Subject of the Flame | Maze Runner [2]

FIFTEEN

[ MINHO ]

❧

When Minho's alarm rang the next morning he felt like his world was ending. He groaned, clumsily reaching his watchless arm to his face to rub his eyes. Electra stirred from where she'd slept on his chest, before slowly pulling herself up and grabbing his watch arm.

She gave him a pointed look. "Should we hit snooze?"

Minho smiled, before turning off the alarm. "We can't."

Electra brought his arm up to her face and he cupped his cheek. She looked into his eyes before sighing. "I know. This sucks."

"We'll be okay," Minho said, but he knew his statement was weak.

Minho wished he could stay in this bunk forever, but knew their time before the Flat Trans opening was rapidly running short. They climbed out of bed and turned on the lights, and after stretching a bit they started to get ready.

He let Electra use the shower first. She didn't take very long but regardless by the time he got in there, the water was cold. He didn't mind, though. Minho quickly washed himself down and wondered when the next time he'd be able to have a shower would be. Hopefully in two weeks when the second Trial was over.

If he lived through the second Trial, that is.

Shutting off the water, he dried himself off before dressing himself and exiting the bathroom. Electra was combing through her hair with her fingers. She'd managed to find an elastic somewhere within the dorms and she struggled to put her thick hair into a ponytail. When she noticed him leaving the bathroom, she slid past him to look into the mirror. Minho watched her adjust her very messy ponytail for a few minutes. He had never seen her without her hair down, but he thought the new hairstyle looked nice on her, even if it highlighted the brutal beetle blade scar behind her ear.

Electra turned to him, tilting her head. "What?"

Minho shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go see if the others are awake. I swear if those shanks slept in I'm considering flat-out leaving without them."

Electra followed him into the common area but stayed behind when he made his way to the boys' dorm. He wondered if it was because the Gladers didn't like her, or if she didn't like them. Maybe both.

He peered into the boys' dorm and thankfully it was a chaotic mess. Gladers flew back and forth, frantically checking their watches between steps of the morning routine. A couple of the Gladers in the back were filling the water bags, while others began to check that their bedsheet packs had all the necessities.

In the back of the room, Thomas noticed Minho and gave him a slight nod. Minho returned the acknowledgement before slinking back out into the common area.

"Sweet, they're up," Minho noted aloud, looking over to Electra who stared off absentmindedly to where Rat Man had been just the day before.

Ten minutes until the Flat Trans' supposed appearance, all of the Gladers sat patiently on the floor. The air was tense, and Minho could hear all of the Gladers' individual pained breaths and, in the distance, Aris and Thomas speaking in anxious hushed tones. They were all scared. Hell, Minho was beyond scared.

He sat near the front with Electra by his side. She tried to hide her trembling hands by sitting on them, and anyone else except him wouldn't have noticed. He wanted to reach out and soothe her, hold her like he did last night, but he knew he couldn't. Now wasn't the time.