Minho, Thomas and I run the corridors of the Maze, our shoes slapping the stone ground. As we run, I look around the Maze. The walls look so ancient, so different to when I was here at night and could not see them properly. The vines and ivy climb across the cracked stone, probably the only other colour in the Maze.

"I think we should go check it out now, before it gets too dark" Thomas whispers to Minho as they run ahead of me, thinking I cannot hear what they're saying.

If they are going to let me run with them, it's be nice if they didn't whisper about things.

"I agree, but can we trust her? We don't know if it will work yet, and if this gets out, well- it might not end well. We don't like people losing hope, it leads to - bad situations" Minho replies in a hushed whisper.

Thomas looks back at me, before looking back to where he's running, "You know we can Minho." This brings a smile to my features, to think that someone who barely knows me, is putting faith in others.

"No, today is your first proper day as a Runner, so today, we run. Got it, shank?"

Thomas nods as they pull to a stop, and I jog up to them. Minho runs a hand through his strangely perfect hair, before begin to speak in a fairly serious tone. As he does so, he raises and hand and points to the corridor ahead of us.

"Alright you two, listen up. This leads from Section Eight - the middle left square - to Section One - the top left square. Like I said, this passage is always in the same spot, but the route here might be a little different because of the walls rearranging themselves."

I take a moment to think through what Minho has said, surprise coating my thoughts at each word. "Wait a second, the walls rearrange themselves? How is that even possible?"

Minho sighs "They change every night, and if you haven't realized yet Lori, basically anything is possible in this klunk place."

We take off running once more, and I try to keep my breaths steady as we go. When reaching the end of the passageway, we slow down to a slight jog, as Minho pulls a notepad and pencil from his pocket and hands it to Thomas, informing him of what he wants him to do.

We run a while longer, not making conversation so we can save our breaths. Eventually, we reach a fork in the path, where Minho turns right without blinking. He really knows where he's going, I think to myself.

As we go down this path, Minho pulls out a knife and slices a long length of vine from the walls. He dropped it on the ground and continued to run. For some reason, this memory tactic reminds me of my childhood. A story I read.

"Bread crumbs?" Thomas asks curiously. He's thinking the same as me, I think,

"Bread crumbs" Minho confirms, "I'm Hansel, you're Gretel."

I laugh to myself at the interaction, still running a few metres behind the boys. Minho doesn't seem to be in the mood to deal with me, so I decided to hang back.

Every turn, Minho would repeat his breadcrumbs tactic, giving us something we can follow on the way back. After a few more turns, Minho told Thomas to take over. He explained to Thomas that he needed to learn how to do it on the run, and that on the way back, they would pick the vines up or kick them off of the path. Being a Runner seems so simple. Go out, follow a path, get back. But now, listening to Minho talk, you see how easy it is to get lost out here.

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We run for a while longer, before stopping to take a short break. Minho and Thomas sat on the stone ground, so I jogged up and joined them. While they dug into the water and apple, I began to slowly chew my apple, not as hungry as I thought I was.

The apple went down easy, refreshing me slightly and putting a sweet taste in my mouth. The boys also seems to enjoy the snack, as Thomas burped into satisfaction.

For some reason, he turns and sends an apology my way. As if I care about his eating habits while we're sitting in a life threatening Maze.

"Do ya want some water?" Thomas asks, holding out his bottle. I hesitate, before thanking him kindly, and receive the bottle. I take a few small sips, before wiping my mouth and handing it back to Thomas, nodding my head in gratitude.

"Hey Minho?" I start, the silence beginning to eat away at me. "What happened to Alby out here?"

This catches both of the boy's attentions, and Thomas nods his head, "Yeah, you never really told me what happened to him that day - why he was in such bad shape. Obviously the Griever woke up, but what happened?"

Minho had been packing up as we spoke, pulling his rucksack onto his back, he replied "Well, suck thing wasn't dead. Alby poked it with his foot like an idiot and that bad boy suddenly sprung to life, spikes flaring, its fat body rollin' all over him. Something was wrong with it, though - didn't really attack like usual. It seemed like it was mostly trying to get out of there, and poor Alby was in the way."

I take a moment to play the scenario out in my head, thinking through all possibilities.

"So it ran away from you guys?" I ask, doubt lacing my words as I remembered my night out here with Newt.

"Yeah, I guess - maybe it needed to get recharged or something. I don't know" Minho shrugs.

"What could have been wrong with it? Did you see an injury or anything?" I can feel the wheels in my head turning, searching for an answer I might never locate.

"No. Shuck thing just looked dead - like a wax statue. Then boom, it was back to life" Minho explains. I sigh, falling into silence.

It looked like we were going to leave, when Thomas, who had been quiet, spoke as his eyes looked around. "I just wonder where it went. Where they always go. Don't you?" He waits a moment, letting the thought settle in Minho's mind, before continuing, "Haven't you ever thought of following them?

"Man, you do have a death wish, don't you? Come on, shanks, we gotta go" Minho scoffs as he takes off running.

We catch up to Minho, and I finally decide to run beside them, not caring whether Minho likes it or not. He let me come out here, so he has to deal with it, I think to myself with a bit too much snark.

We run for another two hours, with a few short breaks throughout, when the day's journey began to take a toll on me. Honestly, I was buggered. Minho finally allowed us to take a lunch break, as he sat down and pulled out his lunch.

The boys spoke while eating their lunch of sandwiches and vegetables, whiles I brought another apple out of my own bag.

I slipped into my own thoughts as they conversed. Newt was the only thing I thought about. The only one worth thinking about. I care for him, I do, but I don't understand whether he feels the same way or not. Everything is so confusing, and I don't even know where to begin to be honest.

Should I ask him, or will confrontation just make things worse? I sigh as I bite a large chunk out of my apple.

I see a flash of silver and red, as a Beetle Blade skitters across the wall. The boys begin to talk about Beetle Blades and the Creators, but I completely zone out.

I really don't care anymore, I just want to get out of this place. No matter what it takes, I need to get out of here. But I want to bring everyone from the Glade. Well, maybe not everyone, but the point is, we've grown too close, and I can't just abandon them like that.

I continue to eat in silence, when all of a sudden, Thomas is on his feet and walking to the other side of the corridor. I can't see what he's looking at, but he doesn't take his eyes away from it for a moment. Thomas stands in front of the wall and lifts his hand up and pull away the ivy. He just stands there, staring I'm assuming, but all I can see is what I think is the corner of something.

I stand up and make my way over there slowly, noticing Thomas running his fingers over whatever is on the wall. He turns to Minho with confusion painted on his features "What's this?"

Thomas steps out of my way when he realizes I want to see it, and finally it is in full view. Stuck onto the wall is a square, metal plaque, reading:

WORLD IN CATASTROPHE:

KILLZONE EXPERIMENT DEPARTMENT

I mumble the words to myself, attempting to maybe shake some information free.

"I don't know shank" I hear Minho reply to Thomas's question. "They're all over the place, like freaking labels for the nice pretty Maze they built. I quit bothering to look at 'em a long time ago."

I cock my head to side in wonder, trying to figure something out. I feel like I've heard these words before. Somewhere in my past I'm betting.

"Not much here that sounds very good. Catastrophe. Killzone. Experiment. Really nice" Thomas says, walking back over to Minho.

My body is alive with the hunger to know more about what the hell this is. I raise my hand slowly to touch the metal plaque.

"Yeah, really nice, klunkhead. Let's - Lori!" He yells my name, because just as my fingertips were about to touch the surface of the plaque, an energy ran through me, resulting in my knees buckling beneath me.

I hit the ground hard, scraping myself on the cold stones floor. I lay still as the boys run over, shouting at me. They shout my name, and tell me to get up and that I'll be fine. But I won't be.

I feel the energy running up and down my body like a live wire, until it reaches my head and my vision begins to cloud over. The last thing I remember, is the sensation of feeling like someone is trying to break through my skull with a sledge hammer and crow bar.

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