teenage wasteland ;; the maze runner

2.11

florence didn't give it much thought before she started to sprint. her feet started moving before she could even take a breath, heart rate skyrocketing just as the word from thomas' mouth processed through her ears. florence was running, and she had no particular idea why.

however, she did have a few guesses, number one being that some guards or whatever were on the gladers' asses, and they needed to get out of there pronto.

at the sound of gunshots from behind-the ones that occasionally sent a shock wave of fear into florence and her friends' hearts when they would barely miss, instead ringing against the wall just inches away from where their heads would've been-florence knew her theory was correct.

"open that door!" minho's voice echoed, bouncing off of the concrete walls. the closer they got, the clearer the image ahead became. it was a dark blue door, one that was just as industrial and protected as every other door in that damn facility.

florence tightened her jaw at the sight of the card reader before them, and she sent a nervous prayer that antony's identification that he'd stolen earlier would work in that sector as well. there was a big fat chance, however, that it wouldn't, and florence knew that as soon as her brain finally took a moment to think.

a small memory popped up, far too easily-or perhaps the memory came to her so naturally that it felt unnatural. she could remember things, and her arms were suddenly sprinkled with goosebumps.

florence swallowed, only to find her mouth had run dry, when she recalled the security protocols of wicked. there was typically only very specific people who had specific access to specific parts of the building. that being said, there was a slim chance that the true owner of antony's new key card actually had access to a whole different side of the building versus where he'd originally stolen it from.

when antony skidded to a stop in front of her, sammy doing the same shortly right before she followed suit, her theory was proven true. the kid swiped the card to no avail. a red light flashed, a buzzer echoing towards their ears.

"what?" antony gasped, eyebrows furrowing, and instead of giving up, he swiped again. and again. and again. it was a typical man behavior, florence recognized, and to try and save them from any more unnecessary frustration, she let out a groan before snatching the card from his hand.

she shook her head when he looked up at her, eyes flared and jaw open in panic. "it's not going to work, so stop wasting energy and time on this." her sudden irritation was enough for even sammy to give her a look, but she didn't give it much thought. she'd been through a lot just in the past few hours. she'd be caught dead before offering her friends any apologies for her behavior.

"what's going on?" newt yelled, and flo whipped around to catch an updated sense of the situation. instantly, all anger dissipated and left behind was a gaping hole of terror. the rest of the gladers had caught up, now slowing to a stop as a larger number of eyes now scruntinized the door the same way flo and her trio had just seconds before.

unfortunately, while she did seem to have her boys close to her, there was also a new daunting horror, one that she couldn't tear her eyes away from. sure, the gladers had caught up, but janson wasn't far behind.

florence gaped once, then twice, then antony stepped forward, shouldering himself in front of her. instantly, her thoughts about janson and their looming deaths dissipated as the original anger resumed bubbling at her surface.

given any other day or circumstance, she would've murdered antony for shoving in front of her, but she figured his response was warranted. she had been unnecessarily snotty with him, but she also couldn't fully dispel her annoyance. fine, she thought with grit teeth. be immature and match my attitude, whatever. thought you were supposed to be the man.