Newt and Evelyn sheepishly crept out of the forest. Newt walked her to her Hut, stopping in front of her door, he gently placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. Evelyn winced slightly.
"You okay Love?" He whispered, frowning slightly.
"Just...hips are slightly bruised from you..." She whispered back, a blush rising on her cheeks.
He smirked at her, "Am I sorry about that?"
She pushed up onto her toes and whispered against his lips, "Worth it."
"Shuck ya!" He chucked into her kiss, Evelyn hummed in contentment. She lowered down and slipped through the door into her room, hoping Teresa was still asleep.
Evelyn closed the door and turned and leaned on the door, her eyes closed. She leaned her head back on the door and sighed.
"Have a good night?" said an amused voice that was light and airy.
Evelyn's eyes flew open, her face instantly heating up. Teresa was sitting on the bed with an amused smirk, her bright blue eyes lighting up. Evelyn bit her bottom lip, but her own smile came through anyways.
"He seemed reluctant to leave, but insisted he leave 'cause he didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable. He was really sweet."
Evelyn smiled even bigger. Her stomach rolling, and her heart fluttering.
"Come here and tell me!" Teresa squealed.
Evelyn rushed over and just about jumped on the bed.
"I haven't had a girlfriend in three years! Minho likes to gossip, but it's just not the same! He's always making stupid inappropriate jokes-"
"-well no promises!" Teresa giggled, "Your hair is quite the spectacle and you're a little...disheveled, like you dressed really quickly....and those love bites!" She eyed up Evelyn, with a smirk.
"Tessa!" Evelyn shrieked, "you ARE as bad as Minho!"
Teressa just laughed. She composed herself enough to ask, "SO...? What happened? Come on girl, details!"
"Shuuuuck!" Evelyn whispered dreamily. She flopped backwards onto the bed.
"Well seriously considering some of those love bites..." She pointed to Evelyn's neck, "I'd say it was a wild night full of love and passion."
"Tessa! You really are as bad as Minho! He's met his match!" Evelyn shrieked and smacked her with a pillow. Teresa flopped backwards with a giggle. Evelyn turned her head and between giggles and sighs and major blushes she told Teressa about her night.
"You love him."
"Yes. I have for a very long time."
"Tell me! I want to hear all about it!" Her big blue eyes were wide and so open and genuine, they sparkled with life and laughter.
Evelyn and Teresa lay on the bed and they talked and giggled. Evelyn talked about her three years in the Glade alone with boys, how Newt used to be, how he changed after his accident and their time being a couple. Evelyn also told her about what happened between them while Teresa was in her comma.
"Wow...so these..Creators, they can control us?"
"I think so...You saw Alby yesterday, ya?" Teressa nodded, her eyes wide. "I could hear voices whispering in his head, and I could feel Alby crying for help under all of it...it's hard to explain. But ya...the voices were making him do that. And I believe without a doubt that they controlled Newt, for whatever reason. I don't know what purpose it serves."
"Whoa." Teresa whisper, sitting up, hugging the pillow tight. Evelyn sat up and placed a hand on her arm.
"It'll be okay. We're family and we stick together. We will get through this! Thomas and Minho and I are going to check out a section of the maze and see if we can find a way out. We found a weird machine thing in a Griever I squished."
"Whoa, hold up!" Teresa yelped. "Nick told me about Grievers...and you squished it?"
Evelyn nodded slowly, and went on to explain her night in the maze and how she killed the thing. Teresa's eyes went wider and wider and her mouth dropped open.
"Girl!" Teresa gapped at her, "I think I'm sticking close to you from now on!"
Evelyn chuckled, "Come, on, time to get ready, Fry will probably have coffee going by now. You can borrow some of my clothes."
The girls got ready and left the Hut. Evelyn froze. Something was wrong. Frowning she couldn't figure it out for a moment. Then it hit her.
"There's no sun!" She gasped looking up.
"How is that possible?" Teresa whispered, grabbing Evelyn's hand.
Both girls looked up to the sky. The sun was gone. The sky was now a dull grey. The sun had actually shut off. They stood there both looking up and staring at the grey stone ceiling. Apprehension and anxiety filled her, she felt it forming a tight ball in her chest.
"Come on, we need to find the guys!" Evelyn pulled Teresa with her to the dinning area. They found the guys all standing around staring up at the sky...or the lack of sky.
"Guys!" Evelyn called rushing over, Teressa right behind her.
"What did you do?" Gally rounded on the girls.
"Excuse me?" Evelyn asked, taken aback, "You wanna try that again?"
"No. Not you, her." Gally pointed at Teressa, who was looking like she was slapped.
"What did you do?" He asked again, louder and took a menacing step towards the new girl.
Evelyn was proud of the girl, she didn't back down or flinch. She stood up straighter, and her kind blue eyes flashed.
"I did nothing! I woke up here same as you! I don't remember anything!" She said defiantly.
"Oh yeah?" Gally challenged.
"How the heck dose one turn off the sun?" She asked.
"Gally!" Evelyn called loudly. The boy glared at Teressa, "Gally!" Evelyn called again, sharper and more demanding. The boy finally looked at her. Evelyn raised her hand, which was still holding Teresa's.
"Do you trust me?" She asked.
He nodded.
"Good. Then listen. I can feel her emotions. She genuinely has no idea! And like she said, how does someone turn off a big ball of fire in the sky? Breath Gally. She's in this just the same as us, alright? Remember it's not our fault, its the Creators."
Gally huffed and turned on his heel. Teressa deflated slightly. Evelyn gave her hand a squeeze and pulled her to the breakfast line. Newt slid up behind her and wrapped his arms around Evelyn's waist. The knot in her chest loosened slightly.
"Hey Love." He whispered into her hair.
She smiled and hummed. Fry gave them a look, but then smirked.
"Ahhh my favorite couple is back, are they?" His big happy voice boomed loud and happy, despite the weird morning and the fact the sun was just gone.
"Absolutely they are!" Newt grinned, and then nuzzled his face into her hair and neck. And made Evelyn wiggle and giggle. Frypan chuckled, and handed them plates of food and mugs of coffee.
Newt and the girls went to the table.
"...We still going?"
"Of shucken course were going!" Minho said indignantly, looking up from his food, with a frown.
"Why wouldn't we be going?" Evelyn asked, sitting down opposite him.
"Seems like the perfect time to be looking for a way out of this awful place!" Teressa said.
Minho paused and looked at her, his intense eyes looking at her tilting his head. Teressa raised an eyebrow and held his gaze. She matched his blank cold face. They stared at each other for a moment.
"I like her!" He finally declared, with a smirk.
"Thank you?" Teressa asked.
"Your welcome, wanna come on an exciting exploration into the maze? Pixy and Thomas are coming. You got guts and some smarts in that head of yours."
Teressa cocked an eyebrow. There was a few protests from the along the table.
"Oh stop your boo hooing, and Gally, I don't even wanna hear it!" Minho rolled his eyes and pointed his fork at the guys. "All my shucken runners quite. If the girls wanna coming help find a way home, why the shuck not?"
Minho looked at Newt, who rolled his eyes.
"Fine. Evelyn and Tessa?" He looked at them, his brown eyes flickering with amusement, "Startin' from right now, your a runna!" He looked back at Minho. "Happy?"
"Very!" Minho grinned.
"Wait, Tessa didn't even agree to this!" Evelyn held up a hand, and looked at her friend.
"What the hell. I've been chucked into the prison, surrounded by guys, with no memory, and already being accused of turning off the sun...how much worse can it get?"
"Don't bloody jinx it!" Newt warned.
Evelyn grinned. Minho smirked.
"Wonderful. The walls open in 20 minutes. Finish eating and then we'll meet by the doors, Pixy? You can get her ready? I'll grab her a backpack and water."
Evelyn nodded. Newt's hand slid onto her leg, and he leaned over whispering, "Please be care Lee."
She turned to face him, cupping his cheek, "I'll come back. I always will."
"I know...it's just...I know how awful it can be out there." He said quietly, "I don't want you to turn into me.."
"I have you to help me."
She gently pulled him closer and kissed him quick.
"Eww! Get a room!" Nick whined and threw a grape at them.
"I don't wanna see that!" Gally pretended to throw up.
"That was a lame klunky kiss! Come on man!" Chuck frowned.
Newt raised an eyebrow at the kid, and Chuck gave him a cheeky smile.
"Some klunky kiss, eh? Not what she would say last night."
"NEWT!" She shrieked.
"True. I heard all about it." Teressa grinned.
"TESSA! she turned and shrieked at the girl.
Everyone at the table howled with laughter, Chuck held his hand out of a high five, and Teresa slapped his hand. Evelyn sniffed, and held her chin in the air, as she got up. Then looked deviously at Newt, and then the rest of the table.
"Well. You shoulda heard him last night...big ball of whimpers and begging and couldn't even get a full sentence out. I think his night wasn't so klunky."
The table exploded with wild laughter and cheers and whoops. Evelyn smirked and turned away, walking back across the Glade with Teressa right behind her.
___________________________________________
The four Runners waited for the door to open. Newt and Nick came to see them off.
"How's Alby? I should have gone to check on him!" Evelyn cried, feeling guilty, she was already trying to take a step towards the MedHut. Newt held out an arm and stopped her.
"Breath, Love. Jeff and Clint can buggen' handle it. Alby is just sleepin'. He'll be up an' about later today. You have a different bloody job to do right now. Ya can't do it all, even though I know you wanna!" Newt said firmly, but his face and his eyes were soft and gentle. She sighed and hung her head.
He lifted her chin, his big brown eyes tenderly gazed at her. "Go find us a way home, Lee." He whispered.
"Thank you for supporting this, I know you don't like it and don't like me going back out there, but I appreciate your support."
"I believe in you, Love. Of course I'll support you!"
She kissed him in thank you.
"Come on Pixy! You can make out with him when we get back!"
"Slim it Min. You're just jealous!"
"Shucken right I am, look at Newt's form and from what I've heard, he's a wild night, Of course I'm jealous. I wanna kiss Newt too! Ya willing ta share Pixy?"
They rolled their eyes as the doors rumbled open. Thomas and the girls followed Minho into the maze.
______________________________________
They followed Minho deeper and deeper into the maze. The girls had no problem keeping up, which only shocked Thomas slightly. The girls rolled their eyes.
"Do I wanna know what the handprints on the walls are for?" Teressa asked, nervously glancing at them.
"Bread crumbs." Minho called from he front.
"Bread crumbs?"
"Follow my way back." Evelyn answered.
"Ah."
"Yeah, I'm Hansel, you can be Gretel, Evy can be the fairy godmother and Thomas can be the witch who eats children."
The girls snorted and Thomas huffed and rolled his eyes. The group was quiet for a while, following Minho as he led them deeper into the maze running most of the morning. They slowed to a stop for lunch, in the same hall as the still squished Griever. Teresa frowned at it, she had gone quite pale looking at it.
"So..my new Runners...there is probably something you should know." Minho groaned as he sat down, and digging into his sandwich.
"Which is?" Thomas asked, looking up from his lunch.
"There's nothing left to map." He said blankly.
Evelyn knew this, but it was still hard to hear. It had been a few months of knowing there was nothing left to map, and it was just desperation that kept Minho and the runners going. Teresa and Thomas looked at each other and then at Evelyn and then back at Minho.
"I've run every inch of it myself. Every cycle. Every pattern. If was a way out, we would have found it by now." He said dully, leaning his head back on the wall.
"Why haven't you told anyone this?"
"It was Alby, Nick, Newt and Evelyn's call." He shrugged, "People had to believe we had a hope of a way out.' He paused and took another bite of his lunch. "But now...we have a real chance!"
"Why's that?" Thomas asked, his eyes huge flicking back and forth between Evelyn and Minho.
"Well, no one has ever killed a Griever before, no one ever survived a night in the maze. And now, that thing Evy found inside the Griever...the number on it was flashing 4. The same section we're in now." He gestured to the Griever down the hall. "Where that thing was killed. Section four...it was changing that night. It should be closed now...but it's still open."
"Why is that important?" Teressa asked.
"Well there are 8 sections in the maze, sections 1-8. each section has a big painted number on the entrance of the section. See, the way it works, is at night, when the maze changes...it opens up a new section."
"Okay...but what's so special about 4?" Thomas asked slowly, trying to figure something out.
"Well, the pattern is always the same. 71526483."
"So...I still don't understand." Thomas said, frowning and scrunching his face.
"Well...if 4 was open a few days ago, you said it was one section a night...then why is four still open?" Teressa asked slowly, also scrunching her face.
"Exactly, Smarty Pants! Why is 4 open?" Minho smirked at her.
He pulled the cylinder out of his bag, holding it it in his hands. He tossed it to Evelyn who turned it over. The little green 4 was blinking slowly. There was a faint beep. Evelyn looked up at Minho in surprise.
"Did you hear that?" She asked.
Minho scrambled over, they watched the thing. When the 4 flashed there was a faint beep.
"It's never done that before!" His eyes lit up, and Evelyn grinned. They got up, grabbing their backpacks. Thomas and Teressa following. With the cylinder in her hands she went one way and the flashing almost stopped. She stopped and turned and walked towards the others and then passed them, back down the hall. The beeping got louder and more frequent.
"It's showing you the way!" Teressa cried.
"You got it Smarty Pants!" Minho grinned and they all chased after Evelyn.
A few more minutes of silence, running and focusing on breathing. Taking sharp corner after sharp corner, the flashing 4 increasing in frequency. They slowed down to a brisk walk, grabbing their waters. Evelyn froze, she saw something up ahead on the ground. Minho jogged over. He came up short, and took a step back. Thomas came and crouched, inspecting it. Minho came stepped back over and gingerly picked it up. Evelyn immediately recognized it.
"It's Ben's isn't it..?" Thomas asked.
"Ya." Minho answered currently, looking up and around the area.
"What happened?" Thomas asked.
"What does it look like, Thomas?"
"Well how come we survived...what did we do wrong?" Thomas asked.
Minho looked at him sharply. "It's a little hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong!" He snapped.
Minho dropped the bloody ripped up shirt and got up. He stepped away down the hall. Evelyn was frozen, her heart was hammering so hard her chest hurt. Her breathing was coming in short gasps, making her head dizzy. She stumbled backwards into the wall. She dropped the cylinder and slid down the wall. Her head in her hands as her lungs restricted.
"Evy?" Teressa cried, dropping down beside her, "Minho?" She called.
Minho spun around and rushed over.
"Hey, Pixy...talk to me!"
"It was me...It was me..I killed him! I did that! He's dead because of me!"
The voices from last night came flooding back. She clamped her hands over her head shaking it.
"Hey! Hey Pixy! Evelyn! It wasn't your fault! He went nuts. It was a unanimous vote! Not just you!"
Evelyn looked at him desperate for reassurance. Minho nodded, they both had a broken sad look in their eyes. They understood each other.
"Hey uh guys?" Thomas called. He was at the end of the hall, holding the flashing beeping cylinder.
"Yeah?" Minho called.
"You know where we are?" He asked, looking back at him.
Minho looked around and then his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open.
"No shucken way!" He got up, and walked towards Thomas.
Teressa helped Evelyn up. The girls followed.
"Were are we?" Teressa asked
Minho turned to look at the girls, with a huge grin. He swept his arm wide and stepped around the corner.
"Ladies, I present to you, the Cliff."