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

Chuck: *to anything Thomas does* Yes! That was legitness.

Lauren
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"Where's Alby?" I asked Minho.

"He's coming." He checked his watch.

I sighed. "I just hope that the Griever's still there."

Minho chuckled. "That would be bad."

"Bad? That would be catastrophic!" Catastrophic? What kind of word was that?

Apparently, Minho thought the same thing. "What?"

"I don't even know anymore."

Joe was still there, but his face was somber. I knew he was thinking about Ben.

Alby walked up. "You guys ready?"

"Are you?" Minho looked Alby up and down. "It's gonna be a long run."

"I run the Glade every day, shank."

"Alright, let's just go." I turned to the Doors and opened my arms wide.

3, 2, 1. The Doors obliged.

"Such a show-off." Minho scoffed.

"You're just mad you couldn't do it."

The Runner walked up and took something from the ground. It was Ben's collar. I shuddered, and he went to take it back to the Garden shed.

"Every time, they bring it back," Alby informed me.

"At least-" I realized what I was saying. "Never mind."

"What are you sissies waiting on? I would've caught up." Minho came back.

"We know about your separation anxiety, Minho. It's okay. We can wait." I put a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off fast.

"We're wasting time. Show us where Lauren." Our leader grumbled.

I started jogging. "Stay with me, kiddos. Don't want you to get lost."

Alby grumbled, and I tuned him out. If they followed me, they followed me. It wasn't hard to go back to where I found the Griever. It was only a couple of miles away. The longest part of my journey was going back to the Glade. I hate to admit it, but I got lost.

If I admitted it out loud, would Minho take away my status of being a Runner?

Probably not.

. . . Probably.

Shaking my head, I kept running, making sure we were on the right path.

"When'll we get there?" Alby called.

"When we get there!" Boy, did I love being in charge of Alby.

After about two hours of running, we made it. The Griever thankfully stayed there. The skin, for some reason, was still the way I saw it yesterday. And the spikes were back in.

"Thought you said the spikes were half out, half in," Alby noted.

"They were." Something was wrong.

Minho came up behind us. "Still looks dead to me."

Alby moved closer, and then I saw the arm moving ever so slowly.

"Alby, stop!" I ran to push him out of the way, but another arm appeared and pushed me out of the way.

I landed on the stone wall, and I felt blood trickling down. Putting a hand on the bleeding, I realized what had happened.

The shucking thing slashed me in the stomach.

My Med-Jack skills coming into play, I quickly took off my shirt and tied it around my stomach for now. It would have to do. There was still a definitely-alive-now-Griever attacking Minho and Alby.

"You gonna sit there, or help us?!" Minho yelled, trying to get Alby away from the Griever.

"Could you come back and ask me when my stomach's not bleeding out?!"

I looked at the situation. The Griever hadn't moved; it was just using its arms for now. Would it let Minho and Alby leave?

Only one way to find out.

"Minho! Grab Alby and run back! I'll try to buy you some time!" I grabbed my bow and notched an arrow.

"You shucking crazy?"

"Wanna stick around to find out?" I hit the thing in the head.

Alby, who had just laid there in shock for the last two minutes, finally decided to wake up. He trashed around wildly, almost kicking Minho in the head.

"Either you take Alby or the Griever!" I called.

Minho responded by using the hilt of his knife and knocking Alby out cold.

"Lauren!"

I tore my attention away from the monster and looked Minho in the eye.

"Don't die. And don't try to be a hero."

"Have I done it any other way?" I smiled.

"Shucking slinthead." He shouldered Alby and started run-walking away.

The Griever screeched. I flinched.

"Alright. You and me, buddy." I hit him with another arrow.

I'll spare you all the details of my battle with another Griever. Because mainly, I just dodged and pelted the thing with arrows, trying to buy Minho and Alby time to get back to the Glade.

When I ran out of them, I started running the opposite way, causing the Griever to run after me. 

Was it a coward's way out?

Sure. I didn't want to die heroically in battle. I didn't want fame or my approval of my peers. I just wanted to get back to the Glade and live my daily life. I never asked to be a Runner. I just was good at it and decided to put my skills to use. I was scared of Grievers. But I had to shoulder that fear and put on a brave face to help out my friends. Maybe that was my fatal flaw. I would do anything for anyone to make sure they didn't get hurt. But was it really a flaw? I don't know. Was I even thinking clearly? Or was this whole thing a string of thoughts due to blood loss? I don't know. But I knew I just wanted to leave the Maze and heal up again. I wanted to go home.

For some reason, I was still making notches in the wall to make sure I didn't get lost. And after a while, I realized the Griever still wasn't chasing me.

What the actual finch was happening? Did I have some guardian angel?

Nevertheless, I used the time well. I opened my pack and got to work trying to fix myself up.

Assess the wound. Were there any foreign objects?

Clean the wound. Don't get an infection.

Wrap the wound to the best of your ability.

Once I was done, I ate my lunch. It was a little early for it, but only about an hour. There was no way to find out if I would be this safe again.

I finished and started to clean up my 'area' of sorts. I tossed my old shirt to the side. It was bloody and torn and just plain dirty. There was no use for it anymore. I still had my tank top and the gauze that covered my midriff. And if that failed, I was wearing a sports bra.

"Let's find the boys." I stood up and almost fell down.

Oh goody. I drank some water, took some pain pills, and started running.

Finding my marks on the walls, I realized I must have run pretty far away from the Glade. I had to hurry if I was to get back to Minho and Alby before the Doors shut.

It was slow going. Thinking about my route, I tried to map out where they would be at. Considering that Minho had extra body weight, and looking at my watch, he was probably only five miles out. I could barely make it.

If I could give whoever cares about me some advice, never try to run fast with a hurt stomach and mild to moderate blood loss symptoms. You will severely pay for it. Never follow in my footsteps, children.

After a very long while, I found them. Checking my watch, I realized we had less than five minutes before the Doors closed.

I turned the corner to the long hallway that held the Doors, hoping that they had already made it back to the Glade.

The two were so close.

Picking up my pace, I ran right next to Minho and grabbed Alby's other arm.

"Looks like someone finally listened to me."

"For the first time in forever."

I looked at the large crowd surrounding the Doors. Gally and Peter were there, looking as if they were about to go into the Maze and help us. My heart clenched. I had to make it; I had to get back to them.

"Go, Lauren. You need help." Minho tried to move Alby to where I didn't carry him anymore.

"So does Alby; you stick. I'm not going to leave you two." I held on tighter.

The Doors were going to close at any minute. The crowd was yelling at us.

"Lauren," He panted. This was taking a lot of strength. I knew he was wasting precious breath. "Only one of us is going to make it out of here. Go."

The Doors started closing.

I didn't respond and just picked up the pace. Looking out into the crowd, I saw the Greenie. His legs were tensed, and I realized that he was going to come into here.

He was going to try to help. The shucking stick was going to help.

We locked eyes, and I arched my eyebrows and nodded. He nodded back.

"You'll be in safe hands, Minho." I slipped out from under Alby.

The next seconds went by impossibly slow.

With whatever strength I had left in me, I ran towards Thomas. I knew he knew what we were trying to do. The Greenie ran towards me too, and with one swift motion, we switched places, and I gave him a push into the Glade as I fell into the crowd.

The Doors closed.

All I heard was heavy breathing. And then, a yell.

"What the shuck did you just do, Lauren?!" Newt bellowed.

"They'll . . . be fine . . . guys," I passed out.

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Well.

What a plot twist.

Questions!

-What would you like to say to me? (please don't yell at me too harshly, I'm still a human bean)

-What do you think is going through Mama Noot's head?

-Did y'all expect that?