𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 - 𝘔𝘈𝘡𝘌 𝘙𝘜𝘕𝘕𝘌𝘙

9 ~ 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙥 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢

Lottie

 I was back on my feet a few hours later. It hurt like hell, but there was no way I was going to sit on a bunch of crates while everyone else worked to make the Glade livable again.

There wasn't much that I could do without bending over too much, so I ended up with the job of taking the baskets filled with dead plants from the Track-hoes and dumping them out in the forest.

As I was dumping the final basket of plants, a thought occurred to me. Minho was saying something about the Map Room being in the forest. Maybe, if I looked hard enough, I would be able to find it.

I drew myself up and started trekking forward deeper into the forest. Soon enough, I had walked further than I ever had before, and I could tell that I was getting to the edge of the forest. Finally, I reached one of the large stone walls that the Glade was surrounded with. I placed my palms on it, and walked along the length, searching for some kind of building.

I squinted as I peered into the woods, trying to see anything but green. Suddenly, my foot hit something, and I was flung forward onto the ground. Pain erupted in my side, and I stayed on the ground for a minute to recover. Then, I looked up to see what I had tripped on.

The wooden plank was different from the rest of the other wood I'd seen on the forest floor; it was more like the boards the Builders used. It was half-covered in leaves. I brushed it off to reveal another board just like it, and another. I had found the Map Room.

I continued brushing off the leaves until I found a spot where they had been placed more lazily than the others. I tugged them away to reveal a door. Pushing it open cautiously, I took one last glance at the forest before ducking inside.

It smelled of dust and rotten wood inside the Map Room. I took a single breath, immediately began coughing, and then regretted it. I clutched my side in pain, waiting for it to stop throbbing, before standing up straight again.

It was dark inside. I stumbled forward blindly, and that's when something brushed against my face. I yelped and jumped backwards, and then reached forward for whatever it was.

It turned out to be a string, hanging from the ceiling – I gave it a sharp pull. I heard a click, and the room was filled with light. I was able to see the Map Room properly then. It was very small; just big enough to fit a few trunks and a table, which was covered in a ratty tablecloth. There were footprints on the dust covered ground, which made sense, seeing as the Runners were here just a few hours ago.

The table was bare except for a few pencils and pens. I knelt down next to the first trunk. There was a label on it that read "Ben". I knew Ben – not well, but I'd seen him around. These must have been his maps. I opened the trunk. Inside were stacks and stacks of papers. I lifted the top one and looked at it. There was just a pattern of lines on it, and in the corner, it said, "Ben. Day 326. Section 4."

I continued, taking out page after page. Each one had a different Section on it, until they reached eight. Then they started over from one. From this information, I gathered that there were eight Sections in the Maze, and each Runner ran a different Section each day. Today, it must have been Ben's turn to run Section 4.

I began to fit together the pages like pieces in a puzzle, until they all lined up with one another. When I was done, they showed a Maze. A full one; one that had been completely mapped. I took more papers out until I could make another Maze, which looked exactly the same as the one I'd just created.

I scanned them in shock. The Runners had mapped the entire Maze, multiple times. And if the Gladers were still here, then they hadn't found a way out. They had just been running the Maze every day, even though they knew that there was no point.