Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

50. 𝐹𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑜𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝐹𝓇𝑒𝑒𝒹𝑜𝓂.

Viya was shoved into the van aggressively, her escort quickly cuffed her hands behind her back before tying her feet together.

"Where am I going?" Viya asked hoarsely.

"You're being transferred." Grunted the guard.

"Where–" The door slammed shut.

Viya watched through the small window as two guards climbed into the driver's seats. They exchanged a few words before they turned on the engine and began to drive.

There were no windows in the back of the van, maybe there once had been, but not anymore. The cold steel floor sent shivers up Viya's spine as the ropes dug into her ankles.

A sudden wave of tiredness washed over Viya, her body begged to be given a rest, yet her fear kept her awake.

Where were they taking her?

Could it be worse than where she already was?

Viya didn't want to entertain the thought of more torture, yet her brain wouldn't tell her differently. Anything could be waiting for her at her mysterious destination, and that seemed to be the most chilling thought of all.

If they would've told her what was going on, maybe she'd be able to rest. But they liked to keep Viya in the dark–partly out of fear, partly out of the need to control everything she did. Control was the most valuable power to WCKD, they liked to manipulate people's surroundings, creating false hope and false sense of reality. Maybe that was why they had kept her in that all white room, they liked to watch her suffer.

The van had been driving for hours, hours that seemed to drag on longer than they did in the room. There was nothing to look at in the van, only blank sheets of steel. There were a few boxes tucked into the corner, wooden crates that Viya didn't bother to wonder about what they contained. It wasn't until she noticed the metal frame of a familiar bug that she became intrigued. Why did WCKD keep letting Watcher near her? If anything they should've taken him away so she'd feel more alone.

The van came to a sudden halt, so sudden in fact that Viya was jerked forwards, causing her wrists to hit the cuffs with such force that it felt as if they had broken in two.

Had they arrived?
Viya heard a thump on the roof, was someone up there?

It was soon followed by another thump, and then the sound of two doors slamming shut. Viya looked around her, trying to piece together the little information she had.

It wasn't until the gunshots started that she began to feel nervous. The fighting seemed to go on for hours, eventually the door slid open, letting the bright sun to flow in. Viya expected to see a masked WCKD guard, but instead a short man dressed in raggedy clothes stared at her.

"There's a girl!" He shouted behind him.

Three more people curiously looked through the door at wide-eyed Viya. Her eyes danced from one to another, trying to understand what they wanted.

"They really made an entire trip just for her?" The woman asked.

"She must be pretty valuable then." The man's eyes glimmered with greed.

"You sure? There doesn't seem to be much to her."

"She had to be worth something." The man argued. "We could sell her back to WCKD."
"Yeah, until they come busting down our door and demolish the entire camp." The woman said with an eye roll.

Viya stayed quiet, still observing the group.

"Say, kid, what's your name?" The woman asked.

Viya gulped, "Viya." She said, trying to sound calm.

"Hmph." She responded, "Let's take her with us, we can ask Boss what he thinks we should do with her."

The rest of the group seemed to agree with her response, as two of them climbed into the back with Viya, while the other two hopped into the front.

It wasn't long before the van began to start moving again. Viya's fear had been replaced by another type of fear, one that was arguably worse. Were these people going to kill her? What was their plan?

What did fate have in store for her?

—----

Thump, Thump, Thump.

Thump, Thump, Thump.

Thump, Thump, Thump.

Minho repeatedly slammed his fist against the cold steel door. The door that locked him into his cell, the door that separated him from all of his friends.

He just wanted out, he wanted to be free again, he had just barely gotten a taste of freedom, and now he was locked up again.

His mind kept circling back to the night he was captured, he was almost out, he was almost safe. He could still see Viya's terrified expression as she ran up the hill. He could still see her scaling the cliffside, looking back at him just as he entered the Berg. He was glad she made it out. Even if he was captured, at least Viya was safe. He had done so much to her, maybe this was his way of obtaining forgiveness.

He knew it'd be hard on her, being alone with the gladers. But he believed in her, she was strong, she could do it.

Minho threw another punch at the door, ignoring the way his fist throbbed after each hit. He ignored the fact that punching the door wouldn't do anything, at least he was trying.

Minho went to punch the door again, but to his surprise it swung opened. He stopped his fist before it collided with the guard on the other side.

"Stop." the guard grunted.

Minho rolled his eyes as the guard shut the door. He waited barely a minute before he started to strike the door again. On the third hit, the door opened again.

"I said stop." the guard repeated.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll make you stop."
Minho rolled his eyes, "Yeah right."
The guard brought his hand up in the air before he brought it down on Minho's cheek.

The boy blinked a couple of times, stunned that the guard had actually hit him.

"That's all you got?" Minho questioned.

The guard gritted his teeth as he looked down at Minho, his arms crossed. "You really wanna find out little boy?"
"Please, you really think you can do anything to me? I'm already here, it can't get much worse."
The guard cocked his head to the side, "You wanna bet?" he muttered before striking Minho again.

This time, the guard closed his fist tightly, he hit Minho's face, and just as the boy stumbled, he swiped his legs out from underneath him and used his other hand to push him onto the ground.

Minho spat out his blood onto the cement floor, he began to stand up, when the guard kicked him in the stomach.

"Trust me, kid, it can get a lot worse." The guard warned, "And don't think I won't make it worse. The other kids on this block have learnt to behave, now why don't you? Or maybe you'll have to end up with the transferred lot."
Minho blinked up at the man.

"What's the transferred lot you ask? Well they're the kids that didn't listen, they're the ones I did real damage to. The ones who had to get permanently transferred to the med wing."

Minho continued to hold his stomach, blood dripped out of his nose onto the ground. The guard smirked as he looked down on the beaten boy before he slammed the door shut.