𝙏𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣

𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 awakes to the sound of birds chirping as her eyes flutter open, noting the darkness still cast over the glade. Elevating her wrist to glance at the time, she sighs. She had woken up a little earlier than usual.

The girl rubs her eyes as she yawns, throwing her legs over the side of the hammock. She stretches out her limbs before getting to her feet to grab her clean set of clothes.

Heading to the showers, Blake rolls her head in attempt to get rid of the soreness in her neck.

Upon entering, her eyes fall onto a certain someone, pushing back the urge to roll her eyes into the back of her head.

𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

Blake groans at the sight of him.

𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. Rolling her eyes as she told herself not to.

Thomas stands at the sink, brushing his teeth with his towel wrapped around his hips. Again, dangerously low.

His head snaps to the sound of an aggravated groan, making his eyes glimmer with amusement.

"Good morning, princess." Thomas taunts with a smirk, tugging to his lips.

Blake rolls her eyes, ignoring how her heart flutters at his words. She glares at the boy as he turns to the sink to spit the toothpaste out.

𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺—𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧.

Thomas shifts his body back toward Blake as his eyes scan her angry figure.

"What's got you in a sour mood?" Thomas grunted in amusement.

"You." Blake grumbles as she puts her clothes to hang on a hook outside of the stall.

"Is it that time of the month?"

Blake shuts her eyes tightly as she tries to calm down, but as quickly as she closes them, she bolts—grabbing the greenie by the shoulder to spin him around before throwing a hard punch to his jaw.

Thomas' head whips to the side in shock, eyebrows creasing, as his hand raises to his face.

Blake's glare meets his as their eyes connect. Thomas' jaw clenches as his face hardens. In a split second, he leaps forward, grabbing the girl by her shoulders, and pushes her back against the wall behind them.

Blake's eyes widened, gasping in a deep breath at the contact.

"What the hell is your problem with me, huh?" Thomas hisses. His breath hits Blake's lips, making her clench her thighs.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨

Blake swallowed thickly. "Everything." She manages to breathe out. Her heart hammered against her chest as she glared into his deep brown irises.

Blake squirms against his grip, pausing before she exhales heavily. "I saw you in one of my memories; I've never had a memory come back till 𝙮𝙤𝙪 arrived. And you are probably the reason I got sent to this hell hole."

Thomas' body tensed at her reach, choking out a laugh. 
"Why would I be the cause?"

"I don't know—yet. But it can't be a coincidence that as soon we shake hands— I get a memory flying back."

Thomas rolls his eyes. "What do you remember?"

Blake glares into his honey brown before trying to thrash out of his hold. "Let me go—and I'll tell you!"

Thomas blinks his eyes at the girl, loosening his grip on her shoulders. Blake scoffs at his stance, rooting in the ground, throwing his hands off her.

"Look, all I remember is sitting at some computer desk with you in front of me. You called out my name and seemed sad or guilty about something before—guards came from behind me and dragged me away."

Blake pauses for a second before pressing her index finger into his hard chest. "All I know is that—whatever you were about to say...you must have done something to get me here. So for that—I don't particularly like you."

Thomas furrows his eyebrows at the girl's revelation, scoffing, "So you hate me because of something you 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 I did? You don't even know if that's really what happened—I could have been trying to tell you something else—"

Blake shakes her head, stepping to the side as she tries to escape.

"Till I figure that out—stay away from me." Blake growls as she turns around to walk away but is stopped by a hand grabbing her wrist.

The girl whips around on her heels to Thomas' softened gaze.

"Look—I'm sorry, okay....whatever happened—
whether I did get you sent into the maze or not. I'm just trying to get out of here—like the rest of you. I have no idea why we are here or— how, but can we at least be civil...I don't want to be enemies with the only girl. Because then I have everybody against me."

Green eyes gaze into his brown as her mind wavers on the greenie's apology.

Blake notes the boy— still in his towel. Her eyes flicker to his broad chest, noting the happy trail that trails below into the towel. Blake's cheeks burn at the feeling of his body so close to hers. She had been so angry at him that she had forgotten his lack of clothing.

𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.

Thomas observes the girl standing quietly in front of him as he opens his mouth, not noticing the way she gazed at him intently.

"Look, I had a memory come back to me last night. I saw you there and some other girl—"

Blake interrupts him with a scrunched face—raising her eyebrow.

"I—I apparently knew both of you...I don't know who the other girl is—but we were friends. I think—look, can we just start over? I don't want to have any more enemies in this place. Everyone already hates me, and if I did get you sent up here, I'm sorry—but I can't even remember...so can we..."

Blake debates the idea for a second before sighing
"I don't know...I mean, I guess—but don't think for a second that we will be buddy-buddies."

Thomas' lips tug up into a smile— thankful the tension between them has eased a bit.

"But if I get my memories back—of you...and I find out you had something to do with me being sent to this hell hole....I'll gut you and string you up as live bait for the grievers to finish you off."

Thomas' Adam's apple bobs at the girl's threat, nodding his head at her promise.

"Got it."

"Good." Blake fires back quickly

The two gaze at each other in awkward silence before steps sound from the bathroom entrance. Both brunettes whip around to see Minho standing in the doorway with his eyebrows raised.

Both stand inches apart, with Thomas' hand still gripping Blake's wrist. They must have been so caught up in going at each other's throats to even realize.

Minho's eyebrows raise even higher as he notices Thomas standing in nothing but a towel. Blake glances from Minho to Thomas as she realizes what this must look like. Quickly tearing Thomas' grip off her wrist, she shifts away, hiding the heat filling her cheeks.

Thomas also realized; clearing his throat, he turned his head away to hide his own blushed cheeks.

"You know—I'm not even going to ask" Minho wavers—awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

Blake clears her throat— averting her eyes from the two boys as she steps into her shower stall.

After her shower, Blake walks back over to her hammock to grab her machete and running gear.
Strapping the harness into place, she glances up to see Thomas walking back to the sleeping quarters.

His eyebrows raise slightly as he peers at the girl in her gear. A spark of electricity lit his body on fire at the sight of her. Earlier, he couldn't even stand her, but after their talk, he soon realized why she had been so upset with him.

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥.

Anyone would be if they suddenly got their memories back for the first time. Especially involving the new stranger.

Thomas clears his throat as his eyes rake over her figure— bending down to pick up a large knife. A light smirk tugs at his lips at the sight.

Blake feels eyes burning into her, spinning around as she holsters the blade behind her. Thomas quickly flickers his eyes up to her face.

"Staring won't give you the power to see through my clothes."

"I—wasn't-"  Thomas stutters 

Blake chuckles as she interrupts him, "I'm kidding."

"Where'd you run off to?" Blake questions, cutting through the awkward silence.

"I uh—put my name beside yours and Minho's. Alby had me add my name.." Thomas says, shifting his feet.

Blake nods slowly in comprehension.

"You hungry?" Blake asks out of the blue

"Yeah, actually..."

The girl nods for him to follow as she walks toward the kitchen. Thomas follows awkwardly behind her as the keeper of the runners appears by the table with his arms crossed over his chest—foot tapping impatiently as he watches the two walk his way.

"About time, Blake. Hurry up—we gotta run section 6 today."

Blake rolls her eyes at his impatience, saluting the boy as Minho grabs a bag from the table—handing it over to Blake as she approaches. "Fry said to give this to you; he had to run to the bathroom real quick." Minho says as his eyes cast over to the greenie. "Why's this shank up so early?"

"Alby uh—had me write my name on the wall." Thomas admits awkwardly, glancing between the two runners as he scratches the back of his head.

Minho slowly nods at his answer with an eyebrow raised, unwilling to press.

The three stand in awkward silence as Minho notices Blake gaping at the greenie. His lips twitch upward, scoffing at the uneasy tension between the two.

"God, please go back to trying to kill each other. This is so hard to watch." Minho laughs before turning back to the girl, who stands next to him with her lips pressed together.

"Alright, Blakey. Let's go—maze opens soon." Minho taunts playfully as he grabs her wrist and leads the girl away.

Thomas stands in the same spot, watching the two leave for the maze as footsteps crunch on the leaves behind the boy. Thomas whips his head around to see Frypan walking back from the bathroom.

Fry's head turns to the greenie and then back to the runners, smiling as he notices Minho's grip on her wrist—walking toward the maze.

Fry turns back to Thomas, noting his jaw clenched. The cook follows the greenie's line of sight back to the runners walking away.

Thomas' hardened expression makes Fry giggle. Breathing out a loud sigh, the boy throws a hand on the greenie's shoulder, grinning. "You know—they aren't together. They just flirt with each other for fun. Blake doesn't like him like that."

Thomas whips his head towards Fry in confusion, "What are you—-I don't like her.." Thomas scoffs, shifting awkwardly.

Frypan laughs at the greenie, trying to defend himself, "You always have a frown on your face when you see them together. It's okay—everyone in the glade pretty much has a crush on her."

"I don't—" Thomas turns his gaze back to the girl who is now laughing at her best friend, pushing him on his shoulder as they walk together.

The greenie's mouth slightly falls open as his features form into a frown.

Fry laughs at the boy's jealousy, "Yeah, you do. Now, come help me in the kitchen; they'll wake up soon."

Panting and slowing to a stop, Blake leans against the wall, catching her breath. "Min—I think we should—take a lunch break."

The boy nods in response, catching his breath.
Blake slides her back down the wall, unclasping the harness as she pulls out her lunch, still breathing heavily.

Minho finally catches his breath as he slides down next to her. "You and Greenie seem to be getting along..considering y'all aren't trying to kill one another anymore." He says, trying to make conversation.

Blake rolls her eyes at the topic Minho decides to talk about, scarfing down her sandwich. "I told him about the memory that came back—and threatened him. But, apparently, he had one come back also. Except..he said I was there along with another girl and—"

Minho raised his eyebrow at the girl, "Did he say what kind of memory—?"

Blake chokes on her sandwich as she smacks Minho on the head.

"Ew. Min. Really?!" Blake says, bewildered.

" And no..." She trails off, wondering.

"he didn't specify—Just told me he also got a memory back."

"So then it—" Minho starts to talk about his theory, but Blake once again cuts him short. "Oh, get your head out of the gutter, you shank!"

"What?—you and another girl would be hot!" Minho admits as he takes another bite from his sandwich.

"How would you even know? Not like you can even remember what other females look like!" Blake laughs at the boy, who shrugs back.

Blake shakes her head as her smile fades back into seriousness.

"I think Me and Thomas used to be friends...I'm giving him a chance.......but if I find out he's the reason I'm here..." Blake laughs sarcastically. "Then I told him that I would turn him into live bait for the grievers."

Minho laughs at the girl's sentence. "Well, that's good...I guess...besides the threat to his life." he pauses

"But—I give it a day, and you will be at each other's throats again." Minho says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Why do you think that, Min?" Blake laughs

"Because— you are so much alike, and you don't even realize it. The tension between y'all is suffocating."

"Tension? What tension? I mean, I know we kinda don't get alon—"

"Sexual tension, Blakey," Minho interrupts, shrugging again. "Every time I'm near you—he has a little frown on his face."

"Every morning you go to shower, he's there—And I saw y'all this morning, fucking each other with your eyes..."

Blake scoffs at her best friend's delusion. "That's funny, Min...really. I mean, he's hot, don't get me wrong...but—"

A loud scream echoes throughout the maze, interrupting Blake and Minho's talk. Both runners jump at the scream, heads whipping toward the echo.

𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦.

"BEN?!" Blake yells. Both runners quickly jolt to their feet, sprinting as fast as their legs can carry them towards the noise.

As they weave in and around the concrete, the two suddenly collide with the boy they were looking for.

"GO!" Ben frantically shouts.

The panicked boy grabs onto the back of both of their shirts, dragging them as he sprints away.