The Maze Runner, #1
The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
Contents
Chapter 19
Overview
Thomas and unconscious Alby cling to ivy as a Griever locates their wall. The creature shuts off its lights and sounds, heightening Thomas’s terror, then restarts and begins climbing. The encounter escalates immediate danger and proves the Grievers can scale walls, raising the stakes for survival in the Maze.
Summary
Thomas watches in horror as a Griever advances down the Maze corridor, its grotesque, part-organic, part-mechanical body rolling and clicking. He notes spikes, lights, needles, and a claw on its arms, and recognizes the sounds he heard earlier. Remembering the beetle blade that revealed their position, Thomas freezes in the vines with Alby, hoping to remain unseen.
The Griever reaches the Door to the Glade and then moves directly beneath Thomas and Alby. Thomas holds his breath as the creature’s lights sweep randomly. Suddenly, the lights and sounds cut off, plunging everything into complete darkness and silence. Thomas, drenched in sweat and fighting panic, waits in agony as time drags with no movement below.
After long, torturous moments, the Griever bursts back to life with whirring and clicks. It then begins to climb the wall toward them, confirming it can scale vertical surfaces and putting Thomas and the unconscious Alby in immediate, escalating peril.
Who Appears
- ThomasHangs hidden in ivy with Alby, remains still as a Griever searches, endures terror as it begins climbing.
- GrieverMonstrous bio-mechanical creature; searches the corridor, goes silent, then reactivates and starts climbing the wall.
- AlbyLeader of the Gladers, stung and unconscious, tied in vines while Thomas hides him from the Griever.