CHAPTER SEVEN
• we got a runner •

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

THOMAS STARED DOWN at the bathroom floor in disgust. A metal shovel in his left hand while a large bucket was in his right. His eyes scanned over the filthy room: pee stains, poop splatters, and blood patches all seeming incredibly more prominent than usual. The door to the room rattled behind him making him turn to look at his new company. The little boy-Chuck-had walked in carrying a bucket and shovel just like himself. A smile lit his face as he took his spot next to Thomas and dropped his supplies onto the ground.

"Hey!" the curly haired boy greeted, "you ready to clean?"

Thomas' face scrunched in disgust but tried to hide it. The truth of the matter was he really wasn't ready to clean, especially since it was mostly his friends' crap he would be picking up. He loosened his grip on the bucket and dropped it to the floor, muttering a quick 'sorry' when the shovel fell out of his hand and onto the younger boy's foot.

Chuck waved the incident off as if it was nothing and squatted down to the floor. "I'll take that as a yes. Okay, so I bet you've heard I'm kind of a pro at this-"

Thomas nodded his head, not really paying attention to the boy as his mind seemed to be drifting elsewhere. Elsewhere as in three days ago. What happened three days ago was the reason he was standing in the bathroom about to clean up poop.

"-then you just dump it there. Got it?"

He blinked twice, his eyes settling on the younger boy who was looking up at him with a half cocked smile. "Sorry, I- can you repeat?" He wearingly asked, his hand going up to itch the back of his neck. Chuck's smile grew bigger before it morphed into a sly smirk. He ducked his head back down to the buckets on the ground and focused his attention there. Thomas-not quite sure what to do considering he never got an answer-copied those actions, resting down beside him.

"You were thinking about Evy, weren't you?" Chuck nagged with a knowing tone. The boy cast a glance over his shoulder to see the greenie's now red face.

The brunete suddenly became defensive, not liking that someone knew what-or who- his thoughts had been occupied with. He forcefully brushed his hands on his pants before picking up one of the shovels. "I wasn't, I don't know why-"

"It's okay," He interrupted, "A lot of the older boys do."

Thomas instantly picked up on what he was implying and felt the need to defend himself. "No not like that." He rushed out, and honestly his statement was true. He had been more concerned about her physical well being than anything to do with sexual feelings.

Chuck handed him one of the buckets. "I believe that. After all, nobody else ran into the maze to save her. Speaking of which, why'd you do it?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Thomas gave an answer different from the one he had given to the group of keepers. It was easier for him to tell somebody who didn't have control over him rather than a mob of conflicted teenage boys who looked like they wanted to feed him to the Grievers. "I don't know. Just had a feeling telling me I had to do it."

"Like an instinct?" Chuck queired.

Thomas absentmindedly trailed his eyes back to the direction where Evony should be located. He spotted her in the far distance chatting alongside Newt and another boy who he didn't know. "Yeah...I guess." He finally said.

Thomas didn't know if he was satisfied with the answer but he supposed so as the conversation didn't carry on from there. Chuck then continued to explain what-and how-they were going to do their job. The brunete gathered quickly from his explanation that this must've been what the little boy did on a daily business. He felt some pity for him-actually a lot of pity-since cleaning up other people's shit didn't exactly seem like the most entertaining job choice.

The boys went through two different areas where the droppings had piled up: the main bathroom and the animal pens. The animal pens happened to be a lot harder to clean up than the ones in the shower room.

Thomas didn't enjoy any minute of it, but he knew he couldn't complain. He was sure that if anybody else had been in charge of giving him a punishment he would've been tasked with much worse. Evony had said she gave him the easiest punishment she could while still making sure it was enough to please the dissatisfied keepers. He hadn't objected, agreeing that would be best.

Speaking of Evony, she came and kept them company for a bit while they finished up their job. That was about an hour ago. Now he and Chuck were on their last toilet and just about to be done scraping the remains of the poop into the buckets. All they had to do now was dump the containment's into a special place in the woods that had been dedicated for that reason.

He had finished and was hoisting the bucket up when Evony kicked herself off the nearby tree and stopped him from progressing. "Hey, Chuck?" she directed. The boy in question looked up from where he was. "Would you mind if I took Thomas for a bit? I'll make sure he's back to dump his bucket."

Chuck nodded his head with an exhausted smile. "Sure," he turned to Thomas, "You better be back though because I'm not dumping this for you."

"Will do," Thomas chuckled as the curly haired boy walked off into the woods with his metal bucket clanging against his legs. When he looked to his right he saw Evony with a smile on her face and a hand over her heart.

"Look at you making friends." She exclaimed, making her way towards him. "So how was it? Sorry again, but I had to give you some sort of a punishment."

He stuttered out a response, still not quite sure how he should act in front of the girl. He didn't want to give a bad impression of himself as he really did want to be friends with her. "It's good- it was good." he cursed himself at his answer. Even worse, he saw her questionable expression that was most likely directed to the way he was acting. She probably thought he was stupid now.

"Uh- sorry," Thomas played with his fingers. Evony remained silent, a look on her face told him that she was letting him figure out his words by himself. He swallowed thickly, "How are you?"

Her face lit up, "I'm doing much better, thanks for asking."

"No problem," he said back, trying to keep his voice as collected as possible. Thomas watched Evonys smile grow as she walked over to where he was standing. At first he wasn't sure what she was going to do, so he stood there like a tree mindlessly swaying in the wind. It was then that she unexpectedly grabbed onto his shirt and started to pull him in the other direction. He stumbled behind her, attempting to keep up with the pace she had set.

"Where are we going?"

Her answer was very blunt. "You'll see." she responded with a mischievous glint to her voice. Thomas decided that he would stop with the questions and let himself figure it out once he arrived.

She dragged him to the other side of the glade, back into the forest, and outside a hut that he had never seen before. Only then did she let go of his blue shirt.

"Stay here." Evony ordered, pointing at the ground. Thomas nodded and she disappeared behind the door. He took this time alone to examine the scenery around him. During the week he'd been there he hadn't really stopped and appreciated how beautiful the foliage. Spring had just ended, so the remains of assorted colored flowers surrounded him. If he looked past the enormous maze and terrifying creatures inside it, then he figured that the glade wasn't all too bad.

"I knew you would ask this."

Thomas perked up at the deep voice coming from inside the hut.

"Come on, Min. I think he deserves a chance."

That was Evonys voice-he knew that. He also knew that she was talking to Minho and that she was asking to give him a chance for something. He had one idea of what it could be, but the last time he had asked her she immediately shut the idea down. So he kept listening. If it was supposed to be a private conversation then he felt bad for intruding, but they were talking much too loud for him to not hear.

"No, I agree. We don't need any more runners though."

"Really? We have an odd amount, he can run with me."

Thomas was fighting back a smile that desperately wanted to appear on his face. A loud sigh of annoyance was heard from inside the hut followed by the door swinging wide open. Out stepped the two runners: the boy with a judgemental expression, and the girl with a lighthearted one.

Minho stepped over to him and gripped both of his shoulders. The action took Thomas by surprise but he managed to hide his reaction pretty well. Or so he thought until he heard Evony snicker from behind them. He quickly glanced over to her before setting his gaze back on the keeper.

"Alright, greenie." Minho addressed, "You want to be a runner?"

Thomas nodded quickly, and the older boy gripped his shoulders tighter. "You really want to be a runner?" He repeated the question again, to which Thomas responded with the same action as before.

Minho shared an exchange with Evony then finally loosened his grip and dropped his hands to his side. However instead his finger was now pointed into his chest. "You don't just get to be a runner. You have to go through training first, and if you fail that then that's it-dream crushed."

The brunette restrained himself from nodding again, feeling like it was getting too repetitive he answered his remark with a simple 'yes'.

The raven haired eyed him then turned to face Evony who was standing a couple feet away. "I'll allow it," he paused, shushing the girl who let out a cheer. Minho held out a hand towards her, "But I don't want to deal with him, I've had my share of trainees and I'm done with all that klunk."

Thomas was silently celebrating himself, but at the new statement he felt the excitement die down just a little bit. He flickered his gaze between the two of them who seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes. Not being able to see Minho's face made it hard, but he was pretty sure that they were bickering about who was going to train him.

He saw Evony grip her hair in frustration, then suddenly she placed herself next to him and sat a hand on his forearm. He accidently tensed at the touch and she pulled away almost instantly. She quickly glanced at him to make sure he was okay before offering her proposal. "I'll take care of him." She offered.

Thomas' eyes widened.

Minho touched the ends of his hair, pushing the front pieces back. "You want to train a greenie, alone? It's usually a two person job. You'll have to be with him everyday for a week before he's aloud in the maze."

"And I said, I'll do it." Evony moved her hands to her hips. Thomas had been staring at the ground during the conversation so he didn't notice the piercing gaze both teens now had set on him. "You're good with that, right Thomas?"

His head snapped up in her direction, "Uh- yeah, sure."

The conversation went dead for a moment and Thomas started to think he was the one who caused the silence.

"He doesn't sound too excited," Minho grumped, "You sure you really want to do this, shank?"

Thomas was thankful Evony had stepped in as he wasn't sure how to respond to what the keeper said. She waved her hand in dismissal to the accusation, "Give him a break, he's nervous." She justified. The runner then side eyed him like he was trying to decide if he was good enough for his standards.

He awkwardly smiled in response.

"Fine," Minho finally concluded. Both other teens let out a sigh when they heard his approval. His posture loosened. He was actually about to get the job he wanted. "But," the boy continued-and there went his loose figure. He pointed to his left, waving his finger at the girl's face. She gave an eye-roll back to his childish behavior. "Evony, you have full responsibility over him, so-" he swiveled over, "-you."

The brunete pointed at himself and muttered a small 'me?'.

"Yes you," Minho agreed.

"How about we don't do this," Evony suggested, the annoyance of the situation clear in her voice. The keeper waved her off and redirected his pointed finger so it was facing him.

"You-Thomas-have to listen to every word she says or ill be forced to drop kick your ugly ass, got it shank?"

"Min-" Evony tried.

"You will not argue, fight, or accuse her of doing anything wrong-"

"Can we stop this?" She spoke up. Thomas peered over to see the girl running a stressed hand through her hair. "If I had known you were going to give him a whole damn speech I would've just trained him behind your back."

The brunette had to press his lips together to keep himself from grinning.

Minho playfully nudged the girl in the shoulder, "I'm just messing around, Evy. But seriously dude if you try anything I will not refrain from punching the shit out of you, so...be good."

"Got it." Thomas rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He was ecstatic that he was finally getting a chance to prove himself. He knew he wasn't supposed to be a Track-hoe-no shame to his friends, but deep down there was an instinct telling him he had to be a runner. It was the same feeling as the one he got before running into the maze to find Evony.

Minho wrapped an arm around Evonys waist and pulled her close. He then took her head and rubbed the top of it in what he suspected was supposed to be a friendly action. The girl didn't move but instead let the boy do so while her face remained blank. The boy then stopped and took his hand off her waist and moved it around her shoulder.

"One more thing, Thomas-"

"And we're done here!" Evony exclaimed, pulling herself forcefully out of his grip. She grabbed a hold of the brunette's shirt once more. "Come on, pretty boy. Let's get something to eat and discuss your training."

She drugged him along with her, to which he of course obliged. While they walked she kept talking to him, apologizing for her friend. "I really am sorry about him. He missed the glader etiquette class."

It was a count of three seconds before he heard the boy they had once been talking to, shout back. "There was no glader etiquette class! Thomas, don't listen to her."

The greenie hadn't looked back-he hadn't had a chance with his position-but still laughed at the bickering friends. He felt that he was starting to warm up to them, and he cherished the feeling of having people to indulge with. For a split second-right before she dragged him out of the forest-he looked back and caught the sight of Minho resting against the tree with crossed arms.

Evony then started talking to him again about the maze. Feeling it necessary to pay attention; he turned back around. But not before he saw the faint smirk that was visible on the keeper's face, silently saying that he knew something the greenie didn't.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Turns out Thomas was a lot faster than she thought. She worked with him for almost a week, day by day analyzing his different skills to see if he had what it took to become a runner. Though deep down she knew that she would probably pass him anyway, no matter the results. For some reason she really wanted him to get the job. Maybe because then there would be an equal amount of runners, and she wouldn't have to be alone anymore.

The days got progressively harder, each exercise wired to perform different parts of the body. Training wasn't just making sure he had the skills-it also involved enhancing his performance. Muscles, stamina, and even his memory so that he could remember the pathways of the maze. The days were long, but in the end she got to bond with the boy much quicker than if she had dismissed his want for the role in the first place.

Day One - Speed

Evony and Thomas met in front of the giant treehouse that was located in the West section of the Glade. When he arrived she gave him a water bottle and a pair of running shoes for him to change into.

"Okay so take these," She handed the items to the boy who questionably took them. Taking a seat on the bottom ledge of the treehouse, she watched the boy put on his new gear and take a leisurely sip from his water bottle.

After he was finished he stood up, already having placed the canister down by his side. "So, whats today again?" he asked with a nervous hint to his voice. She knew it was probably because she had told him the answer an hour ago, and he had already managed to forget it.

"We're going to see how fast you can run." Evony stated cooly.

Thomas' eyes squinted into slits, "How?"

"Me and you are going to race."

So that's what the day consisted of-lots and lots of racing and timing. Now it was only natural that Thomas was going to end up winning most of the competitions. After all, his build was much bigger than hers. He had an unfair advantage but nonetheless the two found themselves chasing after each other time and time again, sometimes with no meaning to the game.

Evony concluded at the end of the day that Thomas might not have been the strongest or tallest of the guys, but he was definitely faster than a majority of the runners they currently had. She figured that had something to do with his leaner figure.

Day Two - Agility

The day was filled with most of the same activities as the day before; however, she added in an assortment of logs and buckets for him to jump over and dart around as he ran. She also made him do several different foot drills for at least two hours to see how quickly he could react in an unforeseen situation.

"Evony," Thomas called out, "Can I take a break, please?"

"I told you that you don't have to ask to sit down," she responded with a laugh, patting the empty area of grass next to her. The greenie practically collapsed on the ground, laying all the way down with his water bottle resting on top of his chest. His eyes were closed, so she allowed herself to glance over his features without the risk of him noticing.

Her eyes were captivated by his sweaty messy hair and the blue shirt that hugged his torso. He was cute, there was no denying that. But just like almost every other glader Evony found attractive, she acknowledged this fact and moved on. She laid down herself.

"Are we done for today?" Thomas panted out. She could tell that the poor boy was drained of all energy; that he probably wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right there.

Evony placed her hands crossed behind her head, "Were done."

Day Three - Stamina

On day three he actually did fall asleep.

They had spent the day jumping, sprinting, doing whatever they could to absolutely use every last breath they had. Apparently the exercises had gotten too much for him because when she left for ten minutes to go and get them dinner she came back to his sleeping figure propped up against a tree.

Evony had smiled at the scene and left. She later returned with a blanket and draped the piece of fabric over his worn out body. The image in front of her was a lot different from the last time she happend to find him asleep. This time, instead of shaking his head from a nightmare, he was slightly snoring as he nuzzled his face into the cloth.

She decided to not interrupt his sleep and left him laying there for a couple of hours. Although right before she went to bed she made her way back over to the spot and nudged him awake. "Hey, Thomas." she shook his body slightly.

"Mmm."

"You got to wake up, you're going to hurt your neck if you sleep like that all night."

His eyes slowly opened to see her figure crouched down beside him.

"Hi." she whispered softly.

"Hi," Thomas sluggishly answered back. He then went back to cuddling up with the blanket. Becoming annoyed with his dismissive behavior she stood up and ripped the cloth off of him, resulting in an accusing facial expression on Thomas's part.

When their eyes met Evony offered him a smile, which he gave back. Smiles seemed to be something they both did when they weren't sure what to say. It was a way for them to decrease the tension without making the atmosphere awkward.

She then stood up abruptly, breaking the silence. "Well I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Thomas."

"Night, Evs."

But she had already gotten too far aware to hear him say it.

Day Four - Strength

Poor Thomas did not exceed the charts on that day. Evony knew he wasn't skinny per say, but compared to a bunch of the other guys he did rank low on the muscle scale. She figured that after a couple of months in the glade his figure would build up. At least that's what happened to her and the rest of the original gladers.

Nothing happened that was incredibly important. It was clear that the both of them were becoming overly fatigued from the non-stop grinding, so she allowed him half the day off. Of course nobody else could know that they took part of the day off, since they were both technically skipping their current jobs to partake in the training.

So the two of them spent their time chatting and dozing off until it was time to go to dinner.

Day Five - Memory

It surprised her with how well Thomas was able to remember the different number combinations.

"How the hell do you remember that but not what we are having for dinner?" Evony exclaimed once he finished repeating back a sequence of twenty different unique numbers. He shrugged at that, not knowing how he was able to manage such a thing.

She paused for a moment to think. "Thomas," she started, "What did you have for breakfast?"

"An apple," he said quickly. A couple seconds went by. "Oh, wait. I didn't have an apple did I-"

"No," Evony sighed with playful grin, "You had an banana, and I remember because Minho walked by and made that comment about how it looked like you were eating a-"

"I don't need to be reminded!" He sputtered out, his hands held out in front of him waving around. "Once was enough." She laugh, he laughed, and then both of them were on the ground laughing at the stupid comment their friend made.

"Lets be done for the day," She stated rather assertively, "I want to go tell Minho I think you're ready."

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

It was the next day and Evony and the runners were standing in front of Thomas and Minho. The latter who looked like he was about to make his declaration. The older boy clapped a hand onto the brunette shoulder, making the boy shift slightly off balance. "Welcome all you people who I call my friends," Minho started off. Evony let out a long breath-the man could not take anything seriously.

"We are gathered here today- bla bla bla- Thomas is a runner."

The group of gladers went wild, clapping and storming up to the greenie welcoming him into their group. She felt a weird sense of déjù vu as their eyes met in the crowd, a proud smile on her face just like the one she wore the night he remembered his name.

She beamed at him, he grinned back at her. It was the same routine every time, and she didn't plan on changing it anytime soon.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

MAE's FUN NOTES
why hello there people
I call my friends.

I have a fun game...
guess the sad subplot
that's going to be added
in later. I wanna here what
y'all think it could be.

AND THAT ONE PERSON
WHO KNOWS DONT U
DARE SAY ANYTHING!!