Break or Bind | TMR | The Maze Runner

12

The hustle and bustle of the Glade echoed through the air, screams of agony, screams from the machine monsters, Grievers, all jumbled together. A hellish night, full of fire and torment.

Gally straightened up to peek out from under Box's metal bars, then pulled his head back and walked over to sit in the corner.

His eyes watched, "What happened to your hand?"

Maeve could only freeze, filled with fear.

Gally moved closer and wrapped his arms around her, giving off a feeling of protection that made Maeve raise her eyes and meet his again, "I don't know.. but it seems like I cut my finger subconsciously while peeling the potatoes earlier."

Maeve's gaze shifted to her three fingers which were bleeding freshly.

Gally exhales, rips off a piece of the fabric of his shirt and ties it to Maeve's hand wound, "Luckily it only cut through the skin, not through the bone. Be careful next time. Knives don't suit you well."

"And an ax and a hammer suit me better? Wouldn't it be the same if I chose to work with you, getting injured would be unavoidable if working in construction."

Gally smiled a little "Maybe you're right, I should be grateful you chose to work in the garden. Keeps you out of harm's way."

Maeve looks back at Gally "Thanks for rescuing me. If you don't pull me in in time I might become something those creatures eat."

"Don't say anything, just stay quiet and rest assured we'll be safe."

They fell silent again, listening to the screams that tormented the ears.

There are about 6 people in the Box, Gally with some builder members, and Maeve. They weren't sure if this Box would really protect them from the Grievers that suddenly appeared from behind the Maze.

But several hours had passed, even though the time they had passed seemed unbelievably long, and any Grievers that approached simply ignored Box and walked on.

"This has to be that shuck face boy's doing.." Gally muttered under his breath.

Maeve looks up curiously, "Who does that mean?"

Gally threw a sour look into the air, "Who else if not the smart-ass kid, Thomas. And also his new partner on the death mission, Minho the too much confident.." But he realized and stopped his sentence just now, "Ehem.. I mean, in gathering earlier, they mentioned that there is an exit in the Maze."

"Isn't that great news? Why don't you look happy about that?"

"Maeve.." Gally said then turned to look at her, "They say the exit is in the Griever nest. What's the way out then? That's tantamount to suicide. Look what they did for disturbing the nest, the Grievers attacked , the wall doesn't want to close. This is all a disaster, even though before that we were all fine."

Maeve paused as she thought about all of Gally's explanation just now, now what Minho said made more sense. There's going to be a split camp in the Glade and it's happening right now.

"Please tell me you're not going along with their bullshit, Maeve. I'll make sure tomorrow morning, if those Grievers decide to stand down, I swear I'll drag Thomas and his girlfriend down and hang them as a bid to the Grievers."

Once again Maeve was silent, she couldn't say that she wanted to leave the Glade or the Maze, but the fact that she had to face the Grievers scared her to death too.

Hour after hour passed again and the morning sun began to shine. The Griever's loud, boisterous movements began to pull itself back into the Maze.

"Looks like it's over, for now. Time to drag the leek to the stump." Gally said with a burning anger.

After helping Maeve up from the box, he orders her to get some sleep for a few hours, to which Maeve nods in agreement. Her eyes were full of fatigue.

Gally manages to have a confrontation with Thomas, whereupon he directly impales the Griever's tail on himself and passes out. Then came the news of Alby's death, which was devastating, and utterly deplorable.

Maeve walked languidly towards her hut, when Minho finally found her and hugged her tightly. "Oh god, where have you been? I was looking for you yesterday afternoon but you weren't in the kitchen. Are you hurt? Please don't... your finger, what's wrong with your finger? Did a Griever manage to make a cut on you?"

Maeve placed her palm against Minho's chest, stroked him and comforted him, "Shhh, I'm fine. This wound was from the knife while I was peeling potatoes in the kitchen. And don't worry, the Griever didn't touch me at all. Gally saved me just in time, he pulled me into the box with some of the other builder members."

Minho hugged her again, rubbed the back of her head, "Oh, thank goodness then. I'm so relieved to hear that. But, let's clean the knife wound first, so it doesn't get infected."

At this point, the two no longer cared about public opinion regarding their relationship. Everyone is too busy with their own safety.

[A/N]

Hello again, this is author. I plan to replace the novel cover with the image above. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the current cover so I'm a bit confused as to whether to replace it or stay like this. I felt like the cover was a bit dark and implied misery and wanted to change to a clearer one, although there was no Minho this time. What do you think? I will make a decision before this month (January 2023) ends. Thank you~