Her || The Maze Runner

Thirty Seven

Minho lead Mara and Thomas through the Door to Section Eight, heading down the first corridor in a light jog. The sky above them had turned a bright yellow, shadowing the sun with a mix of the clouds. It still had a few hours until it hit the spot that declared noon, but there was enough sunlight for her to see where she was going.

They ran for a few minutes, running through sharp corners until they reached a vertical cut through a ever-lasting wall to the north, similar to the Doors that led into the Glade. Mara stopped just outside it, bending over to catch her breath. She was surprised at her fitness, despite everything she had been through, she had been able to cope with the physicality of it all. Luckily, her and Thomas had been able to keep up with Minho, the Running Machine.

Her head lifted upwards to see Minho widening the distance between her and himself as he continued to run through the Section. With a deep breath, Mara's feet set off towards the boy who had Thomas trailing behind him. 

"This leads from Section Eight- the middle left square- to Section One- the top left square. Like I said, this passage is always in the same spot, but the route here might be a little different because of the walls rearranging themselves."

As Minho talked they continued down a lengthy corridor to the right of the gap, passing several left turns on their way. Eventually- when they reached the end of the passageway- Minho slowed to a walk, forcing Mara and Thomas to do the same. He reached into the side of his backpack and pulled out a notepad and pencil, jotting down something before he put it back.

"Anything interesting?" Mara asked, curious at what the boy had written. Her voice was breathy and she could feel the soreness of her throat as she spoke.

"Just the normal stuff." He replied, straining his voice a little. "I rely mostly on my memory, but about every fifth turn, I write something down to help me later. Mostly just related to stuff from yesterday- what's different today. Then I can use yesterday's Map to make today's. Easy-peasy."

It did sound easy, Minho made it look so natural. He started up again at the same pace he had been at but slightly faster.

Not long after they reached an intersection: left, straight ahead, or right. Without a hesitation Minho ran right and at the same time he pulled out a knife from his pockets- Mara's instincts told her to do the same thing, so she did. He slashed through a piece of ivy on the wall, leaving a heap of it to bundle up in his arms. The boy threw it behind him, almost hitting Mara as he did.

"Bread crumbs?" Thomas chuckled slightly, and those two words brought back the memory of an old fairy tale. It made Mara chuckle too, at least they had let them remember fairy tales.

"Bread crumbs." Minho nodded. "I'm Hansel, Mara's Gretel."

"And who is Tommy? The witch?" Mara laughed. Minho didn't turn his head, but she could hear a smirk from his direction.

"Sound's 'bout right. As long as he don't try to eat us we'll be okay." 

Their conversation went quiet after one last chuckle and a 'thanks guys' from Thomas. Minho continued to break off chunks of ivy after every turning they ran through, slicing through it's thick material without needing to slow down. By that point Mara had realised there was no threat, so she had put her knife back into her pocket.

"Your turn Mara. Thomas can go second." Minho instructed, speaking in heavy, deep breaths as he continued to run.

"What? Cutting the ivy?" Mara asked. She assumed that's what he had meant, but it was better to check with Minho before doing anything. He was the teacher/leader for a reason. That kid was the best Runner there was, that's why he was the Keeper.

"Yeah, cut the ivy now- you gotta get used to doing it on the run. We pick 'em up as we come back, or kick 'em to the side."

Mara nodded, but Minho didn't see as he was leading them. She did as she was told, ripping her knife through the ivy. At first it didn't work exactly as she planned- only a small portion of what she had planned to cut came free- but after a few tries she got the hang of it pretty quickly. Of course, she wasn't as good at it as Minho was, but she was a close second, maybe third depending on how Tommy was doing.

They ran with a pattern, once they both got the hang of cutting the ivy, they did it in order: Minho, Mara, Tommy. Each of them taking turns for each corner they passed.

After running harmoniously for a while, Minho slowed to a walk and then stopped completely. Mara didn't know how far or how long they had been running, but she was glad to be stopping. Even though she was in good physical shape, she still needed a break, they all did.

"Break time." Minho flashed his teeth with a smile before swinging his backpack off his shoulders and pulling out an apple and a bottle of water. Mara followed Minho's actions without a second thought, taking a large swig of water. The cool water washed her throat clean, ridding it of it's dryness. She looked over to Thomas, who was nearly downing the whole thing.

"Slow down there fishhead," Minho yelped. "Save some for later."

"Fishhead?" Mara repeated with a chuckle. "That's a new one Minny." She added as she watched Thomas sheepishly put away his water. At the same time he burped, making Mara roll her eyes. "What a charming person to be with."

She reached into her bag and grabbed a shiny red apple, hunger filling her stomach as her eyes set their sight upon it. Happily, she dug in, savouring every bite and flavour.

"You never really told me what happened to Alby that day-  why he was in such bad shape. Obviously the Griever woke up, but what happened?" Tommy spoke up, and Mara realised that he was right. No one had actually told them what happened to Alby except that he was stung. Really that was all she knew, and that he would eventually go crazy.

She didn't want to see someone so close to her going crazy. Sure they weren't the best of friends, but they were something. Frienemies, maybe. 

Mara finished the last of her apple and threw the core of it into the ivy. Then she turned to Minho, who was already wearing his pack and seemed ready to go. He sighed. "Well, shuck thing wasn't dead. Alby poked at it with his foot like an idiot and that bad boy suddenly sprang to life, spikes flaring, its fat body rollin' all over him. Something was wrong with it, though- didn't really attack like usual. It seemed like it was mostly just trying to get out of there, and poor Alby was in the way."

"So... it ran away from you guys? It just up and left?" Mara asked in confusion. It didn't seem right, why would it just leave? Was it just programmed to hide from daylight, or was there something else?

"Yeah, I guess- maybe it needed to get recharged or something. I don't know." Minho shrugged.

"What could've been wrong with it? Did you see an injury or anything?" Thomas joined in. Mara pulled her pack over her shoulders but kept her eyes on Minho, who was in thought. Maybe that was linked to some kind of escape. Her head hurt from all the thinking.

"No. Shuck thing just looked dead- like a wax statue. Then boom, it was back to life." Minho finally stated.

"I think, I just wanna know where they go, you know? Where they stay when they're not out here." Mara told them, she really was curious. Where did they go? They had to have a home in the Maze somewhere, but where that place was... she had no idea.

"Haven't you ever thought of following them?"

"Man, you do have a death wish, don't you? Come on, we gotta go." And with that, Minho began to run, leading them deeper and deeper into the Maze. Mara followed, then Thomas. Their conversation had got her thoughts churning, she had so many unanswered questions, so may things she longed to know.

Maybe one day she would find out, maybe. But in the moment she just wanted to clear her head. She just wanted to run.