THE DAY IN THE GLADE OFTEN BEGINS WITH THE DOORS OPENING, like a massive alarm clock, waking every Glader up to start their routine, but before anyone wakes up, the Runners are usually the first to wake up, catch early breakfast then get ready for their run into the maze; head to the Map Room, get their packs, fill up their canteens and grab lunch that is usually prepared by the Cook in the kitchens. The morning remains the same so far for the Runners.

The sun was near the walls' horizon and the Glade remained in the walls' shadows, the chill soft winds still loomed across the fields. The morning colors in the sky began to saturated as the sun rose, stars slowly begin the fade and the moon blended into the daylight. The torches around the place die down, leaving only a smoke and little fire sparks. The Glade remains peaceful, dull and quiet, but the sounds of nocturnal insects chirping slowly died down as they notice the sun rising while the bird began to their morning songs. They make the Glade feel like a somewhat home, comforts the Gladers and assures them that the world is still alive out there.

The Runners; Minho and Ben prepared to leave the Glade as they stood by the Doors, doing their workout stretches before they run into the maze, they let their leader know the time when they leave the Glade, either leaving a note in the Map Room or spot the leader across the Glade and they give him a wave. Then they leave.

The morning goes on the same as yesterday and the day before that, the two Runners jog through the corridor to another, again and again, every twist and turn in the maze was all the same, but the Keeper of Runners, Minho knew nearly every inch of the maze, like he knows the back of his mind, he wasn't dumb to get lost. As the matter of fact, he was the only Glader who knew every turn, he knew where to go everyday, what was in the next turn before he reaches it. And everyday, he finds nothing, everything in the maze was all the same, all look the same, no changes, even when the maze shifts every night, it's all the same as last week. The maze was his place, his playground, sometimes he likes going through the maze, sometimes he hates it, he leaves the Glade to be alone at times, to get away from Gladers, the Glade would drive him insane sometimes, he hated how small it was, like there was nowhere else to go.

The two Runners stopped to take a break, Minho sat on the floor, his back against the wall, in the middle of a corridor, greatly towered by the large walls, leaving only shadows and the cold, it was one of the things that Minho liked about the maze, the shadows, sun would hardly shine into the corridors, the walls were too massive, meanwhile the Gladers back in the Glade are always in the hot sun, though sometimes storms, grey cloudy skies and rain come by.

The day was seemingly going by the same as yesterday, Minho was still sitting on the floor, having lunch while Ben wandered off nearby, the day seems the same, until Ben called out Minho, the echo from Ben shouting out Minho's name travelled a few corridors down, Minho was quick to his feet and followed Ben's calls, continuing to shout and urging the Keeper to come.

Then, Minho saw something different, nothing ever in his running days since the start he has ever encountered something like this. The boy came to an abrupt halt beside Ben when he saw something on the floor. Not something . . . someone. A boy, a seemingly unconscious or a dead boy sitting on the floor, no movement, back against the wall, head down in an uncomfortable position, hands on both of his sides on the floor, both of his hands were bloody.

"Holy shit" Minho uttered under his breath, he haven't actually cussed in a long time. He quickly wondered how a boy ended up in the maze, also how the hell did the boy survive? With the Grievers lurking through the night in the maze, it's also a miracle that the boy's limbs are still intact. Is this the new Greenie? But why was he out here instead of the Box?

"You think he's still alive?" Ben wondered.

Minho was hesitant to answer, they had to check to see if the boy was still alive. so he approached the body, hardly with any hesitation. He crouch down in front of the dead boy, he nudged the boy's barefoot, he didn't even have any shoes on, he could tell by the dirt and the bloody feet that this boy was running, who knows how long he was running or if Grievers were chasing him. The boy made no movement to the nudge, Minho pressed his fingers on the boy's neck . . . heartbeats, he felt the pulses, but weak, the boy was still shucking alive. Minho noticed the boy's shirt was stained by blood, on his waist.

"He's alive" Minho told Ben. Minho pulled off his pack, pulled out bandages to cover the wound, he was no Med-jack, the boy had to be taken to Med-jacks right away.

"No shucking way" Ben agape.

The two knew what they had to do, they had to take the boy back to the Glade. After they bandaged the boy's wound, they had to carry the unconscious boy after they failed to wake him up, taking turns as they hurried as they could back to the Glade.

Once they were a few corridors down from the entrance of the Glade, Minho sent Ben ahead to get the leader and the Med-jacks. Ben sprinting across the Glade created confusion all over the Glade, it's odd for a Runner to come back from his run this soon, he found the Leaders, Nick and Alby at the Homestead and called out the Med-jacks to come to the Doors. Minho was already down the corridor when the Ben, the Leaders and Med-jacks hurried to the Doors. Minho met them at the front of the Doors, he set the unconscious boy on the grass carefully to let the Med-jacks tend him. The Leaders, the Keepers and the Gladers fell in shock and bewilderment.

"And I thought Ben was shucked in the head" one of the leaders, Alby said in stun. The Med-jacks were reluctant to check the unconscious boy as they were too stunned by the fact that a boy was found in the Maze. "Where the hell did you find him?"

"Near the Cliff, I think" Ben looked at Minho in question, unsure because he was still a new Runner and still inexperienced in the Maze.

"About halfway to the Cliff" Minho corrected, "He's still alive, by the way. I think he lost a lot of blood"

"He'd most likely be dead by now if he lost a lot of blood" The Med-jack, Jeff claimed. "Depends how long he's been out there in the Maze"

The Leaders were surrounded by awed Gladers, all of them quiet but whispers exchanged to one another. "Think the Griever nicked him?" a Glader from Builders, Julian asked.

"I don't know," Jeff wasn't sure, he removed the bandages to take a look at the wound, "I don't think it's from a Griever at all, I'm not sure" They never seen any Glader or anyone to be wounded by a Griever before, this would be the first if the Griever did attacked this boy.

"How the hell did he ended up out there?" Gally uttered.

"Who the shuck knows?" another boy, Art blurted, with hint of sarcasm in his tone, "You think he somehow hopped onto a Griever or something?" the boy then scoffed.

"If you think about it; if this guy came from the Maze, then our way out of this shuckin place is out there" one of the boys from the crowd stated.

"No kidding, slinthead" Minho scoffed, "Why do you think I've been running out there all day every day?"

Newt crouched down beside the unconscious boy, while Jeff tended the boy's wound and Clint checking the pulse and counting quietly while looking at his watch at the same time. Newt noticed a dark splotch on the boy's left arm, he grabbed the boy's arm and pulled the sleeve up to the boy's elbow which brought him to a much more confusion.

DON'T TRUST WICKED

Written in some black marker, a little smudged. "What do you make of this?" Newt asked Nick when the leader crouched down beside Newt as he showed the boy's arm.

"Don't trust wicked" Nick read out the words closely, "Wicked? What is wicked? As in adjective?"

"I think it's thee Wicked," a boy muttered behind Nick and Newt, the two of them shifted their glances, seeing it was Teddy who said it, "You know, W. C. K. D? The letters printed on all of our supplies. I think it's a company, an organization of sort, perhaps that's what the Creators work for or something?"

"Yeah, I think we figured we wouldn't trust them from the start as they're the ones who put us out here" Nick grumbled, shifted his glance back at the unconscious boy. "Thanks for the advice, kid" he was talking to the unconscious boy.

Clint sighed loudly, "Pulse seems normal, slightly slow, no movement, unresponsive to our voices, nudges and from the wound, he'd wake up by now. My guess, he's in a coma. We don't know for how long, could be hours, days, weeks"

"You think he'll remember when he wakes up?" Jeff glanced up at everyone.

"Honestly, I hope so," Alby admitted, "perhaps we'll finally have our answers"

There were murmurs of concerns and wonders from the Gladers around them to the leader's response, they were all curious as well, already anticipating for the boy to wake up. "All we can do now, is wait for this guy to wake up" Nick said, "Okay, Jeff, Clint, take him to the hut, watch him and let us know the second he wakes up"

"Shouldn't we be worried?" Gally was concerned. "Somehow, this guy ended up in the Maze, unconscious, bloodied and wounded"

"Looks to me he was running like hell out there, bloodied, injured from a Griever, chased by it perhaps?" Teddy theorized, "What else he was running from? Or whatever else injured him"

"My point is, why wasn't he sent up through the Box like any Greenbean?"

No one answered because Gally did have a point. Nick gestured the Med-jacks to go on ahead and take the unconscious boy the Med-jacks hut, they put him on a stretcher and went to the hut. Everyone else stood by as they watched the Med-jacks carrying the unconscious boy away from the scene.

"The Creators must've dragged him out there to startle us all," Art chirped, brought everyone out of daze and stun, "orrrrr . . . the Grievers dragged him out there and left him to die! Maybe he did this to himself!" the kid was loud, yet so cheery and sardonic, it was annoying that most Gladers sighed and groaned peevishly.

"How can you still be this calm?" Julian glowered at the kid.

"I'm not calm"

"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it"

"Alright!" Nick blurted to grab everyone's attention, he turned to the crowd of Gladers as their whispers and mutters instantaneously died down, "I get this day is weird, but we ain't spending the rest of it gawking and wondering, we ain't got other choice but to wait for the new . . . Greenie to wake up. So, pick your asses back up and get to work!"

The Gladers muttered out groan of disappointments, dreading over work, anticipation was already building up for the new Greenie to wake up, some hope for answers, some were worried what answers they'd get, already wondering if they could trust the new Greenie, what if he actually remembers something? Remember what happened to him, who put the Gladers out here, who took away their memories and why they're here. They never had a Greenie in the Maze, certainly to find one in the Maze instead in the Box, a bloodied, wounded Greenie, somehow his arm written as a some sort of a message or a warning. Did the Creators really did this on purpose? To put a kid in the Maze and for what?

AUTHORS NOTE

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ayyy! a bit of sneaky peek of this new tmr book xD, this chapter is basically a prologue. idk when i'll start on this one, kinda impatient to start on it tho, ngl, i'm intrigued with this plot as i'm taking slight different approach from the books and films, will likely butcher them xD