Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

3. 𝒮𝓊𝓇𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒜𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒

Viya didn't allow herself to sleep until she heard the stone doors shook open. Even if she thought herself as safe, she would not let her guard down. By the time she woke up, it was already mid after noon.

Viya looked around the room, a small amount of light spilled in from the doorway, but that was the only source of light. The room was very small, roughly six by six feet, and the roof was around eight feet tall. The doorway was just over a foot wide, and six feet high. Overall, the room was cramped.

She rubbed her eyes as she continued to look around, the room wasn't worn like the rest of the maze, there was no ivy inside of it, and the cement was cleaner, she couldn't help but wonder if the maze was made to look as old as it did. A better question came to mind, why was this room even here? And how had no one found it?

Viya looked down at herself, her black cargo pants had holes in the knees, and she wasn't sure when they had gotten there. Her green v-neck was covered in dirt. She reached behind her to unbuckle her running vest, the heavy leather hurting her shoulders. Viya held the vest in her hands, she was about to toss it to the side when she realized her smaller knife was still tucked into one of the pockets. There used to be three, one for cutting down vines, one large one meant to be used against the grievers, but secretly, Viya kept one more. This knife didn't serve a true purpose like the others, it was just her multi tool that was rarely used, but was very helpful when it was needed.

Viya stuffed the tool into her pants pocket as she stumbled to her feet, she had to use the wall to help her up. Her entire body hurt, her limbs felt heavy and every moment took triple the amount of energy. Viya bit her tongue in anger, if only Jax had given her the serum.

Viya stumbled towards the door, well it wasn't really a door, more of just an opening. She pushed the clumps of vines out of her way as she exited. She wasn't worried about the runners, no one ever came this way, every runner knew it led to a dead-end, and that it never changed.

Her mouth was as dry as a desert, and her stomach was empty. How was she going to find food in this wasteland?

As Viya looked around, an idea came to her. The ivy must need water to grow. She looked up at the looming maze walls. If they grow from the top, maybe they have a water source up there.

With little hesitation, Viya walked over to the shortest wall, her walk was uneven, as only one foot still had a shoe. She started to dig her hands into the stone. Her body begged her to stop, but she needed water, and this was the only way she'll be able to get it.

She was four feet off of the ground when the stone became unnaturally smooth and unclimbable. Viya was forced to climb down, whoever built the maze had thought about climbing the stone. She thought of climbing the ivy, but it was too thin to hold her.

Viya was defeated, if she didn't die from the grievers, it was going to be dehydration.

Viya went to walk back to her small shelter, when a new idea came to her. Surely the ivy is edible right? It's a plant, and most plants are edible.

She delicately took a leaf into her hands, she paused for a second, was she really going to eat a leaf?

She placed it in her mouth and started to chew.

I guess she was.

Viya swallowed the leaf, it didn't taste good, but it was something. She picked more leaves and took them back to her room. She sat on the floor and started to munch on the leaves. It couldn't be good for her, but hopefully her stomach would stop gnawing at her.

Unfortunately for Viya, the leaves only made it worse.

After an hour, Viyas stomach started to hurt, and an hour after that, she was hunched over in pain.

Her stomach felt like it was going to explode, she should not have eaten those leaves.

She sat in pain for what felt like hours, and soon her head started to spin, and she couldn't tell if it was the griever stings of the leaves.

—---

Minho entered the maze at dawn, he didn't want to go out today, but Jax specifically directed him to make sure Viya was dead. Minho knew that Jax knew how close he and Viya had been, but that didn't seem to stop the leader of the Glade.

Minho started to run, his feet hitting the ground as he timed his breathing. As he ran his regular route, he kept an eye out for anything of Viyas, but secretly he hoped he wouldn't find anything. He knew that no one survives a night in the maze, but maybe if he didn't find anything he could tell himself she was still alive, even though he knew she wasn't.

It felt strange for him not to be running without Viya, the pair had always ran together, they wouldn't talk much when they did, but just being able to hear the other one was enough.

As Minho finished his route, he didn't see any sign of Viya, but he knew he couldn't go back empty handed. He let out a deep sigh as he started to search other pathways for Viya. He hoped that if he found anything it wouldn't be her actual body, because he could not handle seeing her dead, he cared too much.

Soon Minho turned a corner, and to his surprise, there, right next to a pile of vines, was Viyas dirty white shoe.

His heart stopped as he walked closer, the shoe was wet with griever slime, and it was tangled in some vines.

"No..." Minho muttered.

His heart was in his throat, she was dead.

He should've stopped it, he should've gone running alone that morning. Maybe if he did, Viya would still be alive.

Minho gently picked up the shoe, he stared at it intently.

"I'm sorry Viya..." He whispered to himself.

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AN

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