➊ 𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 - 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨, ᵗᵐʳ

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞

"Come with me!" Chuck said brightly, grabbing my arm as we started walking.

He began talking, but I barely listened at first, too distracted by everything around me. I had seen these places earlier, but now I was really noticing them.

"There's the council hall. It's where the Keepers meet up for decision. Then there's the homestead. It's where the Keepers sleep or us sometimes, but I rather sleep outside but you can sleep with me if you want!" He explained so fast.

I blinked at him. Excuse me?

His eyes widened as he realized how that sounded. "Wait—no! Not like that! I meant next to me! Like... not with me, just... near. I sleep alone and thought maybe you wouldn't want to be alone too."

I laughed. "I'll sleep next to you, Chuck." It felt good to say that, like maybe I'd made a real friend.

Chuck lit up. He smiled so wide it looked like his face might break. "Cool! Maybe Newt'll build you a hut and we could go in it together!"

"Didn't you say huts were for Keepers? I'm not one of those, whatever the hell they are."

"Yeah, but you're kind of like the Keeper of girls since you're, y'know... the only one." He grinned like he'd just discovered something brilliant and kept walking.

His words echoed in my head. "Why am I the only girl?"

"I don't know, nobody knows, but I'll promise I'm gonna protect you!"

I smiled at his sweet, determined tone. He probably couldn't do much if something happened, but it was adorable that he meant it.

"I could protect you with pranks!" he added proudly. "Like, putting gross stuff in Minho's hair, hiding bugs in Zart's food... or the best one, dying Gally's shirt pink! He was soooo mad."

"Zart? Gally? These names get weirder and weirder."

"I'll show you at the bonfire tonight!" he said, then paused. "Actually... maybe not Gally. He doesn't like me."

"Yeah, but he says my pranks aren't funny. Especially that one time I colored his tooth black in his sleep."

Okay, fair. I'd probably be pissed, too.

"What's the worst thing you did to Minho?"

Chuck thought about it, then snickered. "Not me, but definitely when you punched him."

"Everyone keeps bringing that up!" I groaned. "He annoyed me. He got what he deserved."

Chuck shrugged like it was a fair point.

"Earlier you said something about jobs. Do you actually work? Is there, like, Glade money?"

"No money. But yeah, we all try out jobs the first week to find one that fits. Maybe you'll be a Runner with Minho! Actually... nah. I don't think he'd ever let a girl join. You could be a Slopper with me!"

"What's that supposed to mean? He doesn't get to tell me what to do. And what the hell is a Slopper?"

Chuck looked alarmed. "Minho's the Keeper of the Runners. He chooses who joins. And a Slopper is someone who... well, cleans up the nasty stuff. Food scraps. Slop. Kinda gross."

Great. From potential Maze explorer to glorified garbage collector.

"It's not that hard to run, you know," I muttered.

Chuck snorted. "It kind of is. The Maze changes all the time. And there are Grievers."

"Grievers? Like zombie?" Chuck was definitely lying.