THE SURVIVOR!
levi and gruesome discoveries.

MARG!

   " 𝐁𝐎𝐒𝐒, 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄!" Marg was currently sitting on a rock, trying to clean one of the Survivors' wound after what proved to be one of their worst nights ever. Five of them had died due to the grievers, two had been stung by the mechanic beasts and seven had been injured by either trying to save their lives or protecting others. She was part of the latter, as a big wound on her arm was still losing what she deemed to be 'not too much blood to fuss over'. She looked toward where Francis was pointing at and noticed that the terrain was trembling underneath it.

"Guess we have a Sunshine coming." Greg, one of those she was still training to fight, chuckled and hit another Survivor in the chest in a playful way as if the whole situation was something to laugh about.

"Shut it, Gregory." Her previously calming tone, which she reserved for Sunshines and for the injured, quickly shifted into her authoritative one and the Survivor immediately bowed his head, knowing that it was in his best interest not to piss off Margaret. "Scoot. Let's get whoever is in there out as soon as possible."

A group of Survivors stood by the shaking ground and around two metal doors that were connected to one of the many boxes scattered around the Maze. They all waited patiently until the ground underneath them stopped shaking. They didn't need an alarm, for they had none, to know that the box containing a new arrival had stopped, therefore two boys, a year or two younger than Margaret, proceeded with pulling the heavy metal doors open giving the chance to everyone to have a peak at the Sunshine.

A young boy, no older than ten or eleven, was trying to regain his composure. He was much skinnier than the last two people who arrived before him and his face was a perfect portrayal of innocence and fear. Margaret wasted no time in laying on the grass and extending her arm to the boy, encouraging him to grab her hand so she could help him climb out. After a few minutes of pondering, the boy slowly approached the Leader of the Maze and, once his hand wrapped around her arm, she hoisted him up only for him to land face first in the thick grass that surrounded them missing a rock by a few inches.

"Welcome to our personal hell, Sunshine." Marg exclaimed while jumping into a standing position before gesturing for him to do the same. The boy reluctantly followed her actions, although he did not jump for he seemed to lack in muscles and had to sit before managing to stand. "Now, your backpack." She gestured to the only thing any of them always seemed to show up with. It didn't matter if the Sunshine was a girl or a boy, each one of them always showed up wearing a backpack and none of them seem to notice its presence on their shoulder until the Leader pointed it out. The boy's hand quickly searched for the foreign object and slid it on the ground with a look of utter terror etched on his face.

"No worries, Sunshine. We are not going kill you. We only kill grievers in here. After all, either they die or we die, pretty simple, uh?" A girl by the name of Nancy stated while leaning against the truck of a tree like what she had just said was the most normal thing in the world causing Margaret to let out a small chuckle. The girl had showed up a few months prior and yet she seemed to have adjusted to their way of survival better than what anyone, including her, had expected.

"Water." Marg said before throwing a full bottle into a wooden box they had managed to carve out of a tree they had cut down months before. "Four rations, lucky us!" She rolled her eyes and shook her head before placing them into another box and closing it straight after. "Small shovel." Her eyes lit up and a huge smile made its way on her face. "Nancy, get this to the fire pit, tell them to melt it and remind them we need at least fifteen by sundown." The young girl grabbed the object, along with a pair of binoculars that Margaret knew wouldn't have helped them regardless, but were made out of scrap metal. "And last, but not least, we have a pair of shoes." She held the shoes in her hand and threw the pair at the boy in a friendly manner. "They must be your size, never seen such tiny shoes before. But after all, how would I know? All I bloody remember is my name." She chuckled while a bunch of other Survivors around her did the same. Each person was quickly sent to a different station they had prepared in the morning, while a few of them went to sleep under a few blankets as it was their shift to rest.

"Where am I? Why are you bleeding?" The boy pointed at Marg's arm, who had almost forgot about the gash. She took a small sewing kit they had found in one of the other's backpack and started sewing her own skin together smirking when the new boy emptied his stomach's contents on the ground.

"You know, you better toughen up. Being blood-squeamish doesn't really help in here." She bit her lower lip as she followed the line of the injury. "It's a maze, a dangerous one as well." She started to explain. "We rest and work during the day, while we spend the nights fighting some bastard mechanical creatures and trying to stay alive. Day can change, you can end up doing different things each time, but the nights are always the same: you run, you fight, you try not to get killed and not to get anyone else killed in the process." She finally came to the end of the now closed wound and secured the stitches before tying a piece of cloth around them to keep them in place. "I was the first one here, haven't found a way out yet, but we are far from giving up." She quickly added seeing that the boy was on the verge of a panic attack. "Hey." She quickly stopped in front of him and placed both of her hands on his shoulders. "Hey look at me. Look at me right this moment." He was shaking out of fear and, when his eyes met hers, she noticed that the kid had started crying. "You can't let the others see you like this, not now. They're gonna keep a close eye on you the first few days to see if you're either a Survivor or a Goner. You're not helping yourself right now because all they're gonna see is a Goner."

"What is a Goner? A Sunshine? And why do you call yourself Survivors?" His voice was almost a whisper and, before she could even try to explain anything to him he decided to add another question to the mix. "Why does everyone respect you so much?". She smiled at the boy and ran her thumbs on his cheeks removing any tear in a sisterly way.

"We, all of us, are Survivors. We are Survivors because no matter how much or how many of us we lose we never give up, we are never gonna give up. We survive each day to see the following one and keep on trying to find a way out to finally get our revenge on whoever put us in here in the first place." Marg closed her eyes and could still remember when she first woke up on the grass of the Maze, all alone for a whole month and running from Grievers on her own. "You are a Sunshine. Still all bright and shiny while we're covered in scars, you are a new addition to the team. Don't complain about the name, some dickheads suggested far worse ones." Finally, she took a deep breath. "And a Goner is someone who doesn't stand a chance to survive, someone who people know it's useless to try and train or save as they're never gonna be able to make it on their own." The boy's face paled almost instantly, probably remembering that she had referred to him as a possible member of the last category. "No fretting, I am gonna train you. Just stick by me, okay?" She asked receiving a quick nod in return before turning around and starting to make her way toward the only well they had in the Maze. "My name is Margaret, people call me 'The Big Boss' because I am the Leader here."

"My name is... My name is Levi." The boy whispered loud enough for her to hear, as if he was trying to keep the others from eavesdropping.

"Well, Levi, seems you just made a friend." Margaret extended her right arm in Levi's direction, but, while still trying to process all the things he had just been said, he decided to hug Marg instead of simply shaking her hand like any Survivor would have done.

Margaret froze for a second, not being used to such a display of affection, before slowly pulling the boy in a small and awkward embrace and patting him on the back.

Before the sun had started to set each member of the Survivors had received clear orders from Marg, some of them were to look after the food they had all managed to catch and store over the past two days and guard the water, while others had been ordered to scatter in groups no smaller than six.

A frightened and trembling Levi was now standing on Margaret's right side and he seemed to be having an internal battle on whether he should or shouldn't grip her arm to calm his nerves. Along the two of them stood Nancy, Peter, David and Fiona. Each one of them carried a different type of weapon that was clearly handmade while on their backs sat a backpack that contained the bare minimum to survive in case one of them got lost and had to get back with no companion.

A bunch of loud screeching noises filled the entire place causing the Sunshine to finally grip Margaret's elbow.

"Get ready guys, no backing out now." She stated in an authoritative way eyeing one of the many exits. "We are going in to find a way out. You get stung, you carry on until you collapse and someone else carries or hides your body. You get harmed you keep running, no bitching about." She gave each and every one of them a stern look. "One of us gets killed, you leave the body. One of us feels like they can't fight against a Griever, you don't endanger another Survivors' life. You fight like I taught you to. Fight until the shithead is dead. We are the ones who are gonna get out of here alive." Her gaze was now focused on their entry point of the Maze. "Not these abominations, those things don't deserve to live." She stated while gripping the axe-like weapon she had been working on for the past few weeks.

Marg raised a finger telling them all to wait, she knew those creatures by now, they always wanted to strike first. A few minutes after, a massive mechanical being was running toward their clearing and Margaret felt Levi's hand leaving her wrist along with hearing two of the others back away from said monster. She would have cursed them, she would have loved to give at least one of them a black eye, but right in that moment she could only focus on the task at hand as the creature took a leap that would have landed him directly in front of the Sunshine.

Margaret threw herself on the ground and quickly raised her own axe above her head. The weapon pierced the creature exposed skin and lodged itself inside of it giving Marg the chance to slide forward and cut right through its flesh not caring in the slightest about the fact that the insides of the now dead creature was falling directly on her face and body.

When she heard a loud thump behind her, she stood up quickly and turned around to see the body of the dead Griever sprawled on the ground, twitching and making the usual noises each one of those made when they were dying. Levi stood in front of it, spear clutched so tight in his hands that his own knuckles had turned white. She quickly eyed David and Fiona, the two of them that had stepped back in fear and were now staring at her, covered head to toe in the disgusting Griever's inside matter. "You fight, or you die. Remember it." She hissed while pointing at those who had cowered away after having cleaned her own mouth as she had no intention of ingesting whatever was inside that monster. "That's our way of living here, there is no other way." She walked around the dead Griever and quickly grabbed Levi's hand before jerking him in her direction.

If no one was ready to take care of the kid, then she would have. She would have taken care of the kid and got him out, no matter the damned consequences, she thought to herself.

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   Margaret woke up and quickly sat up in her bed, her hands now gripping the thin sheets she was provided by WICKED. Anger, frustration and overall determination running through her veins as she looked toward the small glass that provided her a view of the outside corridor just to see the usual couple of guards stationed at her entrance. She eyed the back of the two men with disgust before leaving her bed and getting dressed in the same colour clothes that were provided to her every single day. Once she checked that her pocket-knife was safely tucked in a place no one could have spotted, she made her way back in her room and sat on the only chair inside of it waiting for the two people outside her door to receive the order to take her to the cafeteria for breakfast while a small grin made its way on her face. Today would have changed everything, she could feel it.

The whole day went on like any other, everything happened like clockwork, from breakfast to the testing rooms until time for dinner came around, something she never looked forward to.

She was sitting at her usual table across from Aris while Rat Man had entered the room with his clip-board in his clutch and a fake ass smile on his face. He stopped in the middle of the room and, as always, started calling the names of those who had been selected for that day. Her gaze quickly wondered to the table where Thomas was sitting at before feeling Aris' hand gently grip her forearm as if to confirm that he was ready for whatever was going to happen that evening.

Rat Man was still reading names out loud when she noticed that most of the people that had come from Thomas' Maze were looking at her and Aris and, while Aris was now successfully bored out of his mind, she kept staring at the group of boys letting a small smirk form on her lips before giving the boys a small quick nod to which Thomas replied almost immediately.

As soon as Rat Man had left the room she saw Thomas standing up and walking toward the exit of the room. She gave Aris a gentle kick under the table before nodding in the direction of the brunette boy who was approaching a pair of guards.

"Why is he talking to them?" Aris whispered while keeping his eyes trained on Thomas. Margaret couldn't help but to smile at what the boy was currently doing. Sure, his plan wasn't risk free, but it could work.

"He is putting the plan in motion." She whispered back to her friend. "As soon as we get back to our rooms we have to get to his grate, we need to be fast."

Thomas had now turned around causing Aris to lift a brow due to his actions, but before he could out another word Margaret stopped his friend by raising a fist and counting to five by lifting one finger at a time. Within five seconds Thomas had thrown himself in the guards' direction and all of his friends had come to back him up, trying to stop him from doing anything stupid and causing Marg to gently shake her head with an approving smile sculpted on her face.

It wasn't only Thomas' group who was quickly ushered out of the cafeteria, but alongside his own, Margaret and Aris were escorted to their adjacent rooms.

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   As soon as she heard her door lock, and a guard had closed the hatch in order to block any light to penetrate the room, Marg threw herself under her own bed and removed the grate that gave her direct access to the air-vent system. She was quickly met by a nervous Aris to whom she gave a nod of encouragement before making her way toward Group A's room. She had never moved through the vents as quickly as she was doing now, but she knew that, after the stunt Thomas had pulled today, something was bound to happen, therefore she needed to hurry.

She could hear the boys debating from beyond the grate until she gave them a quick shove and they scattered away from underneath Thomas's bed.

"Thomas" She gave the brunette a small smile before directing her attention toward the rest of his friends. "Guys, wish I could explain, but it's a time sensitive matter." Her tone dripped with sarcasm and, if they didn't have to move so quickly, she might have even enjoyed the shocked expressions on the boys' faces, but as a matter of fact they had to hurry up. "Saw the stunt, did you get the key?" She asked nodding toward the object that Thomas was holding in his hand.

"Yes, I know, we need to hurry." Margaret simply shrugged at his statement before backing away in order for Thomas to join her and Aris in the air-vent system. "All right, look, maybe you guys are right. Maybe I am just being paranoid. But I've got to find out for sure. Just cover for me, I'll be back as soon as I can." Marg tugged the end of Thomas' trousers trying to get him to cut the sentimental crap as they didn't have all the time in the world and the boy quickly complied by joining her and her friend, the three of them making their way toward what was the end of the vents' system.

There was no need to exchange words as the three of them had reached their designated spot and Thomas opened the big grate before letting himself fall down and landing on his feet. Marg didn't even bother to grip the end of the vent and simply opted for a straight-on jump landing without making a single sound at all noticing that Thomas was now staring at her as if she had just done the most complicated thing ever. She gave Thomas a quick nod to her right and he nodded back, the two of them understanding each other perfectly and going to check that they were, in fact, alone in the corridor.

Once Aris had closed the grate the brunette boy proceeded with opening the door with a key-card he had swiped from one of the guards and the redhead didn't hesitate to enter what looked like to be the entrance to a laboratory. They had only taken a few steps forward when she stopped in her tracks and stared at what was right beside her.

Inside of gigantic tanks filled with what looked like water, there were what looked like a small version of the creatures that had killed most of her friends.

"Grievers." She muttered.

"What is this place?" She turned toward Thomas and simply shook her head before taking a few steps forward toward another set of doors along with the boy and Aris.

What stood in front of them earned a different reaction from each one of them as Thomas muttered a "What the hell?", Marg a "Fuck." and Aris stood there, mouth agape and eyes wide open.

Rows and rows of teenagers like them were attached to different machines, their eyes shut close while their skin had an unhealthy tint of grey to it. It felt like standing in a graveyard, not that Margaret had ever visited one or at least remembered doing so, but that's what it felt like right in that moment. Each teen was hooked to the same kind of machine, one that seemed to be extracting a blue liquid of some sort. Margaret craned her neck to the right to get a better view and bent her knees ever so slightly to check if the eyes of one of the guys were in any way responsive. The guy in front of her looked dead, and he might have very well been so if it wasn't for the mask on his face that indicated he was still breathing.

"Teresa?" Thomas' voice snapped her out of her train of thoughts and she followed the boys toward a girl with long brown hair. He quickly moved the hair away from her pale face only for Aris to let out a shaky breath.

"It's Rachel." Her friend's voice was shaking and she quickly put a hand on his shoulder before squeezing it in support.

"And that's Allison." Margaret muttered, she could feel the blood boiling inside of her. Right next to Aris' friend stood one of her fellow Saviours, now hanging there and being used, harvested. She clenched her teeth, not being able to focus on what Aris was telling Thomas about Rachel. She kept looking at her friend body while silently promising her that she will avenged her, she will for the girl who fought alongside her.

They were all taken by surprise by the sudden noise of doors opening and she had a little time to shove Aris behind a pillar while her and Thomas hid behind the same one. She could see that the boy was tense, therefore she did what she knew best as a leader, be there for those who needed her, regardless of her own needs, and grabbed his wrist as a way of saying 'I am here'.

Rat Man had entered the room alongside another man.

"You sure this can't wait?" He asked while both her and Thomas tried not to get caught but to listen to the conversation at the same time. The other guy was so caught up in whatever he was holding in his hands he barely paid attention to his surroundings, almost as if the dimmed light blue room was a place they all visited on more than one occasion.

"She was very specific, sir. She wanted to speak with you personally." Marg furrowed her brows as she imagined there were other people working for the organization, but she had always only seen Rat Man only so far.

"As if I don't have enough to deal with." Rat Man complained only enraging Margaret further who, as a result, ended up tightening her hold on Thomas's wrist causing the boy to let out a small hiss of pain and look at her pleadingly so she could ease up on her hold.

"Just bear with me, I am getting some interference from the storm." Marg released Thomas' wrist and crouched down behind the pillar, looking on the left side of it while Thomas looked on the right side.

"Come on, it's good enough. Make the connection." A big picture appeared on a screen in front of Rat Man and the woman on the other side of the call was someone she thought to be dead. This confirmed all her previous suspicions, Ava Paige was still alive and they were still dealing with WICKED.

She was right from day one and this made her sick to her stomach. She could still remember getting out of the Maze and ending up in a room filled with dead bodies, each single one wearing a white lab coat. While she went to investigate, insisting that Levi followed her, Nancy had pressed some kind of button and a split second later a blonde-haired woman, that had to be in her forties or fifties, had started to explain the reason behind the Maze and how a virus had basically wiped out the majority of the human race. Soon after someone had shot the woman, stopping her mid-sentence and that was the first and the last time she had ever seen her. Or so she thought.

"Good evening, Doctor Paige. Lovely to see you again. Although I admit, I wasn't expecting to hear from you quite so soon." The redhead looked at Thomas who was now sporting a very similar look of disbelief and anger.

"Change of plans, Janson. I'll be arriving a little sooner than expected," Ava Paige stood up from her fancy white chair and neared the camera "first thing tomorrow."

"Oh, we'll be delighted to have you." Janson's voice reeked of bullshit that Marg herself could sense even from where they were currently hiding. "I think you'll be pleased with the progress we've made." The man signalled to his assistant to go on with his duty and show a series of statistics and two brain mapping images on the screen. "As you can see, early results have been extremely promising. Whatever it is you've been doing to them in there, it's working."

"Not well enough." Paige replied. "I just received board approval. I want all the remaining subjects sedated and prepped for harvest by the time I arrive."

Those words alone were enough to send Marg into escape plan mode. Until then it had always been her and Aris alone, but now that Thomas had helped them to uncover more they'd have to leave without leaving a single member of his group behind. Everything could be done, after all Margaret had been nicking and storing extra things here and there for days for a reason, she knew they would have needed to run one day and today was as good as any in her books. She was ready to kill every last WICKED employee if it meant getting this group of people out of there.

"Doctor Paige, we are going as fast as we can, we are still running tests..."

"Try something faster." The scientist interrupted Rat Man once again. "Until I can guarantee their security this is the best plan."

"Ma'am, security is my job. We're on 24/7 lockdown here. I am assuring you, the assets are secure." Marg raised a brow as she and Aris had found the code to open the first doors a few days ago. Rat Man might have been the security chief, but he had never dealt with someone like her, someone who managed to sneak around and get the code within 30 minutes with the help of her friend.

"Have you found the Right Arm?" Ava Paige questioned.

"Not yet. We tracked them as far as the mountains." She leant forward a bit, her interest piqued as this 'Right Arm' seemed to be their enemy.

"So, they're still out there and they've already hit two of our installations." Marg couldn't keep a small grin at bay at the mere thought that there was someone out there who was trying and managing to hit WICKED, and, by the looks of it, pretty badly as well. "They want these kids as badly as we do." As Ava said that, Marg, Thomas and Aris shared a knowing look. "And I cannot! I cannot afford another loss. Not now, when I am so close to a cure. If you're not up to the task I will find someone who is."

"That won't be necessary." Rat Man replied calmly. "Might I suggest we start with the most recent arrivals?" Margaret shot a quick look to Thomas who was staring speechless at the screen before mimicking her actions. The redhead knew that the others looked up to him, but right now he looked just as lost as everybody else. She looked at him sporting a venomous expression before mouthing 'Over my dead body.' to the boy who nodded at her to show his gratitude.

"Just get it done." The scientist spoke again causing Rat Man to turn around and for the three of them to hide back as best as possible. "Janson, I don't want them to feel any pain."

"They won't feel a thing." He replied before the call was finally over and the two men started making their way outside the dreadful room.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Finally a little bit about the famous Levi, am I right?

How long would you have lasted in Margaret's Maze? Just curious over here.

Thank you to each one of you who reads the story and even more thanks to those who vote, comment, share or add the story itself to their playlists.