"Thomas jabbed a thumb over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows.
'You met our new friend?' Minho responded, a smirk flashing across his face. 'Real piece of work, this guy. I gotta get me one of those shuck suits. Fancy stuff.'
'Am I awake?' Thomas asked.
'You're awake. Now eat—you look horrible. Almost as bad as Rat Man over there, reading his book.'"
James Dashner, The Scorch Trials
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You had nightmares that night, and the next morning when you woke up Thomas had already gotten up. Good, you thought. You had avoided anyone noticing the fact that you and Thomas had slept on the same bed and any further embarrassment. Everyone else was still asleep you presumed from all the snoring around you. So, as any normal person would do, you went back to sleep.
The next time you came around, you were curled up in a ball. You reached up to your hair making sure it wasn't too messy. Luckily, it had dried before you went to bed. You had also tied it up. You heard some creaking suddenly from above you. No one was snoring anymore and everyone was facing you. You stared back with a look of confusion.
"y/n, when did you get here?" Frypan asked.
"Oh, they took me back here way after you guys were all asleep last night," you responded while yawning.
"Are you okay?" Thomas said, walking over to you. You sat up completely, legs swinging over the side of the bed.
"Yeah, why?"
"Your cheeks are wet with tears," Thomas says while cupping your cheeks. You hadn't even noticed. What was that nightmare about again? I can't remember. You hadn't realized that in your thoughts, you were staring into space at your own lap.
"y/n? y/nnn???" Newt called, waving a hand in front of your face from up above.
"Hm, yeah?" you asked suddenly snapping out of it.
"Seriously, are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, it was just a nightmare. Don't worry about me," you whispered deciding to get up. The minute your bare feet touched the cold cement ground though, you sprang back into the bed.
Newt tried his best not to laugh, but Minho just let it out. "A bit cold, isn't it?" Newt asked, butchering the words with his groggy accent.
"No shit," You said while putting your hands on your arms and bringing your legs to your chest to get warm again.
"I'll grab your shoes," Thomas said, wandering off to find where you had left them at the door.
"Princess y/n! Princess y/n what should we do next for you?" Minho asked with a joking voice.
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you'd shut up," you shot back at him.
"Can do," Minho snickered, saluting you.
Newt gasped off to the side, and you just laughed. "Minho actually taking someone's orders? As if!" Frypan chimed in. You just laughed and laughed. The look on Minho's face towards you was priceless.
"Well I mean y/n's been crying since the dawn of time," Minho jokes. But it struck a wrong nerve with you. You swallowed thickly, one of your major insecurities was being useless.
"Thank you for letting me know I'm an inconvenience," you snarked back at him. Then you shot him a sarcastic look which he laughed at.
"You're welcome, princess y/n!" he said in a mocking high-pitched tone. This made you feel a little better. Keep them happy, you reminded yourself.
Thomas sat down beside you on his bed as you put your shoes on and laced them up.
"Alright, breakfast anyone?" you asked after finishing tying your shoes. Everyone's hands shot up so you gave them a little signal before knocking on the door. The guard outside poked his head in.
"Sir, is there perhaps any breakfast ready for us?" you asked nicely.
"Oh, of course," he said. Everyone got up and filed to the door. As the guards led you down the hallways of the facility, you couldn't help but map it out in your head. Each twist and turn. Like the maze, though much less intricate and easier to remember.
Once you reached the cafeteria, it looked weirdly full since you had eaten in it when it was empty with your dad. You kept this to yourself though, you knew you would have to tell them at some point, and better sooner than later so... after breakfast would be best. A few of the other people you hadn't seen looked up, following you with their eyes as you took a seat with your maze.
"How can she just walk out with us like that like she owns the place?" Minho whispered to Thomas.
"I don't know, it's what I've been meaning to ask her. It's like what I saw last night..." Thomas trailed off. "Hey guys, we need to talk," he said once you all sat down. And he and you told all about the weird doctors and Aris, how he went through the vents later that night and saw you, and your view of the tables.
"Those doctors are pretty sketchy not gonna lie," Minho said through a forkful of scrambled eggs.
"True," Frypan added, nodding his head. You watched as he gulped down his orange juice with curiosity. How the heck-
Newt shimmied into the seat beside you. He smiled in your direction a bit as he scooted closer. He knew what he was doing, sending these butterflies throughout your body. He slyly dropped his fork on the floor.
"Newt, one day here and you're already making them wash twice the dishes!" Frypan jested.
He reached under the table to grab it, leaning towards you as he did so. He used your knee as leverage to get back up, sliding his hand up your leg but not too far. This sent jitters through your body and he mistook that for you being cold.
"Y'know, the air conditioning or whatever it's called is nice, but it's freezing," he said.
"Agreed," Winston said from across the table. Thomas just narrowed his eyes at Newt. You also had turned to glare at him for a moment before turning back to Thomas and continuing your story of last night.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
After breakfast, the guards led you back to your rooms, you went back with them despite wanting the peace and quiet of your old room they kept here. On the way there Thomas began whispering to you. You guys talked about some random stuff while walking down the barren hallways.
When you reached the room, the metal doors locked shut. You glanced around the room before sliding down a wall to sit on the floor in the corner. Everyone retreated back to their beds, bored out of their minds. Newt, who had a top bunk, sat on the edge of the ladder and kicked his feet impatiently.
"So... y/n," Thomas broke the silence. You braved yourself for whatever he might ask you. "How the shuck are you getting those guards to basically lick your feet clean whenever you talk to them?"
"Getting them to do what?" You asked, a bit alarmed at the odd phrasing.
"Y'know, bow down to you? Like, 'all hail Princess y/n,' Minho over there?"
You looked down at your lap. You twiddled your thumbs and brought your knees to your chest. You kept on a poker face and tried your best to give them a good answer. "Um... you guys might not trust me, but I just figured this out yesterday. I have a room here, that's like, my old room. And my d- I mean Mr. Janson told me about it. He explained how I grew up here and after I stung myself I remembered the majority of it. The only difference was that I refused to work for WCKD, so they sent me up into the maze. I don't remember anything else really," you tried to explain. Thomas looked at you, urging you to continue.
"Um... well- you see, Mr. Janson..." you stopped, and glanced at everyone. They were all staring directly at you with a weird expression you couldn't quite read. You decided to just tell them.
"Mr. Janson... he's, my father," you breathed out.
Thomas sat there dumbfounded, Newt looked mad, Minho's face was unreadable, Winston just stared at the wall with furrowed eyebrows, and Frypan looked down at his lap.
"I know what you might think, but like I said. I refused to help WCKD, that's how I ended up in the maze with you guys. I wouldn't exchange anything in the world for being able to have those experiences with you guys. Fun or not," you rambled on. You glanced back at Newt to see a softer expression coating his features, he looked understanding.
"Yeah, it's not like you can pick who your parents are," Newt finally spoke up.
"That's true," some of them mumbled to themselves. You sighed in relief before slouching against the wall.
"y/n, you wanna climb up here and sit next to me?" Newt hesitantly asked.
"Yeah, I'd love to." you smiled gratefully. "Yes, top bunk!!" you said to yourself, pumping your fist in the air. Minho and Frypan who were watching chuckled.
"Yeah you guys, I'm pretty sure y/n isn't doing any evil plotting anytime soon," Minho kidded, laughing at his own horrible joke.
Everyone else seemed to be in a much better mood after that, even discussing plans to use your sudden authority. Of course, the only way to escape this place was by getting a key card. So, you plotted and devised a plan that would take place that day at dinner, after they called the names.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
When lunch rolled around you began to realize how much you missed Frypan's cooking. You decided to express this thought and everyone seemed to agree with you. The food here was bland. Frypan seemed to take pride in that and smiled so wide you could see the pinks of his gums.
After lunch, they put you, Thomas, and Minho on treadmills. While running you had mini conversations. Then, Thomas pointed at your arm.
"How's it feeling?" Thomas inquired.
"It still hurts a wee bit," you answered. A strange accent just came through your voice at that moment. Minho snorted next to you. And then you, Thomas, and Minho had a full-on laughing fit while running. This caused your sides to feel like they were splitting open.
After a while, the doctors examining the three of you stopped the machines and unhooked all the wires. They even congratulated you on how good you did. Apparently, most of the mazes didn't have a thing called a 'runner'.
Then one doctor pulled you aside to change your bandage. They told a guard to take the others back to your shared room, but Thomas refused to leave you there. So, he stayed by your side as you winced in pain and scrunched your face up. He even let you squeeze his hand as tight as you needed to when it hurt really bad. Gunshot wounds were not fun and it would be two more weeks before it was completely healed. Tough luck for you, you were planning your escape for today. So while the doctors weren't looking you stuffed a ton of bandages and gauze pads in your pockets.
Now it was time for your plan.
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1939 words
Thank you for reading this part, this was mainly a filler chapter but some things here were important to later events!
QOTD: How many calendars are in your room?
I think I have about 5 ;-;