𝙈𝙖𝙥 𝙍𝙤𝙤𝙢

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨 shifts his weight on the other foot as he leans his back up against a tree, running his hand over his face, trying not to think about what just happened.

A sudden snapping of a twig causes him to quickly whip his head in the direction—seeing Blake walking up.

"Did Newt say anything?" Thomas nervously questions, voice cracking a little as he scans over the girl's face to see her tinted cheeks.

"No, he doesn't know shit." Blake hummed as her lips pulled into a smile, slowly stepping to Thomas with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

The boy's lips curve upwards at the girl, smirking down at her as his gaze flickers between gaze and plump lips.

"This be enough?" Minho's voice interrupts the two, making both brunettes jump away from each other nervously.

The two teens turn their heads to see Minho, Fry, and two other boys all staring back at them. Blake steps further away from Thomas to put more space between them as Frypan's eyebrows raise at the apparent tension between the two.

Thomas shifts on his feet, taking a deep breath as he tries to clear his head. "Okay. Let's go."

As the teenagers run through the maze, two of the boys slow down, gaping as their eyes scan around the concrete and wet vines hanging from the cement.

"Cool, huh?" Blake says as she notices the expressions on their faces, knowing this is the first time they have ever stepped foot into the maze.

"Little creepy.." Frypan responds as his eyes flick over to the girl, lips pulling into a smile.

"Try being here at night—with a griever chasing after you—trying to kill you." Blake laughs. "That is creepy."

Minho whips his head to the back of the group, feeling a certain someone missing from beside him. Eyes roll as the keeper notices the small brunette chatting with the boys.

"Blake, quit talking. Come on!"

The group skids to a halt when they come across the dead griever, squished between the walls of the maze. Its metal legs hang outside of the concrete with green slime splattered all around the cement, making the gladers scrunch their faces in disgust as they near the creature.

"That's disgusting."

Thomas stares at the griever, cocking his head to the side as he notices something. "Hey, there's something in there."

"You mean besides a griever pancake?" Frypan questioned, raising his eyebrows at the greenie walking closer.

Blake narrows her eyes at the creature, noticing a red dot flashing within the guts. Taking a couple of steps forward, Blake cocks her head to the side as her small hand reaches out.

The boy beside her quickly catches the girl's wrist, stopping her before she can reach into the mess of a griever.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Thomas asks, shaking his head as his eyes widen.

Blake pauses for a second to roll her eyes at the boy before sticking her hand towards the creature. Slime covers her small hands as she digs around in the guts—feeling around for the object as her face scrunches up in disgust. Feeling the cold metal hit her fingertips, Blake wraps her small hand around the object.

Suddenly, the creature's metal legs twitch, making the group of teenagers all flinch and scream as the small brunette falls backward onto her butt. Blake stares at the creature terrified as her heart pounds against her chest.

Thomas reacts quickly and pulls Blake away from the griever, shoving her behind him as the group stares wide-eyed.

"I thought you said it was dead!" Fry exclaims as he looks between the creature and Thomas.

"Was it a reflex?"

"You hope!"

Thomas shakes his head as he steps forward, grabbing onto the metal of the griever's leg. "Come on. Let's try pulling it out."

The teenagers reluctantly step forward and grab onto the metal. "All right, ready? On three. One, two, three."

The teens grunt as they pull the leg back, each straining as they pull with everything they have.

Finally, the metal comes out quickly—causing the group to fall to the ground. All scrunching their faces in disgust as the slime splatters around them. Blake stays sat, catching her breath as the boys all rise to stand.

"You okay, Blake?" The boy asks, sending her a look of concern as he reaches his hand out to help her up.

Blake nods as she slides her hand into his. "Yeah," The girl breathes out as she pulls herself up with Thomas' help.

Minho narrows his eyes as he walks up to the metal leg—cocking his head to the side as a faint beeping noise comes from the limb.

The keeper reaches into the guts of the griever, scrunching his nose up as he feels for the object.
Finally, wrapping his hands around the metal, the keeper yanks it out.

"Oh—that's—" Blake gags as she keeps her face scrunched in disgust.

Pulling a chunk of the flesh off, Minho throws it to the ground, rotating the object in his hands as Blake stops herself from wanting to throw up.

Sure, she had stuck her hand in the griever's guts minutes before—but she had done it only because none of the boys were willing. She had to man up and do it herself, or things wouldn't get done.

"What the hell is that?" Thomas questions as he steps beside Minho, peering at the object in the keeper's hands.

Minho turns the object around, studying it alongside Thomas as Blake steps beside the two to get a look herself.

The girl's lips press together, furrowing her eyebrows as she stares at the object laid in Minho's hands.

Rotating the metal device in his hands, Minho spins it around.  "Interesting." The boy intones as he and the two brunettes furrow their eyebrows at a number on the side.

"Okay, whatever it is...can we take this back to the glade?" Fry asks from behind the three, shifting his feet nervously as his eyes scan around the eerie corridor of the maze. "Cause I don't want to meet this guy's friends."

"He's right, it's getting late." Minho breathed out, nodding his head to the other teens to start heading back. "Come on."

"Yeah, we found this. It was inside a griever." Thomas replies to Newt, spinning the object in his hands as he continues to study it before handing it over to the curious blond.

Sandy blond eyebrows furrow in confusion at the metal cylinder, noticing letters printed on the side. "It says the same thing on the supplies."

"Whoever put us here obviously made the grievers. And this is the first—real clue—you've found in over three years, right.." Thomas trails off, looking between the two runners beside him for confirmation.

"Right." Minho confirms as Blake simply nods her head, staring at the object in the blond's hands.

"Newt, we got to go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us?" Thomas looks between the group as Gally shoots the blond a look of disbelief, making Blake narrow her eyes at the boy.

"You see what he's trying to do, right?" Gally scoffs as he looks between the teenagers in the room. "First, he breaks our rules, then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally. The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that?" Gally spat, unable to hide the annoyance in his tone as he glared at the greenie.

"If Alby were here, you know he wouldn't agree." The boy continued to rant as Blake rolled her eyes, clearly irritated.

"This shank—" Gally points to Thomas with a scowl. "Needs to be punished."

Blake let out a small, irritated laugh, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the builder. "Shut up, Gal. He's only trying to help."

"And you—" Gally spins around to glare at the girl, keeping his finger pointed. "You're just like him."

Blake grits her teeth at the boy towering over her, trying to remain calm as his finger hovers inches away from her face.

Thomas quickly steps in between the two and shoves the taller boy back, wanting nothing more than to connect his fist to the builder's scowl, but stops himself, knowing he'd be sent to the pit.

Gally laughs dryly, keeping his glare on the two brunettes now in front of him. "You two are made for each other."

"Shut up." Thomas interrupts angrily, stepping toward the boy to get in his face.

"Okay! Calm down!" Newt shouts, pushing Thomas away from the builder. "But you're right. Thomas broke the rules."

Blake's eyes widen in disbelief. "Newt? What the hell?" The girl questions as her brows knit together.

"One night in the pit, no food."

"Oh, come on, Newt! One night in the pit...you think that's going to stop him from going in the maze?" Gally scoffs angrily, throwing his hands into the air as he meets the blond's gaze.

"No. And we can't just have non-runners running into the maze whenever they feel like it. So let's just make this official." Newt said as he turned to meet Thomas confused gaze, "Starting tomorrow, you're a runner."

Blake sends the builder a smirk as Thomas' mouth falls open—not believing what just came out of Newt's mouth.

"Wow." Gally scoffs, shaking his head in disappointment—glaring at Blake as he stomps out of the hut.

Thomas sends the small brunette a soft smile as his gaze connects with hers—before turning his attention back to the blond.  "Thanks, Newt."

"Hey, where are we going?" Thomas questions from behind the two runners as they trudge through the thick brush.

"You'll see."

Nearing the map room, Blake stops in the doorway to usher the boy in, nodding for him to follow in after Minho with a small smile.

As Thomas slides through the doorway, he glides his hand along the small of the girl's back, sending a shiver down Blake's spine as she follows in behind the boy.

Walking to the other side of the table, Minho quickly lifts the material off the map—revealing the entire model of the maze.

"It's the maze," Minho says, breaking the silence. "All of it." The boy continues as he glances over to Blake, who has a frown on her face.

"What do you mean all of it? I thought you two were still mapping it?" Thomas questions, glancing over to the girl, who lets out a sigh.

"There's nothing left to map." Blake says, keeping her eyes trained on the model in front of her.

"We've run every inch of it, both of us. Every cycle, every pattern." Minho says, shifting his feet as he lays his hands down on the table. "If there was a way out, we would have found it by now."

Thomas shakes his head. "Why haven't you told anyone this?" The boy questioned in disbelief as his eyes found Blake's—who quickly adverts her gaze.

"It was Alby's call. People needed to believe we had a chance at getting out. But maybe now," Minho steps to the boy, handing the object they had found. "We have a real chance."

Thomas takes the object from the boy, scanning his eyes over it as Minho continues. "Take a look at this. About a year ago, we started exploring these outer sections. All right, we found these numbers printed on the walls—sections one through eight. See, the way it works: every night, when the maze changes, it opens up a new section. So, today, section six was open. Tomorrow, it'll be four, then eight, then three. The pattern always stays the same."

"Then what's so special about seven?" Thomas questions, looking between Minho and Blake for an answer.

The girl shrugs her shoulders as the Keeper answers for the both of them. "I don't know. But last night, when you killed that griever—section seven was open. Tomorrow, all three of us are gonna take a closer look.."

"Hey!" A sudden voice calls from the outside of the hut, making the three runners whip their heads to the door flung open.

Blake shakes her head at the two boys standing in the doorway, knitting her eyebrows together. "What are you guys doing?—You're not allowed in here."

"Sorry, it's just the, um.." One of the boys breathes out, trying to catch his breath as the other boy finishes the sentence for him. "It's the other girl."

Blake rolls her eyes in irritation as her arms fold over her chest. "Here we go."The girl mutters under her breath.

"What? Is she awake?" Thomas questions from beside Blake.

"You could say that.."