Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

7. 𝐵𝑒𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓎𝒶𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝐹𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹

Viya sipped on her water as she paced around her room. The cold stone walls made the room feel lifeless and sad, and the only source of color was the dark green vines that had been woven into a mattress. The vines were surprisingly comfy, well at least compared to the floor.

Viya had been trying to find something useful to do with her time, but there wasn't much. And the worst thing about having too much time, is that you'd reminisce about the past. And there were some things Viya wished she could forget.

Even remembering the glade was hard, because she couldn't help but compare her current predicament to it. The glade was comfy and safe, but the maze was like a warzone. She hadn't encountered any grievers since her first night, but she could hear them. At night when she'd try to sleep, she could feel the walls shake and shift.

But the thing she missed most was running.

Running gave her a purpose, a job. It made her feel useful, and without it she felt empty.

But, why should the gladers get to decide if she could or couldn't run? She can still run even if she's not an official runner.

She'd make her own map.

She would make her own map of the maze, and who knows, maybe she'd find the way out.

Viya walked over to the wall across from her bed. She surveyed the open stone and decided she'd carve her map into this wall.

She already remembered some parts that never changed, like where her room was to the entrance of the maze, or the route to the hole.

Viya flicked open her knife as she started to carve.

She started at the maze entrance, she lightly sketched the lines of the walls that led to her dead end. It looked about right, she then went over her lines again, this time carving them deep into the stone.

As Viya carved she could picture the map of the maze in her head. Before she had gotten banished, she and Minho had started to work on a physical model of the maze. She knew that she was in the close section of the maze, the area that was always available and never changed. But if she was right, the closest section to her would be section four.

The maze was a weird place, every day a new section would open up and runners would split up into pairs to map it. When they had first started, they had only done the close areas that were always open, but once they figured out that there was more, they gave up on mapping the close areas, because it never changed.

Soon Viya moved on to carving her path to the hole, she scratched the twists and turns into the stone, and she marked the hole with a 'X'. She then added a star to her map to symbolize her room. And lastly, she added a skull to where the Glade would be if she were to add it. The skull acted as her reminder that if she ever went back she'd be dead, Jax had banished her to keep her quiet, so if he found out that she was alive he'd certainly find another method to get rid of her.

When Viya was done with her map, she peaked out of her room and realized that it was getting too late to start mapping the areas she didn't remember, so she had to start tomorrow.

She ducked back into her room, maybe she could try and remember more. Viya closed her eyes as she started to envision the maze, some sections were very blurry but others were as clear as day. And soon Viya was able to scratch more and more pathways into her wall, and the only reason she stopped was because it was getting too dark to see.

—----

Viyas body convulsed on the maze floor as Minho ran over to her, he had brought more boys to help carry her back and the boys wasted no time to scoop her up and start jogging back to the glade.

When they reached the glade, Viya was quickly whisked away to the med-shack, even though Minho was exhausted, he couldn't let Viya out of his sight until he knew she was safe.

The air in the med-hut was thick with worry. Griever stings weren't a common occurrence, even more shocking that Viya of all people had been stung. There were dozens of carefree runners that you'd expect to get stung, but not Viya.
Viya had always been alert and ready, some described her to be 'on edge', but Minho knew she was just prepared. Some people built walls to protect themselves, Viya built plans.

Viya was laid on the wooden table in the center of the room, Clint reached to pull up Viyas shirt, but Minho aggressively grabbed his arm to stop him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Minho asked defensively.

"I'm trying to get a good look of where she was stung."

"Can't you do that with her clothed?"
"Not really, unless you'd like me to bandage her shirt."
"...Fine." Minho grumbled as he stepped back.

Clint resumed his work, he slid off Viya's leather vest and removed her V-neck. Three swollen wounds were on her stomach, another one was on her arm, and a smaller one was on her collarbone.

Clint stepped back in astonishment, he had assumed she'd only been stung once, but nobody's had it this bad."
"Well don't just stand there, help her!" Minho exclaimed.

"I...I need to talk to Jeff." Clint said as he rushed out of the room.

As Minho stared at the unconscious Viya, he felt his chest grow tight with fear, was she going to be okay?

—

Viyas mind swirled, her entire body felt numb, but she had no clue where she was. Memories desperately tried to make their way to the surface, but for now, none of them reached the surface.

Viya wanted to scream out, to tell herself to wake up, but no matter what she tried nothing happened. It was as if she was underwater, she was swimming up, but the water kept getting higher and higher.

Then the rejected memories started to flood back in.

Images of a brunette girl looming over her, the girls vibrant blue eyes shining with kindness.

An older man sitting at a table as Viya looked up at him lovingly.

The smell of bleach in pristine white hallways.

It was almost too much, to the point where Viya wasn't sure if it was real or not.

Then he was there.

A young asian boy crossing his arms as he looked her up and down.

It was Minho.

The memories subsided for a moment, and through her mind's confusion she heard a familiar voice whispering in her ear.

"You're not getting that serum." It muttered.

It took Viyas disoriented mind a while to figure out who the voice belonged to, but it all made sense once she did.

It was Jax.