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

Teresa: *gives a cryptic warning, then goes into a coma*
Lauren: 0-0
Lauren: Okay, but I didn't make this much attention when I came up.

Lauren
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"Okay, but where do you think the Greenbean's gonna go?" I asked the table.

"Oh, he's a Runner for sure."

Gally didn't answer.

"Yeah, but, I don't know. He seems to lack the critical thinking skills for a Runner. You know, the split-second decision making?"

"The guy went up against Gally and survived. He's got the skills."

"The shank only survived because he remembered his name," Gally mumbled.

"Of all the flavors in the world, and you go with salty?"

"What?" Gally looked up from his plate.

I sighed. "If I have to explain it, it's not as good."

Peter laughed. "I liked it."

"Thank you, Peter."

It was one of those times where Peter and I were lost in conversation, and Gally only interjected when it suited him. We could never just pull him into the conversation easily.

I slapped the table. "The Greenie got his first look at a Griever this morning! I wish I could've seen his face. The guy's so skittish."

"Oh my God, he did!" Peter turned around in his seat to look at Thomas. I followed suit.

To put it nicely, the Greenie wasn't doing so well. He stared at the table, lost in thought. Peter and I watched as Alby came up and took him away to start his Tour.

"Ah, the Tour. Alby's going to eat him alive." We turned back around.

"I hope he does," Gally said.

Peter and I just looked at each other. We decided not to take the bait.

|~^-^~|

Looking back on it, I should've known that the peacefulness wasn't going to last. It was too calm, even with having a new kid come up. Everything was running exactly how it normally does. Gally was yelling at a Builder, the Med-Jacks and I were taking care of Ben, Alby showed the Greenie around, and my leg was healing.

But no, the shucking Box had to come up again. This time, it used the siren.

I was sitting in Ben's room, icing my leg and keeping an eye on him.

My head snapped up, and I covered my ears. "Why. Why? Why do you have to come up again?" Then the meaning hit me—another Greenie.

It was very strange.

Clint came into the room, interrupting my thought. "Do you wanna stay with him or go see the Greenbean?"

"I'll stay here. Thanks, though."

He nodded.

"It's not like you're going anywhere." I looked over at Ben and chuckled.

A little while later, I heard footsteps and voices. I turned around to try and see it, but Clint had apparently shut the door on his way out. Oh well. I'd figure out what was up with the new kid later. And why he was sent up in the first place.

I turned back in my chair and saw Ben sitting straight up.

"Oh, hey man, glad to see you're up," I said calmly, even though calm was the last emotion I was feeling.

Ben looked like klank. His shirt was off, showing his tight, pale, and disgusting skin in all of its glory. He looked deranged, like an escaped serial killer hunting for their next victim. I wondered how I knew what a serial killer looked like.

"Ben? You alright?" I stood up and made my way over to his bed.

"He's bad."

"What? Who's bad?" And why did I have a feeling Ben was talking about Thomas?

"We gotta, he's gotta go." He started shaking.

"Ben, you have to lay back down. No one's bad. Get some rest." I tried to push him back on the bed gently.

"No! You don't-he's going to kill us all!" Now he looked scared, and his eyes were darting back and forth, not focusing on a single thing.

"Ben! Calm down. He's not going to kill us."

"No, you-" Someone flipped a switch inside Ben. His face turned from scared to deadly in a split second.

And in that split second, I was tossed against the wall, and Ben was already out the door.

Jeff burst into my room.

"Lauren! I just saw Ben. Are you okay?"

I was slowly losing consciousness. "Someone's gotta protect Thomas; Ben's gonna kill him." I tried to get up.

"What are you? You have to sit down, Lauren." Now Jeff was trying to guide me back down.

"No, you gotta, you gotta protect Thomas. Ben's, he's 'bouta kill," I struggled weakly.

"Lauren lay down. Clint's getting someone."

"But-" I was out.

|~^-^~|

"Lauren, come on, wake up. You can't die." Yet again, someone was shaking me awake.

"I swear to God, if someone wakes me up one more time by shaking me, I will snap your neck," I mumbled.

My attacker responded by hugging me.

"I really gotta stop waking up like this." I sat up, taking in my surroundings.

"Yeah, you do." Gally sat in one chair, Peter in the other.

I had a smile on my face until I realized why I was out. "Oh no, is Thomas okay? Did they find Ben?" I started to move out of my bed.

"Calm down. Thanks to your warning and Clint's tracking ability, Alby got to Thomas in time. He's fine, just a little shaken."

"And Ben?"

Gally had a grim expression on his face. "He's dead."

Something twisted in my gut. "Dead, dead?"

"That's what I said, didn't I?"

Um, what?

Peter noticed the mood change and changed the subject fast. "But you haven't even heard the news about the Greenie."

"So it was a Greenie?"

"Yeah. And it's a girl."

For some reason, I felt a little sad about being stripped of my title of being the only girl here. But then I remembered I hated the title anyway.

"Oh, really?"

"She came up with a note. 'She's the last one. Ever.' Then she said Thomas's name and fell asleep." Gally sat back in his chair, obviously angry about something.

"Clint said she's in a coma."

"A coma and a cryptic note? Is she trying to outshine me or something?" I forced a laugh.

"Not until she hospitalizes two guys."

"Oh! We got a funny guy here." My mood shifted again. "But in all seriousness, should we be really worried?"

"I don't know," Peter confessed. "Not having the comfort of getting a guy each month kinda changes things."

I crossed my arms. "How long was I out?"

Gally checked his watch. "Couple hours."

"Not bad." I stretched my neck.

We sat in silence, and I kept looking at Peter or Gally to find out which one was going to start the conversation. But neither of them did.

"Well, I'm done." I swung my legs off the bed and tried to stand up. My leg buckled.

Gally stood up as if to catch me but I caught myself on the bed.

"I really hate being injured. Like, why take something perfectly capable of working and go, 'Oops, now you're in pain!' " I huffed. "It angers me." I started to make my way out the door, leaning heavily on my left leg.

"You sure you don't need your crutches?" Gally asked.

"I'm fine." I lied. "You guys can go back to work, I'm going to make my rounds."

"You sure?" Peter was concerned.

"I'll go right back to bedrest after I'm done," I promised.

They both sighed like they knew I wasn't going to go back to bedrest. I mean, they were right, of course, but it still hurt.

I popped in on the girl and audibly gasped. She looked like an older version of the chick next to Thomas in the cafeteria memory. Oh, dear. This wasn't good at all. The guy said the two were special. And she comes up with a cryptic note. Why did I have a feeling something big was coming?

Nevertheless, I checked her vitals, fed her some soup sitting next to her, and made sure she was comfortable.

Walking out, I almost went into Ben's room and stopped myself before I could open the door.

"He's gone, Lauren," I whispered. And turned around to leave the Homestead.

The Glade was running business as usual. It was as if nothing had ever changed, and a Glader didn't almost murder someone.

I guess life really does go on.

While I was trying to figure out if it was safe enough to go help the Builders, I noticed the Greenie-well he really wasn't the Greenie anymore, was he? Anyway, I noticed Thomas walking around lost.

I needed the exercise, and Thomas probably wanted answers to his seemingly neverending stream of questions.

"Yo, Greenie!" I called and started run/walking over to him.

"What do you need?" He wasn't rude about it, just confused.

"It seems like the more appropriate question would be, what do you need? I know for a fact Alby didn't answer all of your questions. I had different sources to help me answer mine. And now I'm passing on all of my knowledge to you." It was hard not to bow.

"Wait, really?" Thomas was almost giddy with excitement.

"Why not?"

"What are Runners? And how can you become one?"

Peter knew it. The kid was going to be a Runner. "What a question. Let's see," I started walking.

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Honestly, I'm in LOVE with this friendship.

Also, at the time I'm writing this, I've finished Scorch Trials for the *counts fingers* third? time i believe? And I've already got the plot written out for Lauren's story and lemme tell you.
It's a doozy.

Oh yeah, book two is confirmed?

Questions!

-Did y'all like Ben?

-If Thomas wasn't so . . . Thomas, what role would y'all think he'd be?

-Fav number?