Running towards you | The maze runner | Newt x Fem OC

~𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 1~

-Ari-

I don't know how long I'd been out.

When I finally blinked my eyes open, the world tilted and spun. My head pounded so hard I thought it might split in two, the pain sharp and hot from where it had smacked against... against metal. The memory hit me in flashes—the dark, the cold, the sound of grinding walls. The Box. I reached up to touch my head

I pushed myself upright, groggy and stiff, the thin mattress creaking under me. The room was dim, the air heavy with the smell of earth and something faintly medicinal.

Next to me lay another girl. She was curled beneath a blanket, dark hair spilling across a white hoodie and a faded blue shirt. Her face was pale, but steady breaths lifted her chest. Recognition stabbed at me—the same girl from the Box.

My chest tightened. I slipped off the bed and padded toward the door, brown boots I don't remember putting on, softly thumping against the wooden floor. I pressed my shoulder against the wall, peeking out.

Everywhere I looked, boys. Working, talking, shouting. Tall, short, young, older-dozens of them. But not a single other girl. My throat dried instantly.

I turned back into the hut, panic clawing its way up my ribs. My breaths came fast, uneven, until I forced myself to inhale deeply, then again, counting each one. Calm down. Calm down.

What the hell was going on? Why couldn't I remember anything? Where was I?

Who was I?

I searched the room, desperate for anything familiar, anything that might ground me. That's when I saw it.

Leaning against the wall, half-forgotten, was a bow. Polished wood, strung tight, a quiver of arrows propped beside it.

I didn't know what it was. Not exactly. but something inside me did. My body moved before my brain caught up. My fingers wrapped around the grip like they'd been shaped for it, like I'd done this a thousand times. A shiver ran through me. My mind was blank, but my hands remembered.

I slung the weapon over my shoulder, heart pounding as I turned toward the door. I could slip out. Find answers. Figure this out. And probably escape.

But then I froze.

The girl. Still unconscious, still lying there vulnerable in a place swarming with boys. My chest clenched. I couldn't just leave her.

I hurried back, gripping her shoulder, shaking gently at first and then harder. "Come on, wake up. Please, wake up."

Her lashes fluttered, and I nearly cried in relief when a pair of startling blue eyes blinked up at me.

The second she focused on me, the questions tumbled out. Where are we? What is this place? Who are you? What's happening?

I could only shake my head, throat tight, no answers to give. Not a single one.

"I don't know," I rasped, my voice breaking. "I don't know anything."

My mind spun, desperate to latch onto something solid. So I asked the only thing that mattered. "Your name-what's your-"

"Teresa." The word came sharp, certain. Like she'd always known.

I froze, staring at her. Why did she know her name when I couldn't even remember mine? The question burned, but there was no time. At any moment one of the boys outside could walk in, and then-

My gaze darted around the hut, landing on the machete resting on the makeshift bedside table. I grabbed it and pressed it into her hand.

The change was instant. Her fear melted away, replaced with something steadier, fiercer. Determination sparked in her blue eyes as she tightened her grip on the weapon. I was starting to like this girl already.

I swallowed hard and adjusted the bow across my shoulder. "Okay. On three."

We exchanged a look-mutual fear, mutual resolve.

"One."

The shouts of boys outside seemed to close in.

"Two."

My palms were slick, my pulse thundered.

"Three!"

Together, we bolted out of the hut and into the unknown.

My lungs burned as we tore across the open field, shouts echoing behind us. The boys didn't chase right away, but their alarm spread like wildfire, voices overlapping, growing louder as more of them gathered.

My heart slammed against my ribs. We couldn't outrun all of them.

And then I froze.

Four walls. Towering, endless stone covered in thick ropes of Ivy. My stomach dropped straight through me. We weren't escaping anywhere. We were trapped.

"Hey!" the girl beside me-Teresa-snapped, yanking me back to reality. She pointed ahead.

I followed her gaze. Rising out of the grass in the distance was something wooden and crooked, like the skeleton of a building. A... treehouse?

"It's shelter," she said, dragging me toward it. "Move!"

We scrambled up the wooden ladder tied together by rope, hands raw, legs shaking, until we reached the highest platform. Teresa slammed the hatch closed behind us and braced her back against it, both of us gasping for breath.

Below, shadows swarmed the clearing. A whole group of boys, eyes wide, voices sharp with disbelief.

"They're awake!"

"Bloody hell-when did they get out?"

One boy stepped forward, planting his hands on the ladder. My pulse spiked. He was going to climb.

"Quick," I hissed to Teresa, clutching the bow in my hands though I still didn't understand why it felt so right there. "Try to keep them away from the treehouse."