I didn't dare to move as much as an inch when I saw that hideous thing crawling down the corridor.

It actually looked quite similar to your common basement spider, if that spider was six feet tall, with metal legs and spikes randomly popping out of its slimy body.

I couldn't tell where its head began and where the body ended, but glaring bright lights on one part of the Griever's silhouette made it look like eyes. 

On second thought, I pray for you that your common basement spider doesn't look like this.

Throwing myself out of my monologue, I glanced over at Thomas to see him hanging in the vines, barely breathing. His eyes were wide in terror, the sweat streaming down his forehead. 

Couldn't blame him even if I tried.

Turning my head back to look at the Griever again, I saw the monster rolling down the hallway, its robot arms cutting through the ivy ropes like they were made out of paper.

When it passed right below our hiding spot on the wall, I could make out how its green, snail-like skin pulsated, which somehow reminded me of sourdough. I already knew that my next nightmares would include bread monsters chasing me. 

That Griever was the most repulsive thing I've ever seen, and I had to live with a bunch of hormone-struck boys going through puberty.

I pushed back the urge to throw up in fear as I forced myself to stay frozen in place, hoping against hope that it wouldn't notice us. 

The mechanical whirring and groaning of the creature, mixed with the shadows bouncing off the walls was a horrifying thing to experience, especially since you were floating right above it, unable to move.

It was like watching a horror movie, where you had to sit and observe the unspoken nightmares unfold, but being completely powerless to its results. 

Why would anybody send those things after kids!?
Another sudden wave of anger made my hands clench until I felt my nails digging through the vine I was holding on to. 

I listened to the bone-chilling sounds of the Griever, when all of it suddenly stopped. For a moment, I thought my body had just given up due to the strain and I fainted, since my ears went numb and I couldn't see much through the blurry darkness.

Lowering my chin, I saw that the beast had paused right in front of the wall, just where Alby was hanging.

Just where we were hanging.

My heartbeat increased at alarming speed.

Move. Just turn around and roll away. It's that easy. Leave us alone!

It of course didn't listen to my telepathic mind-control, instead just sitting right beneath our hiding spot, its wires and claws dead silent. 

I had to fight every instinct of my body that was begging me to move. Jump down, run and get to safety.

I saw the flashes of its headlights shining all over the place, like they were searching for something.

Until they suddenly went dark. Switched off.

I heard my heart pound painfully against my ribs. A comical thought jumped to my mind when I imagined it beating out of my chest like they used to draw it in cartoons. I tried to breathe as quiet as possible, doing my best to stay pressed against the rock wall.

The gnawing fear threatened to take over my body. It made cold sweat drench my clothes. The absolute nothingness was killing me.

Why did it stop?!

In a sudden burst of noise and motion, the Griever came back to life.

And then it started to climb the wall.

Great, so now it was able to hear my thoughts.

My legs felt heavy, as if all of my organs had dropped to my feet.

The Griever's iron legs dug into the stone, tearing away the ivy with ease. Its bright light glared directly at us, not moving away, completely transfixed on the two frozen in shock teenagers. At its prey.

"Grace! We gotta go!", Thomas's voice forcefully ripped me away from my trance-like state. Snapping my head at the direction of his voice, I managed to look at him.
The boy was swinging to the side, grabbing vines as fast as he could to get away from the rapidly approaching and certain cause of death that was now clawing its way up here. 

Quickly jumping onto his train of thought, I copied his actions, clinging onto the ivy and climbing after Thomas. Leaving Alby behind.

The shuddering sounds of the Griever told me how close it was to catching up. There was no need to look back, obvious that it followed us now that I heard it ripping out parts of the wall and hurling it through the corridor. 

"It left Alby!", I shouted. A small wave of relief flooded through me but it was quickly replaced with terror once again.
"Thomas! We need to get down!"

I didn't know if he had heard me, but when he grabbed the next vine, he let himself slip a bit.

I did the same. The rope promptly burned my palms to shreds and I hissed out a sharp breath. Vine for vine, we climbed down the walls, our pursuer right on our heels.

In a matter of seconds, Thomas suddenly slipped off the vine. Ramming my heels into the wall, I let go with one of my arms and caught hold of his wrist mid-fall.

My arms nearly ripped out of my shoulders through the unexpected pull and from the look on his face, I could tell that Thomas must've felt the same piercing jolt of agony.

Screeching, the Griever charged at us with its needles stabbing at everything in their way. Thomas finally got hold of another rope and pushed himself away, shuttling beneath me. 

I pulled myself close to the wall and kicked out with my leg. My foot connected with the Griever's slimy body, making it hurl right over me. Its metal arms whirred and grasped at the thin air, now smacking to the ground with its back first. 

A harsh sting shot hot pain right beneath my ribs, feeling like the worst side stitch in history. A sudden burst of energy rushed through my body, overwhelming me with crystal clear vision and the burning sensation of my blood boiling, before it all blurred into one big, dark smudge of paint once again.

I saw Thomas jumping onto the creature like a maniac, the revolting squishing sound echoing off the walls. Landing on the ground, by some eternal force unharmed, he started running down the corridor, quickly swallowed by darkness.

Using the Griever's confusion, I followed this guy's mad idea of escaping. Jumping down, my knees gave in as I hit the ground behind the creature, instantly tearing at my skin.

Trying to ignore the pain of dozens of needles stabbing at my exposed wound, I covered up my cry by yelling insults instead.
I can't fully remember what exactly I threw at the Griever, but I am certain the words "Your mother" fell multiple times. 

I knew running around the beast to go after Thomas would be a suicide mission, so I turned and sprinted into the opposite direction, hoping against hope that my shouted 'yo-momma' jokes were enough to capture its attention and make it follow me instead of our Greenie.

Very noble, I know.

But, unfortunately as always, the horrifying noises got less blaring until they eventually died out completely as I was rushing down the corridor.
So the Griever did go after Thomas.

Groaning in frustration, I stopped in my tracks, jogging on the spot. I had to find a way back.

Pounding the stone floor with my feet, its echo like gunshots, I followed the ivy into Thomas' direction, through another hallway parallel to the one he took. Just in case I might catch up on the Griever a little too early.

The Greenie had never been in the Maze before. He didn't know where to turn or where the dead ends were. He was a bleeding man trapped in the shark cage. 

My lungs were burning, gasoline set ablaze. My body was already screaming from the exhaustion before. Now it was a whole choir of wailing souls.

When I heard the familiar screeching noise of metal clashing against rock, I forced my protesting legs to move faster.
It burned. Fear was clawing at my insides. A sandstorm tearing at my sanity, the particles of glass and dirt cutting through the sails that kept my thoughts above water. 

Run, little mouse. Run, run, run...

I needed to be quicker than the monster; with which, I now knew, I was keeping up with head on head.

Now look, I know adrenaline makes people strong enough to lift cars if necessary. But I'm not sure if it makes somebody run so fast that everything around them blurs out, yet with their legs still feeling intact.
I'm not sure if I should be physically able to almost fly over the pavement. The fastest woman alive, maybe. But not me, no.

Yet I did it. And being thankful for this new talent showing up just in time, I didn't question it.

Not far away, I recognized the two corridors narrowing down into one. Two branches reconnecting with their tree. That was where I knew I would run into Thomas.

And before I could finish that thought, I found myself reunited with the boy, almost clashing into his shoulder.

Surprised, he let out a small scream when I appeared out of seemingly nowhere but he was smart enough to keep up the impressive speed he had grown into.

During our small time separated, he seemed to have found some more friends, because the sounds of whirring and screeching had doubled.

Great, I insulted the birth-giver, now I had to deal with the whole family.

Unable to speak, I took over the lead, my brain automatically mapping out our current spots by recognizing the unique patterns in the ivy and the markings the Runners had carved on the walls during our time here. 

I ran down the hallways, the pounding sounds of heavy breathing and inhuman screeching ringing inside my head like a penetrating alarm clock.

If only this really was just a nightmare and I had to wake up now. 

Keep running, just keep running, don't stop, don't look back, just keep running

I rounded a corner when my body suddenly collided into another figure. I let out a scream and my fist connected with something soft, followed by a cut-off cry. 

"Argh- Grace!"

Because of my sudden stop, Thomas ran into me and let out a grunt when he bumped into my outstretched elbow.
For a harsh second, the three of us were a pile of flailing limbs and yelling voices mingling. 

I gasped for air, letting out a sound that fell somewhere between the spectrum of laughing and raw shouting when I recognized our friend.

"Minho!" 

"You Shucks are crazy!", His voice was more than exhausted and he rubbed his face where I had hit him out of reflex before he quickly pushed us forward.
"C'mon, go, GO!", He yelled breathlessly.

I didn't have time to neither process what just happened nor debate whether I should hug or break his arms.
Together, our three silhouettes threw long shadows in the pale moonlight as they flickered through the hallways, the Grievers still way too close.

Minho seemed to have a plan, or at least one coherent thought in mind, because he didn't stop in his constant pace and when he turned another corner, I finally caught on. 

The cliff.

I could sense Thomas's anxious panic. He probably thought this would be the end, where we would fall to our deaths and it would all be over.

Minho quickly ended his little nightmare with a grunt.
"Don't get excited", he snapped out between gasps. 

The younger boy seemed incapable of grasping what was in front of him.
And I was in no position to judge him.

Everywhere you looked, dark, stale air. It was as if somebody had simply added a black layer over a badly photoshopped picture.

It was physically impossible for such a cliff to exist, and yet here it was, nothing but a deep, nightmarish abyss, with seemingly no end.

If the earth was really flat, this was what it would look like. 
The end of the world.

I grabbed Thomas' shoulder, since he looked like he was about to tilt over and drop.
"Careful. You wouldn't be the first Shank to fall down."

I turned back to see the Grievers, only a few yards away. And we were standing here like we had all the time in the world.

What perfectly idiotic prey we were. 

The Grievers' arms and claws rattled, moving without coordination, some stabbing at their companions.

That's when it seemed to click for Thomas.
For once, we didn't need to tell each other what to do.

Making sure they kept advancing on us, we all stepped back until our heels were only inches away from slipping off the edge, Thomas to my left and Minho at my right hand.

"We need to be in sync!", he yelled.
His face was filled with the fierce determination of somebody who had gone slightly mad.

The Grievers were sprinting towards us, out for blood.

I clenched my jaw and bent my knees, getting ready to jump out of the way.
The adrenaline pulsed through me like a drug, making my vision sharper than ever, which was a great relief.

 Minho rocked on his heels, anxious to move...

"Now!"

Just as the first Griever reached out for us with a spidery arm, Thomas and Minho dove into opposite directions, but for me, which I realized way too late, was no other way than forward.

And so, I... jumped.

Just like before, I felt this sudden rush of power pierce through me like intoxicating poison. My vision grew foggy.
And, as if I had done this all my life, my whole body moved upwards, using the Griever's outstretched leg as a ramp that hurled me through the air.

Everything felt like it fell into slow-motion when I flipped over the creature. I tensed every last muscle that would still obey, forcing my body to twist mid-air.

Like I was flying. 

Cold air sent shivers up my spine and right into my brain, where it instantly snapped away the hazy cloud of whatever fog had been resting there. 

When I landed, I instantly rolled over to the side, preventing death of the second Griever stabbing me, and my knees from breaking.

With my back hitting the wall, I watched in shock how three of the monsters disappeared into nothingness.

The last one managed to come to a slithering halt, but Thomas and Minho both ran at the thing like two maniacs and kicked out last second, sending it to its death.

My knees pulling themselves up to my chest, but slipping again, I gasped for every bit of air my lungs could grasp.

The adrenaline had disappeared, leaving my body drenched and shaky, with my hands rapidly clenching and opening again, as if somebody was electrocuting me.

I couldn't remember when I have ever felt so exhausted. The air on my skin felt feverish as every cell in my body was screaming for an end. 

Dark spots danced before my eyes. 

Now seemed like a good time to pass out. 

A/N: Dw, she's just a little low on iron. Circuit crashes, am I right?
 T'was pretty fun to write this little hunt, never did that before