Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

6. 𝒢𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒜𝓇𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒮𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔.

The morning sun peeked over the great walls as Viya yanked ivy down from the towering stone. She discarded her vines into a pile that sat at her feet, her feet slowly getting entangled in the mess. Eventually Viya was happy with her findings and promptly picked up her pile of ivy. It took her a few seconds to untangle herself, but she managed to do it in a timely manner, not that time was something she didn't have, if anything she had too much time on her hands.

Viya turned the corner to her deadend, and she set down the vines on the floor next to her door. She brushed away the vines that hung over the door, there were enough of them that you'd never notice the door at first glance, but ever since Viya discovered it, it kept looking more and more obvious, and that was not a good thing. Viya could't let anyone find her, she knew the entire point of the banishment was to condemn the person to death, and she was certain that if she was discovered there'd be problems.

She also simply didn't want to see anyone from the glade, they all betrayed her, and she'd never forgive them.

Viya picked up a vine and started to tie it around a vine that was already hanging down. She repeated this process over and over again until the ivy barrier was twice as thick. Viya took a step back to admire her work. She smiled slightly as she looked at it, no one was finding this.

Viya glanced down at the remaining vines that she didn't use, she pondered on what she could use them for.

Surely she could figure out weaving, right?

Viya grabbed two of the remaining strands of ivy and started to fiddle with them. She knew how to braid, so how different could weaving be?

It was very different.

It took Viya over an hour before she could finally construct something that actually stayed together.

Viya slumped her head up against the wall of the maze, she was out in the open, but the runners never came this way. Some days of the cycle they did, but most days it was just a path that led to a bunch of dead ends.

Once Viya gathered more vines, she decided to start a big project. She wasn't sure if it would actually work, but she hoped it did.
After so many nights in the maze, she had started to long for the sleeping bags and hammocks of the glade. Believe it or not the rocky floor was not comfortable. So, Viya had decided to attempt to weave together a mattress, it probably wouldn't be too comfortable, but if she used thick enough vines hopefully it'd be better than floor.

Viya started to weave, time seemed to pass faster when she was occupied. Though as she weaved, she couldn't help but look back on her time in the glade. In the moment she hadn't enjoyed it, she was always caught up in some insignificant problem, but she never imagined herself to be where she is. She never thought that she'd get stung, much less banished.

But here she was, alone.

In the maze.

—-----

Viya and Minho ran through the maze as always, in the past year they had grown less afraid of the maze, and it just became another place.

They had just finished training the newest runner, and they were finally able to run together. Minho had spent all of his days training the new kid, but now he was finally back with Viya. And he needed the break, it was always difficult to train runners, they were either fearless or terrified, and both traits had their downsides. The terrified ones would never turn a corner in fear that they'd see a griever, and any sound that appeared would cause them to jump. On the other hand, the fearless ones never listened, they didn't comprehend how unforgiving the maze was, and they'd turn corners blindly and wouldn't pay attention to the things around them.

Minho and Viya stopped at a corner, they both rested against the wall as they drank their water. They were almost back to the glade, and this was the last water break of the day.

"Do you know what Fry's making for supper?" Minho asked.

"Why would I know?" Viya said.

"I don't know."

"Whatever it is, I hope the greenie doesn't screw it up again."

"I'm sure he won't." Minho's tone was unsure, as if he was convincing himself instead of Viya.

"Well the kid dumped a whole box of salt into the stew so I don't think I'm gonna trust him."

Minho laughed, "I doubt he's going to be trusted with seasoning the food for a while."

"Even if Frypan let him, I'm pretty sure the entire glade would jump him before they'd let him have another chance." Viya said with a laugh.

"I don't think it'd be that bad."
"Have you seen the builders when they're hungry?" Viya asked. "They're terrifying."

"You got that right." Minho muttered.

Viya turned her head the other way, she could've sworn she had heard something. "We should get going-" Viya said as she turned back around, but her voice stopped when she saw the mechanical monster looming over her friend.

She watched in horror as the creature reached its claw over its head, ready to grab Minho.

"Minho!" She shouted as she darted forwards and pushed the boy out of the way.

Just as Viya shoved Minho out of the way, the grievers claw descended on her.

Minho looked up from the floor just in time to see the griever holding Viyas back as it stared at her. The creature hesitated for a second before it started attacking. It plunged its stinger into Viya repeatedly, and the girl cried out in pain as she struggled to get free.

Minho leapt to his feet and as quick as he could, he pulled out his griever knife and threw it at the creature's head. The blade found itself lodged in the grieves flesh, but the monster didn't recoil in pain, it just dropped Viya silently as it stalked away.

Once it was gone, Minho fell to his knees as he stared at his best friend. Her black hair was sprawled out on the ground as her body twitched uncontrollably.

Viyas eyes were cracked open and she watched in a daze as her friend desperately tried to shake her awake. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, and it wasn't long until she lost consciousness.

Minho stared at her body, her visible sting marks were already swollen. He had to get her back to the glade.

The boy tried to lift her, but his fourteen year old body couldn't manage it, and he had no choice but to run back to the glade to get hope. As he ran back, he prayed that he'd make it back to her in time before the doors closed.

Viya laid there, alone.

In the maze.