Lovers Lies || Thomas

15 - Butterflies

"WERE you ever going to tell me about your field trip if you didn't get caught?" Sandra questioned Minho, following behind him deeper into the woods.

"I was going to tell you before I left," Minho said, looking over his toned shoulder at her, "but you were dealing with enough as it was."

Once he turned back around, she slapped him on the back of his head, hard, making him groan. "You still could've told me, and I would've covered for your ass," she scolded him, Thomas laughing behind them. "From now on, I'm coming into the Maze with you both."

Minho halted, whirling around on her before she could stop herself. Her eyes widened and she ran straight into him, but he caught her, taking a step back and keeping distance between them.

"You aren't coming in the Maze," he said sternly, his eyes hardening on her. "Alby pulled you out—"

"I'm in charge and already told Newt that I'll be running again," she cut him off, pushing his hands away and walking straight past him. "The only way you can stop me is if Alby gives me a command."

"You're the biggest pain in my fucking ass," he muttered behind her, following again. "What if you get hurt—"

"Minho," she breathed, stopping the three of them in their tracks as she faced him. "Just because I got injured once in there, does not make me weak. I'll remind you that I was the one who trained you. I was the first Runner to go into that maze. And I do not need you second-guessing every decision I make."

His shoulders dropped, his eyes softening but Thomas awkwardly coughed behind him. "So, where are we going?" he asked.

Sandra gave him a fake smile, turning around and starting to walk again. "You'll see."

Sandra continued to take the lead, going deeper into the woods, past trees, over wooden bridges that stopped their boots from getting wet in the water streams, until the Map Room came into sight.

She pushed the door open, leading them into the room. In the center, a sheet covered what was hidden on the table—their secret—and around the walls were coordinates, numbers, and letters carved into wood.

Minho pulled back the sheet, revealing the miniature layout of the maze made from sticks. In the center laid the Glade, and around it laid each section, each turn, and each wall to ever been mapped.

Thomas observed it, his eyes widening while Sandra crossed her arms over her chest. "It's the Maze," she said. "All of it."

Minho nodded, watching Thomas carefully as he looked up at them. "What do you mean, 'all of it'? I thought you were still mapping it."

"There's nothing left to map," Minho dreadfully admitted. "I've run every inch of it myself. Every cycle, every pattern. If there was a way out, we would have found it by now."

"But we never know," Sandra said, trying to sound optimistic but even she didn't believe herself.

"Sandra," Minho gently said. He wanted to hold hope, they all did, but looking at this layout of the maze...it snatched away that hope.

"Why haven't you told anyone this?" Thomas questioned the pair.

"It was Alby's call," Sandra answered. "People needed to believe we had a chance of getting out."

Minho walked around the table, stopping beside Thomas. "But maybe now we have a real chance." He handed him the metal cylinder. "Take a look at this. About a year ago, we started exploring these outer sections." Sandra watched him closely as he moved his hand around to show them what he was talking about. "All right, we found these numbers printed on the walls. Sections One through Eight. See, the way it works is every night when the maze changes, it opens up a new section. So today Section Six was open. Tomorrow it'll be Four, then Eight, then Three."