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Zelia is now waiting at the entrance of the Maze; she has been doing this for more than 3 weeks to see the Runners; maybe they find a clue about the former Keeper. Ben is about to get tired of her in a joke way because she is always the first one he sees when he returns to the Glade.

She has just finished teaching the Gladers, who are free today. Speaking of, she has learnt a lot, and she noticed that they are not difficult to teach. With just a little practice, the Gladers will be ready in a short period of time for what the other plans of the Creators are. Zelia noticed that it was obvious to them that they wanted to learn how to defend themselves.

A few minutes passed before the girl saw the Runners coming out of the Maze. As they approached, Zelia noticed that something was missing from them.

"Where's Ben?" Zelia asked as soon as the Runners were inside the Glade. They stared at each other before looking at the girl with a mixture of surprise as well.

"He's still not here? We didn't think twice about coming back here when we met on the same way. We didn't pay too much attention to the fact that no one was with him because we just thought that he came back first," Alec said, his hair reaching his shoulders. Zelia frowned even more.

"He hasn't come back yet." The Runners seemed to come to their senses because of what the girl said, and they looked inside the Maze at the same time.

"Oh, shucks. Should we go back?"

"No. It's too risky. We only have one hour before the door closes."

"Maybe he just rested for a while; it's not like he will be late on purpose."

"He'll be back," Zelia whispered softly, but the Runners heard that, so they looked at her. The rest of them nodded slowly, and the others gave him a smile. They also say encouraging words, and they gently tap her shoulder to make the girl feel better before going to their destination.

They know how close she is with Ben because every breakfast and dinner, they will see Ben from the Zelia group of friends when they are eating and talking about some random topics.

Zelia took a deep breath before turning her back on Maze and walking towards where Newt was. It's still quite a while before the door closes. She needed a distraction before going back to waiting for Ben.

"Hey, love." Newt called the girl when he noticed that she was approaching his place, where he was still busy planting in the garden. Zelia smiled and sat on a tree branch.

Just recently, the young man called her by that nickname. She didn't see anything wrong with calling her that coming from him, so he just let it go and didn't mind it at all.

"Hey, Newt."

"Tired of seeing his face every day? That's why you're here? It's not like I have a problem that you're watching me while working." Zelia just rolled her eyes.

"Ben is not with the Runners who just came back. I don't want to stand there for an hour waiting for him."

"Ouch, you're just using me, then. You broke my heart, love." The girl frowned because of what he said.

"What are you saying? You've had too much of the smell coming from the soil that's why you're crazy." Zart couldn't help but laugh as he quietly listened to the two of them while he was fixing something in the crops. Newt immediately looked at him with a glare, so he cleared his throat.

"Don't worry about him. Maybe he's looking too hard for the clue at the same time, finding our way out since this isn't the first time he's been late coming back."

"I know that, but I still can't really help it not to worry about him. The way he looks like he just wanted to give up finding him." Newt looked up at Zelia and stood up straight. He patted his hands first to remove the dirt before he crossed his arms on his chest.

"Trust me, he knows what he is doing. Especially, you're here, waiting for him." He paused for a moment. He didn't know if he would continue what he said or not, but he still chose to continue. "Or them."

At first, Zelia didn't understand what it meant, but after a few seconds, she gave Newt a short smile.

"You know, you can say his name. It's not like I'm allergic to him. He's just a bunch of shanks but he's a good person." Newt laughed softly.

"Still can't believe he planned all of this. They're the ones who got play by their own game."

"I also didn't expect that. It still doesn't make sense to me why he did that for me."

Newt stared at her for a long time, thinking of the right thing to say. He was about to speak, but suddenly they heard a noise, not far from where they were. They looked at it from where it came from, and Zelia couldn't believe what she saw.

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"You're too slow; we didn't catch up that she's waiting for here," Ben said when they got out of Maze with Minho.

Everyone is busy with what they are doing, so no one notices them yet. Minho immediately looked around as if to find out if something had changed inside the Glade.

"Yeah, right. Thanks to my injured feet, it's only a few minutes before the Maze door closes, so we just got back here," Minho said, and he noticed a woman sitting on a tree trunk; her back turned to him while talking to Newt.

"They still don't notice that I have accompanied," Ben said while also wondering his eyes inside the Glade.

"Make a scene then just to catch their attention. That's for sure they looking at us, surprised. Ben, the Keeper of the Runner, returned with Minho, the old Keeper." The new Keeper looked at what his friend said and grinned. Minho seemed to regret that he said that. He knows that looked; of course it's not good for him.

Before he could take back what he said, he felt Ben kick his left leg where he tripped while running away. He couldn't stop himself from moaning in pain loudly; it was only right that they would get the attention of the Gladers.

"You shucking shuckiest shuck-face! I said, make a scene! Not kicking my left feet, you ugly klunk! Son of a shank!" If Minho could kill in just a stare, Ben might be in the grass by now.

"I just did what you told me, though. You're welcome." He said that he even winked at the former Keeper, obviously pissing him off. "Good luck."

He didn't even have to ask what his friend said for when he felt a fist hit his left cheek. Also due to fatigue and body pain, Minho collapsed on the grass, letting himself receive a punch from the one who charged him.

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2

3

He was punched three times before it stopped, but it still didn't leave the top of the young man. Minho looked at the man who punched him and just grinned.

"You finally show up."

"Thanks for welcoming me back, Alby."

"You really have a death wish at this point."

"Nah, I'm just enjoying my sleepover with my friends, Grievers."

The leader slowly left on top of him, and he saw that Clint and Jeff approached him, both wanting to look at his left foot. Minho knew that Ben had already told them what happened, so he spoke again.

"Just a stupid tripped, trying to survive, that's why." When they took off the young man's shoe, they saw how swollen it was.

"How long?" Jeff asked.

"3 days."

"You stupid shank." Because of what Clint said, Minho looked at him.

"Just cut it if you need to. For sure, our leader will probably be the one who will cut my feet any time. He would gladly volunteer himself if you told him to do that." He emphasizes the word 'leader'. The old Keeper heard him scoffed.

"You read my mind."

Alby took a small knife from his pocket, and he himself removed the tie from Minho's hand. The leader has already ordered to help the young man get to the Med-hut so that the treatment of his wound can begin.

It was then that Minho noticed that most of the Gladers were just watching them, not knowing if what they were seeing and hearing was correct. Can't blame them because this is the first time that someone has survived several weeks inside the Maze.

Maggie noticed that Zelia, who had been beside her earlier, started walking away to find out where the noise was coming from.

"Let her be. She's really the one who is trying to process for what happened," Maggie said as she noticed her friends were looking at the girl who was now walking back to her own room.

I guess I still don't know what the answer is or what I will do when I find out he is alive.