While Newt and Thomas quarreled about their escape and the recklessness of the plan, Winston had been investigating the area a little more thoroughly than the others.
Mae noticed his fascination with something in the sand, and she walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. He glanced up at her and pointed to the prints that hadn't been from any of the people in their group, which were leading further into the dark passage way.
"Someone's been down here already," She muttered, Winston nodding in agreement. He lifted his hand up to summon the others, beckoning for Minho's flashlight to see the footprints in better light.
--
The group of teenagers decided to split up as they explored. It might not have seemed like the smartest thing to do in the moment, but they agreed that they could cover more ground that way, and they needed to if they were going come to consensus of whether to leave right away or dwell in the abandoned building for a while longer.
Mae didn't mind, in fact she was hoping to have a little bit more quiet time to sort out her thoughts before they were on the move again.
The group divided themselves quickly, not wanting to argue further about who was going to go with who.
"I'll go with Winston and Aris," Jack said first, nodding toward the other boys. It was no surprise that the quiet, polite individuals herded together. Mae watched them silently as they started off into the dark, with another spare flashlight to light their way.
"Fry, Teresa you want to head off with me?" Newt asked the two people closest to him, who made no complaints in response. Thomas glanced toward Minho and Mae, then shook his head in agreement with Newt.
"Meet back here soon," He advised as the other group started heading down a pathway to their right.
Now left with just Thomas and Minho, Mae smiled awkwardly. She hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to either of them since their daring escape from the WICKED facility, and she had missed just being in their presence.
"Ready, hay-braids?" Minho teased monotonously as he clicked on his flashlight, shining it on the sandy floor ahead of them.
Mae scoffed, before remembering how she'd braided her hair what seemed like ages ago, and how Minho had barged into the bathroom. She also remembered all of the things he had said, that left her head scrambled with confusion.
Thomas watched as she reached out to snatch the flashlight from the other boy's hand, and shined it up to her hair. She turned to him with a concerned expression, ignoring Minho who feigned being offended by her sudden outburst.
"Thomas, are my braids still intact? Is Minho making fun of them?"
The brunette stared at her with his lips parted, unsure of what to say. He took a look at her hair, what she had claimed were braids but had now seemed to turn into two frizzy, twisted ponytails sporting many flyaways. The girl still stared at him with wide eyes, her concern for her hair growing as he was still left speechless.
"They look fine, only problem is just that they should be tamed with Griever slime," Minho quipped, filling the silence. Mae scowled, roughly shoving the flashlight back to him and ripping the rubber-bands out of her hair and running her fingers between the strands to make them more presentable. A subtle coil where the parts of her hair had been folded over each other remained when she finished.
"Oh, I'm sure you'd know all about Griever slime and hair, Minho. There's no way it naturally looked like that in the Glade," Mae hissed, turning away from him to stand beside Thomas. Minho opened his mouth to argue before Thomas stopped him, pulling their attention back to the task at hand.
"Looks like there's some supplies we can use in here." He thought aloud as he started walking forward, noticing the different rooms that housed crates of miscellaneous items such as clothes, water bottles, backpacks, and other pieces of equipment that would most definitely be of use to the Gladers in the future. The other two followed closely behind, quiet despite their previous petty argument.
Talking to them brought Mae comfort. Whether it was bickering with Minho about hair styles, or begging Thomas for input on her appearance, the few actual words they were able to exchange were enough for her to feel normal for once.
She leaned down and pulled out a box of jackets. She dug through them, holding them up to her arm to find a right fit. Beside her, Minho and Thomas were sorting through some other boxes, gathering some bottles of water and taking a backpack each.
Finally, Mae settled on a grey jacket. On the inside, it was a soft cotton material, and on the outside a beige/brown leather. Not exactly her style, but she was more focused on survival than fashion ideas. She slipped the article of clothing on quickly and stood up from where she had been kneeling. She made her way over to where the empty backpacks were beside Thomas, and reached out to take her own. Thomas grabbed two water-bottles from the shelves and gestured for her to turn around.
"You'll need these," He said as he unzipped the backpack and popped the bottles in.
"Thanks," Mae said, shooting him a fleeting smile.
"Guys," Minho called suddenly, causing both Mae and Thomas to look in his direction. He was knelt in front of some sort of electrical box, with his flashlight aimed at the two switches in the middle.
"This looks promising," He remarked.
"It could be a light switch," Mae suggested, taking a few steps forward until she was standing over him. Thomas looked back to where he was investigating, his flashlight shining past the chain link fence that happened to be in the middle of the dark room.
Minho reached out and flicked the switch upward, waiting for some kind of reaction. Slowly, the sound of machinery reviving itself filled the echoing room.
"Hey, guys- wait!" Thomas called, but he was too late. Different light from all directions started shutting on one by one, along with a TV they hadn't realized had been there. Mae snapped her head in Thomas's direction, bracing herself for whatever he had been trying to avoid from happening.
However, nothing changed but the lighting.
Minho smiled in appreciation of the new scenery, and Thomas let out an audible sigh of relief. He leaned again the fence slightly, glancing around at the newly lit room.
Mae's gaze didn't waver from the area behind the fence.
I swear I saw something move, she thought, but she didn't want to say it out loud and worry the boys. She held up the flashlight she had found and pointed it past Thomas's head, trying to find the figure she had convinced herself she had seen.
Just when she thought she was being delusional, a terrifying creature leapt up behind Thomas, letting out an ear-bleeding scream and latching it's grotesque claw-like hands onto the fence.
"Thomas, behind you!" She shrieked, lurching her hand out to grab him by the shoulder. Minho was at her side quickly, helping her to pull Thomas away from the thing's clutches.
The creature had a human like figure, but everything about it screamed monster. It had veins so dark they were purple and visible through it's pale skin, a mouth that hung open in despair, and it's hands were thrashing about as if ready to claw through human flesh at any moment.
But the thing that scared Mae most, were the gaping black holes where it's eyes were supposed to be. It continued wailing and squealing, it's head twitching like it was being controlled by a malfunctioning controller.
Her mind flashed to the small video clip she had seen back in the lab outside the Maze, when Dr.Paige had been explaining the virus that was the reason they were taken. The clip had been burned in the back of her mind, a video of a man thrashing violently with the same spider-like veins as the creature before her.
Despite all of the horrifying features the diseased individual had, Mae could tell that if she was able to stare at it long enough, she could almost decipher what kind of human it used to be. She came to the conclusion it must have been infected by the virus, or The Flare, as Dr.Paige had said.
Snapping out of her trance, Mae glanced at Thomas and Minho, her heart beating rapidly as she tried to calm herself.
"Jesus," Minho breathed.
"Thomas," She glanced at him, noticing how he looked just as terrified as she felt. "Are you alright?"
The boy only nodded half-heartedly in response.
Before they had a chance to compose themselves, another creature in the same condition as the one who'd almost gotten Thomas, shot out from behind a pile of boxes.
Mae let out a yell in surprise, darting behind Minho as he thought quickly and threw the nearest object he could find at the monster's face.
It roared in irritation and pain, but was too disoriented to continue it's attack.
"What the hell is that thing?" Minho grunted, his voice barely audible over the menacing shrieks and cries echoing throughout the room.
Thomas placed his hand on the small of Mae's back, urging her the opposite direction with Minho beside him.
"We've gotta go," He shouted protectively, turning them the opposite direction of where the majority of the gut-wrenching sounds coming from the infected creatures surrounding them. The trio started running full speed, once again, toward the door that they had entered the storage room from.
The human-like monsters followed after, hobbling and lugging their limbs as they wailed in desperation. Mae tried her best not to look back, shifting her shoulder as she ran to keep her backpack from sliding off.
Once the three of them were through the doors, Thomas and Mae leaned against them to keep them shut, while Minho looked through the window in the door at the creatures who were banging recklessly on the glass.
He started inching to the right, his mind clearly spinning with ideas.
"What are you doing?!" Mae questioned, not having a clue in the world why he wouldn't be helping them.
"Move out of the way," He instructed, his voice straining from using his strength. He had begun to try and push the large metal shelf that was beside them so that it could fall and barricade the door. Thomas and Mae got the hint quickly, and together the three of them finally pushed the giant metal structure down in front of the door.
Mae let out a sigh of relief, only to turn around and hear more screeches from the depths of the shadows.
HERE IT IS GUYS ANOTHER CHAPTER!! Sorry it's taken me so long again and I feel like this chapter is shit but I'm trying guys. There's a lot of shit going on between my riding and I'm getting head shots taken for some auditions I'm so excited! Thank you so much for reading as always and I'm so grateful for each and everyone of you guys who read my book! Can't wait for more chapters I'm so excited for what's next. I honestly think the mae/minho/thomas trio should have a name. Any ideas? Ps, sorry I didn't thoroughly edit yet so let me know if theres any spelling errors etc.