A deafening shriek came from the maze, making Iris spring up from her sleep ready to run off and hide. She slowed her breathing down and reminded herself that it couldn't get in, she let out a breath of relief and laid back down in her hammock.
It was around 5am and there was a dim light setting over the glade, with a slight fog too resting right above the ground, she could barley even see the walls in the distance.
Iris tossed and turned for another half hour, unable to fall back to sleep, so she gave up and carefully climbed out of her hammock. Thomas laid in a deep slumber, he looked peaceful when he was asleep, his breathing was slowed and he didn't have to worry about the world outside of his sleep.
She realised she had been staring for too long and quickly drew her eyes from Thomas. She walked around the glade for a bit before finding herself at the doors, which didn't open for another hour or so. She placed her hand against the concrete and sighed, she hoped Ben was okay, maybe he did survive and would come back, apologise, and continue to live properly.
She removed her hand and saw a figure in the fog walking towards her, she squinted slightly trying to figure out who it was. The moment she saw the hair she knew who it was.
"Best not be planning on running out of there." He said, slowing his pace as he got closer.
"And what would happen if i did?" She asked him, he stopped a couple feet away from her and crossed his arms.
"Well i have two options, let you learn your lesson that could end in your death, or maybe run after you and then throw you into the slammer for the rest of your life." He joked, but Iris knew well enough that there was a hint of honesty behind her words, and she wondered if she was ready to find out if he was telling the truth.
"Don't you need a new Runner anyways?" She asked without actually bringing up the reason why they needed a new runner.
"I have a whole group of them, Iris." He chuckled, she looked at the ground thinking of a good argument as to why she would be a better candidate for it.
"So where are they?" She tilted her head slightly, he sighed with a smirk on his face and placed one hand on her shoulder.
"I prefer running on my own anyways." He shrugged before letting go and standing at the front of the entrance, she rolled her eyes and moved out of his way.
Newt and Alby came jogging over a couple minutes before the doors opened and were mildly surprised to see Iris standing there too.
"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Alby asked fixing his shirt slightly, Minho glanced between Iris and Alby, knowing that if he had said yes it would have pissed Iris off.
"Nah, i'm good, i'll be back by midday anyways." A low grumbling sound came from over head, followed by a few clicking noises. Iris stepped back and her eyes followed the crack all the way to the top, it slowly began separating, filling the air with the grinding sound as it moved.
Without saying a word, Minho sprinted off into the maze alone, a couple steps in and he was already gone into the abyss of the fog that got thicker and thicker as the minutes went by.
"Well, Greenie, Newt has more jobs for you in the garden today." Alby sarcastically smiled knowing full well she hated the gardening job, especially the pulling weeds part.
"if it's pulling weeds, i'll scream." She nodded towards him before walking off back towards the heart of the glade. The fog was slowly getting thicker and she almost got lost when she was walking back to the kitchen area.
Frypan was up and awake and she could smell bacon flowing through the air, she navigated her way to the actual kitchen and went inside. Frypan turned around with a pan in his hand and another pan in the other hand, he almost dropped everything when he saw her suddenly standing at the door.
"You always sneak up on people like that?" He said after letting out a breath of relief, she smirked and sat at the small wooden table that was in the corner of the rather small kitchen.
"Only you." She replied making herself comfortable, she shivered slightly and it reminded her that the fog had bought on a slight bitterness over the glade.
"Is it cold out there or something?" He spoke over the loud sizzling sounds coming from his pans, every now and then he shake the bacon around and turn them over.
"Yeah, i can't even see five feet in front of me. Does it usually get that foggy?" He shrugged slightly and his head rose from the bacon he was drooling over.
"Yeah, only happens after someone gets banished.. I think whoever put us here, that's there way of reminding us that it happened, i'm not sure.. The glade is a confusing place, i'll tell you that." He turned back around and began putting the bacon on wooden plates for everyone.
"Oh..How many times has someone been banished?" She asked crooking her head, he looked up from what he was doing and sighed loudly, everyone knew she didn't agree with banishing people, even if they tried to murder her in a pool of water.
"Look, i know you don't like the whole idea of sending people out there, but when someone gets stung, they belong to the maze. Ben knew that would happen when he joined the runners, he knew it was a possibility he could get stung, and he did," Frypan returned to placing the bacon on the many plates that were infront of him.
"But did he deserve that? i mean, it was intense. What if somehow he got better?" She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Iris, are you crazy? he just tried to drown you. I don't know any girls, but you are by far the craziest." He joked lightening the mood in the small kitchen they were in, she smirked at his joke and they continued talking about the glade and how it worked, how Alby was the first up and how he got his job.
By the time it was 7:40am, the entire glade are awake except the builders, who liked to sleep in until 8. Frypan was serving breakfast which consisted of Bacon, beans and a slice of bread.
Iris sat beside Thomas and Chuck, opposite them was Newt and Winston. Chuck hadn't stopped talking since he had sat down, telling them all about his dreams, which were pretty funny. One point he was being chased by chickens that had Gallys head instead of the actual chicken head, he made sure to express how traumatised he was by it too.
Breakfast went by pretty fast, Thomas Chuck and herself were forced to be in the gardens once again with Newt. She didn't know how much she could take, pulling weeds made her want to strangle herself with ivy from the walls. She did not want to be a gardener for the rest of her time in the glade, she made sure to emphasis her hatred for it ever time she yanked another weed from the ground.
"I'm not doing this anymore." She lobbed the weed in her hand to the left and walked off into the woods, Chuck tried to convince her to come back but he couldn't be bothered to run after her, Thomas however did.
"So where we headed?" He asked as he jogged beside her, she chuckled at how he was following her no matter the circumstance.
"Into the woods." She replied, the fog was even worse in the woods, both Thomas and her bumped into trees many times, making them both stumble backwards and even begin forming bruises on their faces and arms.
"Where the hell are we going?" Thomas asked dodging a smaller tree, she audibly laughed at his clumsyness and teased him about it.
"I'm not that clumsy!" He tried protesting but before he could say anything else to make her change her mind, a large splash came from the side of her, she turned around and took a few steps towards the noise.
The source of the noise came from Thomas, falling directly into the water that she had almost drowned in the day before. She cracked up laughing, unable to even stand up anymore.
"Fuck you!" He shouted as she continued to laugh on the floor, she pushed herself up and looked at him. He was glaring daggers at her and pulled himself out using the rocks.
"Your lucky i don't shove you in!" He added on as he started strutting back towards the glade. She followed along trying as hard as she could to contain her laugh but couldn't help it, she also struggled keeping up with him through the fog.
"Would you shut up!" Thomas chuckled slightly too as Iris finally stopped laughing, tears rolling down her face as she continued to replay the moment over and over in her head reminding him of how he was saying how he wasn't clumsy and then fell into a very seeable pool of water.
"Chuck, guess what happened!" Iris shouted as she ran towards him through the fog, she could hear Thomas trying to stop her from telling him but she was long gone, running towards Chuck.
At around lunch, everyone was sat at the picnic tables outside the kitchen and Minho came back like he said he would, he was barely even sweating and looked like he had just walked through the maze, which baffled Iris and even Thomas; the rest seemed to already be used to it.
The fog began clearing up after lunch and everyone returned to their jobs, the builders did what they usually did, cut up wood and sit around all day. Gardeners pulled weeds, pulled carrots and potatoes. Winston killed a pig which was something Iris didn't want to listen to again.
By nightfall, darkness fell upon the glade and a few select gladers were sat around a small campfire, talking and drinking gallys special drink.
"You'll never believed what Thomas did today." Iris said after a long sip from her drink, immediately Thomas put his head in his hands and started trying to make her be quiet and not mention it to some other gladers.
Newt, Minho, and Frypan began begging for Iris to tell them what happened and she couldn't help herself.
"This idiot was giving me a speech about how he wasn't clumsy, and mid sentence fell straight into this water thing in the woods, completely soaked his entire clothes." Iris began laughing at the memory, everyone else began laughing too, barely being able to hold onto their drinks, it was fair to say gallys drink was going to their heads...
"Show us where." Newt said in between laughs, they all got up from their seats and Iris led them through the woods in the dark, Thomas was moaning the entire time about it but they were all laughing over him.
After all of them stumbling and laughing through the woods, occasionally tripping they found the pool of water that glistened in the moonlight.
"Here is where he fell in!" Iris said stretching out her arms, they all stepped up onto the rocks and looked down. Due to the alcohol the thoughts of almost being drowned by ben were almost a fever dream, and it made it easier to push them straight back to the back of her mind, sealed away in a tiny corner.
Minho stepped up to the edge and peeped over and smirked at the water, he stepped back without saying anything and started taking his shirt off, Iris, without thinking reverted her eyes.
"Don't be shuck heads, let's go for a little swim." Minho said as the sound of his clothes being thrown onto the floor entered Iris' ears.
"Good idea." She turned back around to see all four of the guys beginning to strip just into their boxers, it was probably the alcohol.. All four of them barely were able to keep their footing while taking everything off.
"Iris, slinthead, don't be shy!" Minho said in a rather slurred voice, he took his drink and chugged the last bit down before throwing his glass and diving into the water.
Iris, having an internal debate with herself finally gave in. She completely blamed the alcohol, but began undoing her belt.
Newt was next to hop into the water, immediately splashing water at Minho who returned the favour.
She was thankful for the darkness that surrounded them all, the only light came from the moon and even that wasn't light enough because of the trees that engulfed them.
"here i come!" Frypan shouted before jumping straight in between Minho and Newt, making them attempt to shield their eyes from the splash.
Iris slipped off her cargo pants, she stumbled slightly and chuckled at all three of the guys splashing one another. Iris tried lifting her shirt off her head, but once again lost her footing ever so slightly. She whipped it off eventually revealing a navy blue bra she was wearing, again she didn't have any memory to how she acquired this but hoped she had put it on herself.
She stepped up onto one of the rocks, but that was her first mistake. Thomas wanted a little revenge and came up behind her, he wrapped both his arms around her waist and pulled her into the water alongside himself. Completely submerged he finally let go off her and she swam to the top.
"You ass!" She laughed splashing water in his direction, all of them laughed along due to Gallys stupid drink.
They all sat around the pool, on the slightly submerged rocks and began talking and reminiscing on everything that had happened in the glade. Iris and Thomas were listening intently to the stories and memories they didn't experience but the way all of them told the stories made them feel like they were there.
"And then Minho here, decided to threaten chuck and say if he didn't steal Gallys alcohol stash, he would shove him into the maze with the grievers." Frypan said in between laughs, all four of them started laughing again.
"That's awful!" Iris said as she held onto her stomach from laughing at how cruel it was.
"Frypan, you swore you would never tell that story to anyone!" Minho placed both hands over his face and sighed loudly as they all continued to say how cruel he was.
"Hey where'd my drink go?" Newt began looking in all directions for said drink but couldn't locate it, he even looked in the actual water they were all sat in.
"I'll go get some more for us." Iris stepped up out the water using the rocks and pulled her drunken self up.
"I'll come too." Thomas got out of the water alongside her and they both started heading back for drinks, half naked..
They stumbled throughout the woods, both tripping on sticks and stones and falling into one another while trying to contain their laughter as they were getting fairly close to the rest of the sleeping gladers.
"Shhh!" Thomas raised his index finger to his lips as they were trying to walk in a straight line past the snoring gladers. Thomas took her wrist and lunged her past all of them, to the kitchen where the alcohol was stashed.
She was surprised that whoever put them in the maze, supplied alcohol for them all, i mean it was definite that half of them who did have the occasional drink where underage, but then again who was there to stop them?
"Is this the kitchen?" Thomas asked stumbling through the doors, Iris let out a little laugh as they had finally located the kitchen that took way longer than they had anticipated.
Iris began opening the cupboards over head, the woods and cabinets were sturdy enough for something made but a bunch of teenagers, mostly it was bamboo and wood and it even looked pretty too.
She stood on her tiptoes opening the second cupboard but felt something trace against her side making a slight shudder elapse through her spine, causing goosebumps.
"Did you know that you're pretty?" Thomas slurred out, it caught her of guard and she hesitated on what to say to that.
"Your not too bad yourself." She joked looking at him momentarily, he smirked and let his arm drop, whenever he traced his finger anywhere, wether it was her arm or her waist, it was always comforting but this time it was different, for a moment she forgot where she was.
"I'm not kidding." He said stepping forward, she fully turned around and faced him, leaning against the counter beside her. He took another few steps forward and she felt her face burn up slightly.
They were inches apart, one of his arms was outstretched on the counter behind her, and one slowly reached up behind her head, their faces almost, almost, touching.
His eyes hadn't left hers, even when he reached up behind her head, he pulled back down a bottle of sorts and looked down at it, observing the label.
"This looks like alcohol to me." He said before removing his arm that was on the counter and stumbling out of the kitchen with the bottle in his hand. She felt like her knees had buckled right then and there and took a moment to take in everything that had happened.
She shook her head and walked out after him, she told herself to not let him know that what he had done had made her very attracted to this guy, she chased after him and they ran into the woods towards the water.
They arrived and received some cheers from the guys who were finally able to have some more drinks. Both Iris and Thomas climbed back into the water and Iris began unscrewing the lid to the brown liquid.
She took a large gulp from the drink, underestimating it ever so slightly and winced at the taste. She handed it to Minho who looked extremely happy to see some alcohol.
"This hangover will not be good." Frypan said after taking a gulp from the bottle and passing the bottle to Thomas.
"Pretty sure tomorrow is Sunday anyways, which means day off!" Minho celebrated. Iris expected him to get a lot more breaks than one day of the week, considering his job in the glade was by far the hardest. She was also more than happy to not have to pull anymore stupid weeds from the ground, knowing full well they would grow back and she'd have to pull them out again and then it would just be an endless cycle of stupid weeds.
"I'm not pulling weeds ever again, please find me another job for the love of god." Iris said after thomas handed her the bottle, she took two gulps of the drink without realising until it was burning down her throat. She passed it back to Minho who held it for a moment.
"No, runner is not happening." Minho said looking directly at her, even Thomas glanced her way. She realised it was his firsts time hearing about how she wanted to be a runner and even he looked shocked.
"At least take it into consideration..." Iris playfully rolled her eyes, Minho passed the bottle back to her and she took another gulp before handing it over to Newt.
"You're crazy, man." Frypan scoffed while being handed the bottle.
They all talked for hours on end, about anything and everything and even slight memories that they had been given back; like certain names of people and vague faces.
"I'm going to bed." Frypan was the first to stumble out the water and make it to his hammock somehow, and then Newt and Minho got out the water but didn't go anywhere far they ended up passing out a few metres from the water.
Thomas and Iris were the only ones left, still sharing between the bottle and having conversation about memories and all the things that came to their drunken minds.
They made eye contact for a solid minute, Iris lifted the bottle to her mouth and took a large gulp from the drink while still maintaining the eye contact.
She sat up from the rock and used the rocks that made the seats to walk over to him, still holding eye contact as she got closer. A small smirk grew across his face as he watched what she was doing.
She stopped right infront of him and took another gulp from the drink. She climbed on top of his lap and straddled him, her heart beginning to pick up as she made the slightest move. Thomas looked up at her before taking the bottle out of her hand and pouring some into his mouth, but then he lifted his arm and extended it over Iris' head.
He lifted his other arm and placed his hand on her chin, forcing her to tilt her head back, he poured the liquid into her mouth, she gulped it down and looked back down at him.
She had never felt more confident than in that moment. He placed the bottle down and used the same hand he had used to tilt her chin back, to use his thumb to trace her bottom lip for the excess alcohol that had spilled slightly.
Her heart was pounding against her chest as gently traced her bottom lip, a wave of a reality check came over her but she let the alcohol completely drown it out and that's when he gripped the back of her neck and pulled her in. Their lips collided and it wasn't long until his tongue entered her mouth. His hands and fingers traced up her thigh, running circles with his thumbs.
Thomas gripped onto her hips with both hands and pulled her in closer to him, her hands found their way to the back of his head, gripping at his hair slightly as they continued to make out in the water.
His hands gripped against her waist this time, and she felt the butterfly feeling she didn't know if she had felt that before, but she was sure enough addicted to it already.
they broke the kiss momentarily, Iris lifted her arm grabbed the bottle and chugged the last bit of it, before they continued to make out.
Considering the amount of alcohol she had consumed, she couldn't even see straight, but the feeling that she felt was indescribable.
They broke the kiss once again, but this time he leant into her neck and began sucking lightly, she still ran her hands through his hair gripping it slightly making him moan into her neck.
"Would you slintheads please shut up!" Minho slurred out, they both jumped slightly from the sudden interruption but smiled down at one another, they shared one more peck before pulling themselves out the water.
They were way to dizzy to head back to their hammocks, but she did manage to get her clothes back on before she passed out alongside Thomas.
****
just wanna say a special thank you to everyone who has read this book so far. I also wanna thank @bluebabyxo and @tvdtotwedits121 for supporting the book more than anyone SO THANK YOU ILY BESTIES 💅💅💅💅