[ ELECTRA ]
❧
Catching up to Minho before he reached the Doors, Electra swung her arm out and gently put her hands on his chest. He looked down at her and slowed to a stop, allowing the rest of the group consisting of Newt, Thomas, Teresa, and the preteen boy to catch up.
"Woah, Minho. Don't you think we should make a game plan before you run into the Maze without a purpose?" Newt asked, placing his hands on his hips.
"You're the leader. You make the plan. Thomas and I need to get out there." Minho tried to move past Electra but she pushed him backwards.
"What?" Thomas blurted out. "Sorry, Minho but I agree with Newt. We need to make a plan."
"We already missed a day, and at a time like this it's crucial we get out there. Who knows how the Maze has changed since the Doors stopped closing, and the other Runners are either too busy or too chicken to check it out." Minho grinned at his comment. "So we have to."
"Fine, you're right," Newt sighed. "All I ask is that you shanks go retrieve the maps and the weird Griever device and bring it back before you go exploring. I'll round up some Gladers we can trust and we can start studying these things full time while you're away." He looked out toward the broken barricades before turning back toward Minho. "And don't be stupid, you're not going out there empty-handed. What good will you be if you get lost?"
"Good that. Everything is fine and dandy." Minho nodded towards Thomas. "Come on."
Minho started in the direction of the Homestead to gather some running supplies and Thomas quickly ran after him. Electra moved to follow them, but Minho raised an arm in front of her, shielding her from moving any further.
"Ehh not a good idea. You're injured, remember?"
Instinctively, Electra looked down at her shoulder which was still heavily bandaged. The wound stung with pain, but she sighed through it. Exhaustion plagued her, the feeling reaching to the tips of her fingers. Other wounds scattered her body like stars in a night sky, and oddly enough she was reminded of the artificial stars she used to see every time the fake sun would set beneath the Maze walls.
"Since when have you ever told me what to do? I'm coming. End of story." Electra pushed through his arm and made her way to the Homestead.
She had a hazy memory of the layout of the building, but she remembered her pack, along with her unconscious body, had been resting on the top floor. She climbed up the stairs before Minho could catch up to her, passing a few Gladers who jumped out of her way when they saw her.
She barged through a door on the top floor she thought she'd been located on and saw her pack knocked over on the floor. She walked over to it and took a quick inventory of the supplies she had. Electra immediately noticed the blood-stained lining. Peering deeper into the bag, she began shuffling through her belongings. None of her supplies had been stolen by any of the Gladers who could've stumbled into the room.
Then, her heart nearly stopped. Where was her knife? She remembered taking it off of her pack and holding it up to Gally when he'd burst into the room. Electra scoured through the room, first checking underneath the bed, then ripping the sheets off the mattress and throwing them to the floor. The room was empty, besides a couple of pieces of furniture. Where had she dropped it? Did someone take it?
She heard footsteps in the hallway just outside the room and she turned to see Minho standing in the doorway. He playfully tilted his head at her, before walking over and letting out a small laugh.
"You're insufferable, you know that?" he teased, his lips curling into a smile as he pulled her knife out of his pack and handed it over to her.
Electra couldn't help but smile back at him and warmth filled her entire being. The sensation was the same one she'd felt countless times before while in his presence, but then she was reminded of the kiss they'd shared. She realized she never properly took the time to process the moment, but now, when they were all about to run into the Maze where anything could happen, it still didn't seem like the right time.
Although falling into the memory was tempting, again, Electra pushed it away. She merely grabbed her knife and pack before pushing past him, making her way back down the steps and meeting Thomas on the ground floor of the Homestead. The Greenie already had a pack secured around his shoulders, and by the look of it, the bag was empty.
Electra firmly patted him on the shoulder and he took a step back away from her. She looked up at him, rolling her eyes, and a small smile formed on his lips.
"How does it feel after going through the Changing?" Electra asked. Thomas' smile vanished.
He scratched the back of his head. "It sucks, to be honest, but it was necessary."
Electra tilted her head, looking into his eyes. He didn't break contact but he fidgeted in his spot. She wasn't sure how to feel about being right when she suspected that the Greenie worked with the Creators. Looking at how uncomfortable he seemed, her confusion only deepened.
Minho's heavy footsteps stomped down the stairs, and he flashed her a look before walking past them and opening the door of the Homestead. Electra followed him, with Thomas close at her heels. Newt, Teresa, and the preteen boy were already gone, and Electra spotted Newt speaking to a couple of Gladers near the Kitchen. The trio jogged toward one of the open Doors. Minho stopped before crossing the boundary into the Maze.
"We don't know what's changed out there, so for this first run, we're just going to go to Electra's Cove and then we'll come back. Sounds good?"
Electra groaned, striding past Minho and into the Maze. She heard his laugh behind her, and then soon enough Minho was running at her side, while Thomas brought up the rear.
Being in the Maze again was exhilarating, in a way. Her heart dropped into her stomach whenever the walls would open up into a new hallway, and her eyes and ears twitched at any slight sound or rumbling feeling she could detect. With each step, Electra felt her muscles tightening as all the memories of the years she spent in the Maze came flooding back.
It was odd, having the only place she could remember feeling like nothing more than an old memory. She'd only been in the Glade for a few days, but already the Maze made her skin crawl. How could she have lived out here for three years?
The group made it to her Cove without any issues, and when Electra pulled back the ivy curtains, her entire home felt and looked dustier than she remembered. It was as if the place she used to live had been vacated for years and not merely days. All of her belongings were strewn across the room, firmly planted where they lay.
The only object that held some form of life twinkled in the corner of her eye. The Griever device sat on the boulder table, and the collection of maps poked out of a pack right beside it. The irregular beeping from the device only reminded Electra of its true purpose, and she wondered if they would ever go back to the Cliff and inspect the changing symbol on it some more.
Electra was sure the device had to be a type of key, and the implantation of these keys into the Grievers had to have been meant for the Gladers. Still, even if it was a key, it would be stupid to use it until they knew exactly what they would be facing.
The way Minho grabbed the Griever device and stuffed it into Thomas' pack, along with the bag of maps, suggested he wasn't as sure about the device as Electra was.
"You do think the device is a key, don't you?" Electra asked.
Minho shrugged, his eyes darting around the Cove. "Maybe. We'll know soon enough, one way or another. Won't we?"
Electra shrugged in return. "Fair enough."
Thomas moved deeper into the room, closely inspecting the various artifacts. Electra furrowed her eyebrows at the Greenie and looked to Minho for some clarity. He merely let out a tiny laugh.
"Are you going to miss this place?" Thomas' question made Electra instinctively recoil backwards.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you're staying in the Glade now, aren't you? There's no use coming back here." Thomas looked up from a rock he'd been inspecting, and his eyes were large and round.
Electra narrowed her eyes at him. She hadn't considered that this could be the last time she saw her Cove. Surely, she would come back here at some point before they all escaped, wouldn't she? Nevertheless, she never truly realized that subconsciously she'd already decided to stay in the Glade. That meant that her Cove no longer had a use for her.
"There's still some use to it," Minho said when Electra slowly made her way over to her makeshift bed and began filling her bag with some necessities. "If we stay overnight in the Maze we could sleep here."
Thomas replied to Minho, but Electra had already tuned everything out. She took her time looking over every single item, trying to commit it all to memory. The progress they made in finding a way out of the Maze was a good thing, still, it was bittersweet to say goodbye to all she ever knew, regardless of how terrible everything she ever knew was.
She grabbed some of her favourite stones and stuffed them into her pack, along with whatever medical supplies she had left, and some leftover clothes and provisions. Making her way to the right side of the Cove, she stared at a blank stone wall.
Then, she was reminded of the wall in the Glade, where each Glader carved in their name. With Minho and Thomas' eyes glued to her back, she took out her knife and began inscribing her name. Neither of the boys interrupted her, and when the task was finished she turned and handed the knife over to Minho.
The Cove was just as much his home as it was hers, at least that's what Electra would like to believe. Minho accepted the knife and began carving his name into the stone. She watched him inscribe each letter of his name, and the process sent a wave of acceptance over her. She was leaving this home, to escape the Maze. Somewhere, outside of the Maze, there had to be a place for her. A real home.
Once Minho finished carving his name, Electra noticed Thomas shifting his weight back and forth. She turned to him, and he met her eye before gesturing towards the wall.
Electra let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, go and add your name too."
A smile formed on Thomas' lips before he grabbed the knife from Minho's hand and began carving his name into the stone. Electra hadn't noticed the smile on her face once the Greenie's back was turned to her. When she did notice, her lips immediately fell into a frown.
She didn't like this boy, did she? Thomas worked with the Creators, how could she possibly consider him a friend? All the while she was denying the possibility of a friendship, the Greenie was carving his name into her Cove wall. She shook her head to try and shake the thought out of her mind. Thomas was not her friend. Minho was her only friend, and she preferred that it would stay that way.
Thomas finished carving his name before Electra could give it too much thought, and she snatched her knife out of his hand before he could say anything.
"C'mon, let's get back." Electra didn't take a last look at her Cove before sweeping the ivy curtains back and plunging herself down the wall.
The trio made their way back to the Glade without any interruptions, and their entire run felt empty as if all life had been sucked out of the Maze and all that was left was the dusty skeleton of what once was. She was thankful there'd been no Grievers, but at the same time wondered where they could be, if not prowling the Maze for any wanderers. Maybe they were charging up for the events of the night ahead, if Grievers even needed charging.
Turning into the hallway where the Doors were located, Electra slowed to a walk when nearing the border between the Maze and the Glade. With shivers running down her spine, and the anticipation of electrical currents running through her veins, Electra crossed the border into the Glade, and let out a sigh of relief when nothing terrible happened to her.
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A/N: bit of a filler chapter tbh buuut the end of this first book is near!! how exciting! also yikes the writing quality of this one SUCKS so sorry about that LMAO