➊ 𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 - 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨, ᵗᵐʳ

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲

Minho and Ben ran through the maze, mapping any changes they could spot. All the Runners were divided into pairs to analyze the labyrinth. Minho, as the Keeper of the Runners, decided to put this restriction with Alby's approval.

Today was a Greenie day, meaning a new Glader would be coming up the Box. Both boys were eager for their job to end to see the Newbie.

"This way." Minho said between his breaths.

He veered left sharply. Ben followed him closely behind.

Suddenly, Minho skidded to a halt.

"HOLY KLUNK!" he shouted, nearly tripping over something lying on the ground.

He stared down in disbelief. A body—a girl's body—lay sprawled in the dirt. He turned to Ben, eyes wide.

"What the shuck is that? Is it a Griever?" Ben asked.

"Of course, it's not! Do you really think a girl like this could scare the Klunk out of the Glade?" Minho responded.

"I don't know, I have never seen a Griever. Why is she in the maze? Why a girl, is she dead?" Ben kept rattling off questions as Minho shot him a look.

"Maybe you could ask her, oh you can't, she is dead!" Minho snapped, annoyed. He knelt beside her and pressed two fingers to her neck.

"She is alive, just unconscious." He told.

"For real, Minho, what do we do with her?" The other Runner looked at him, uncertain.

Minho crossed his arms, thinking.

"We've got two choices: leave her here with the Griever or bring her to Alby."

You're seriously considering the first one?" Ben gaped. "We find a girl—probably the only one ever here—who's unconscious in the Maze, and you want to ditch her? This could be the only clue we have to understanding anything!"

Minho sighed. "Alright, fine. We'll bring her back. But I'm not promising the Glade won't freak out like paparazzi on Greenie Day. And how exactly do you want to carry her?"

"Lift her, you are stronger than me..." Ben said like it was the easiest thing on earth.

Minho looked at him like he'd just suggested kissing a Griever. "I'm not carrying her by myself! We'll each take a shoulder."

"Sure, sure." He agreed.

They carefully lifted her, each supporting one side.

"Damn, she is heavy," Minho said, whispering.

Ben chuckled. "You're lucky she's unconscious. A girl would kill you for saying that." He replied, walking throw the maze.

"You think a girl could kill me?" He coughed.

"Whatever..." Ben sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Why do you think she's here?" Minho asked his friend.

"I don't know, maybe girls don't come from the box," Ben guessed. "But no girls even came here."

"Maybe they have. Maybe some showed up in different sections, and no Runner found them," Minho suggested.

"We are enough Runners for every section, they would have seen her," Ben corrected, sensing that this girl was something different.

"I don't know, they could have just not told us. We all know that not all Runners are like us. Hawk, for example, if he saw this girl, who knows what he would have done." The Keeper said as he replaced the girl position on his shoulder.

"Then why'd you make him a Runner if you don't trust him?" Ben asked.

"He runs fast." Minho shrugged.

Ben nodded, not exactly convinced By the time they made it back to the Glade, it was around 2 p.m. A few Gladers already outside noticed them and immediately came running over.

"What the shuck!?"

"Is that a girl?"

"Why, is she dead?"

"What happened?"

The crowd grew quickly—ten Gladers turned into twenty, then thirty. The chaos drew Alby and Newt over.

"Everyone, go back to work!" Alby ordered, but no one moved. He sighed, realizing it was pointless.

"I said now!" He said louder this time, scaring some Gladers. They all left, still watching with an attentive look.

"Alright, get her to the Med hut and Minho, explain. Now!"

Minho told him everything. "We didn't do anything. Just found her lying in the Maze, unconscious."

They opened the hut door and glanced at Clint and Jeff speaking. Clint was a few months old Greenie, and Jeff, as the Keeper, made him one.

"Don't ask questions—just help us," Newt told Jeff firmly.

"I'll try. But you brought a girl here—what do you expect me to do?" Clint asked, clearly baffled.

"I don't know what happened," Minho said quickly. "We found her in the Maze, we didn't touch her, we didn't do anything, and I don't have any more answers."

"Alright..." Clint nurtured, rubbing his temples.

"Have you noticed anything about her that look anormal?" Jeff questioned Ben and Minho.

"She's... heavy," Minho offered unhelpfully. "And I always thought girls were supposed to be pretty." This earned him a glance from Alby, unhappy of the comment.

He looked at her again—long black hair in a ponytail, scars across her face, strong arms. Her eyes were closed, but he guessed they were brown.

Clint turned to Ben for something more useful.

"She's got blood on her body, and when I grabbed her wrist, it felt like stone. Like—hard, rough, weird."

"Yeah, that too," Minho added.

Clint checked her pulse at her neck and wrists. Jeff grabbed a damp cloth and gently wiped the blood from her skin.

"I guess we just have to wait until she wakes up..." Clint announced.

"How long is it supposed to take?" Newt interrogate.

"Could be minutes, hours, maybe even days. No way to tell," Jeff replied

"If she's out for days, we'll need to feed her, right?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, we would have to. That's why we need someone with her at all times."

"I didn't know finding a girl meant adopting a shuckin' dog," Minho muttered

"Slim it, Minho. You're gonna be the first one to watch her," Alby said firmly.

༄༄༄