"Hey, where are we going?"
"You'll see."
Minho had woken Florence up early the next morning, whispering that he needed to show her something, and telling her that Thomas needed to come too. That's how they had gotten into this situation:
Walking through the Deadheads with no light between them; only the sun rising over the walls. Despite Thomas having asked the question, Florence also had no idea where Minho was leading them both.
"Yeah Minho, where are we going?"
She was far too tired for this, and it was far too early. He rolled his eyes, squeezing her hand which was interlocked with his, and continued to take them both deeper into the woods, on a path he had clearly taken a hundred times before.
"I said, you'll see."
She let out a frustrated groan, one that let Minho know clearly that she wanted to go back to bed. He tugged her arm forwards, making her trip and Thomas snicker, and she stopped whining to walk in silent protest.
Finally, they reached a wooden shack near where the corner of the walls met, sheltered by trees so it wasn't too visible to anyone passing by. Florence was a little surprised that Minho hadn't shown this building to her before, but focused more on her curiosity as she entered the room after him.
When Minho moved out of the way, the centre of the room showed a perfectly precise wooden model of the Maze. Every single corridor, turning, passage imaginably. They had run it all.
Florence knew immediately that Minho, Alby and Newt were the only ones that knew about this room.
Minho leant his hands against the table, his eyes on the model as Florence and Thomas took it all in. Florence moved by Minho's side, her arm brushing against his as she analysed the structure they had created.
"It's the Maze." Thomas mumbled.
Yeah, no shit.
"All of it."
Thomas' eyes narrowed in concern as he tilted his head up to question the Runner. "What do you mean 'all of it'? I thought you were still mapping it."
Minho just shrugged. His eyes shifted to the girl, and Florence could detect guilt at the fact he had hid this from her. However, she didn't blame him.
"There's nothing left to map. 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?"
"It was Alby's call."
Florence guessed as much. People needed the hope. The Glade would descend into chaos if everyone knew they had little to no possibility of escaping.
"But maybe now we have a real chance."
Minho's eyes glimmered with excitement now, and a smile nudged at Florence's lips. Thomas was changing things for them.
"Take a look at this." Minho lifted his hand and begun pointing out the outer part of the wooden models, with numbers one to eight painted onto the miniscule walls in front of them.
"About a year ago, we started exploring these outer sections. We found these numbers printed on the walls. Sections one through eight. See, the way it works, is every night, when the maze changes it opens up a new section. So today, Section six was open. Tomorrow, it will be four, then eight, then three. The pattern always stays the same."
"What's so special about seven?" Thomas asked, his eyes moving to section seven on the model, and Florence's to the metal cannister on the table beside it.
"I don't know." Minho admitted. "But that night, when you killed that Griever, section seven was open. I think it must be where it comes from." He took a break for breath, and Florence saw the spark of excitement in his eyes again. "Tomorrow, we're going to take a look."
There was a pause, and Florence shifted. Feeling her head aching with nervous stress, she stretched from where she was hunched over the table.
"I'm gonna go get us breakfast." She told the pair, and Minho gave her a warm grateful smile before turning back to Thomas.
Leaving the room, Florence headed straight for the kitchen, which was completely empty due to the fact she had missed breakfast. However Frypan - the legend - had noticed she hadn't appeared in the food hall that morning, nor Thomas or Minho, and left the three some food.
Gotta love that boy.
Florence could hear yelling from outside the Homestead. Brushing it off as a fight between the Builders or something similar, she continued to fill up her plate with food for herself and the two boys, ignoring it.
But then the yelling got much louder, and she heard what sounded suspiciously like a girl's voice.
Even Chuck's voice isn't that high pitched...
Poking her head outside the door to see if it was really what she had thought, her suspicions were confirmed.
The girl's awake.
And currently she was up the tower and throwing objects at the group of boys crowded at the bottom. Florence immediately jogged over, her plate still in hand, instantly deciding this was the most entertaining thing she had ever witnessed in the Glade.
The boys were taking shelter under wooden crates or metal pans to avoid getting hit by the flying objects coming at an alarming speed directly towards them. The girl's yelling was understandably full of fear and anger from confusion and the boys shouting back was only increasing this issue.
Florence shoved her plate into Chuck's hands, her eyes not even leaving the scene for a second. He barely acknowledged her, chuckling every few seconds when something hit a boy on the head - mainly Gally.
"Get Clint to go get Thomas." She told him urgently, forcing him to look at her so he understood how serious she was.
He nodded wide-eyed, and immediately rushed off in Clint's direction so he could find Thomas. Florence finally approached the brave idiots on the frontlines against the girl, stopping herself from laughing at Gally's furious expression and reddened face.
"Hey! You throw one more of those things-"
He was interrupted by something hitting him in the head.
"Take cover y'all!" Frypan shouted, holding his pan higher up to shelter himself and Winston from the never ending supply of things being flung at them.
As hilarious as it was for her to watch, Florence knew she should stop it. She understood the girl's fear and her desperation in keeping the boys away; especially as she most likely believed she was the only girl.
"Hey!"
When she called out, she knew the girl recognised her voice as another girl. The flying objects had stopped. She finally saw her.
The girl crept to the edge of the tower, her eyes finding Florence and instantly flooding with relief. She watched her curiously, saying nothing, as if she was encouraging Florence to continue.
"My name's Florence. Can I come up?"
Instead of replying, the girl retreated from the edge which Florence took as granted permission. She cast Gally a warning glance to say 'wait here and don't be a shank', leaving him to roll his eyes and scoff.
Creeping to the top of the tower, Florence was met by a knife pointed at her by the girl. Instantly holding up her hands defensively, a chuckle involuntarily left her lips from nerves.
The girl's grip on the knife tightened at a lack of fear from the other, but Florence really meant no harm. Her eyes were still wide in fear, after all she must have woken up with two boys hovering directly over her. Florence still had no idea how she escaped them and got up the tower.
"I won't hurt you, really."
She could tell the girl knew this. She said nothing, yet again, but lowered the knife which allowed Florence to move and sit down close to her.
"You can keep throwing things if you want, it looks quite fun actually." This earned a chuckle from the girl, and hesitating she picked up an under ripe apple and chucked it over the edge.
An 'ouch' sounded from the group of boys and Florence recognised it as Newt's voice. Covering her mouth to stifle the sound, Florence threw her head back in a laugh, and the new girl found herself relaxing.
"My name's Teresa."
Teresa.
Beaming at Teresa, Florence already felt much better with another girl around.
"Nice to meet you Teresa."
Reaching for an object that Teresa had in her pile, Florence decided to have a go at throwing something off the edge herself. She did, and on hearing a metal pan ring with a clunk, the two girls dissolved into laughter.
"Hey, it's Thomas! It's Thomas!"
Then Florence felt a little bad about throwing it off.
Both girls peered over the edge of the tower looking at the group of boys with Thomas at the forefront, who was holding both hands up as if to plead with them.
"I'm gonna come up, okay?"
Teresa retreated from the edge, and Florence gave Thomas a thumbs up to say that was okay. Spinning around, she saw Teresa picking up the knife again, and had to bite back a laugh at the fact she would think Thomas could be a threat.
They heard his footsteps before they saw his head pop up, Teresa immediately thrusting the knife out in front of her to stop Thomas coming any close. His eyes widened immediately in fear as he stepped out onto the platform.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, just... Easy, all right?"
Teresa's eyes flitted to Florence, as if to ask her if Thomas was really okay. Florence in return gave her a smile and nodded reassuringly.
"He's harmless really."
Thomas rolled his eyes at Florence's words, before moving to sit down beside her and opposite the new and still shaken girl. Teresa didn't wait to ask her loaded up questions.
"Why can't I remember anything?"
The classic.
"This is all normal. Okay? We've all been through this. Your name will come back to you soon. It's the one thing that-"
"Teresa."
Thomas paused at her interruption. He blinked once, wondering if he had misheard.
"What did you say?"
Florence let out a snicker at Thomas' dumbfound expression, adding that,
"Yeah she got it already. You took forever."
He rolled his eyes again, but didn't let himself get distracted from trying to get information from Teresa. "I'm Thomas. But you already knew that, though, I guess, huh?"
"They said I kept saying your name in my sleep. Who are you?" Florence felt her heart sink. She was hoping that Teresa would recognise Thomas and have some sort of information that the rest of them didn't have.
"I don't know. I can't remember. None of us here can remember anything. We all woke up here just like you did."
Teresa stopped to take in the information Thomas was giving her. She seemed overwhelmed, of course, but not panicky.
"What's going on up there?"
Florence could hear Gally's impatient voice from below the tower on the ground, and she exchanged a knowing look with Thomas.
"Is she coming down?"
Another voice sounded from the crowd. Florence got up from where she was sat and leaned casually against the wooden bar that looked over at the floor.
"Hey, can you give us a minute?"
Newt gave her an unimpressed expression, but knowing he could do nothing, he only sighed. He turned to the others, beginning to shoo them away.
"All right. Come on."
Glancing back one last time, Newt saw and appreciated the grateful smile the girl gave him. Turning around again, Florence settled back on the floor with Thomas and Teresa.
"'She's the last one.' What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure."
"We're assuming it means that you're the last person to be delivered. See, ever since you came up, the Box hasn't gone back down." Florence told Teresa, who in turn had a wave of panic wash over her. She felt like it was her fault.
"I just think it's got everyone a little worried. Especially Gally." Thomas explained.
He thinks it's my fault." Teresa pointed out, and Florence frowned at the fact she was right.
Why is Gally such a slinthead?
"Are you sure you don't remember anything else?" Florence pressed, wanting - needing - the girl to have more information. She had to know something about why they were all there.
"I remember water, feeling like I was drowning. These faces staring at me. And this woman's voice saying the same thing over and over-"
"-WCKD is good." Thomas interrupted, concluding that their visions were similar. Too similar. Florence's heart jolted as she recalled,
"Ben said the same during the Changing."
Then her eyes moved to Thomas, the boy immediately understanding she needed an explanation for how he knew what Teresa was going to say.
"Ever since I've been here, I've had these dreams. Well, I thought they were dreams."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Florence asked him, his eyes flashing with guilt as he glanced away from her.
"I- I didn't want you to think I was insane." She shook her head; she could never think that. This whole situation they were in was insane. Not him.
"Teresa, you were there. You were there and you told me that everything was gonna change."
These can't just be dreams, they have to be real. Right?
"What does it mean?" She wondered, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.
"I don't know. I just always get pieces." Teresa nodded, and the other girl - who was watching dumbfounded - realised she was relating to everything Thomas was saying.
There's something different about these two.
"And the others don't remember anything?" Teresa asked, expectantly looking to Florence. Straightening up to clear her throat, she shook her head.
"I don't, no. None of us do."
She brushed away the memory of a young her playing a guitar. It seemed so insignificant in comparison to what Thomas and Teresa were sharing. Her memory - if it even was that - meant nothing.
"Why are we different?" Thomas wondered, as if voicing his thoughts aloud.
"What if we were sent here for a reason?"
Thomas and Florence eventually coaxed Teresa down from the tower, persuading her to get a good meal from the kitchen. They watched as she wandered over cautiously.
"Shuck, huh?" Florence commented, not knowing what else to say.
Thomas just laughed, knowing exactly what she meant. Pausing, he turned to fiddle with the hem of his shirt, before his eyes darted back up to her.
"Florence..." He started slowly, as if he felt nervous about what he was about to say. Watching his expression intently, she gave him an encouraging smile.
"Yeah?"
"You know, with you and Minho, did you like- have a conversation? About- you know, or did you just..." He trailed off, clasping his hands together as if to symbolise a relationship.
The thing is, they didn't really have a conversation. It just happened. She had no idea if they even were in a relationship.
"No, we kinda..." She mimicked him clasping his hands together, giving him a teasing smile. He rolled his eyes, and upon seeing his flushed cheeks, she knew exactly why he was asking.
"You trying to figure things out with a certain someone huh?" She elbowed him a few times, with him squirming away trying to dodge her.
"No!" He whined defensively before pouting. "Maybe." Letting out a dramatic sigh, his eyes drifted to where Newt was chatting with Minho and Frypan. Florence felt her heartstrings tug for him.
"What do I do?"
Florence's lips turned up in an amused grin as she took in the embarrassment on Thomas' face. But she also understood it. She had it with Minho - she still does sometimes.
"Just don't waste time. Tell him flat out or do something drastic." She told him simply. Her advice was good advice of course, but a little hypocritical from the girl that didn't make a real move for two months.
"Drastic?" He questioned, his eyebrows knitting in confusion.
"Yeah, like, spontaneously kiss him."
"Florence!" Thomas hissed, willing for the girl to be quieter. She only tipped her head back in an evil laugh as he glared at her.
"Relax, Tom. Just don't think about it too much."
He gave her an unimpressed expression as she stepped away, walking backwards so she still faced him. His arms folded across his chest and he pouted as she spoke wisely,
"We can't afford the luxury of overthinking."