I do not own The Maze Runner or any of its characters

Frypan: *opens up a gift from a secret Santa* It's an avocado! Thanks. . .

Lauren
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You know, we should go over your plan.

"Not-Lauren, I'm trying to sleep."

You've named me?

"It was either that or Crackface."

I'll take the former.

"And now you're getting the latter."

After I talked with Chuck, we all ate a delicious meal of burgers and tater tots. I had a bet going with Peter that I could eat four of them. He called my bluff.

It's not hard to see who won that bet.

Come on, it won't hurt to say it out loud.

"I talk with Clint and get him in on it. Ask Minho if I can sub for Joe, then go to Ben, Joe has a similar route near the end, make sure he's good with it. And then get Stung." What a plan.

Crackface was silent for a second.

See? It's a good plan. And executed right, it'll be done and over with soon. Not one of your friends needs to get hurt. And I know you're worried about that.

"Yeah, but Clint's not going to be on board. He's one of my friends."

You can talk him into it.

"You are seriously underestimating my abilities."

No, you are.

"Goodnight, Crackface."

So you're doing it?

"No." I lied.

With all the talk of underestimating abilities, I had managed to underestimate the most important one of all.

|~^-^~|

"Hey Clint? Can I ask you something?" The next day I worked with the Med-Jacks. It was weird, being with someone other than the Builders or Bricknicks. I had to stop myself from turning around to say a quick thing to Peter or Gally. They weren't ten feet away from me anymore.

"What's up?"

"You'd take care of me if I got Stung, yeah?"

"Of course, I'm a Med-Jack."

Thank the Lord.

"What are you doing."

It wasn't even a question. He saw through the smokescreen. My hope of just asking him, and hinting that if I maybe did, he shouldn't tell Peter or Gally about it, died quickly.

I guess I was just going to give it to him straight.

"I'm going to get Stung. Tomorrow. And I'm hoping I can count on you. I'd rather just keep you out of the loop altogether, but you'd be completely blindsided and I want to make sure you'd have all the materials you need to take care of a Sting.

"And also, I need you to not say anything to Peter or Gally. I'm trying to go through this as quietly as possible."

Clint's face resembled the four walls that surrounded us. I hoped I didn't make a mistake telling him.

"Do you really think I'm going to give my consent for this? People have literally died. And you think that you're just going to get Stung, get the Serum, and be back to work the next day? Gally was out for 4 days. He's never been the same. George-" Clint stopped.

"George died in front of all of us. I tried the best I could to save him, and it still haunts me to this day. But I can do something now. You're not going to go through with this. Not if I can help."

You know what to do. . .

I really hated Crackface.

"Clint, the reason I told you was because I didn't want you to be caught off guard. I can check the supplies myself. I'm sure I can guess what I'll need. The only person that really needs to know what's going on is Ben. I can do this with or without you. But I'd rather do it with you, because I don't want others getting hurt. Telling you was a calculated risk. Please don't make my math be wrong." If I can get two cookies from Frypan, I'm sure I could at least get Clint mildly okay with this idea.

"I'm sorry, but no."

"Please don't do this." Shucking finch, if Clint wasn't on board, he could disassemble the whole plan.

"I can't let you kill yourself."

"You'd kill me if you don't help."

I did it. I pulled out the line I prayed I couldn't use. I hated manipulating people. Especially my friends.

"If you're on board with this plan, you could do everything in your power to make sure I'd recover fine. If you aren't, I'm at the mercy of Jeff. You were made Keeper for a reason, Clint." I even brought out the puppy-dog eyes. Manipulation was a slippery slope.

The silence in the room was immense. It covered every inch of every thing that took up space in the room. I needed Clint.

"I'm not okay with this plan. But I'll be shucked if I don't help." Clint finally said.

"Thank you." I gave him a hug.

"Please don't die."

"I won't. And please, whatever you do, don't tell Peter or Gally. They'd just make a scene, and," I took a deep breath. "I don't want to hurt them."

"I'll do my best." He nodded.

"Can I," I paused. I'd already asked for so much. "Can I take the rest of the day off? There's some other preparations I still have to do."

"Go ahead." Clint turned to the cabinet that still needed to be stocked.

I left the room, astounded at how relieved I felt.

|~^-^~|

Peter and Gally,

Well, I'm dead.

"Lauren, you can't write that." I whispered. I tore out the page and started fresh. "Come on, write from the heart."

Peter and Gally,

I'm sorry. If you're reading this, there's a good chance that there's tears in your eyes. Just know, you couldn't have done a thing. I had to do this. We need to get out of here. I couldn't just sit idly by and run the same finching route every day and still have this option in the back of my head. It haunted me for days. I tried to ignore it.

But, I guess my calculated risk was calculated wrong. I never thought I was good at math.

Jokes aside, you were some of my best friends, maybe my only friends, and I'm truly sorry this note made it's way to your hands. I know you're probably angry at me, and you're mad at yourself as well. Don't. I swear on Frypan's bacon, I will ghost slap you if you blame yourself. And please, whatever you do, don't blame Clint. He never wanted to be a part of this plan. Please help him, he's going to be grieving as well.

I'm so sorry,
Lauren

I tore out the page and folded it up. After writing the title, I shoved it into one of my dresser drawers.

'In the worst-case scenario, please give this to Peter and Gally.'

I sat on my bed and started to run through the plan again. Before I could get far, a knock startled me from my thoughts.

"Come in."

"You weren't at supper, you feelin' okay?" Gally came through the door with a sandwich and a bottle of water in his hand. I was relieved when he handed them to me.

"No, but I'll get through it." I was so tired of lying.

"Peter thought it was somethin' major, you never skip a meal." He gave me one of his rare smiles and sat in the random chair I left in my bedroom.

"I always thought he seemed too smart to be a Builder."

"You think Builders are dumb?" Gally seemed shocked.

I thought this was common knowledge. "Not all of you, but people think just enough Builders aren't all that smart for you guys to get a bad rep."

"Huh."

"You didn't hear it from me, though."

Gally laughed, a nice, pure sound that the whole world seemed to lighten up around it and made the self-imposed doom of getting Stung just a bit better. I wished I could stay in the memory of it forever.

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I'm so sad for what's in the next chapter but-
THINGS ARE GOING TO GET REAL QUICK, REAL FAST.

I don't even have any questions for you, so just type the first thought that pops in your head when you think about this chapter
(Let's keep this mature, KK?)