Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

55. 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝓅𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔.

Viya took the bag of fruit from the old lady, her wrinkled hands grazed Viya as she thanked the girl. The woman waved to the group as they left.

Gally turned to Viya, "You could've haggled more, you know." He said.

"I know, but I felt bad for her." Viya admitted. "And we still got what we wanted."
"What else do we have to find?" Rhea asked.

Piper looked down at the crinkled piece of paper, "Lawrence wanted us to find some bullets, a few more blankets, fruit–which we already got, oh! And he wanted more tea leaves."

"Alright, keep your eyes peeled." Rhea directed.

The group continued to walk down the broken concrete sidewalk. Lawrence had sent them out with a small grocery list of items he wanted. Viya didn't mind going, it was an easy enough task. She also didn't mind the people she was with—which was a rare thing.

"Oh! I see some blankets over there!" Piper said excitedly as she rushed towards the stall.

A young woman smiled as they approached, her hair was pulled back into two tight buns with a crocheted beanie pulled over her ears. Her entire stall had various crocheted items, sweaters, scarfs, blankets, socks.

"Hello!" Piper greeted cheerfully.

"Hello." The shop keeper said back.

"How much for three blankets?"
The woman hesitated, "What do you got?"
Piper pulled out three small bags of rice. "How about this?"
The woman paused, "I suppose it'll do." She said with a happy smile as she snatched up the bags. "Pick whatever three you'd like."
Piper smiled at the lady, "What ones do we want?"
"Does it really matter?" Gally asked.

"Yes." Rhea and Piper said at the same time.

"How about we do a black, green, and purple one?" Viya offered.

"Sounds good." Rhea said as Piper grabbed the three blankets.

"Thank you!" The short blonde said with a wave.

The hot mid-afternoon sun blazed over the teens. They had found everything they needed, each one had their hands full with a different item.

"Is anyone else famished?" Piper asked.

"Yes!" Gally exclaimed, "Can we please find something to eat?"
"I agree," Rhea said, "I heard that someone was selling pastries around here."
"That sounds sooo good." Piper said longingly.

"Lead the way." Viya said.

Viya could smell the bakery long before it came into view. The smell roamed freely through the streets, captivating every pedestrian it could.

Viya sat on an old steel drum, Gally sat across from her, Rhea beside. They were all waiting for Piper to get back with something to eat. Viya's stomach growled with hunger.

"I'm back! I'm back!" Piper announced as she trotted her way back over to the group. She sat beside Rhea on a large wooden block. She pulled out a pocket knife and began to cut the small cake she had bought.

The cake was split into fourths, pink frosting lined the edges of each piece. Viya used her hands to break off a small bit—forks were an afterthought. The flavors swirled on her tongue, a sweet delicate vanilla was something she couldn't remember eating previously.

"This is so good." Rhea said with her mouth full.

"I know." Gally said, pink frosting on his cheek.

Viya felt a sudden feeling of uneasiness, she glanced behind her, meeting the eyes of a boy who was standing off to the side. He quickly looked away once their eyes met, but Viya couldn't help but feel weird.

Viya turned back towards the group, taking another bite of her cake. Rhea bent over and gently rubbed frosting away from Piper's cheek. Piper smiled up at the girl cheekily, only to be met with a quick peck from Rhea.

Viya licked her fingers as she finished her cake, she looked up from her lap, only to meet the eyes of the stranger again. This time he ducked into an alleyway, away from the crowds.

—------

Viya stirred nervously in her bed, the room was dark, the only source of light was a small night light in the corner. She listened to the soft breaths of the other girls, they sounded like they were all in a deep sleep.

She slowly climbed out of bed, her bare feet gently touched the cold concrete floor. Her white nightgown fell just above her knees, it moved with her delicately as she shuffled through the room.

She held the screw driver tightly in her right hand as he crawled under a bunk. The girl who slept in the bed stirred, causing Viya to jump. She took a moment to calm herself down before continuing. The room was dark, Viya had to use her other hand to scout from the screws. She blindly unscrewed all four and delicately peeled the vent cover off and discarded it onto the floor. She cautiously crawled into the ventilation system, the cold metal hitting her knees sent a shiver up her spine.

"Hi." Minho whispered as Viya turned the corner.

"Hi." She whispered back.

"Come on, the others are all waiting to meet you."
Minho began to lead the girl through the vents, he seemed to have memorized every turn. It felt like Viya was in a whole other world, the vents seemed to be their own realm of mystery. Every turn looked the same to her, yet Minho navigated it with such ease that she couldn't help but be in awe.

Minho came to a halt in front of an air vent.

"We're here." he said as he pulled the cover off.

"They're here!" A girl said excitedly.

Minho climbed out first, he then offered his hand to Viya and helped the girl climb out.

The room was lit with fairy lights, bean-bag chairs were scattered around the small room along with individually packed snacks. A few books had been discarded on the floor, their pages wrinkled and worn yet the children still valued their stories.

"When you said club house I expected just an empty storage room, I didn't think you'd decorate." Viya said in bewilderment.

"You can thank Teresa for that one, I don't know how she got half of the stuff but here we are." Minho said.

A tall, dark haired boy approached Viya. "I'm Thomas." He said, "And that's Teresa." Thomas motioned towards a brunette girl. "That's Alby," He pointed to a serious looking boy, "That's Newt, " The blond smiled at Viya warmly, "And that's Chuck and Nash."

Viya looked around at all the kids, they seemed to welcome her.

"Minho said that you just got here, is that true?" Teresa asked excitedly.

Viya nodded.

"Why were you so late? Were you locked up in a single room for a while?"
"No," Viya said shyly, "I just got here I think a week ago."
"Wait–so you were outside?" Alby asked, Viya nodded again, "What was it like?"
"Well before I moved I lived in the forest and it was nice but..."
"But?"
"Well after I moved I just stayed in the house all day and wasn't allowed to go outside."
Teresa hesitated before speaking, "Were you the one who was hiding under WCKD's nose?"
Viya nodded again.

"How do you know?" Newt asked.

"I heard them talking about it on the radios." Teresa revealed.

"So, Viya." Alby said, "You know how to play cards?"

----------------
AN

I think Piper is actually my favorited character, man I love writing lesbians