Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

5.𝒦̶𝑒̶𝑒̶𝓅̶𝑒̶𝓇̶𝓈̶, 𝒦𝑒𝑒𝓅𝑒𝓇

Viya sat in the corner of her stoney abode as she munched on one of the strange granola bars she received. She had tried to read the packaging, but it only said 'Nutrient bars' on the clear packaging. Viya wasn't sure what nutrients were in it, but they sure didn't taste good.

Days have passed since she had found the backpack, and she had spent the last few days alone in her small home. She hadn't had the energy to do anything, she kept telling herself that she just needed to recover. After she had taken the griever serum, it took her hours to recover, the serum had made her entire world spin, literally, her head was spinning. Eventually she came back and felt relatively normal, but she still felt off.

As Viya stared at her supplies in the corner, an idea started forming in her head.

Back in the Glade, anytime they had wanted something, all they had to do was write it down on a piece of paper and throw it into the box. Would that work in here too?

Viya paused, she didn't have paper.

Did it have to be paper?

Viya reached for a medium sized stone that was pushed against the wall. She flicked open her knife and started to carve a word into it.

The stone was not the most corporative, but eventually she had the entire word scribbled on.

'Shoes'

It may seem silly that out of everything Viya could have asked for, she chose shoes. But her one bare foot had started to ache from the rocks digging into it. And having an uneven walk was very annoying, you'd think that you'd get used to it, but you don't.

Viya wanted to ask for more things, but she remembered how the system worked in the Glade, if one person asked for more than one thing, only one of them would show up. It was a weird phenomenon, but nobody bothered to question it. Eventually, once the Glade grew, if one person needed more than one item, another boy would throw the note down and all would be fine. But Viya didn't have another person that could give her their ticket, she only had herself.

Out of hope, Viya trekked towards the hole, and once she arrived she threw her rock in and prayed that this would work.

Fortunately for Viya, it did. And four days later, her shoes arrived, along with another shipment of food. The food wasn't in a backpack this time, it was all loose in the box. Luckily, Viya had brought her backpack with her and was able to stuff it full of supplies.

Before Viya headed back, she pulled off her remaining shoe and happily put on her new pair. They were a dark grey running shoe with black laces that were surprisingly comfortable. Though their newness clashed with Viya's torn clothes and dirty appearance.

When Viya arrived back, she had a new thing to think about, what she should ask for next. She needed to prioritize things, she had to get the essentials first before she could think of getting spare clothes or actual paper.

It wasn't a bad thing that Viya had to think, the only thing she'd been doing was thinking, if anything it was a blessing to have something to occupy her.

—---

The two fourteen year olds stood in a shack as homestead was still being built, it was one of the first official meetings of the Gladers, and there being only a dozen of them made it easy for them to fit in the small building.

Jax swiftly brought everyone's attention to him as he started to speak.

"Alright, we already established the other keepers, but we still need one for the runners." He stated, "Any volunteers?"
"I'll do it." Minho and Viya said in unison.

The pair glanced at each other, surprised that the other had volunteered.

Jax paused. "One person please."

Minho and Viya stared at each other, waiting for the other to back down, but neither of them did.

Even in the short three weeks that they've been there for, Minho and Viya had already become close friends. And as the pair looked at each other, they knew they couldn't kick the other one out.

"Can we both do it?" Minho asked.

Jax paused, "What do you guys think?" He asked the rest of the group.

Murmurs of debate fluttered through the crowd of people until it reached the end.

The final boy finally speaks up. "Yes."

Jax sighed, "Fine, Minho and Viya can be co-keepers."

Minho grinned at the dark haired girl, Viya rolled her eyes at him, but secretly she was happy too.

Now people could truly say they did everything together.

—---

"As you all know." Jax started. "We have a big decision to make."
Homestead was filled with boys, everyone knew why they were there, but nobody responded to Jax.

In the middle of the room, there was Minho leaning against a support beam.

Jax cleared his throat. "We will put it to a vote, do we want another co-keeper? Or make the runners the equal with the rest of us."

The crowd was silent, most boys thought it was all moving too fast. It had only been a week since Viya was pronounced dead, and Jax already wanted to fill or erase her place.

"Well?" Jax asked.

"Just Minho." A boy muttered.

No one else said anything.

Jax rolled his eyes, "Raise your hand if you agree?" Jax raised his hand.

Slowly more hands appeared in the air until about eighty percent of boys agreed.

Minho zoned out of the conversation, he didn't care what the decision was, because he just wanted Viya back.

"Well the decision is clear." Jax stated. "Congratulations Minho, you are now keeper of the runners."

Minho nodded slightly before walking out, it wasn't the same as it was the first time he had been elected, he wasn't happy this time, he just wanted her back.