The Greenie (The Maze Runner)

Chapter 12

*Stacey's POV*

Minho woke me up super early to get ready to go into the Maze. "It's so early. Do y'all get up this early everyday?"

"Yes, but rise and shine. The Maze opens soon." I groaned and got up. Minho took me to get the gear I would need for the day.

"Thanks." Thomas walked up and got ready.

"Hey Greenie." He smiled. "Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." We both laughed.

"Come on. The Maze is about to open. Let's head over." I followed Thomas to where the maze would open. The Maze started to open and Thomas looked at me. "Let's go." We ran into the Maze and I stayed close to Thomas. We kept making turns here and there. "Here drink some water. I have to map out some things." I took the water from Thomas and took some sips.

"Thanks." I handed it back to him.

"Welcome. Let's go some more." I nodded and followed behind Thomas again. I kept up with him pretty well and didn't seem to be getting tired. 

Around noon we took a break and ate the lunch we packed this morning. It was soothing and just the right thing I needed. I finished my food and took a few more sips of water. Thomas mapped what we had ran since the last time.

"Let's go." I followed him and as we were running he explained how things worked. Basically, all they pretty much do is run, and map every inch they run.

We ran a few more hours and stopped so Thomas could map it. Next time we stopped to map, Thomas made me do it, but he did help me. I think I finally figured it out because we started to run again.

*Newt's POV*

It kind of worried me that Stacey was out in the Maze right now, but I trust Thomas to keep her safe. She honestly deserves this. It's all she's been talking about since she's been here. Yeah, it's not the safest job, but she sure seems like she can handle her self and that she isn't scared of anything.

"Hello?"

"Bloody hell! How long have you been here?" I looked in front of me.

"Oh about 5 minutes. You've been day dreaming." Winston laughed.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's cool man." He laughed. "Let me guess, dreaming about the newbie?"

"Why does everyone think her and I have a thing with each other."

"Cause it's so obvious. You like her and she definitely likes you."

"You think?" I asked him.

"I know so."

"Look man, I'm not into her like that. I'm just protective over her. She's nervous to be here and doesn't really fit in. She needs a close friend."

Winston nodded his head. "Whatever you say."

"Slim it." I made an angry, but funny face at him.

"I'm just saying dude, better tell her before someone else gets her. Word is Thomas also has a thing for the newbie." My fist clinched at my side, but I relaxed.

"Alright dude. Get back to work." He laughed and walked off. Thomas wouldn't, would he? I thought to myself again. What if he does though? Now that he gets to spend all day with her it made me even more jealous. 

***

I sat in the grass by the Homestead, waiting on Thomas and Stacey to get back. They finally got back and Stacey waved at me. I waved back, but was jealous of the fact her and Thomas were laughing with each other.

*Stacey's POV*

Thomas and I got back and he took me to the map room. "What's this?"

"It's the map room." Minho said as Thomas and I walked in.

"Map room?" There was a table in the middle with a sheet on top, covering something. Minho pulled it off, it looked like an exact replica of the maze. "What's this?"

"It's the Maze. We've mapped every single inch of the maze, and I've run every part by myself. There's the doors that lead to the glade. But there is also doors that lead to sections one, three, five, and seven. The doors are always in the same spot, but each section changes every night." Minho explained. "So we have the glade, surrounded by eight sections, each one a completely self-contained square and unsolvable in the two years since we began this freaking game. The only thing even close to an exit is the cliff, and that ain't a very good one unless you like falling to a horrible death."

I looked at them confused. Thomas looked at me. "We always try to keep eight runners, including the keeper. One for every section. It usually takes an entire day to map out each section, hoping to find an exit, then we come back and draw it up, a separate page for each day."

"So do you think you've gotten close to finding an exit?" I asked.

"I don't know. It's kind of depressing, but we don't know what else to do. Can't take a chance that one day, in one spot, somewhere, an exit might appear. We can't give up. Ever" Minho said. "We compare day to day and week to week. Each runner is in charge of the map for his own section. If I gotta be honest, we haven't figured out jack yet. Ever more honest - we don't know what we're looking for. Really sucks."

"But now isn't the time to give up." I looked at the two boys in front of me.

"Right. We can't." Minho nodded and covered the maze back up.

"Would you ever try staying in the maze at night?" I asked.

"That's actually how Thomas became a runner. Alby and I were in the maze, looking for Ben - the guy who attacked Thomas - or well what remained of him. We banished him into the maze and no one survives at night. So Alby got stung and I was the only one who had to help him back. We didn't make it in time and just as we made it close to the exit, the doors were already shutting. The other shanks yelling at us to hurry up. That's when Thomas here came running through the doors. He got himself trapped in there with us, getting himself killed too, or so we thought. He had the bright idea to tie Alby up in the ivy. I got scared and ran off because Grievers were starting to come." Minho looked at Thomas.

"And that's when I tied Alby up and saw my first Griever. Minho wasn't anywhere to be found and the Grievers were trying to attack me, but I kept running. Eventually I ran into Minho and he had an idea that if we had the Griever following us and went to the cliff, maybe we could get the Griever to fall off, and it worked. So we survived the night and made it out. Newt called a gathering, since Alby wasn't able to be in charge. Thomas got one night in the slammer and started his job as a Runner the next day. And we found this in a dead griever. Don't know what it means, but it has to be important." Minho pulled a metal thing out of a bag. It had the letters WCKD on it and the number 7.

"Have you ever tried going into the Maze with it and maybe section 7? That's where it looks like it's from." Minho and Thomas both looked at me like I just said the smartest thing in the world.

"That's a smart idea. Why didn't we think of that in the first place?" Minho questioned.