Shadow of the Maze | Maze Runner [1]

TWO

[ ELECTRA ]

❧

Electra stretched her arm in front of her, squinting as the soreness in her muscles burned. The Grievers last night had been particularly painful, more than usual.

Running, chasing, dodging, almost dying. For hours on end. She'd been greeted with three Grievers, more than she'd ever seen trying to get into the Glade in one night. She managed to lead them away from the Glade, clumsily bruising herself on the stone walls as she ran for her life.

Three Grievers. Sure she'd seen more at once before in the past, but three trying to get into the Glade? That was unheard of. Electra hoped that her experience last night wouldn't become a common occurrence. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep up.

She forced herself into a run, determined to work off the soreness her entire body felt. She hadn't felt this sore since her early days in the Maze, and the reemergence of the sensations bothered her. The soreness made her feel naive, weak, and scared like she used to be. She knew she couldn't be weak if she wanted to survive.

Thankfully, the running helped to ease her anxiety. The soreness seemed to slowly slip away the more she ran. She pushed herself to run further. Faster. Quickly running out of breath Electra slowed to a walk, then a stop, and placed her hands on her knees.

She heard footsteps nearby and her breath hitched. She looked around herself, seeing a thick ivy wall a short distance up ahead. She scurried forward as quietly as she could and hid herself in the ivy, trying to silently calm down her breathing.

She'd had some close encounters with the Gladers over the years but, for the most part, survived off of luck. Also the fact that since none of the Runners were expecting to find another person in the Maze, they never took the time to specifically look for anybody. A girl being hidden in the Maze was the last thing on the boys' minds when hearing a random crash or unexpected sound. All the Runners dashed away at the first sign of danger, since a random crash could very well be a rare daytime Griever coming to kill them.

She could barely see through the thick ivy mesh, but could hear the footsteps running down the hallway she was in, slowly but surely getting louder. She heard the unsheathing of a knife from its holder and she immediately thought of the Runners' routines; how they cut ivy as they ran... and how she was hiding in an ivy wall.

She ducked just as the knife came swinging right on top of her head, the ivy showering her and immediately revealing herself. Instinctively reaching for her knife, she yanked it out of its sheath and pushed the boy into the opposing wall with her other arm before she could recognize who it was. The boy, obviously startled by a random girl, couldn't find any time to react before his back crashed against the wall and the two looked at each other.

It was Minho.

"For fuck's sake," Electra exhaled, dropping her knife from where it was resting on his neck and hitting him with her other hand. "You scared me, Minho."

"I scared you?" Minho rubbed his neck. "You literally almost killed me!"

Electra looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. "You literally almost killed me too. If I hadn't ducked I would've gotten decapitated, you moron."

"Why were you hiding in the ivy anyways? You know I'm the only one in this section." Minho put his knife back in its sheath behind his back.

"Why were you cutting into the thickest ivy wall?" Electra countered, also putting her knife back. "You know it's easier to cut a single vine."

The two just stared at each other for a moment before Minho erupted into laughter. "Sheesh Electra. Always gotta have a response to everything, huh?"

She merely gave him a look before they started their running for the day, fueled with adrenaline from their little scare. Minho made a point of only cutting into the thicker ivy walls, obviously straining himself while doing so, but sending her a goofy smile after each slash. After a few cuts she looked at him and couldn't help but smile. The smile was awkward and odd, moving muscles she usually didn't use. However, Minho's proud smile in return filled her with momentary warmth.