in another life; the maze runner

All the Gladers started to turn the opposite way of Janson, who had been shouting words they couldn't hear through the glass. With the help of Minho, Mae was able to stand and run just fine on her own, even though her body ached from the lack of food and strenuous activity.

They moved through some sort of ware house, with Aris in the lead, dodging the different obstacles in their path. 

"Keep moving," Thomas encouraged, as he could see that Newt and Mae were falling behind. Mae glanced to her left, noticing Newt struggling due to his limp. She offered her arm for support, but he just shook his head and kept his eyes ahead as they got closer to the final doors to the outside world. 

Everyone skidded to a stop. 

Another closed exit.

But Thomas wasn't going to wait around for some other option. He quickly surveyed the technology on the door and found a red lever. He reached up and pulled it all the way down, though it took a moment of strength, and the sound of gears turning quickly filled Mae's ears.

The doors began to open slowly, inch by inch revealing the world that had been kept hidden from the kids since they got to the facility. Within seconds, wind blew right into their faces.

Mae rose her arm to cover her eyes, but she knew they didn't really have time to prepare to go out into the sandstorm.

Not only was the wind whipping and the dust swirling this way and that, but it was pitch black except for the light emitted from the facility. All Mae could see ahead was sand dunes. 

The world seemed empty.

She prayed that the rest of it wasn't like this, that maybe there were villages and cities, and the Gladers had just happened to be taken far away from all that, but there was no way to tell until they got moving again.

Thomas, as always, took the first step outside. He was followed by the rest of the Gladers, Mae one of the last to leave on account of making sure everyone else exited the building safely. 

Though everything seemed still, the wind blew rapidly, howling in Mae's ears and tossing her hair in every direction. She wasn't wearing shoes- which is a shame considering the terrain and the constant movement she had to suffer through. The sand was uneven and shifted with each step she took, making it more difficult for her to continue walking. Nevertheless, she continued on, following after her friends as they started walking off toward the dark horizon.

Each grain of sand stung as it came in contact with the kids faces, like a thousand tiny daggers piercing their skin. Mae raised a hand to shield her eyes as she followed the rest of the group. They picked up their pace and started scrambling to get over the side of the hill, since WICKED had already started looking for them. 

Once they all made to the other side, Thomas lead them in laying flat on the sand to try and avoid being spotted by the many lights and search teams sent out to find them. 

Mae's head was spinning and her heart was pounding in her ears- but she was actually quite used to the feeling of not knowing what would happen next. The adrenaline was a driving force to remind her to keep pushing, keep lightning that fire of hope that burned in her heart.

She glanced to her left, studying Minho's face. It was hard to see all of his features in detail due to the lack of light, but she could see enough to figure out that he was nervous. She took a moment to silently pray that WICKED hadn't hurt her friends while she was out.

Once the team of guards searching for the Gladers moved on to another spot, they all stood up and started moving once again. They had to be quick and discreet, they knew the threat of Janson finding them was not eliminated.