"If you are broken, you do
not have to stay broken."
—Selena Gomez

CONTROL,
CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE BEAST'S SPIKES embedded into the stone as it made its way up. Its lights pointed directly at them and didn't move away. The two of them began unraveling the vines around them. Except Ruby began to crawl down. "Where are you going?", Thomas hissed.

"I need to do something", Ruby responded simply.

"Ruby—!"

But she didn't stop. "Sorry, Alby, I'm gonna need your knives", she mumbled, removing the weapon from the boy's body. For a second, the Griever looked confused on who to follow. This gave Ruby the time she needed to propel herself down the wall. Did she have a death wish? Probably. Ruby shut her eyes, took a deep breath. "Hey, ugly!", she called. "This way!"

Just as she hoped, the Griever altered its course from Alby and headed straight towards her, spinning towards the ground. She gave Thomas two thumbs up. "I'll catch up, J promise."

"I thought I said no splitting up!"

"Just go!" The Griever was getting too close for comfort. Ruby swallowed thickly. Digging her heels into the ground, she had no other choice but to run. "Why couldn't you have packed a longer blade, Alby?", she asked bitterly. But the machete in her hand would do, she hoped. The weight of the thick hilt was heavy in her hand. Once she was free, weapon in hand, she began running. "Come on, bud, follow momma", she called. Glancing over her shoulder, the Griever was still coming. Good.

At the last second, its claw almost gripping her hair, Ruby fell onto her back. She didn't slide or anything, just dropped. With the Griever being so big and clunky, it struggled to stop. Instead it slid over her, just as she hoped. As it struggled to stop, sliding over her, Ruby sank the machete into the thing's stomach, shredding it open. The Griever cried out, but it fell in a heap before her. Ruby gagged, covered in the disgusting yellow slime. Panting, she stood up once more and approached it. It breathed heavily. Ruby found the ticking arm. With a cry that let out all her growing frustrations, she stabbed the beast.

Ruby fell backwards into her butt, breathing heavily. Her hair had long since escape its ribbon, falling messily into her face. She blew a loose strand from her face, glaring at the beetle blade that watched her from the wall. "I'm not weak", she spat at it. She was more so talking to herself. "I'm not weak", she repeated, grabbing the hilt of the blade and jerking it out. She was amazed that she was able to pull that off. It had just been instinct. She doubted she would get so lucky again.

More clicking came around the corner. Click-click-click. Ruby wiped her face and began running once again. "Fuck this. Fuck you!", she shouted at the beetle blade, for once abandoning the Glade's slang. "Y'all can kiss my ass", she added with a groan. She was sick of this test. She was sick of everything. Maybe that was why she was able to kill the previous Griever. She was so sick of feeling weak, so angry. And she was damn sure gonna use that anger to her advantage.

As if it was curious to see what she would do, the beetle blade scurried after her. Ruby was sick of it too. "You wanna see me fail, mom?", she asked accusingly. "You dropped me in here to die, and you figure you may as well watch, right?" Ruby took the machete and swung. She had been aiming to slice  the beetle blade in half in one fluid motion, but it hurried away just seconds before she good. "Too bad that I hate spies", she spat, glaring at it.

It didn't do much good, more would come. They always did. Frustrated, Ruby let out a scream that would surely cause her vocal chords to ache. Dropping to the ground, she began to sob. She didn't remember the last time she cried, she couldn't. Either way, once the tears came, they wouldn't stop. Ruby cried until her face was red and her throat burned, and she kept dry retching. She'd effectively made herself sick. Heartbroken and tired, she forced herself up and began running again. That was the only option, right? Just keep running.

Ruby had barely been paying attention to the turns she took, so she could only hope that she would at least vaguely remember how to get back to the Door should she have to go it alone. No. She couldn't think like that. She had to remain hopeful that she would cross paths with one of the boys again. She knew Minho wouldn't want her to tag along with him, but she would make him if she had to. No way was going it alone if she could help it.

There was just no way.

Ruby was hoping she was pushy. Otherwise she didn't know how she would convince him that there was strength in numbers.

Another beetle blade showed up while she was running. She decided to ignore this one, instead putting her energy into focusing on the turns she was taking. She couldn't afford to get lost in this place. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Right. Left. Left. Right. When she was sure she had lost the approaching Griever for the moment, she slowed to a jog. And then a walk. And then she stopped altogether. She was starting to get a bit tired, her breathing labored. "Gotta... keep... moving", she reminded herself. "You've... got this." News Flash: she was shit at pep talks.

With a scowl, she pushed herself to keep running. How did Minho do this everyday? She had no clue. But, then again, he was well built and had been doing this for two years. Two. Years. And then look at her. She had memories of learning to fight, but none of running. She figured she must have hated it. Of course she could only guess that with the way her lungs screamed in agony. Not only that, but she was skinny. Not much muscle clung to her bones. Oh well. She would just keep training and exercising, like Frypan has suggested. She would have to thank the boy for his advice later. If she hadn't done all that running the other day, she surely would have passed out ages ago in here. Frypan was a lifesaver. The clicking echoed again. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" She resumed running. Stupid Grievers. Stupid Maze. Stupid Creators. Stupid mom.

Stupid Ruby for never being good enough, she thought.

As if someone had answered her prayers, she caught sight of Minho. It wasn't under the best circumstances, but there he was, alive and breathing... and cornered by a Griever.

He caught sight of her, but didn't say anything. "I've got you", she whispered, mostly to herself.

Ruby crept forward. Pulling the sword back and rushing forwards, she slammed the sword into the Griever's body. Unfortunately, it retaliated with all it had left by reaching out and pricking her. It fell over with a horrifying screech. For a minute she felt woozy.

Minho stared at her with wide eyes. "Couple hours I'm the Maze and, what, you're suddenly some bad ass, knife wielding, chick?" The boy was astonished.

Ruby shook her head. "Don't get too excited, I think that one got me."

"You sure? Cause you look totally fine... that ain't normal", Minho said, terrified.

"Let's just hope I continue to be fine until we get out of here, okay?"

Minho narrowed his eyes. All the Keepers had been ordered to keep an eye on the girl earlier. Eventually though, he nodded. "Let's go find Thomas."

DECEMBER 13, 2019
i'm stalling a little bit,
imma be honest. i just
need to finish this part
according to plan. 😅

i wanted Ruby to have
a badass moment like
Thomas bouncing off
the Griever, and this
was about as simple
as it gets cause she
literally did nothing
but stab things. 💀