Without A Choice // The Maze Runner [Book 1]

TEN

"And you're sure you don't recognize her?" Thomas asked. He and I were sitting underneath my tree. He was sitting on the chunky root sticking out of the ground while I was sitting cross-legged across from him in the grass. 

"Yeah, I'm sure. I have no idea who she is," I answered, playing with the blade of grass I had plucked from the ground.

"She seemed to recognize you, though," he nonchalantly said.

We stayed in silence for another few minutes, thinking about the events of this morning. A headache had been steadily growing in the back of my mind as my brain fought to remember the girl from the Box.

"I'm going back into the Maze," Thomas spoke up. 

"What? Why?" I retorted, my eyes leaving the grass in front of me. 

"You said no one's ever seen a Griever and lived to tell about it. Now we have one! Don't tell me you're not even a little curious," he said, squatting down in front of me. A certain excitement was lacing his voice and I wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not. 

"Not really, no," I said. "Thomas, you just survived a night in the Maze. Nobody has ever done that and now you want to go back in?"

"Leah, think about it, maybe that Griever, that dead Griever, may I remind you, is our way out of here." He grabbed both of my hands in his.

I felt tears brimming my eyes and I quickly looked away. 

"Hey, I'll be careful, I promise." He pressed his lips to my forehead and left a lingering kiss on it. Then he pecked my lips before dashing off and leaving me and my thoughts alone.

***

"We found this inside of a Griever." Thomas handed a cylinder-shaped piece of technology to Newt. They had just returned from the Maze.

"These are the same letters as the ones we get on our supplies," Newt noticed. I looked over his shoulder. He was right. On the cylinder was a sticker with the letters WCKD, whatever the hell that meant.

"So whoever put us here obviously made the Grievers," Thomas stated. "Newt, we have to get back out there. This is the first real clue that you've found in three years, right, Minho?" Thomas turned to the Keeper.

"Right," Minho confirmed.

Newt turned to Gally, who was looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "You see what he is trying to do, right? First, he breaks the rules and then he tries to get us to completely abandon them?" He made a wild motioning with his hands. "Newt, this shank has to be punished. If Alby was here, he'd agree with me," Gally huffed.

Newt pondered over this for a few seconds before saying, "You're right. He has to be punished. One night in the pit, no food."

"One night?! Newt, come on! Do you really think that that is going to stop him from going into the Maze?"

"No," Newt stated simply. "And since we can't have anyone running into the Maze whenever they feel like it, we gotta make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're a Runner," he decided. Gally jaw dropped and he let out a disbelieving sigh.

He turned his back to us and exited the Runners' shack, not forgetting to slam the door in the process.

***

"Gally hates you," I muttered.

"Yeah, I know," Thomas responded. The two of us were in my tree. Thomas was sitting behind me and I was seated in between his legs, leaning my weight into his chest. My temple was leaning against his jawline while I was playing with his hands. 

"I can run again tomorrow, Clint said my ankle's all healed up. I can make sure you don't get your ass kicked out there," I giggled. Thomas's chest vibrated as he chuckled.

"Leah!" a voice called, it was Chuck. I shushed Thomas and pushed his head down so Chuck wouldn't see him.

"Chuck, this is my spot, what do you want?" I yelled back.

"I know, I know, sorry. But it's the girl, she's awake," Chuck responded. 

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute," I told Chuck. I waited until his footsteps had completely faded away until I jumped from the tree. "I'll meet you there in a few." I kissed Thomas's cheek before running off in the direction of the med-jack shack. But since no one seemed to be there, I ventured out to find them.

I quickly located Chuck and the rest of the boys at the Lookout, where the girl was throwing stuff at them from the top. "Take cover!" Someone called as several rocks, sticks and cans came flying down. I hid underneath a door with Newt and Frypan.

"What is going on?" I asked.

"I don't think she likes us very much," Chuck replied.

Thomas came rushing toward the scene. "Girls are awesome," Chuck laughed as he pointed at the flying things. Thomas took cover before a stick could hit him in the face. 

"Hey, it's Leah!" as soon as I shouted that, the rain of rocks ended. The girl peered over the side and I raised my hand. "I'm gonna come up, okay?" Her face disappeared. "Just me." I stopped Gally from going up with me.

I climbed up the ladder to the top of the lookout but quickly held up my hands when I found the girl pointing a machete. "Whoa, okay, okay," I muttered. "Easy." 

"Where am I?" she asked, her eyes cold. "What is this place? Why can't I remember anything?" 

"This is all very normal, okay? We've all been through this," I told her. Usually, I knew exactly what to say to the Newbies, but my mind had gone completely blank as soon as I had seen the machete pointed straight at me. "Your name will come back to you in a couple-" 

"Teresa." 

I blinked. "What did you say?" 

"My name. It's Teresa." 

"Okay. Teresa, I'm Leah," I said. "But you already knew that, didn't you?" 

"They said I kept saying your name in my sleep," she muttered. "Who are you?" 

I released a breath. "I don't know." Something in her eyes changed, but it quickly disappeared again. "I can't remember anything. None of us can. We all woke up here, just like you did. I promise." I told her before my eyes averted to the machete she was still holding up. "Can you... Could you put that down?" 

Her jaw clenched shortly before she placed the machete next to her. 

"What's going on up there?" I heard Gally call from the ground. "Is she coming down?" 

I looked over the edge before glancing at Teresa. She had drawn her legs up to her chest. I turned back to the others. "Just give us a second, okay? I got this."