When I got into the Map Room, Thomas stood there, to my surprise.
"Minho told me to wait here." He explained before I even got the chance to ask.
"Ah, okay." I nodded and got through some maps. "Planning on finding something tomorrow?"
"I hope so." Thomas sighed.
"Do you need to do this run training?" I asked out of a sudden.
"I don't know." Thomas shrugged. "What do you do in the training?"
"Minho looks if you could handle being a Runner. So basically push-ups and everything." I said as I inspected some maps, hoping to find something new.
"But push-ups don't help you with running." Thomas realized. "So why would you need to do that?"
"Well, I don't know." I breathed. "But it gets you muscles."
"Like Minho's?" Thomas blurted out.
I smiled. "Exactly."
"He definitely has them."
I chuckled and looked at Thomas. "Did you stare at Minho's arms?"
His mouth opened, but nothing came out. When his cheeks also turned red, I laughed out loud.
"Don't worry. I do it every day." I admitted, not very ashamed since Thomas was a great friend.
"They're quite impressive." Thomas lowered his voice.
"Yes, they damn are." I agreed. "Just wait until he crosses his arms."
"I'll see." Thomas scratched the back of his neck and together we waited for Minho, who walked in soon.
"Hey." Minho glanced at Thomas before looking at me. "What's up? Why's Jane here?"
"I was just looking through some maps." I pointed at them. "Nothing else."
Except for gossiping about your biceps.
"Okay then." Minho crossed his arms. "So what I was about to show you-."
The rest of what Minho said wasn't hearable to me. I only focused on his arms, the muscles, and the veins.. and I think Thomas did too.
"Need a drool bucket?" Minho suddenly asked, grinning deeply.
"What?" Our heads snapped up.
"We weren't-."
"We didn't-."
"It's just-."
"Nothing."
"Convincing," Minho smirked and walked over to the table. "Try to make it less obvious you're staring next time."
"We'll keep that in mind." Thomas and I replied in unison, faces bright red.
Minho chuckled and pointed at the maze example in front of us. "It's the maze. All of it."
Thomas frowned. "What do you mean 'all of it'? I thought you were still mapping it."
Minho sighed, his face darkening. "There's nothing left to map."
Once again, I felt so bad for him. The way he blamed himself for not being able to find a way out, while he mapped a whole damn maze.
"I've run every inch of it myself. Every cycle. Every pattern. If there was a way out, we would have found it by now."
"Why haven't you told anyone this?" Thomas questioned.
"It was Alby's call. People needed to believe we had a chance of getting out. But maybe now... we have a real chance."
Minho leaned on the table and motioned at the small statue. "Take a look at this. About a year ago, we started exploring these outer sections." He pointed at the bigger sections on the outside. "We found these numbers printed on the walls. Sections 1 through 8. See, the way it works, is every night, when the maze changes... it opens up a new section. So today, Section 6 was open. Tomorrow, it will be 4, then 8, then 3. The pattern always stays the same."
Thomas nodded but then frowned. "What's so special about 7?"
"I don't know. But last night, when you killed that Griever... Section 7 was open. I think it must be where it comes from."
"So every section has its own Grievers?" I wondered.
"Maybe, but I think there are more than just eight Grievers." Minho shrugged. "Tomorrow, we are gonna take a closer look"
"What about the others? Where are they going to run?" I asked while putting some of the maps back in place.
"They quit this morning after Ben and Alby got stung," Minho explained. I could hear the pain in his voice by saying the boys their names, and it hurt me too.
Suddenly the door of the Map Room opened, and two heavy-breathing Med-Jacks appeared.
"Hey! What are you guys doing? You're not allowed in here." Minho moved in front of the complete maze so the two boys wouldn't see it.
"Sorry, it's just the..." Clint breathed.
"It's the girl." Jeff finished between his breaths.
That drew Thomas' attention. "Is she awake?"
"You could say that."
~
"Chuck, what's going on?" We jogged over to the boy, who was laughing loudly.
"Girls are awesome." He pointed at the wooden tower.
"And you realize that now?" I crossed my arms and looked at the tower. The girl was on top of it, throwing food toward the boys who were still on the surface, hiding under boards and other stuff, trying not to get hit by fruits.
"Leave me alone!" The girl yelled.
"Watch your head!"
"Hey, throw one more of those things- ow!" Gally got interrupted by an apple hitting his head. I chuckled and enjoyed the entertainment happening in front of me.
"Go away!"
I walked closer to Newt, who hid under a wooden board with Winston.
"I don't think she likes us very much." He realized.
"I want to join her." I blurted out. "Can I?"
"Why would you?" Newt bent down before a fruit hit him.
"No one said I do like you guys." I shrugged.
"What do you want from me?" The girl shouted.
"We just wanna talk."
"I'm warning you!"
"Take cover, y'all! Take cover!"
When the girl threw more food, Thomas jumped into action. "Hey, it's Thomas!"
Everything grew silent as the dark-haired girl looked over the edge of the tower.
"It's Thomas!" Thomas repeated. "I'm gonna come up, okay?"
The girl didn't reply, but stopped throwing, which Thomas took as a sign. "Okay." He turned to Gally. "Just me."
Gally gave Thomas a very offended look.
"Missed your chance again, Garlic?" I mumbled to just myself.
"Are all girls like this and is Jane different, or are all girls like Jane and is she different?" Frypan asked.
"I think both." Newt blurted out.
"Oh!" I grabbed an apple off the ground and threw it against Newt's head.
"Ow!" He rubbed his forehead.
"Your own fault." I smiled.
Newt mumbled something about 'I meant something else', but didn't speak up.
"What's going on up there?" Gally asked after a while. "Is she coming down?"
Thomas leaned over the tower edge. "Listen, you guys just give us a second, okay?"
~
Later Thomas and the girl, whose name appeared to be Teresa, climbed back down again.
"The Box sent something with her." Thomas held two blue syringes up. "What if we give it to Alby?"
Newt and Thomas started talking about it while I looked at the girl. She stood there so confidently, yet she looked a bit scared.. but so beautiful. She had the prettiest blue eyes, bright, but not in a scary way.
Suddenly she took a step toward me and held out her hand. "Teresa."
"Jane." I gave her a hesitant nod and shook her hand. "You hit them well."
She smiled lightly. "They deserved it."
"Indeed." I agreed. "So do you know Thomas?"
"Just some images of him." She shrugged.
"You girls coming?" Minho asked. "We're going to Alby."
~
We all stood in the Med Hut, circled around a heavy-breathing Alby. His veins turned blacker by the second and some grunts came out of his mouth. The state he was in reminded me a bit of Dave, making me shiver.
"Hey." Newt tapped my shoulder. "You okay, love?"
"Mhm." I quickly nodded.
Newt inspected my face for a second. "Let me know if something is wrong, okay? I'll help."
I nodded before Newt turned to the others again, turning a little more violent.
"We don't even know what this stuff is," Newt argued. We don't know who sent it. Or why it came up here with you." He motioned at Teresa. "For all we know, this thing could kill him."
Thomas sighed. "He's already dying. Look at him. How could this possibly make it any worse? Come on, it's worth a try."
Newt hesitated, swallowing for a second. "All right. Do it."
"Okay." Thomas took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the syringe, which also had the letters w.c.k.d on it. He bent over the bed and was about to give it to Alby, but suddenly his eyes shot open.
"You shouldn't be here!" He screamed.
I let out a yelp and flinched, grabbing Newt's hand out of reaction.
"You shouldn't be here!" Alby pulled Thomas' shirt and screamed.
"Get the syringe!" Thomas managed to say.
Teresa took it and stabbed Alby right in the shoulder, whose grip on Thomas loosened. His breaths got steadier and his eyes closed again.
"Well, that worked." I sighed.
"Okay, from now on... someone stays here and watches him around the clock," Newt ordered.
Just then I realized we were still holding hands. "Sorry." I tried to pull away, but Newt's grip tightened, making me blush deeply.
"Hey." Gally walked into the hut. "Sundown, Greenie. Time to go." He motioned for Thomas to come with him.