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𝐈 𝐘𝐀𝐖𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐏 my fingers against the handle of my knife impatiently, as Minho and I wait for Alby. I had been abruptly woken by Minho after oversleeping and my eyelids had never been so heavy.

Ally finally joins up with us and we wave goodbye to Newt before heading out into the maze. It is early in the morning and I am running on a mere two hours of sleep. I drag my hands over my face and yawn again.

"Try to keep up, V," Minho says and I open my eyes to see that I somehow have managed to fall behind the two boys. Minho smirks, running backward tauntingly.

Bet.

A grin brushes over my lips and I take off. It doesn't take long until I am racing past the two of them grinning cunningly.

"Keep running like that and you'll be Greiver food," I say.

"Both of you, focus," Ally mutters and I force myself to slow down. He's right, I should be focusing on the main objective.

We run in silence past every corner and turn. My eyes scan the corridors, looking out for any threat. I am usually never nervous to head into the maze, not even after the incident. Qiuet the opposite. After the incident, I knew that I could handle, not only one but two Greivers even with a twisted ankle and broken wrist. But today, things are different. Ben was stung in the middle of the day. We could usually use the sunlight as a shield from the threat within the maze but now.... I'm not sure if a Greiver can jump out of nowhere in broad daylight.

I suck in a deep breath. Stop fearing. Fear is a weakness.

"Greenie wants to be a runner," I say the first thing on my mind in hopes of getting my mind on something else.

Minhos head whips around to face me. "What?" He chuckles. "That stick figure wouldn't last a minute out here."

"Don't get too cocky. Am I gonna have to remind you who fell and cut their hand the other day?" I grin. "Plus, he did knock Gally on his ass." I'm not sure why I am defending Thomas like that. In reality, he annoys me.

"Everyone can knock Gally on his ass," Minho says, rolling his eyes. "How do you even know he wants to be a runner?"

Before I have a chance to explain, Alby speaks up. "He told her. During their date in the tower."

I cringe at his words. Minho snickers, staring at me with an amused expression. "Dates already, huh?"

I scoff. "You two are such hormonal teens." I pick up my pace, making the distance between me and the boys bigger. I glance over my shoulder, eying them. "For your information, he snuck up on me to ask me about the runner thing. That was all. Plus, I don't date stick figures." I quote Minhos's saying from earlier.

The two behind me mumbles something and chuckles as we continue through the corridors in the maze. My necklace bounces up and down as I run a few feet ahead of Minho and Alby.

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬

Dark and heavy clouds roll over the Glade and within seconds the rain pours over us. We hurry away from the water that spews from the sky, hiding under the makeshift roofs.

I stand leaning against one of the wooden beams, staring at the doors to the maze. Hours have passed and there are still no signs of the runners.

"They should be back by now," I say, my fingers anxiously tabbing the wooden beam. "What happens if they don't make it?"

"They're gonna make it." Newt answers, keeping his eyes plastered on the doors.

I tear my body from the wooden pillar, making my way to the blonde boy. "What happens if they don't?"

Newt swallows and finally meets my gaze. "They're gonna make it." He repeats.

I stare at him, unconvinced. Optimism isn't going to get them back. My fingers taps my leg. We need to do something.

𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐚

"Keep going. We're almost there." Minho pants.

I adjust Alby's arm on my shoulder. I curse under my breath, noticing how slow we're moving. At this pace, there was no point in even trying to reach the doors in time.

Alby's weight hangs on my shoulders as I made a hopeless attempt to speed up. I am drenched in sweat and dirt and my knees are scraped. I bite the inside of my lip, allowing the metallic taste to seep inside. We're not gonna make it.

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬

We stand by the door, staring into the maze, everyone clinging into the last bit of hope of seeing the three runners appear around the corner. Soon, the doors rumbling echoes through the Glade and I turn to Newt.

"Come on, can't we send someone after them?" I question.

"It's against the rules." Newt mutters. "Either they make it back or they don't."

"Come on, we have to."

"We can't risk losing anyone else," Newt tells me.

The harsh wind blows at us from inside the maze and I cover my face with my hands. The rumbling gets louder as the doors begin to close, slowly moving toward one another.

Scattered mumbling and pleas travles through the crowd of boys behind me until I spot something. A limping figure turning around the corner.

𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐚

I hear the sound of the doors closing just as I turn the corner. Spotting the cluster of Gladers, waiting for us at the entrance of the maze, I speed up. I force my legs to move faster, despite the burning pain in them. A cry escapes my lips as I watch the doors close almost completely in front of me. Not again.

I couldn't do it. Not again. A tear rolls down my cheek before I have a chance to stop it.

"Almost there." Minho tries to encourage us but we both know that there's no way we'll make it. I squeeze my eyes shut, using all my last strength to move faster. My heart hammers against my rib cage and I gasp for breath.

I know that Alby wouldn't make it to the doors in time.

"Minho go!" I shout at him, pulling Alby off his shoulder allowing him to sprint freely but he stays in place.

"Are you crazy?! I'm not leaving you!" He shouts at me, grabbing Alby's shoulder again.

I want to tell him to go, run for his life but at this point, I can't breathe anymore. It was gonna happen again.

𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬

My eyes meet Vanya's. Fear and panic had left traces of tears on her cheeks. I watch her as she collapses and my heart sinks. Before I know it, I'm running. Newt's hand grazes mine as he tries to stop me but I'm already ahead of him. The shouting behind me turns into a distant mumbling as I squeeze my body through the doors. I watch the exit get smaller and the space between the walls get tighter to the point where it's squeezing my body. With one last step, I fly through the doors on the other side, landing flat on the ground.

𝟏𝟐𝟎𝟓 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
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𝐚𝐯𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬!!
I'm so sorry for all the POV switches this chapter idk
anyhow it's been a minute since I updated this story