Alex's week of medical sanctioned rest started off great. She would wake up early with Newt, Minho and the other Keepers, and have breakfast with them. She would walk with Minho to the Maze doors and see him off. They had started a new ritual where Alex would tell him "use your shuck brain and come back, don't leave me hanging" and Minho would draw an X on his chest "Cross my heart, Sunshine." She would stand and wait until she couldn't see him anymore and then head back to bed for a little. She would hang out with Fry in the kitchen while he made lunch, she would try to help a little here and there, but Fry would always yell at her to "SIT DOWN LIL LADY-BEAN! You ain't been cleared by Jeff yet." She would have lunch and then hang out with Chuck or Newt or Matt, who was still on light duties. By mid week she was bored and feeling useless. 

Alex had also gotten to know the new greenie, Thomas, over the week as well. Bark seemed to like him, so Alex took that as a good sign. He was full of questions, and never satisfied with the answers. He also always had a look of confusion and a lost puppy likeness to him. Alex showed him the Deadhead graveyard, and the glass box of the leader before Alby, who tried going down the Box hole when Thomas wouldn't stop asking about it.

"Look you Shank, this is why we don't try again! He was bloody chopped in half! It happened before I was here. But they have tried everything you can think of! Now do you see? The Maze is the only way out. Okay?" He just looked so crestfallen.

"So you have your last job trainee today hey? How's it going with Jeff and Clint?" Alex changed the subject.

Thomas just shrugged his shoulders, "Not my favorite."

"Well, if you could choose, what would you want to do?" She was genuinely curious. He thought for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip, he grinned at her sheepishly.

"I'd want to be a runner"

Alex laughed, "Why does that not surprise me?" She shook her head

"Well you need to be chosen, not everyone gets to be one. Gotta prove yourself, then Minho has to choose you and then it has to pass the council."

Thomas looked at her, amusement in his eyes, "Oh ya? Chuck told me as soon as you're cleared from that concussion you're being trained as a runner! He also said it was your first week here and you were chosen!"

He crossed his arms and smirked, "Do I gotta get cozy with the Keeper of the Runners too?"

Alex gasped and punched him in the arm "No! You slint head" She flipped her hair and cheekily added, "I'm just awesome and I'm better than you!"

Thomas scoffed, "Ya, okay whatever you say."

They walked back to the glade arguing the whole way.

Thomas went off to finish his day with the MedJacks. Alex wandered around for a little, deep in thought. She wasn't watching where she was going and crashed into something solid.

"Whoa there Shanket! Eyes open. Head up." A deep voice said.

"Oh shuck, sorry Alby, just thinking."

"Care to share?" He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Also, how are you doing? Newt said you were having regular nightmares." He paused and smirked at her "He also said you found a way to deal with them..?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

Alex rolled her eyes, her cheeks going pink. "Really? What did that idiot brother of mine say?"

"Oh nothing... nothing. Heard Minho was having better sleep too..."

"Really? Is that all you shanks talk about? Man Alby, you're as bad as Frypan!" Alex threw her hands up in exasperation.

He chuckled, "Slim it Shanket. I'm just teasing. Though there are bets going..." he said thoughtfully, tapping his chin.

Alex froze. "There are what?" Alby started to walk away laughing.

"Hey, Alby, wait! There is actually something I was thinking about, and I'm pretty sure you could help!" Alex called after him. Alby turned.

"Ya Shanket? What's up?" he sounded annoyed. Alex paused for a moment, thinking about how to word this. She wasn't sure how he would react. She decided to just ask, no point in beating around the bush with him.

"Well, I know it was you who used the bow and arrow... that night. Can you teach me to shoot?" Alby was quiet for a moment, a crease forming in the forehead. He looked her up and down, scrutinizing her. He slowly nodded his head.

"Ok Shanket, I think I could do that."

"Can we start now?! I'm so shuckin bored Alby!"

Alby nodded again, "Ya, just give me 10 minutes, and meet me behind the Bloodhouse."

Alex jumped up and down, fist pumping. "Yes! Thank you Alby!"

______________________________

Alex was leaning against the Bloodhouse wall as Alby walked over holding his bow and a quiver of arrows. Alex was nervous but so excited for this. Alby started with showing her how to hold the bow, it was a little big for her, but it was manageable. She caught on quickly, he told her to then try with an arrow. He marked a spot in the middle of a large tree trunk.

"Ok Shanket, it takes a lot of practice and don't get mad if you can't do it right away. Took me about a month to even hit the tree."

Alex took a deep breath, stood up straight, she turned her body so she was perpendicular to the tree, she planted her feet, she took an arrow from Alby and fit it to the string, and lifted the bow up. Alby gently tapped her elbow so it was a bit higher, up at shoulder height.

"Good. Now take a breath and aim, use the arrow to aim."

She took a long slow breath in, she looked down the length of the arrow, as she exhaled and she released the string. The arrow shot straight, with a twang of the string. The arrow sliced the side of the tree, making tree bark fly off. Bark ran after the arrow to retrieve it, happy she had a job. Alby stood there shocked.

"Jeeze Shanket! You hit the tree the first time! Beginner's luck, maybe? Try again!"

Alex was smiling, she knew she had impressed the Leader of the glade. And herself. Alex took the arrow from Bark, "Good Girl. Stay" The dog sat, waiting for her next order. Alex lined her body up with the target again, nocked the arrow, pulled back on the string. As she did, a deep voice rattled around in her brain.

"Exhale. Aim and trust the arow to fly true."

She released the string.

This time there was a loud THUNK. She hit the tree and the arrow was stuck about 2-3 inches deep in the trunk. Both Gladers stood there stunned for a moment. Then Alex let out a whoop.

"Ok, this has to be a fluke, no one can be that good!" Alby said, not quite believing what he was seeing.

"Hey!" Alex replied in mock hurt. "Just cuz I'm better than you, no need to be rude!"

Alby rolled his eyes and went to retrieve the arrow from the tree. It took her another 30 minutes, and by then she was hitting a bullseye every time. Alby was speechless and Alex was very proud of herself! Just like wrestling with Gally or Emergency Med training it came naturally, her muscles, body and brain remembering. Alby was now trying to get her to hit smaller targets.

As the supper bell rang, they turned to leave, a red flash caught Alex's eye. Alby turned to see why she stopped. There was a beetle blade watching them in one of the tree branches. The two looked at each other, and had a quick silent conversation. Alex nocked an arrow again, her back to the beetle blade. In a split second she had lifted the bow, spun around aimed and released. The arrow sliced through the air and hit the beetle blade dead center in the head. It sparked and fell out of the tree. The red light of its eyes dying. Bark woofed and bounded over to it, smelling it. Alby walked over and picked it up, with the arrow still wedged in its mechanical head.

"Well I'll be shucked!"

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Alex was sitting down at the table with her friends eating supper. Alby had gone to put the bow and arrow away. He came over to the table, with his supper and dropped the beetle blade she shot, into the middle of the table. Every head swiveled in his direction. Alex looked sheepishly at her supper, a small smile on her face.

"The blood hell is this?" Newt asked, "you shot a beetle blade?" He pointed his fork at Alby. Alby just nodded at Alex. Heads swiveled in her direction.

"That's dead centre! You shot a beetle blade dead centre in its tiny head?" Thomas said in shock. "How? Where did you learn that? Did you know you could shoot?" Rapid fire questions from Thomas.

"That's not the half of it!" Alby cut Thomas's questions off. "Shanket can hit pretty much anything! And the first shot she took hit the target tree, 30 min later it was a bullseye every shuckin time!" Alby was bragging like a proud father. Minho was smirking, a twinkle in his coffee coloured eyes. Gally had walked over to see what the fuss was about.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"Our Viking Warrior Shanket here can shoot a bow. And apparently, a pretty awesome shot. Even better than Our Fearless Leader." Minho answered, with a nod at the mechanical bug- lizard on the table.

Gally's eyes narrowed, "You did what? You were shooting at the creators? What do you think they're gonna do to us now?!"

Minho threw his hands up and dramatically waved them around, "What more could they possibly do to us? They already took our memories, trapped us in a stone maze with bloodthirsty monsters. Sit down and slim it, Gal." he turned to Alex. "I think we need to see our warrior princess in action."

Alby thought for a moment, "Well, I didn't really want the other Gladers to find out I was giving her archery lessons, but this is too shuckin awesome!"

He really was a proud Glader father. Alex smiled at him, she felt pride in her skills. Newt piped up, a crease in his forehead "No one is gonna get hurt? I really don't want to be dealing with more bodies, MedJacks are already down a worker..."

"Hey!" Alex said with a hurt expression, "Mama Newtie, you think I'm going to hit a Glader when I can hit the head of a moving mechanical lizard? Have some faith dear brother!" She said, rolling her eyes, the sarcasm dripping off her words.

"HA! Ya Mama Newtie, slim it! No one's gonna get hurt!" Minho sassed. Alex and Minho high fived across the table, Newt went bright red and glared at them.

After super the Gladers all crowded around the open field. Alby and Minho with the help of Chuck and Matt set up a whole bunch of different size targets, at different depths. Alex was standing awkwardly to the side, Minho marched in front of the crowd. He had his hands on his hips, his face serious, glaring at the boys.

"Listen up ya ugly shanks! As you've probably heard- cuz nothing ever stays a shuckin secret in this place.. we have a Viking Warrior Ninja Assassin in our midst!"

Heads all turned to Alex, who curtsied, the Gladers laughed.

Matt yelled from the back of the crowd "You mean a valkyrie?!"

"Sure Matt, sure... And I'm sure you all want to actually see what our VALKYRIE can do! So, we will start betting now!"

There was an uproar from the boys, some betting their desserts for a week or two, some trying to trade jobs for a day... This amused Alex, watching them all betting on her abilities. Minho waved her over, and she raised her chin and matched over to him, bow in hand, a quiver of fresh arrows on her back. She turned to face the Gladers, narrowed her eyes and raised her voice so everyone could hear her.

"If I hit every target, I get your desserts for the rest of my life!" The Gladers all whistled and clapped, whooped and hollered. "Done!"

As she turned to face the makeshift targets, Minho leaned in close to her ear. "You got this Sunshine! Now don't let me down, I'm putting my reputation on the line for ya"

Winking, he sauntered away. Alex's stomach let out a few butterflies but she just rolled her eyes. She had some desert to win. By the end of the evening, she had a new nickname from the Gladers, and she had desert for life! Hitting stationary targets got to be too easy, so some of the boys started throwing cans into the air for her to hit. Alby had to call it quits. Newt was telling everyone "they didn't want to run out of arrows in case they actually needed them." Newt and Minho had their arms around Alex's shoulders, they were all laughing their way to Homestead for bed. It was nice, she felt more confident in herself. She felt like she was slowly figuring out who she was, or maybe used to be. She must have had archery training, some kind of wrestling training and medical knowledge before the maze. (Or she was just awesome.) The boys in Glade had even more respect for her, not seeing her as a fragile little child. And Jeff had said he wanted to check her concussion tomorrow. She was excited to start her runner training. Now she just needed to figure out if it was just a dream or if she was really hearing her twin sister in her head while she slept.