We opened up a secret closet in the weapons room, to find the trunks filled with Maps.
"Okay. The Runners have always compared these day to day, looking to see if there was a pattern that would somehow figure out a way to the exit. You even said that you really didn't know what you were looking for, but you kept studying them. Right?" Thomas said, pulling out the maps for section two.
Folding his arms across his chest, Minho nodded.
"Well, what if all the wall movements had nothing to do with a map or a maze or anything like that? What if instead, the pattern spelt words? Some kind of clue that'll help us escape."
Minho rolled his eyes. "Dude, do you have any idea how much we've studied these things? Don't you think we would've noticed if it were spelling out freaking words?"
"Maybe it's too hard to see with the naked eye, just comparing one day to the next. And maybe you weren't supposed to compare one day to the next, but look at them one day at a time?"
"Tommy, I might not be the sharpest guy in the Glade, but it sounds like you're talkin' straight out your butt to me." Newt laughed.
"Actually, he has a point." I said, I think I kind of understood what he was saying. Maybe we've just been studying things wrong this entire time, and we were missing something.
Thomas looked over at me, hope glimmering in his eyes. "Okay. You've always had one Runner assigned to one section, right?"
Minho nodded. "Right."
"And that Runner makes a Map every day, and then compares it to Maps from the previous day, for that section. What if, instead, you were supposed to compare the eight sections to each other, every day? Each day being a separate clue or code? Did you ever compare sections to other sections?" Thomas suggested.
Minho rubbed his chin. "Yeah, kind of. We tried to see if they made something when put together.. Of course we did that. We've tried everything."
"We obviously haven't tried everything, because otherwise we would've found a way out by now." I interrupted.
"You're lucky that I'm actually friends with you, otherwise I'd kick your shuck butt." Minho grumbled, and I grinned.
I was about to make another smart ass comment, but Thomas spoke.
"Wax paper."
We all looked at him, puzzled.
"Huh? What the-" Minho started.
"Just trust me. We need wax paper and scissors. And every black marker and pencil you can find."
---
Newt went to look for black pencils and markers, Minho was searching for scissors, and I was getting wax paper from Frypan. I didn't know what Teresa was doing, but I assumed she stayed back with Thomas.
Frypan was definitely resistant against the idea of us taking all of his wax paper. He claimed that he needed it for baking, especially since the supplies had been cut off. When I told him what we were doing, he finally let me have it.
Turns out that Minho couldn't find any scissors, so he grabbed a couple of razor sharp knives instead.
When Thomas had finally gathered all his necessary supplies, he set everything down on a table. Newt, Minho, Teresa, and I all crowded around Thomas to see what he was up to.
"This better be good." Minho warned, but I could see in his eyes that he was interested.
Newt leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. "Get on with it, Greenie."
I leaned on my crutch, waiting for Thomas to do something.
"Okay." He said, handing knives to Minho and I. "Start cutting rectangles, about the size of the Maps. Newt and Teresa, you help me grab the first ten or so Maps from each section box.
Minho held up his knife in disgust. "What is this, kiddie craft time?" He groaned. "Why don't you just tell us what the klunk we're doing this for?"
Thomas shook his head. "I'm done explaining." Minho rolled his eyes, and lightly hit his leg with my crutch.
"Come on, shuckface. Let's get to work." I told him, and we started cutting out the pieces of paper while the others got the Maps.
When they got all of the Maps they needed, Thomas picked up a marker. "All right, everybody trace the last ten or so days onto a piece of paper. Make sure you write the info on top so we can keep track of what's what. When we're done, I think we might see something."
Minho stopped cutting. "What-"
"Just bloody keep cutting, I think I know where he's going with this." Newt ordered. I, on the other hand, still had no idea what we were doing.
Minho and I kept cutting, and Newt joined us. Teresa helped Thomas draw whatever the shuck they were drawing.
"I've had enough, my fingers are bloody burning like a mother. See if it's working." Newt announced, dropping his knife the floor.
The three of us stood up, and crowded around Thomas. On the table were eight piles of papers, one pile for each section. He picked up a paper from each one, and aligned them together. Teresa let out a gasp when she saw, as did I.
There, in the center of the page, was the letter F.
"Man," Minho said, basically summing up how we all felt.
"Could be a coincidence. Do more, quick." Teresa said, and Thomas nodded. He repeated the same thing, and we got more letters. After F was L, then O, an A, and T. Next was a C, an A, and a T.
"Look, it spells FLOAT, then it spells CAT." Thomas pointed out.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious." I rolled my eyes.
"Float cat? Doesn't sound like a bloody rescue code to me." Newt said.
Thomas shrugged. "We just need to keep working."
After going at it for a bit longer, we discovered it was actually CATCH.
"Definitely not a coincidence." Minho said, and we all agreed.
Teresa pointed at the closet. "We need to go through all of them, all those boxes in there."
"Let's get on it." Thomas said, nodding.
"We can't help them. At least not me and Thomas. We need to get the Runners out in the Maze." Minho said, and Thomas looked at him in disbelief.
"What? This is way more important!" He argued.
"Maybe, but we can't miss a day out there. Not now." Minho calmly responded.
"Why, Minho? You said the pattern's basically been repeating itself for months, one more day won't mean a thing." Thomas said, angering Minho.
"That's bullcrap, Thomas!" Minho slammed his fists against the table. "Of all the days, this might be the most important to get out there. Something might've changed, something might've opened up. In fact, with the freaking walls not closing anymore, I think we should try your idea... Stay out there and do some deeper exploring."
That caught Thomas' interest. Though, he still was reluctant. "But... What about the code? What about-"
"Tommy," Newt said, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Minho's right. You shanks go out and get Runnin'. Rosa and I will round up some Gladers we can trust and get workin' on this."
"Me too, I'll stay and help. Go with Minho." Teresa piped up.
Thomas nodded, and Minho playfully slapped him on the back. "Good that." He said, starting up the stairs.
"Don't worry, Tommy! Your girlfriend will be fine!" Newt shouted as they were almost out the door. Minho spun around, and annoyed look on his face.
"She's not his girlfriend!" He shouted back, and the two of them left. I gave Newt a look of confusion, and he just laughed. I was fed up with being left out of this stupid thing with Minho, I wanted in.
After working for a little longer, I decided to talk. "Alright, are you gonna buggin' tell me what's up with Minho and Thomas?"
Newt laughed once again, and I groaned.
"I'm probably not supposed to tell you, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Minho was going to tell you once, but chickened out." I raised my eyebrows, as he continued. "Thomas and Minho are dating."
As soon as the words left his lips, I grinned. The two of us burst out laughing, and we didn't stop until our chests hurt. We weren't laughing at them, we would never do that. It was just pretty amusing that Minho had a soft spot for Thomas.
While we were laughing, I could've sworn I heard Teresa mutter, "Why are the hot ones always gay?"
---
We had gathered Frypan, Clint, and Jeff to help us with the maps.
We went on working for about three hours, when Teresa randomly sat up. Newt and I both gave her odd looks, to which she just blushed.
"Sorry.." She said awkwardly.
"Did you have a memory?" Newt asked, intrigued. She shook her head.
"No.. No. I didn't. It was nothing, really." She said, and I shrugged. It probably was nothing.
We had uncovered two more words, BLEED and DEATH.
"That's not too pleasant.." I stated, to no one in general.
"Not at all." Newt agreed. He was about to continue, but we heard yelling from above. My eyes widened, realizing the Grievers must've arrived. "Wait here." He said, getting up and going towards the stairs.
I quickly grabbed onto his arms. "No way! You're staying here." I told him, and he sighed.
"Fine, just let me lock the door." He said. I let go of him reluctantly, and he went up the stairs to the door. He locked it and placed a wooden board in front of it, for extra protection. He then came and sat back down with us.
We worked for hours more, until it was mid morning. We had finally uncovered six words.
FLOAT
CATCH
BLEED
DEATH
STIFF
PUSH
They kept repeating themselves over and over, we finally stopped decoding when it came obvious there was nothing else.
Newt got up, unlocked the door, and left. Probably to go get the lovers.
Ship. Fandom. Fangirl.
Those three words popped into my head. What the hell? Were those words significant to my past life? A ship.. That was when you thought two people made a good couple, right?
I then decided that I shipped Thomas and Minho. Thominho. I grinned at the thought.
When he came back, he was only accompanied by Thomas. 'I wonder where the other lover is?' I thought.
As soon as Thomas entered the room, he was looking at the Maps and the code.
"That's all? Are you sure they're in the right order?" He asked, and we nodded. Teresa explained how it just repeated itself. "We need to get Minho down here, maybe he knows something we don't. If he just had more clues-"
His face suddenly went pale, and he leaned against a shelf.
"Tommy?" Newt asked, taking a step towards him. "What's wrong with you? Your face just went as white as a ghost."
Thomas just shook his head. "Oh, nothing. Sorry. My eyes are hurting, I think I need some sleep." He rubbed his temples.
Newt nodded, and squeezed Thomas' shoulder. "Well, you spent all night in the bloody Maze. Go take a nap."
Thomas nodded, and left.
---
I spent the rest of the day with Teresa in the Homestead, talking about what the code might mean. Most of it was just pointless, we were just trying to be optimistic and hopeful.
It was late in the day when all the Gladers started coming into the Homestead. Newt, Thomas, and Minho came and sat down next to us, on the second floor. None of us talked at all. Newt held my hand, and Thomas held Minho's. Teresa looked longingly at Thomas.
The silence was broken when we heard the yelling from downstairs. "They've gotten Dave!" Someone shouted. I had no clue who Dave was, but I felt absolutely awful for the kid.
We were all frozen in place, when suddenly Thomas started running. "Thomas!" Minho screamed. The three ran after him, with me coming behind as fast as I could.
"Shuck it!" I shouted, throwing my crutch down. I limped after them, felling the pain go through my leg. I could walk, yet there was pain. When I ran, I felt as if my leg was on fire. But I ran through the pain.
When I caught up, Thomas was on the ground. Minho was down next to him holding his hand, shouting at the med-jacks. Newt was yelling at him, calling him a bloody idiot for doing that. Apparently he had ran at the Griever, it seemed that he was attempting suicide or something.
A Med-Jack then injected the Grief Serum into his arm, and he closed his eyes. Before he blacked out, I heard him whisper, "Don't worry... I did it on purpose..."
Minho bit his lip, as if holding back tears. I put my hand on his back, wishing I could comfort him somehow. But of course, I couldn't. One of the Med-Jacks was saying his chance of survival was slim, because he was stung so many times. I crouched down next to Minho, who was shaking his head and whispering "No."
"Minho..." I said quietly. He grabbed me and pulled me into his embrace, and I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
Thomas might die.