Alex was waiting for Minho by the Map room with Bark beside her. Minho came strutting across the glade towards them. Stopping right in front of her.

"All right, there Ms. Warrior Princess, your training begins now, and as of now I am your Keeper, you do everything I say, when I say it and how I say it." Minho said strictly.

"Sir yes Sir, Drill Sergeant Minny" Alex saluted him, with a small smirk. Bark gave a happy woof.

"Alex." Minho was dead serious, he crossed his beefy arms and frowned at her. "I'm shucken serious. The Maze is no joke, one wrong move and you're done. One wrong turn, you're done. If you stop and hesitate because you're too scared or frozen, you are done." He paused, watching her, then continued. "Now, I'm going to be tough on you, I know you can handle it...but do you think you can handle it?"

Alex nodded. She knew Minho took his job seriously, but she was surprised at how serious. Now that she thought about it, he probably had the most dangerous, stressful and important job in the whole Glade, including Alby. Everyone was looking to him to get them out. He was the one risking his life every day to get them out, he gave the guys hope, his stubborn determination kept the whole glade going. She really admired how he handled all that pressure. Or maybe she should be worried, he doesn't really show much of anything besides sass and indifference. He was bound to snap at some point.

Minho continued with a lighter tone, "Now. I can not afford to live without my hair gel, so no way in shuck am I going to let anything happen to you. Newt won't have any reason to take it. So we will keep you nice and safe."

"That would be a tragedy, wouldn't it? Hair without body and style." Alex said sarcastically.

"Sure the shuck would, I'm glad you agree." He clapped his hands "Now. To start off, you can not be running in combat boots, and it just so happens the creators sent up another box for you." He handed her a little crate that had some more clothes, hair ties and running shoes, along with a small digital watch and water bottle. She was already wearing leggings, so she sat down and put on the sleek new running shoes, they fit like a glove.

How did the creators know what size my feet are?

When she had her shoes on and hair up into a pony, Minho got to work right away. He made her jog one slow lap around the whole of Glade. She liked running, it made her feel free and alive. Bark was a good running companion, she kept a steady pace beside Alex. Minho pulled out a stop watch and told her to run it again but he was going to time her this time. She took off as fast as her legs would go, pumping her arms and focusing on steading her breathing. When she rounded the last wall corner and saw Minho, watching the watch, she pushed herself just a little more. Bark keeping pace. She made it back to Minho breathing hard, but not fully winded. Minho didn't look up from the stopwatch.

"Min, you broken?" Alex panted.

"No shucking way! No shucking way you beat me!" He said more to himself than to her.

He looked up and yelled over his shoulder "Alby! Come here! I think this stopwatch is broken!" Alby and Newt came jogging over. Minho showed them the stopwatch, both leaders' eyes went wide and looked from the watch to Alex to Minho. Both Glade Leaders started to laugh.

"Anyone care to tell me what's so funny?" Alex asked her hands on her hips, she stuck a hip out. Newt let out a loud laugh, a deep rumble from his chest, he hadn't laughed like that in a long time. He managed to get out, "You dethroned the king!"

"I'm sorry, I did what now?" Alex asked, confused, looking between Alby's proud dad face, Mama Newt's amused one and Minho's shocked and slightly appalled face. Alby crossed his arms, a proud smile on his face, "You, Shanket, have dethroned the Keeper of the Runners, as the fastest person in the Glade. The only one who ever came close was Newt. According to this stopwatch, you're a full 10 seconds faster than him! Congratulations!"

Alex's face broke into a huge smile, then she started to laugh. She was surprising herself more and more. Archery, wrestling, running, emergency medical training...what did she do before this?

"Well, I do look better in a crown...so, ya." She sassed.

Minho huffed and folded his arms. "I don't believe it, I want a redo."

"Fine. Challenge accepted. But." She said as she straightened up and looked him in the eye. "We race. You and me. In front of the whole Glade, so everyone can see me beat your shuck butt."

"Done." They shook hands.

"Alby, call the Gladers, I have a shuck face to beat." Alex stated.

___________________________________

The Gladers were all crowded together, on both sides of the line that ran down the side of the wall. Alex and Minho (and Bark, who didn't want to be left out of a run) were lined up at one end. It was a straight 200 meter sprint. Newt, Gally, Matt and Ben at the other end to see who would win, Alby would send them off.

"Alex! Minho! Take your marks! On Go! One. Two Three. GO!" Alby hollered for everyone to hear.

Alex took off, her eyes never straying from the finish line. Her fiery red pony streaming out behind her, she could feel her heart thumping against her ribs, breathing in and out evenly, She could feel Minho beside her. There was no way she was going to let him win! No way! She put her head down and pushed her body harder, faster...

Faster, come on.

She was speeding past Matt and Newt at the finish line. She didn't stop though, she kept running.

Running made her feel free, and feeling free made her feel safe. And safe is something she never truly felt again after Chris's attack. Sure she had moments she felt secure, and everyone kept saying she was safe and they had her back. But she never felt truly safe. He haunted her in her dreams. She could hear him in her head, sometimes she thought she saw him in the shadows after sunset. If she ran fast enough, she could out run her fears. Right?

She ran even harder, beside the stone wall that kept her prisoner. She ran. She could feel the angry hopeless tears falling, and her face heating up, her lungs and legs were burning. She came to one of the corners of the wall and turned, continuing to run. She didn't even slow down when she turned directions. She was gasping for air now, she had pushed herself harder, she wasn't sure if the burning in her lungs was from the tears or the running, probably both. She let out a loud angry broken scream, deep from within and dropped to her knees, panting and crying big angry tears. Bark trotted up beside her, and nudged her face. Alex wrapped her arms around the dog, and buried her face into her neck.

"I'm sorry Bark, I'm sorry!"

She heard footsteps and branches snapping. She grabbed a rock from the ground, stood up and whipped around, ready to fight. She knew Chris was going to come back for her, she always knew. When he rounded the corner she threw it at his head and ran forward and tackled him to the ground. She would get him first, so he couldn't hurt her again. Her fist closed and raised up and she brought it down but he grabbed it, stopping her fist from making contact. She screamed; frustrated, and angry and scared. She tried again, but he wouldn't let go of her wrists. He was bigger and stronger. He wrapped his other arm around her back, holding onto her hip and pulled, rolling them. He was now on top of her, still holding her wrists tight to her chest so she couldn't try and punch him again. His face was only inches from her.

_____________________________________

Minho

He had stopped at the finish line a few seconds after Alex had crossed it.

Ya, she was faster.

But she kept running, pushing herself faster than he ever saw her run. Bark was right beside him, looking at him expectantly, she woofed at him and took off after Alex. He hesitated for a moment and then took off after the dog. Newt yelled at him from behind. Minho ran between the wall and Deadhead trees following the sound of Bark and...crying? He was getting closer when he heard a scream. It was so broken, his veins flooded with fear and pushed himself harder. His heart beating faster from exertion and fear. He rounded the corner and saw her. Alex turned around, her hair flying, screaming. She was breathing hard, she had picked up a good sized rock and threw it. Her aim was perfect, but he was fast enough to duck. But he didn't expect her to tackle him. He landed on his back with a small grunt, she was on top of him, in any other circumstance he would have made a sassy remark about it, but he knew something was seriously wrong (not like the rock thrown at his head was normal for her..) when her small fist came up trying to punch him, he caught it, he held onto her wrist as she screamed again.

"Alex?" Minho questioned.

Her eyes were glazed over and distant- unfocused, she wasn't seeing him or hearing him. Panic washed over him, he wrapped his arm around her and flipped her onto her back, pinning her to the ground so she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Sunshine! Stop! It's me!" his voice broke at the end.

He risked looking away from Alex quickly "Bark, get Newt. Get Newt!"

The dog took off. He turned back to the girl underneath him, she was still fighting, and screaming. He started talking to her quietly, ignoring the screaming, he was holding her gently but firmly, pinning her arms to her chest. She still struggled andfaught, screaming at him.

"Sunshine, it's me. Stop fighting, you're going to hurt yourself. I don't know what you're seeing, but it's not real. Whatever it is, it's not real. It's me, it's Minho. It's not real. You're safe, you're safe.."

His voice cracked again, his eyes felt wet.

"Please, Sunshine. Stop fighting. It's not real."

Her screaming turned into sobbing, she slowly lost the tension in her limbs, going limp. Minho let go of her wrists, and slowly got off of her, scared she would try something again. When she didn't fight back he picked her up and held her close, trying to protect her from whatever she was seeing.

Newt, Frypan, and Alby came crashing through the trees in time to see Alex stop fighting and start sobbing and Newt dropped down beside Minho and Alex. The other two hung back, unsure of what to do, she was fine at the start of the race, no one knew why she didn't stop. Minho looked at Newt, not really caring that he could see how shaken he was.

"She tried to throw a rock at my face and then tackled me. But it was like she was seeing something else entirely. She tried fighting me! I don't know man, something was..is wrong. She couldn't hear me or see me! And then all the fight just left her and started crying!"

Newt nodded, rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip, thinking.

"Newt, I think Chris's attack did more psychological damage than we thought! I think she thought I was Chris... She was trying to fight him, not me."

Newt nodded, that made sense. Alby, and Frypan stepped over and crouched down beside Newt and Minho and the girl, she didn't respond to anything that was going on. Her eyes were still glassy and distant.

"Ok, just give her some time, right now. Jeff said he cleared her medically, there is no more physical damage. But I don't shuckin' blame her for losing it. What that slint head did to her was...was..I got no words. He jacked her up. Minho, she didn't actually hurt you?" Alby sounded tired.

Minho shook his head, still too shaken up to make a sarcastic remark about how awesome he is and that one one could ever hurt him.

"No, I'm fine. I was more worried she would hurt herself." He was stroking her hair, and gently rubbing her back.

"Good. Cuz I really didn't want her in the slammer for breaking 'harming another Glader'. Fry, Newt...you guys good with that? No one needs to know she lost it and tried to take out Minho?"

The boys nodded.

"Good. Now, she doesn't go anywhere alone. She trusts you guys the most. If you notice anything like that again you find another of us and we will do our best to help her through whatever trauma she's reliving. I'll have to tell Jeff and Clint too." Alby got up, patted Minho on the back and walked away to find the MedJacks. Fry got up and with a look of worry still on his face, slowly walked after Alby. Newt and Minho stayed with Alex.

It took some time, but Alex slowly came back to them. Minho didn't want to admit how scared he was, watching her try to fight him because her mind told her he was a threat...that left another crack in his walled up heart. Hearing her broken screams just about shattered it entirely. He wished he could take her pain and hurt onto himself. He would do anything for her. She was broken. But...so was he. And in those broken places that's when the sun can shine through. Lighting up the dark places. He tightened his hold on her, he silently vowed to never leave her. Even if she didn't reciprocate what he felt, he would still do anything to keep her safe.