The Maze Runner

The sun was setting by the time she opened her eyes, but the last few
beams were still bright enough to make the girl squint from where she lay.
The last thing she remembered was when- huh. Now that she thought
about it she remembered nothing; only her name. Teresa. No last name,
no family, no friends. No life before now that she could think of. There
was something else though, another name maybe, but it was too fleeting
to grasp, just out of reach.
Where am I? she thought to herself, raising her hand to block the
sunlight as she attempted to answer the question to no avail. Raising
herself to her feet, swaying slightly as dizziness suddenly hit her, Teresa
put out a hand to steady herself. When her fingers met something cold
and rough, and a rustle to her left reached her ears, she immediately
opened her eyes and paused. Looking around, she could see high
concrete walls towering over her, covered by thick green vines and leaves.
As if blowing away the cobwebs in her mind, a powerful gust of wind jolted
her out of her daze. Teresa suddenly went rigid as if the wind had
whispered something forewarning in her ear. Before she could even
process what was happening she was running without thought. Darting
through the seemingly never ending labyrinth of concrete walls, fear
started to overcome her as she kept running into dead ends. Reaching
another dead end, she turned and was about to continue running when
she saw a looming shape blocking her path a few feet away from her.
The dark form inched toward her excruciatingly slowly, closing the space
between them, and the bone-chilling flurries of gust intensified carrying
strange, half-animalistic half-mechanic noises towards her, echoing and
bouncing off the soaring concrete walls piercing her ears.
Crrrrreak click-click-click. Crrrrreak click-click-click.
When Theresa saw the creatures mangled visage she had to fight off the
feeling of nausea that washed over her in waves. It looked like an
experiment gone awfully wrong- part animal, part machine. As it plunged
and rolled, clicking along the stone pathway it pulsated disturbingly,
undulating as it breathed, and leaving a glistening trail of slime in its
wake. Its body bore a resemblance to a titanic slug, sparsely topped
with what looked like hair and had large metallic spikes jutting out
sporadically from its abdomen. An immense fear came over her, turning
Theresa into stone and she let out a scream. It was a sound so dissonant
and full of unimpeded horror it sounded like nails being dragged on a
chalkboard. She screamed in her head, begging her body to think, to
respond, anything to get away from that. The creature suddenly stopped
and turned around to an approaching echoing thud of what sounded like
feet slapping against the stone floor distracting it. Straining to look past

the creature, Theresa saw the silhouette of what looked like a person
shouting and throwing stones at the slug-like monster. Without any
warning the creature rolled and lurched itself towards the person at an
alarming rate, but when she looked back the person was already gone.
This is my chance she thought to herself and started sprinting down the
path she had been trapped in, nearly slipping on the slime left behind by
the disgusting creature. More and more colossal walls materialised before
her as she jolted precariously away from them, her movements growing
more lethargic.
Whats wrong with me? she thought to herself. Darting into another
dead end she felt an onrushing sense of claustrophobia stifle her,
compressing her lungs to the point where her breathing came in short,
sharp gasps. Her legs seemed to turn to candle wax, slowly melting to the
ground. She grabbed out to one of the vines on the walls, but even as she
tried to pull herself up the nauseating feeling once again threatened to
overcome her, her vision becoming fuzzy, obscured by dark spots.
A loud boom reverberated through the air, making Theresa jump. It was
followed by a crunching, grinding sound that made her bones tremble as if
in fear. She stared in a mixture of awe and abject terror as the walls
groaned in protest as they began to shift and slide. The walls were
moving? Like an ice-cold caress to her ear the winds sighs once again,
whispered to her to run, to escape.
Pealing herself off the wall she began to force her legs into movement.
Just as she was about to turn the corner she felt a vice like grip on her arm
forcing her into a run. Trying to focus her eyes she realised it was a boy.
He couldnt have been older than seventeen. He was dressed in all black
a black t-shirt, trousers and tough-looking boots. As she looked at his face
she felt a pang of recognition hit her like an arrow to her chest; a face she
knew yet couldnt place, a face from another time, another life. Suddenly,
his sharp blue eyes lit up like a blowtorch as he stared ahead, focused and
determined.
..
The colossal doors began throwing sparks and dust as they moved,
surrounding them with the cacophonous groans of rock against rock. He
started running faster and she felt her heart pound against her chest like
a wild animal tangled in a net. Time stopped as her eyes stayed glued to
the doors as they shut with a loud boom that echoed around them with
finality.