𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗢 .ᐟ

❛ the runners ❜

𝗧𝗛𝗘 gladers gather around the soon-to-be-lit bonfire, the sound of drums being played echoing in the background. some boys walked up to the stack of  wood holding large sticks in hand. each took began taking turns lighting the ends of each stick on fire.

"light em' up!" alby shouts.

on his command, each of the gladers threw their sticks into the stacked up wood. the wood quickly becoming engulfed in flames, loud cheering from each glader following soon after.

each boy smiled at the firepit, chanting 'gladers' as they watched the flames grow. alby threw his hands up in the air in celebration before walking around the bonfire giving each glader a smile. gally began passing around a bottle of liquid, each glader happily filling their cups with it.

while they did this, the greenie sat on the ground, leaning against an old log, looking at the dark wall that was opened up before. newt made his way over, taking a seat beside him. the greenie gave him a soft smile as he sat down.

"hell of a first day, greenie." newt says.

the greenie nods silently, before looking down at his hands. newt looks at him, waiting for a moment to see if he had anything to say. he eventually realizes that he's not going to speak, so he takes the silence as another opportunity to try and have a conversation with him. newt looks down beside him, picking up a jar he had been drinking out of.

"here," newt says. "put some hair on your chest."

the greenie glances toward newt before taking the jar from him. he brings the glass up to his lips, taking a large sip, immediately regretting it. the greenie gags as the liquid burns his throat, spitting it back up onto the ground in front of him. newt tries his hardest to keep his laughter back, watching the greenie wipe his mouth frantically.

"oh," the greenie says, coughing between words. "my god, what is that?"

as the greenie continues to cough, newt laughs a bit before taking the jar back, "i don't even know," he says. "it's gally's recipe. it's a trade secret."

"yeah well, he's still an asshole." the greenie says, his voice raspy from coughing.

newt's face becomes a little more serious, "he saved your life today," he says. "trust me, the maze is a dangerous place."

the greenie looks out to the closed walls, "we're trapped here aren't we?"

"for the moment," newt says. "but, you see those guys by the fire?" newt turns his body away from the maze back towards the bonfire and points toward a group of boys. "those are the runners. and that guy in the middle there, that's minho." newt points at the boy the greenie had remembered seeing earlier, beside him, one of the boys he had run out of the maze with earlier. "he's the keeper of the runners. now, every morning, when those doors open. they run the maze. mapping it, memorizing it, trying to find a way out." newt says.

the greenie watches as the group of boys—who he now knows are the runners—talk around the bonfire. "how long have they been looking?" the greenie asks.

newt turns his body back towards the maze, "three years."

the greenies face drops a bit, "and they haven't found anything?"

"it's a lot easier said than done." newt smiles.

a low rumbling noise comes from inside the mazes walls, "listen," newt says, pointing a finger in the air. "you here that?" the rumbling grows louder. "that's the maze changing. it changes every night."

the greenie focuses on the noises he hears coming from the maze, "how is that even possible?"

"well, you can ask the people who put us in here if ever meet the bastards." newt smiles. "look the truth is, the runner's are the only ones that really know what's out there. they're the strongest, and the fastest of us all, and its a good thing to because if they don't make it back before those door's close. then they're stuck out there for the night. and only one person has ever survived a night in the maze."

"i'm assuming that person is minho." the greenie says.

"no," newt shakes his head. "it wasn't."

the greenie turns to look at newt, "it wasn't?"

"nope, you'll meet her eventually though." newt says.

"her?" the greenie stops. "i thought it was only boys in here."

"emilia," newt says. "she's the only girl in the glade, but we don't see her much."

"why?" the greenie asks.

"she does her own thing." newt explains. "she's not too fond of greenie's either." he laughs.

"noted," the greenie nods. "she's been out there though, so she's a runner?"

"she was." newt says.

"was?" the greenie asks.

"that's not my business to tell, i'll let her tell you herself if she'll let you get close enough."

the greenie nods, "so, what happens to the ones who don't make it back?"

"well, we call them grievers. of course no one has ever seen one and lived to tell about it, besides emilia—but she doesn't love the topic. in fact, she's never spoken about it. but they're out there." newt explains. "right, well. that's enough questions for one night. c'mon, you're supposed to be the guest of honor."

the greenie shakes his head quickly, "oh, no, no, no."

"no!" newt says with a grin. "no, no, no, c'mon, let me show you around."

"i- i've really—" the greenie tries to explain but newt takes a hold of his arm, helping the greenie to his feet.

𖧷

   𝗘𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗔 makes her way through the woods, the gladers chanting getting louder and louder as she gets closer. once she finally gets to the edge of the woods, she sees all the boys talking and cheering around the bonfire. she spots wick talking to another boy, archie.

"hey!" she whisper shouts. "psst, wick! arch!"

both boys turn toward her, "emilia!" wick shouts quietly. "i knew you were gonna come."

"shut your mouth before i smack you," she rolls her eyes.

"hi em, good to see you." archie smiles.

"good to see you too arch," she smiles. "is it around? or is the other shank around?"

"it?" archie raises a brow.

"minho." wick explains.

"ohh." archie says. "he's over there. but he's busy talking to the other runners."

"why aren't you over there with them?" emilia asks.

"don't feel like it." archie shrugs.

"gally's in picking fights over by the bonfire." wick says.

"so neither of them are around?" emilia asks.

"nope." archie says.

"perfect," she says beginning to walk closer, but she stops. "wait, where's newt?"

"with the greenie showing him around." wick says.

"close to here? i don't feel like associating with anyone that i don't have to." she says.

"no, they're on the other side of the fire." wick says, reaching a hand out to motion her over.

"now get over here." archie smiles, gaining a smile back from emilia as she joined the two.

𖧷

  
   𝗧𝗛𝗘 greenie walks closely behind newt, watching gally as he effortlessly throws another glader to the ground.

"over there," newt says, pointing to a group of boys goofing off together, bringing the greenie's attention back to him. "we've got the builders. very good with their hands, but then not a lot going upstairs." he says tapping his temple.

newt turns to point toward another boy who's walking past them, "and then we've got winston. he's the keeper of the slicers." newt says. he turns to point at two more boys. "and then we've got two of our med-jacks, clint and jeff. we have three, although i'm not sure where wick has run off too." the two boys greet newt and the greenie kindly before walking off.

"they spend most of their time bandaging up the slicers." newt smiles.

the greenie stops, "and what if i wanna be a runner?"

newt awkwardly laughs, "have you listened to a word i just said? no- no one wants to be a runner. and besides you've got to get chosen."

"get chosen by who?" the greenie asks.

suddenly another person collides with the greenies body, sending him stumbling forwards. he quickly regains his balance and stands up straight, immediately making eye contact with the person who had just thrown someone else into him.

gally.

"huh?" gally smirks. "what do you say, greenie? want to see what your made of?"

the greenie stands there unable to think of anything to say. the gladers surrounding him all start to chant his nickname, cheering and shouting for him to take gally on in a fight.

newt turns around, and his eyes immediately land on wick and archie sitting on the ground facing the woods, as well as someone else in front of them.

emilia.

the second newt realizes its her, a proud smile grows on his face. he makes his way over toward the three of them. emilia immediately rolling her eyes at him.

"don't even say anything." emilia tries to stop him.

"well, i thought somebody wasn't coming tonight?" newt smiles.

emilia stands up and turns around on her heal, making an attempt to start walking toward the woods.

"c'mon emmy, i'm kidding! i'm kidding!" newt giggles.

"em, c'mon." wick says.

"fine." she gives in, turning around again toward the three, taking a seat on ground beside wick.

"where have you been, emmy?" newt asks. "you haven't been sleeping here recently."

"i've been sleeping in my own little place, i set up a small camp for myself in the woods." she explains.

"you haven't been sleeping in your hammock?" wick asks. "why not? i thought you have been?"

"nah," she gives him a lopsided smile. "i prefer the peace and quiet near the water."

"sounds like something you'd do." wick smiles.

archie stands up from the ground trying to look iver toward the bonfire, "hey, what's everyone cheering for?"

"the greenie's taken on a little fight with gally." newt explains.

archie's face lights up, "oh, this is gonna be good." he says before quickly making his way over to the fight.

wick stands up as well, reaching his hand down to emilia and helping her up.

"why don't we go and watch?" wick asks.

"fine, but if gally pulls any bullshit on the newbie, i'm leaving." she sighs.

both newt and wick nod, and walk on either side of her over to the bonfire.

"all right, all right." gally says. emilia groans at the sound of his voice.

"the rules are simple greenie," gally begins. "i try to push you out of the circle, you try and last more than five seconds." he says, causing all of the boys to giggle.

emilia watches the greenie as he contemplates whether or not he should go through with this.

"ready?" gally asks, immediately shoving the greenie into the boys standing behind them. the boys push the greenie back towards gally. he grabs the greenie by the back of his shirt and throws him roughly to the ground behind him.

emilia winces as the greenie hits the ground. he coughs a couple times, wiping the dirt of his face, before turning around to look up at gally.

"come on, greenie." gally says, jogging backwards. "we're not done yet."

the greenie stands up, "stop calling me greenie."

"stop calling you that? what do you want to be called?" gally asks. "shank?" he suggests, gaining more laughter from the rest of the gladers and another eye roll from emilia.

"what do you think boys?" gally asks the gladers. "does he look like a shank?"

the gladers begin to chant 'shank', and the greenie charges at gally, only to be grabbed and thrown to the ground once again.

"yeah, no. i'm leaving." emilia says to wick and newt.

"em, c'mon. give the greenie a chance to get em' back." wick says. emilia glares at him in annoyance but stays quiet.

"you know what? i think i've settled on shank." gally says. the greenie charges at gally once more, getting a stronger grip on him than before. gally pushes back but the greenie moves from in front of him and pushes gally to the ground, gainging gasps and laughter from the gladers.

"told you." wick nudges emilia.

"huh." she hums, raising her eyebrows.

the greenie wipes some more dirt off of his chest, "not bad for a greenie, huh—" the greenie tries to say but gally's kicks his feet out from underneath of him. the greenie falls, hitting his head on the ground hard.

emilia winces, "yeah, i'm out." she raises her hands before walking backwards.

"i'll see you tomorrow?" wick asks.

she gives him a thumbs up, before disappearing into the woods. wick turns back toward the greenie and gally.

"hang on, what's he doing?" archie says pointing at the greenie as he stands up.

"thomas." the greenie says.

wick tilts his head.

"i remember my name, i'm thomas!"

the gladers all stand and stare at him. alby's face lights up with a smile.

"thomas!" alby cheers, pointing at the greenie, the rest of the glader's joining in with him.

all the boys run toward him patting him on the chest and back. a boy with an apron walks over to him, shaking his hand, "welcome home, thomas." he says with a smile.

the boys continue to cheer, and gally walks over to the greenie, reaching a hand out toward him, "good job, thomas." he says. the greenie smiles at gally softly.

suddenly a shriek erupts from the maze. all the boys go silent as their heads turn toward the terrifying sound.

"what the hell was that?" the greenie mumbles.

gally looks to the maze before looking back at the greenie, "that my friend, was a griever." he says. "don't worry, you're safe here with us. nothing gets through those walls."

"all right guys," alby begins. "let's tuck it in for the night. c'mon, it was a good night."

the boys all collectively begin to head to their beds, each giving the greenie small nods and smiles as they walk by him.

chuck walks up beside the greenie, "c'mon, i'll show you where your hammock is." he smiles. the greenie nods, following chuck all the way to their beds.

after getting some what comfortable in their hammocks, the greenie stares up at the sky, listening to the shrieks and screeches coming from the maze, mixing horribly together with chuck's quiet snores from beside him. his eyes lids eventually becoming heavier and heavier. until he somehow drifts off to sleep.

𝗔𝗩𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 !

i wasnt going to update today but i am constantly thinking about this book. so heres the second chapter ☺️

much love!
ava

[ 2.5k words ]