Chapter 69 Chapter 69: The Crumbling Maze

The wounded screamed.The booming sound mixed with the sound of broken stones formed a terrifying chorus.The ground continued to shake under Thomas' feet, and the maze collapsed around them—they had to get out. "Run!" Thomas yelled at Sonia. She turned around without hesitation and disappeared into the corridors of the maze.The people standing in her group ran away without waiting for another warning. Thomas tripped, but steadied himself.He ran to Minho and said, "You come to the rear, Teresa, Brenda and I go to the front." Minho nodded and gave him a push to hurry up.Thomas glanced back to see their big house split down the middle like a split acorn, half of the broken structure collapsing to the ground, kicking up a cloud of debris and dust.He then looked towards the map room and saw that the concrete walls had crumbled and crumbled.

There was no time to hesitate, and in the confusion he searched around and found Teresa.He grabbed the old friend, and she followed him, across the gap and into the maze.Brenda was already there, doing her best with Jorge to help those who came after, trying to keep everyone from running in panic at the same time, because that would surely kill half the people. There was another ripping sound overhead, and Thomas looked up to see another section of wall crashing to the ground.When it hit the ground, the whole thing exploded, but luckily there was no one underneath.He felt a sudden pang of fear that the roof would eventually come down too!

"Go!" Brenda yelled at him. "I'm right behind you!" Teresa grabbed his arm and jerked him forward, and the three of them ran through the jagged edge of the gate into the maze, weaving left and right around the crowds running in the same direction.Thomas ran at full speed and caught up with Sonia.He didn't know if she was also a walker in the labyrinth of group B, or if she was as familiar with the layout of the maze as he was, and whether the maze over there was exactly the same? The ground continued to vibrate, tipping suddenly with each distant explosion.People swayed from side to side, fell down, got up again, and continued to run.Thomas ran, dodging left and right, sometimes jumping over fallen people.Stones tumbled off the wall.He saw a man who had been hit on the head and fell to the ground.People bent down and tried to lift the unconscious body, but there was so much blood that Thomas felt it was too late.

Thomas caught up with Sonia, ran ahead of her, and led the people around corner after corner. He knew they would be there soon, he just hoped that the maze had been the first to explode and that the rest of the complex was still intact.He hoped that if they could rush out, they'd still have plenty of time.The floor beneath him jumped up suddenly, and a harsh crack ripped through the air.He was thrown by a dog and snatched food, and he staggered to his feet.About a hundred feet ahead of him, the floor of large stones rose upward.He watched helplessly as the massive floor exploded, raining rocks and dust in all directions.

He didn't stop, and continued to rush forward.He ran toward a narrow passage between the protruding floor and the wall, Teresa and Brenda close behind.But he knew that this bottleneck would slow everyone down. "Run!" he yelled, turning his head.He slowed down and saw the desperation in everyone's eyes. Sonia walked through the gap, then stopped, grabbed the hands behind her, and pulled and pushed to help the others file through.The speed was much faster than Thomas had hoped, so he continued to run at full speed towards the maze cliff. All the way through the maze, the whole world was shaking, stones were cracking and falling around them, and people were screaming and crying.He was helpless and could only lead the survivors to move on.A left turn, then a right turn, then another right turn.In this way they came to the long corridor leading to the labyrinthine cliffs.At the end of it he saw the gray ceiling above the dark walls and the round hole in the exit.Then, a loud cracking sound shot out, crossing the once false sky.

He turned to Sonia and the others. "hurry up!" As they got closer, Thomas saw the whole ghastly scene, people's pale faces contorted with terror.People fell to the ground and got up again.He saw boys under ten tugging at a woman until she finally stood up.A boulder the size of a car rolled off the wall and hit an older man, knocking him a few yards before he fell to the ground, paralyzed like a pile of mud.Horrified, Thomas continued to run, shouting words of encouragement to those around him. Finally, he came to the edge of the labyrinth cliff.Those two slates are still there, very solid.Sonia motioned Teresa to cross the makeshift bridge and go through the ancient Griever cave.Behind her, Brenda and a party followed.

Thomas waited on the edge of the cliff, beckoning everyone to move on.Watching the ground as it seemed about to collapse at any moment, while one could only move slowly through the maze, was excruciating, almost unbearable.One by one, people ran across the stone slabs and jumped into the cave.Thomas wondered if Teresa purposely made people go up the steep slope instead of the ladder, which was much faster. "You go!" Sonia shouted to Thomas. "When they get down there, they need to know what to do next." Thomas nodded, though he was terrified of parting: he had been the same the first time he ran away.He had abandoned the Gladers then, letting them fight on while he slipped away, but he knew she was right.He took one last look at the wobbly labyrinth: pieces of the ceiling were shaken loose and falling, while many stone slabs were lifted from the originally flat floor.His heart aches for Minho, Frypan, and the others, wondering if they'll make it through.

He squeezed his way through the crowd, over the stone slabs, into the cave, then turned sharply from the crowd, and ran down the steep slope to the ladder.He slid down the ladder as fast as he could, and he was relieved to find that the bottom of the hole was undamaged.Teresa was there, constantly picking up people who were sliding down and telling them which direction to go. "I'm here!" he yelled at her, "you go to the front of the line!" He pointed out the door. She was about to answer, but was suddenly attracted by something behind him.Her eyes were wide with fear, and Thomas turned away.

A couple of dusty griffin chrysalis opened, their upper halves lifted like coffin lids.