Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

12. 𝒫𝓇𝑜𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒷𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝓋𝑒𝒹

"Walls go up, walls come down, every day's the same old round. find the path, find the way,

maybe tomorrow, but not today." Viya hummed as she headed back.

The day had been the same as all the others, luckily for her she had a little bit of change. One of the closer outer sections had opened up, so she was able to explore a newer area. She caught glimpses of remembrance as she ran, and soon the walls became familiar. Viya had forgotten how harsh the outer sections were, the walls were taller, the corridors were darker, and there was a slight elevation to the floor, making it slightly more exhausting to run.

But she had done it, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't find it hard. But she couldn't let that stop her, she knew she'd go back out tomorrow even if her body begged for a day's rest.
Being trapped in the maze meant that there was only one way for Viya to go, out. The gladers could live peacefully in their paradise, most of them ignoring the maze as if it didn't exist. But to Viya, the maze was all that existed, and if she ever wanted to see what else was outside the maze, she'd have to find the exit. She'd show all those Gladers. She didn't need them, she'd find the exit all by herself and leave them trapped in the maze. She'd turn the tables, even if that meant breaking the tables.

Viya turned into her final corridor, she slowed her pace and briskly walked into her room. Almost on cue, the doors creaked closed in the distance.
Viya glanced around her room, admiring all the things she had accumulated. She had a long sheet of fabric that she had many plans for. She had her lamp, her chair, her bed, her map, her calendar. And the best part was that they were all hers.

She clipped off her running vest, even if she didn't have stuff to carry, she still liked to wear the thing, even if it was impractical. It made her feel official.

She sat down on her chair and started to slip off her shoes. She didn't have to worry about stones poking her feet, she had swept out all the dust and stones long ago.
As her room got darker, Viya lit a match into her lamp and carefully adjusted the flame.

She ripped open a can of corn, she used a cutlery set she had received to eat. It was much better than her hands.

When she was finished she grabbed the fabric and carefully sliced off a corner of it. She then grabbed a water bottle and wet the cloth before she started to clean herself.

It felt good to get the dust off of herself, even if she couldn't smell herself, she knew she couldn't exactly smell like flowers.

Viya turned to her map, as much as she'd like to go to bed, she had one more job to do. She dragged her chair over to the wall, knife in her other hand. She sat down in front of the stone and brought her knife up to it and began to carve. She could easily picture each corridor in her head as if it was a 3D model. It was something she had always been able to do, safe to say she used to be the map-makers best friend.

It didn't take long before it was finished, but by then the lamp was the only source of light in the room. Viya let out a big yawn as she took the three steps back over to her bed. She crawled under the blanket and turned off the lamp, plunging the room into a pit of darkness.

—-----

"So." Teresa said as she switched off the computer and turned towards Thomas.

"So." Thomas said back.

"What do you think?" Teresa asked.

"What do you think?"
Teresa rolled her eyes, "I think that she's been doing quite well for all by herself."

"I agree." Thomas said, "But..." His voice trailed off.

"But?"

"She's been having some close encounters with grievers, and I worry that her always being there is pushing the grievers into overdrive." Thomas pointed out. "The grievers were originally designed to only be around people for an hour or two a day, but now that she's there, they're constantly in attack mode and their battery life is getting worse."
"Good point," Teresa complimented, "But how do we fix that?"

"I have no clue." Thomas admitted.

They both slumped back into their chairs in unison, their brains analyzing the problem, just like they've been doing since they were kids, the exact way wicked taught them.

"What if..." Teresa muttered.

Thomas adjusted his posture, curious about the girl's idea.

"What if...we adjusted the grievers' code to make them a little more relaxed about Viya," Teresa proposed. "We could make it so they only attack her if they see her and are in...lets say twenty feet."

"That could work, but what if she notices?"
"She won't, she's not going to go searching for the grievers."
"Fair enough."

Teresa switched her computer back on, she clicked through files until she reached 'the griever hub'. Thomas leaned over the girls shoulder, he observed the grievers stats and watched as Teresa pulled up the code.

Teresa got to work quickly, imputing new code and removing old things. The hardest part was adding face recognition so the grievers would know who was who. But it didn't take more than five minutes before the brunette figured it out.

After a few more small edits, Teresa sat back in her chair, "There," She said, "That should do it."
Thomas nodded.

"Want to go for dinner?" She asked.

"Sure." Thomas responded.

Teresa got up to leave, but she noticed that Thomas wasn't following. She looked back at him curiously, not sure why he wasn't moving.

"Do you ever feel bad for what we're doing to them?" He asked as he stared in the other direction.

"Thomas..." Teresa said gently. "We've talked about this."
"I know..."
"It's all for a good cause you know."
"I know, but I still feel bad, I mean they're dying in there."

"I know Thomas, and I wish they didn't have to, but you know what we're trying to do."
Thomas looked away.

"Think of all the people we are going to save once we get the cure."

Thomas looked into the girl's eyes.

"You're right, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, come on, let's go get dinner."