Minho exited the Homestead, wiping the sweat from his brow with his t-shirt. Newt and Thomas stormed past him on their way to see Alby, nodding curtly to Pasty, who was leaning against the wall waiting for the meeting to end. She looked up at Minho, and smiled weakly.

 “How’d the rest of the meeting go?” she wanted to know.

 “What, you mean after Gally went buggin’ crazy and threatened to kill Thomas? Fine and dandy, girl. Fine and dandy,” Minho said, rolling his eyes.

 “At least tell me Tommy’s OK?”

 “A day in the Slammer. And he’s on the Runner’s team.”

 “That’s great.”

 “Yeah,” Minho said. He didn’t sound so sure “Walk with me?”

 “Sure.”

 They headed across to the West Gate together slowly, taking their time. Minho sighed “Did you talk to Gally? He always listens to you…right?”

 Pasty swallowed “I did. Or I tried. He was…angry. He was pushing past people, muttering something about running away. I told him not to be dumb. I don’t like the guy, but we all know there’s only one place to run in this place.” She pointed to the Maze “Like I said, I tried to calm him down, but the shank wasn’t listening. He pushed me away, said he didn’t need no help. And then he was gone. I didn’t see where he went.”

 Minho shook his head “What a dumb shuck.” He shook his head again “Do you think…do you think he could actually do it?”

 “Do what?”

 “Kill someone…I mean, is he all talk, or is he out of his freakin’ mind?”

 “Definitely out of his mind,” Pasty said “I think…I don’t think he would though. I don’t  think you need to worry.”

 “Me? I’m not worried. Not about that piece of klunk.”

 Pasty stopped to touch Minho’s face “Don’t lie to me,” she said “It’s OK to be scared, y’know? He threatened to kill you…”

 “Like you said, he won’t. He doesn’t have the guts. So why should I be scared?” Minho said. Pasty put her arms around his neck.

 “Now who’s all talk?” Pasty said softly. Her fingers massaged the back of Minho’s head as he frowned “If you’re not scared of him, you’re as dumb as him. This ain’t no picnic. People here are not normal. I ain’t normal. Newt and Alby and you and Gally…not one of us is normal. We’re bound to get a crazy every now and then, right? And Gally is our very own Glade crazy. I fear him in the way I fear that ‘dead’ Griever. They’re both unpredictable- who knows what they’ll do next?”

 “Gally’s gonna get his ass killed next, that’s what he’s gonna do,” Minho said “He ain’t our problem anymore.”

 “Oh I don’t know,” Pasty said, taking Minho’s hand as they continued walking “I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Captain Gally.”

***

They sat together at the edge of the forest, hands entwined. Minho seemed distracted, and Pasty nudged him to ask what was wrong. He looked out into the distance.

 “Did I ever tell you what it was like when we first got here?”

 “No. You’ve never really talked about it,” Pasty replied quietly. Minho fiddled with Pasty’s hands, his thumb caressing her palm.

 “There were maybe twelve of us in the Box,” Minho said “Me, Newt, Alby. We were there in the beginning. And that’s the only time I saw fit to be scared. Everyone was a wreck. We were younger then. Afraid. There was nothing here. None of the stuff we had today. The first set of supplies came up on the second day. We didn’t do much, them first weeks. We just kept to ourselves. A bunch of sissies, we were, but no one was judging. There was somethin’ about being there with them, the first guys here…they’ve seen me cry. They’ve seen me practically klunk my pants. And they don’t judge me for being scared. Coz everyone was in the same boat. But it’s different now. People look up to me, and you, and Alby. Newt. Even Gally. The longer you’re here…the less you’re allowed to be scared. We don’t get to be scared, Pasty. Or at least, we can’t show it. Alby’s losing it now, and its scaring people. All this freaky stuff with the girl and Thomas. It’s madness. After a few weeks here, I learnt to accept the craziness of this place. And I figured, what is there here to fear anyway? Just them damn Grievers, but they’re behind closed doors, right? And besides. Everything the Changing suggests implies that we don’t even want to get out of here. We don’t have it so bad, right? Not as bad as out there. I thought, back then, if I died, it would be OK. Because there ain’t much to live for right? Don’t look at me like that. I’ve changed my mind, since then.”

 “What made you change your mind?”

 “Damn it, Pasty. You should know,” Minho said. He brushed her earlobe with his thumb “You. When you got here, I realised that loving someone is worth living for. And after that, I knew that every day, when I go running, I’d think of you, and I’d know that’s why I fight. I fight for you, Pasty. I’ll always fight for you.”

 Pasty shuffled closer to him, sitting between Minho’s legs. She caught his face in her hands and kissed him. His hands rested on her back, pulling her in closer. Pasty smiled against his lips as Minho brushed the skin at the base of her spine.

 “And I fight with you,” she murmured, kissing just beneath Minho’s left ear “Tell me about becoming a Runner.”

 Minho felt a little breathless with Pasty scattering kisses over his skin, so he waited until she stopped to speak. He let out a shaky breath.

 “While everyone else was still in shock, I found myself needing to do something. I was sick of sitting around and waiting for something to happen. So I started running. I wasn’t in shape at all. It took me a while to get fit. But once I did, I was fast. I had stamina. So when we decided we needed to explore the Maze, I was the obvious one to go. I was the first person ever to leave the Glade.”

 “I didn’t go far the first time. We didn’t realise how big it was at the time. We had no perspective, y’know? I ran a while, then after an hour, I came back. I’m no sissy, but no one wants to spend a night with the Grievers.”

 “Agreed,” Pasty said. She didn’t want to spend any more time there in a hurry.

 “After that, when more people arrived, I got a bigger team. We started up the Maps, took a section each. And when the idea of Keepers came up, I was first in line for Keeper of the Runners. It’s a damn shame Gally got to be a Keeper too.”

 Pasty smiled. “Well, I know whose team I’d rather be on.”

 Minho smiled, his nose touching hers “We make a good team, don’t we?”

 “The best,” she whispered. Minho’s lips hovered close to hers, teasing her. She leant in, backing Minho against the tree and kissing him softly. She relished the feeling of his hands in her hair, and the way she closed her eyes to savour the moment. She was interrupted by an unsubtle cough. She pulled away and turned to see Newt, looking unimpressed.

 “Quit your smooching,” he said “We have a problem.”