"WICKED is good"
James Dashner, The Maze Runner #1
Trigger Warning: cursing maybe?
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Y/N's POV:
The dust settled and the bout with Gally had finished. One of the 'gladers' had lost yet again. But you weren't too interested in the match, you got roped into watching it since Thomas dragged you over here. He was with the others, cheering and oohing as they watched each 'glader' get thrown around.
You wandered off a bit, after having a small break while watching the sky earlier you realized something wasn't right about this place. You have a vivid memory of the maze doors closing. You had heard the two heavy hunks of concrete or rock grind against the stone floor earlier that day. You had panicked and covered your ears while watching the stone blocks lock together with wide eyes. They shut with a loud slam and you felt the wind blow your hair around as you watched. This was no place for you guys to be, so why were you here? You were still scared after the situation earlier came back to you as well. It wasn't an ideal outcome you admitted to yourself.
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(Flashback)
As Thomas was explaining and tying your hammock up for the night, you wandered towards the opening in the walls. It seemed to call for you, with its eerie whistling and windy gusts. You started walking faster, then jogging. Then, you stood in front of the huge opening. Thomas was right behind you when he noticed you were gone. He put his hand on your shoulder to keep you from going any closer. "Hey, I said it's better here with us, all right? We can't go out there, you heard the rules." Thomas reminded you, with a more serious look on his face.
You sighed but still felt drawn in. Thomas removed his hand from your shoulder. But as soon as you took another step, he clamped it down. "Didn't you just hear me? I said it's against the rules! I did that when I was a Greenie as well. You don't want to make that mistake!" he yelled. This attracted a few gladers nearby to see what the commotion was all about. Instead, you shrugged his hand off and took another step and another, Thomas trailing you for the couple of steps you got in. Soon enough, you were standing right in front of the hole in the wall. The very same gap that would answer all of your questions if you just ran through it, right?
Two figures ran down the stone corridor, seeing you standing there caused their expressions to become concerned. You watched as they came through the opening and waved. Minho waved back with a smile. Thomas stood by you and grabbed your hand, intertwining your fingers. You gave him a questioning glance as he glared at Minho. You wondered why he was glaring.
"Hey Greenie, come to greet us?" Minho asked. You nodded with a smile.
"She was also getting a little too curious," Thomas explained with a chuckle.
"Hey, why are you here Greenie? You know you can't go out there," you heard another voice say, 'Newt' you assumed, due to the accent. It was crystal clear that they did not want you going out there. You nodded.
"She was just greeting the runners," Thomas defended. "I was there to make sure she wouldn't run away."
"Right," Newt said narrowing his eyes. "I know it's intriguing but we don't want you getting hurt, so please stay here," 'Newt' said with pleading eyes. His eyes were so beautiful, you would almost agree with anything he said when he gave you that look. So, you nodded. Most of the gladers went back to resume their tasks.
Still, you wondered why they were keeping you here, what out there was so dangerous they wouldn't let you go. You were confused and scared. Newt looked concerned still as you furrowed your eyebrows.
"Thomas did the same thing as you when he arrived, running that is, but now he's doing good!" 'Newt' tried to soothe you. Thomas could go out there though! Thomas knew what was out there!
Why did Thomas give up?
They knew you couldn't talk. Everyone knew. And it made it just that much worse.
'Newt' put his hand on your shoulder, his other hand tracing circles into the back of your hand as he knelt in front of you. "It's going to be okay," he said. Your lower lip trembled as you stared at him with a scared expression.
A long, low groan and deep rumbling came from behind you, you turned around and covered your ears. Your body shook as you stared beyond the walls. Your breathing and heart rate picked up as you fell to your knees in front of the stone doors. Your ears felt like they were bleeding, being so close to this noise. No, no, no, no, no, you thought. The doors were closing.
With a high-pitched squeal and deep metal clanking noises, the gears began to turn. A gust of wind blew at you with stray leaves and it whipped your hair back. Giant rusty gears forced the stone doors shut. You flinched as the stone doors ground against the grass and the floor of the maze. It was an awful noise. Then, the doors' interlocking joints met, and a boom rang throughout the glade. You stared at it. It terrified you.
You realized why Thomas had given up on trying to leave. You realized why they couldn't let you leave. You would be stuck out there if you had left.
You stared blankly at your hands, unsure of everything. It all seemed blurry now.
"Hey, it's okay," Newt said, and you broke down crying, wondering who had imprisoned you in this merciless place. After coming to the realization that nobody knew, you vowed one day to find them. Newt cradled your shoulders and let you cry into his chest. He soothed you as you let out the stress from what this place was. Thomas and Minho left you and Newt, the other runner had already walked off exhausted. Newt knew you were scared though and he wanted to comfort you. He knew how scary it could be for someone. He held you there for a little while, allowing you wiggle room in case you were uncomfortable.
"It'll be okay," he said, his arms around you. You felt safe from the world here in his arms. Safe from whatever was out there.
(End Flashback)
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The sparks of the bonfire lit up the inky starless sky. It was quiet with the exception of low grumbling and creaking coming from beyond the walls that encased this place. You didn't know why, and quite frankly, it scared you. The low loud groans and the shrill clanking noises were nothing like what you thought it would sound like.
The whispering leaves caught in the wind, and the slow crackling of the still-lit bonfire in front of you seemed to peacefully drown it out. You were thankful for that. Today had been quite a day and you didn't need much more of it. You were thinking about calling Thomas to ask him if you could head to bed early before Newt sat down next to you. A clear surprise.
He seemed to try to avoid you earlier. So, you chalked it up to him not wanting to get attached which made sense, and you were exactly right. After you had bonded earlier though, he couldn't seem to stay away from you.
"Hey, Greenie?" Newt asked. You turned to look at him. And at that moment, he seemed to hold his breath for a second. Staring into your eyes. "Are you tired yet?" he said avoiding the question he was going to ask. You knew he did that. But, regardless you had to nod. You were getting sleepy. Each yawn urging you to ask Thomas more and more. But here Newt was, asking you.
"Try some of this," Newt said, holding a cup out to you. You eyed it suspiciously. It even smelled weird. You shook your head, you were not going to try that.
"C'mon, it'll help you fall asleep at least? Plus, it may help you speak up a bit," he snickered, more enthusiastic for you to try it. You gave him a patronizing look before taking the cup from his hand and sniffing it once. It reeked and stung your nose. "There you go, down the hatch," Newt said, tilting the cup up slightly where you were holding it against your lips. It tasted sweet but bitter. What an odd sensation. You still didn't like the comment about you not being able to talk.
You looked at him expectantly. Wondering what this was supposed to do now. You raised an eyebrow.
"Jeez, Greenie. I didn't expect you to be able to drink all of that,'" he said, the slightest bit impressed. Uh- you basically forced me to.
You could feel the drowsiness kicking in after watching the fire for another while. You couldn't keep your eyelids open well enough and you were hunched over with your elbows on your knees, and your chin in your hands. Contemplating your day.
"You made a good dash earlier, it was hard to catch you." Newt teased. "Too bad Minho knocked you out. You've been asleep for a few days, and after getting knocked out too, you're still tired?"
You nodded drowsily. Newt chuckled a bit before hopping up from the seat by the fire. Your gaze didn't follow him but he motioned for you to follow. When he looked behind himself and didn't see you there he ran back and grabbed you by the hand, grinning and leading you away.
You stared at the back of his head questioning it before he sat you down behind a log, a slight distance from all the crowd and ruckus.
"Do you hear that?" he asked, staring at you. "That's the maze changing. It does that every night." Your eyes widened at that and you looked towards the walls. A loud screech rang out from inside the 'maze'. You were scared now. Shaking in your boots scared if you will. Newt laughed and perched his arm on the log right behind you.
"And that, Greenie, is the thing you should be most terrified of. We call them, the Grievers." Newt stated with an ominous glint in his eye. "But no one has ever seen one and lived to tell the tale."
After that, you were silent, not like you weren't already. You kept your mouth shut, and your eyes locked on the walls surrounding you and the other 'Gladers' here.
Newt began to weave a grass bracelet and you watched with a curious gaze. You couldn't ask but you wanted to know how he did it as well. When he caught you watching him, he gave you a lopsided grin.
"Want to learn how to make one?" he asked, turning to sit cross-legged in front of you. You also turned and scooted back to make sure there was a patch of suitable grass between the two of you for material purposes. You nodded vigorously and Newt chuckled heartily.
"Alright so first you pick some long blades of grass..." Newt began to explain. After a few tries you had successfully created a wonky-looking grass bracelet. It was a bit too big for your wrist though.
"Here, I made one for you," Newt smiled at you, holding out his creation. You held yours up as well and pointed to his wrist. He let you tie yours on and then with delicate fingers wove yours onto your wrist. You held it up to the light of the fire, examining his handiwork. You grinned with approval and he laughed as he noticed the few pieces poking out and around your bracelet. Obviously, it was not the best.
"Don't worry, I love it," Newt said. He vowed to keep it as long as he could after that and you turned your back to the fire once more and smiled while staring into the distance. The log was not the most comfortable thing but it did offer good back support and minimal bugs.
Eventually, though, you were so tired you passed out on Newt's shoulder. He stared at you adoringly before reminding himself it was bad to get attached to people who could die one day. The gladers were one thing, like brothers, but love was a completely different book in a completely different library. And that's where your night should have ended...
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Newt woke you up when Gally had finished his next-to-last fight to bring you over. He wanted you to watch the last one since it was usually the most intriguing. You drowsily obliged but soon felt wide awake after catching just a few winks of sleep. The fight did seem to keep you on your toes. Then, the circle opened once the glader had been defeated.
Someone you didn't recognize started chanting 'Greenie, greenie, greenie' and your mind raced. You didn't think you could fight like that, but you tried to appear confident as someone shoved you into the circle and everyone cheered. You looked around at the unfamiliar faces trying to spot Newt or Thomas. Before you could though, the guy began to talk.
"Name's Gally, the rules are quite simple. Try to survive for more than five seconds without getting knocked out of the circle." 'Gally' said. He got into a low crouching stance and you just stood there staring at him with an unfixed expression. "Ready?" 'Gally' asked. You nodded. You glanced at the bracelet on your wrist, it gave you some confidence and hope. This would be a piece of cake you tried to tell yourself. And it was. 'Gally' charged forward and you dodged sliding to the side. He couldn't switch trajectory that fast, he was like a bull and you were the teasing red flag. He kept charging until the fight had lasted so long that 'Gally' tried to throw you down on the ground. Before he could though, your instincts caused you to grab his arm and spin him before tripping him and throwing him out of the circle. You were kinda amazed by yourself not gonna lie.
'Gally' angrily got up and dusted off his shoulders before grinning wildly at you. Everyone began chanting Greenie and 'Gally' picked you up and put you on his shoulder and paraded you around. It was like he was proud of you for winning and wasn't even mad at losing he just wanted to show off to everyone that you managed to pull off a victory against him.
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2519 words
Hope you liked this part, thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions please let me know.
Sorry for editing this a bunch and taking so long to update. I wanted to do the movie justice in writing and really capture the scene of the doors closing.
QOTD: Did you read the books for The Maze Runner or watch the movies? Or both?
I read and watched them!!