morning, especially since learning that his favourite tree had been burnt down in the attack. He had been sulking ever since. "I don't think I've ever met a more stupid person."

"It was a good idea." Newt grumbled into Ada's shoulder, lifting his head slightly to glance through the bars. "Just wish he'd warned us about it, that's all."

"How happy d'you think he'll be to hear that we expect him to lead us out of here?"

"Knowing Thomas?" Ada asked with a raised eyebrow. "He'll be thrilled."

"He's moving," Newt said suddenly, completely lifting his head. Ada followed his stare to see Thomas' eyes cracking open, his body tensing with awareness.

"Hey," Teresa said quietly, running a hand over his forehead. "You okay?"

"Morning sleeping beauty." Ada grinned as Thomas slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked like hell, plastered with dried sweat and dirt, his hair sticking up in a thousand directions. He looked as if he were waking up after one too many of Gally's drinks, and she couldn't help but snicker at him as he peered up at them helplessly. "Welcome back to hell."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chuck asked immediately, not even giving Thomas a second to wake up properly. Newt and Minho were looking at him with similar expectant faces, lips drawn and eyebrows raised. The two of them looked almost like disapproving parents waiting for their disobedient child to explain themselves.

"What happened?" Thomas simply asked, voice thick with sleep.

"You got stab happy with a needle," Ada supplied, "and then promptly blacked out. You're really heavy, you know that?"

"No, no, I remember that. Thanks for catching me, by the way." Thomas rolled his eyes. "What happened while I was out?"

"Gally's taken control." Newt said quietly, shifting Ada in his grip so that he could lean closer to the bars. He unwound one arm from around her waist, settling it on the bars. "Said we have a choice. Either join him, or get banished at sundown with you."

Minho had filled them in when they had finally gotten back to him, and Ada wished she could say that she was surprised, but she simply wasn't. Gally was terrified and backed into a corner, and people in that position made awful decisions sometimes. He was blinded with fear, and she knew that no amount of reasoning would get him to change his mind, not about this.

"The others agreed to that?"

Teresa shook her head sadly. "Gally has everyone convinced that you're the reason all of this has happened."

Thomas backed away, leaning heavily against the far wall, nodding slowly. There was a certain darkness in his eyes that hadn't been there the night before, a glint of knowledge that he clearly didn't know what to do with. "Well," he said dryly, "he's been right so far."

"What are you talking about?" Minho asked, cocking his head.

Thomas inhaled deeply, running a dirty hand through his hair, eyes fixed blankly on the ground. His throat bobbed with uncertainty. "This place... it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison, it's a test."

"A test?" She echoed incredulously.

"It all started when we were kids. They'd give us these challenges... they were experimenting on us. And then people started disappearing. Every month, groups of four. Then after a year, one by one, like clockwork."

"Sending them up into the maze." Newt said. Ada turned her head to look at him, studying the loose set of his shoulders and the disbelief written across his face. His eyes, usually so bright and expressive, were carefully guarded. She could practically see the gears in his head turning.

"Yeah," Thomas nodded. "There were these lists, lists of people they'd send up together, small groups. All of them boys."

"Except me." Ada said quietly.

"That's the thing, Ada," Thomas shook his head. "You weren't supposed to come up."

It was as if someone had knocked all the air from her lungs, like someone had reached into her chest and twisted. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You weren't supposed to come up. It was an accident, some sort of mistake. I don't know much about it, I don't remember, but I remember how furious they were. You weren't supposed to be here. Someone else put you here, but it wasn't them."

Ada leant back against Newt's chest. All these years, all those months of pain and torture and suffering, all the hell she had had to endure, and it was, what, an accident? A mistake? She wasn't meant to be there, she wasn't meant to be a part of any of this, and for the life of her she didn't know what to do with that.

"Who would do that?" Newt asked, thumbs rubbing soothing circles against her waist.

"I don't know," Thomas said. "I don't know, but that's not all. Not all of us were test subjects. Not all of us were meant to be sent up here."

"What do you mean?"

"Guys, I'm one of them. The people who put you here, I worked with them." Thomas ran a hand down his face, looking more exhausted than she had ever seen him. "I watched you guys for years. The entire time you've been here, I was on the other side of it all." He looked imploringly at Teresa. "So were you."

"... What?" She asked after a moment of shocked silence.

"Teresa, we did this to them."

"No." She shook her head in disbelief. "That can't be true."

"It is. I saw it."

"Why would they send us up if we were with them?"

Ada blocked them out, sinking further against the ground, not willing to look at them any longer. Alby was right. Gally was right. This whole time, the entire time they had been suffering, Thomas had been behind it. The person she had grown to trust, to care for, was the one who was hurting them.

Was he responsible for Luke? For Carson? For the Griever who had stung George, and the one who had stung Nick, who had killed Avin in his madness? Everyone who had died, everyone who had been killed trying to get out, it was all because of the boy sitting in the cell in front of her.

A hand reached through the bars, settling over her own, and Ada lifted blank eyes to see Thomas right in front of her, staring at her imploringly. "Ada, I didn't know. I swear to you, I didn't know. I can't believe that I would... Ada, I'm so sorry, I'm-"

Her fist flew through the bars and connected with his jaw before she could stop herself, and Thomas fell back against the ground with a grunt of pain.

Voices were yelling and Newt was pulling her back, his hand closing around her fist, but she didn't care. All she cared about was the boy in front of her, looking at her with wounded eyes as he rubbed his chin.

She wanted to hate him. God, she wanted to hate him so desperately. But judging him for what he had done before his memory had been wiped wasn't fair, not when she had no idea about her own past or who she used to be. It was clear by the look on his face that Thomas was sorry, that he truly regretted his role in what had happened, and that more than anything had her softening.

"I deserved that."

"Yes," Ada nodded. "You did. But it's okay... you didn't know. And you've fought harder than anyone to get us out of here, and damnit Thomas you actually succeeded. I don't care what you did before. I care about what you do now." She rubbed her knuckles, smiling blithely. "But that's for all the pain you and your gang of evil scientists put us through."

"I want it on the record that I also do not remember." Teresa spoke up, eyes wide.

"Ada's right," Newt said softly, eyes trained on Thomas. "It doesn't matter. Not to me. Not after everything. Because the people we were before the maze... they don't even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that. But what does matter is who we are now, and what we do right now. You went into the maze and you found a way out."

"Yeah, but if I hadn't, Alby would still be alive."

Ada refused to think about it. She had learnt a long time ago that constantly thinking about 'what-ifs' was a terrible way to go through life. Alby was dead, and no amount of wishing or remorse could change that, no matter how much she wished otherwise. "Maybe he would be." She nodded. "But he isn't. And you can't change that. None of us can."

"I know that if he were here," Newt said, "he would be telling you the exact same thing. Pick your ass up and finish what you started. Because if we do nothing, then that means Alby died for nothing and I can't have that."

Ada closed her eyes tight, feeling nothing but affection for the boy beside her. "We need you to get us out, Thomas. Think you can do that?"

Thomas was silent for a moment before determination broke out across his face. He nodded as he looked up at them through the bars. "Okay, but we gotta get through Gally first."

—

"Okay, tighten your grip," Ada instructed, adjusting Teresa's fingers on the handle of the blade. "The tighter the better. You don't want to drop it. Being defenceless out there would be an awful idea."

"Just point and stab?" Teresa asked, making a sort of jerking motion. Ada moved quickly to the side in order to avoid being stabbed, and the blade whacked uselessly against the bars.

"Jeez, you're gonna kill yourself with that thing." Ada laughed.

Thomas was on the other side of the cell, speaking in low tones to Newt, Minho, and Chuck, likey plotting and scheming ways to get past Gally. She hadn't really wanted to be part of the conversation, a small part of her feeling as if doing so would be a betrayal to her friend, even if it was necessary. Instead, she and Teresa were sat on the other end of the cell, the bars between them, and Ada was giving her a long overdue lesson.

"No, don't just point and stab, as you so gracefully put it. Keep your thumb here, there you go, and hold it this way, like that, yeah."

"Go for the belly?"

Ada raised an impressed eyebrow. "Look at you go, yeah. Grievers are fucking massive, as you saw earlier. Their armour pretty much makes them invincible, but the underbelly is exposed. Don't throw it, I don't trust your aim, and you only want to use this if you absolutely have to. Whatever you do, you keep yourself behind the blade. Keep it up, and keep it between you and the Griever. That way if it goes for you, it gets hurt. The belly is the soft side, that's where you want to try and get to, just try to make sure to avoid the teeth."

Teresa let out a trembling breath, eyes wide.

"Hey," Ada covered the girl's hand with her own, squeezing her fingers comfortingly. "It's okay. I want you to stay back anyway, stay with Chuck. I don't want either of you fighting. Let us handle the Grievers, you just focus on getting to the doors, yeah?"

"Okay," Teresa nodded. "And thank you, Ada. I mean it. I know Thomas said that I helped put you here-"

"The same applies for you as it does him." Ada shook her head. "Am I pissed about it? Yeah. But I can't change it. Neither can you. And I don't hold it against you."

"But why? You've known Thomas longer than me, he helped find a way out with you. You don't know me, not really. I've just been sitting in the glade doing nothing."

Ada looked down, throat thick, and slowly took her dagger back from Teresa's grip. "You helped cure Alby. He may have only been lucid for an hour, but it was enough for me to talk to him. To say goodbye." She looked up at Teresa, letting every ounce of gratitude show on her face. "He died as himself, and that's because of you. It's the way he would have wanted it. I can't tell you how much that means to me."

Newt's hand landed on her shoulder before Teresa could reply, a small smile on his face as he looked down at her. "You ready to go, Ads? It's almost time."

Ada nodded, letting him pull her to her feet. She shot Teresa a comforting smile as they walked away, towards where Gally was watching them expectantly. She avoided his stare, not wanting him to see the guilt swimming in her eyes.

—

The sun was reaching its peak in the sky when it finally happened.

They had spent the morning waiting with bated breath, trying to salvage as many supplies and weapons as possible. Not much was left besides what they had on them during the attack, but the extra daggers and spears were hidden in a large sack behind the slammers, with Chuck standing guard.

When Gally came for Thomas and Teresa, Ada was waiting with Newt and Minho by the doors, part of the crowd that had gathered there besides the name wall. There were more names crossed out than there were not, and she was trying not to look at them, instead fixing her attention on the four figures making their way across the glade.

Teresa was walking, but her hands were bound behind her and one of the builders, Dan, had her arms grasped tightly in his grip. Thomas was slumped between two of the other builders, she didn't know their names, his head down and his body limp. She knew damn well that he was faking, but the grim look on Gally's face told her he had no idea.

Newt tapped the side of her hand, his silent way of offering comfort. He didn't look at her, eyes fixed on the approaching figures, watching as Gally stepped forward to the wooden posts that had been shoved in the ground that morning. The builders deposited Thomas on the ground, dropping him carelessly. He thudded to the soil and stayed there, face turned into the dirt.

"This is such a waste." Gally said, sliding his dagger back into his belt. He stared down at Thomas with barely concealed anger, brows furrowed and lips pressed into a tight line.

"Gally," Winston said cautiously, crossing his arms, hesitation written across his face. "It doesn't feel right, man."

"Yeah," Jeff nodded, "what if Thomas is right? Maybe he can lead us home."

There was something so desperate about the way Gally looked then, as if he were watching his entire life slip between his fingers and all he could do was flail for some semblance of control. "We are home." He said imploringly. "Okay? I don't wanna have to cross any more names off that wall."

"And you really think banishing us is going to solve anything?" Teresa scoffed.

"No." Gally shook his head, and for a fleeting moment Ada was hopeful that he'd changed his mind, that he'd leave alongside them, but the steely resolution in his eyes as he gestured to the wooden posts crushed that hope immediately. "That's why this isn't a banishment. It's an offering."

Dan grabbed Teresa's arms, yanking her backwards and tying her to the post, ignoring her protests. Ada inhaled deeply, lifting a hand to anxiously toy with the gold necklace around her throat, watching as Gally gestured to the doors.

"You really think I'm gonna let Thomas back into the maze after what he's done?"

After he'd found a way out, Ada thought bitterly, but didn't dare voice it out loud. Their plan was hinged on Gally believing that they were going along with what he was doing. If he suspected otherwise, everything would fall apart, and they were too close to freedom now to allow that to happen. The doors were right behind her, a gaping passage to home that waited for them.

"Look around you!" Gally gestured desperately to the charred grass and smoking trees, to the rubble of their home. "Look at our glade! This is the only way."

Ada watched out of the corner of her eye as Newt nodded at Minho, a gesture so slight it was hardly visible. Chuck rounded the slammers, peeking his head around the wooden frame, backpack secured to his body and the spears clutched tightly in his small hands.

"And when the Grievers get what they came here for, everything goes back to the way it was."

"Are you listening to this?" Teresa asked incredulously. "Why are you all just standing there, he's crazy."

"Will you shut up?"

"If you stay here, the Grievers are going to come back. They're gonna come back, and they're gonna keep coming back until you're all dead-"

"Shut up! Tie him up," Gally instructed. Ada could see his patience and control slipping when no one moved, and the anger in his eyes sparked. "Do you hear me? I said tie him up!"

The builders moved to comply, but no sooner had they grabbed Thomas by the arms were they being shoved away. Thomas's elbow connected harshly with the nearest builder's groin, and the other was being smacked with his own spear before he could even process what had happened.

Newt moved from Ada's side, withdrawing his machete and slamming it into the back of the builder's head, and Ada took that as her cue to withdraw her own dagger, using it to knock the person closest to her unconscious, paving the way for Frypan to slice through Teresa's bindings. She moved quickly, tossing a dagger to Teresa, shoving away the person that came up behind Newt. Gally took a sharp step forward, but was stopped by Minho's blade landing warningly on his shoulder.

Chuck sprinted over to them, struggling with his weapons, and they formed a line in front of the maze doors, staring out at the other gladers. Ada's throat was thick with anticipation, the weight of it practically crushing her as she stared at the people she had known for years. The line had been drawn in the sand, and the divide in the glade had never been this strong before, not even when Stephen had been present.

"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Gally asked, his face a mask of cool indifference, but she could see through the cracks to the betrayal he was trying so desperately to hide. She wanted to comfort him, to tell him that it wasn't as simple as choosing Thomas over him, but that the path behind her led to a way home, a new life, and she was determined to take it.

"You don't have to come with us," Thomas said, lifting his spear in front of him protectively, "but we are leaving. Anyone who wants to leave, now's your last chance."

"Don't listen to him," Gally shook his head, "he's just trying to scare you."

"I'm not trying to scare you, you're already scared. Alright? I'm scared. But I'd rather risk my life out there than spend the rest of it in here. We don't belong here. Okay? This place isn't our home. We were put here, we were trapped here. At least out there we have a choice. We can make it out of here. I know that."

"Ada?" Gally asked, finally looking at her. She met his pleading stare with an apologetic one of her own.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head, "but Thomas is right. We've spent the last two years looking for a way out, and now we have one. The glade is gone, Gally. And we can't rebuild it. Not when they're gonna keep coming back every day and night."

"If we just give them Thomas and Teresa-"

"This doesn't end with them. You know it doesn't." Ada adjusted her grip on her dagger, palms slick with stress. "People died for a way out. I'm not throwing away their sacrifice by refusing to take the chance now that we have one."

"Just come with us," Thomas nodded.

There was silence for a moment, so loaded and tense Ada could barely breathe, before Winston stepped forward, and then Jeff, and then Jack, coming to stand beside them. A few other gladers followed, until fourteen people stood beside her.

Out of the sixty or so Gladers that had been alive yesterday, only fourteen of them were getting the chance to leave. It didn't sit right with her, and she prayed that the ten remaining people would join them, but they were looking to Gally for leadership, not her.

"Gally, come with us." Ada pleaded, not bothering to hide the tremble in her voice. If he stayed, he'd die. She knew it, and so did he, deep down, but he was refusing to accept it. She prayed more than anything that his will to live was stronger than his pride. "Come with me. Let's go home."

"No."

"Gally please. Come with me."

He was silent, lips pursed, and she could have sworn for a moment that he was going to say yes. He shook his head, a barely there movement, but it was so final that Ada felt the loss of him as surely as if he'd been killed right in front of her. "Good luck against the Grievers." His voice was cold and unflinching.

"Yeah," she nodded, following Thomas when he turned, stepping into the maze for the final time. "You too."

She turned her back, on Gally and on the glade, sparing one last fleeting glance before she put them behind her forever. The trees, the grass, the greenery – it was all so familiar, so comforting, it was the view she had spent the last two years coming back to. To leave it behind was painful, but she didn't regret it as the glade shrank away behind her, and the maze opened up into a whole new world.

—

The journey through the maze felt different this time.

Maybe it's because she knew it would be the last one, but as the dizzying blur of greys and greens narrowed down to section seven she found herself looking around at the corridors she had run for years, day in and day out, something heavy in her chest. She wouldn't miss it, not in the slightest, but knowing that she was leaving and that she wasn't coming back was strange.

"This way, guys, come on." Thomas called back from the front of the group, gesturing as they rounded the corner. She tried to ignore the skittishness and the shock of the other gladers, the ones who had never been in the maze. She could only imagine how horrifying this was for them.

"You alright, love?" Newt asked from beside her, shooting her a concerned look. She knew she must look awful – her breath was coming in shuttered pants, her skin shining with sweat from the pain. She hadn't been able to get the blood off, simply wiping away what she could see, but she knew her shirt and trousers were stiff with crimson.

She looked over at him, taking in the way his jaw was stiff with pain and how his limp was worse with every step. She didn't reply, taking his arm and slinging it over her shoulders.

"Ada, sweetheart, no-"

"You need this," Ada shook her head, stubbornly ignoring the bite of pain and being thankful that he was on the side with her good shoulder. "Don't argue with me."

"But-"

"Nope. It's happening, accept my help and deal with it."

"I'd listen, Newt." Minho chuckled from just ahead. "Don't argue with the mrs."

"Keep it up, guys, we're almost there!" Thomas yelled again.

They crossed finally through the blades and into the corridor where just around the corner the walkway to the exit lay. Freedom was right there, so close she could almost taste it, and Ada's entire body thrummed with excitement and nervous energy as they slowed to a stop right before the entrance, kept out of sight by the wall.

She squeezed Newt's hand before ducking out from under his arm, turning to face the others as the last of the gladers reached them. "Okay, it's just around the corner," she said quietly, eyes catching on Chuck, who was red in the face and panting. His entire body screamed terror. "Thomas, can you check?"

Thomas nodded, carefully peering around the stone. He pulled back instantly, eyes wide.

"Is it a Griever?" Chuck asked, small voice shaking.

"Yeah."

"Shit."

"You take this, Chuck," Minho said kindly, handing over the key. "And you stay behind us."

Teresa pulled her hair back into a sorry excuse of a ponytail before putting her hand on Chuck's shoulder. "It's okay, Chuck, you stay with me."

"Once we're through, it'll activate and the door will open." Thomas said. "Alright, we stay close, we stick together, and we get through this."

"You ready, Ada?" Minho looked down at her, eyes sparkling with excitement, and she let the gravity of it sink in. They were getting out. They were getting out. They just had to get through the Grievers first.

"Hell yeah," she nodded.

"We get out now." Thomas grabbed his spear. "Or we die trying."

Ada tried not to focus on just how likely that was.

"Ready?" Thomas waited for their nods of approval, and then he was gone, rounding the corner with his spear raised and a battle cry on his lips. Ada followed, exhaling in disbelief, and together they led the charge towards the Griever that waited for them.

She spotted it instantly, prowling the end of the corridor right where they needed to be. It rose to its full height on arrival, monstrous and colossal, baring its teeth as it moved towards them with a monstrous shriek. It was alarmingly fast, and was upon them before Ada could do anything but pray.

Thomas reached it first, then Minho, the two of them driving their spears upwards with a cry of fury, herding the Griever to the side. "The edge!" Ada yelled, taking the opportunity to slash at the monster's underbelly, earning an ear splitting shriek of rage. "Push it off!"

Its legs dug into the floor, cracking the stone, and the strain burned her shoulders fiercely as she tried to shove it backwards. Teeth gnashed the air, skimming her hair, slime coating her hands as she dug her blade through thick flesh. The Griever screeched as it jerked backwards, and Ada quickly yanked her blade out of its body to avoid being dragged forwards.

The other gladers were everywhere, and all she could see was a mess of spears and blades glinting in the daylight, blood and slime splattering across the ground.

"Watch that tail!" Someone yelled, and she ducked instinctively as the metal limb slammed through the air right where their heads had just been. Two other gladers weren't so lucky, and she watched them get thrown through the air and off the edge of the walkway before they could even scream.

"Look out!" Thomas yelled, and she turned just in time to see its leg cut through the air and slam into the ground right in front of Teresa, who slashed at it with her dagger. But the small blade was nothing in comparison to the thick metal, and the dagger skidded across the surface and knocked the key right out of Chuck's hand. It rolled across the ground, straight towards the edge.

"The key!" Chuck yelled, darting after it, and panic spiked Ada's nerves.

"Chuck!" She yelled, trying to follow him, but the Griever was in front of her before she could, and she lost sight of the boy.

She threw her dagger up, slashing at its face as it gnashed its teeth right at her, and blood coated her hands when the blade split through its beady eye. Blinded and furious, the Griever swung its tail, bucking its massive body this way and that, dislodging the gladers who tried to spear it.

She caught sight of familiar blonde hair just for a second before he was gone again, and she tried not to worry about Newt. He could handle himself, she knew, but he'd never faced off against a Griever before, not like this, and his leg was slowing him down. She pushed through the people in front of her to reach his side, tugging him backwards by the arm as the Griever swung at him.

"Push! Push!" Thomas yelled as the Griever's back legs went over the edge, and Ada threw all her weight behind her dagger as she shoved it into the beast's shoulder, crying out at the strain. Her back and shoulder began to burn, and she could feel blood seeping down her back from where the wounds had reopened, but she didn't dare stop, not as the others drove their spears forwards. The Griever vanished over the edge, its legs scrambling frantically to find purpose, and vanished into the black abyss below.

"Holy shit," Ada panted, brushing the loose hair away from her face with shaking and blood-soaked hands. "Holy fuck."

Newt exhaled in relief beside her and reached for her, but their reprieve was short lived as Chuck's panicked voice rang through the air. "Thomas! Thomas!"

Ada turned, confused, and her stomach dropped in horror at the sight before her. Chuck and Teresa were sprinting towards them, the key clutched firmly in Chuck's grasp, and sheer terror hung in the air as two Grievers chased them. It was as if they had appeared out of nowhere, nightmares on legs that hurtled towards them at full speed.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Ada's words were barely more than a horrified whisper as the gladers with the spears darted forward, trying to create a sort of barricade between them and the Grievers.

One of them was grabbed and thrown off the edge immediately, his spear thudding to the ground beside her. Ada grabbed it, shoving her dagger into its sheath as she moved forward, jabbing the spear into whatever body part she could reach.

"Keep it steady!" Minho yelled from somewhere beside her.

The Griever directly in front of her gnashed its fangs in her face, slime and spittle clinging to her skin, and she grit her teeth through the strain as she shoved the spear further inside its body. Something clicked and beeped behind her, but she didn't dare look to see what it was. She prayed beyond hope that it was Chuck and Teresa finally at the doors, and that the Grievers herding them towards the back wall would be a good thing after all.

Her foot caught in a puddle of tacky slime and Ada slipped before she could stop herself. She hit the ground with a thud, elbow smacking hard against stone, and the Griever wasted no time in catching hold of her spear with its teeth and snapping it straight in two.

"Oh fuck!" She cried out, scrambling backwards, hands sliding against the slick stone. The Griever screeched, lunging at her, and she rolled to the side quickly. Its head slammed into the ground beside her, cracking the stone; she yanked the dagger out of its sheath, stabbing it into the side of its head. It was gone before she could blink, pulling back sharply and taking her dagger with it, and a flash of panic came with the realisation that she was now unarmed and defenceless.

A hand grabbed her arm and yanked her up, tugging her backwards. Minho stepped in front of her, spear raised, and used his free hand to press a spare dagger into her palm. She squeezed his shoulder in gratitude, accidentally smearing blood and slime on his shirt. The others had formed somewhat of a barricade, so she took the opportunity to glance behind her.

Chuck and Teresa had gotten the door open. The narrow corridor lay ahead, offering a fragile comfort.

"Keep pushing!" Minho yelled.

"Stay together!" Newt's voice came from somewhere to her left. She couldn't see him in the haze of bodies and weapons and blood. "Stay together!"

Ada rushed forward, grabbing onto Minho's arm. "The passage! It's open!" She yelled into his ear, and Minho aimed a tense nod over his shoulder as he ordered the others to retreat. The group took hasty steps back, crowding themselves into the passage.

Ada's attention was snapped back to the Grievers when someone screamed, and she caught a glimpse of someone being pulled forward and out of sight. His scream cut off abruptly, his blood spraying across the ground. Horror choked her, and she slotted herself into the gap where he had just been, desperate to keep the monsters away from Chuck and Teresa.

"Hold him back!" She yelled, slashing at the nearest Griever with her dagger. It barely scraped the skin, nothing more than an irritating scratch that seemed to anger it more than injure it.

The narrowing of the passage forced the Grievers into a single file line, and another boy was dragged from beside her by his spear. She looked away quickly, not wanting to watch as he was grabbed and flung off the walkway.

"Thomas!" Teresa yelled, her panicked voice echoing in the corridor. "There's a code! Eight numbers!"

"Eight numbers?" Ada echoed incredulously, shifting back into the narrow space.

"The sections of the maze." Thomas muttered beside her. "Eight sections! Minho, Ada, what's the sequence?!"

"Seven!" Minho yelled, "one, five two-"

The Griever lunged, and Ada stabbed blindly with her dagger, hoping it somehow managed to hit. Its teeth grazed her arm, cutting through the skin, leaving a jagged gash behind. She cried out in pain, jerking backwards and away, bumping into whoever was behind her.

"Uh, six, four-"

"Heads up!" Newt yelled. He lunged forward, wrapping his free arm around Ada's waist, pulling her backwards and off her feet. She shrieked in fright, nails digging into his forearm, and watched in terror as a Griever came out of nowhere from above. It had climbed the walls, she realised with distant horror, and had come down through the gap in the ceiling.

"Minho!" She barely had a second to scream out a warning before it landed on Minho, sending him crashing to the ground.

They couldn't get to him, not with the Griever's legs cutting the stone, a deadly barricade. Minho cried out in fright as the Griever lunged for his neck, slamming his spear up into its jaw, holding it protectively across his chest. The Griever pushed against it, and Minho's arms trembled with the strain, biceps bulging against his shirt. "Get off me!"

Jeff let out a furious cry from beside her, lunging forward. She reached out to stop him, but her fingers merely grazed his shirt as he raised the spear and brought it down, straight through the Griever's back. Part of her expected it to crumble, to die as easy as that, but as Minho scrambled away to relative safety the Griever reared back and lunged at Jeff.

It's jaw gaped wide, and its dagger-like teeth glinted for a moment before sinking into Jeff's stomach. He screamed as he was dragged away, thrashing uselessly against the creature's hold.

"Jeff!" Winston yelled, but Frypan flung an arm out to stop him from going after his friend. Jeff's scream cut off abruptly as he vanished from sight.

"The sequence!" Someone called out, and Ada pulled herself out of Newt's grasp to scramble backwards to where Chuck and Teresa were staring helplessly at a control panel. The circle was lit up a luminous red, the half finished sequence taunting.

She pinned in the rest of the numbers, fingers leaving bloodied streaks against the glass, and watched in relief as the red turned to a green so bright it hurt her eyes. A familiar cry of pain pierced the air, and Ada whirled around, eyes desperately searching for Newt. His spear had snapped, and he had landed awkwardly on his bad leg. "Newt!" She cried out, grabbing him by the sleeve and dragging him backwards, away from the Griever that had its eyes fixed on him.

The control panel beeped, the word Completed appearing on the screen in bold letters, and Ada felt the relief slam into her so hard it maze her dizzy. Stone screeched against stone as the half slabs above them came crashing down, blocking out the light, one after the other. Newt's arm landed heavily around her shoulders as they backed away, the others at their side, and they leaned heavily on eachother, both battered and bruised. Ada wasn't sure who was holding who up at this point, but black dots sparked in her vision as her heart threatened to beat out of her chest.

The trapped Grievers thrashed with panic, caught between the slabs. They vanished from sight one by one, until finally only one remained, legs spanning the stone as it screeched at them. It lunged, and Ada was sure for a second that it was all for nothing, that this was how they died, broken and defenceless and pinned against the very door that promised them safety.

With a furious yell, Thomas raised his spear and threw it. It pierced the Griever's eye, blinding it, blood and mucus spraying, but it could do nothing as the last slab came crashing down, crushing its bulbous body. Green slime and black blood oozed from beneath the stone, sticking to their feet.

The silence was deafening, broken only by their harsh breathing and cries of pain, but the shock was palpable. Ada exhaled slowly, letting every ounce of panic and pain drift away, focussing only on the fact that they had done it. They were out.

The floor opened up beneath them, and everything went black.