Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

63. 𝑀𝒾𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝑜𝓂𝓅𝓁𝑒𝓉𝑒.

Watchful eyes followed Viya and Gally as they walked towards Lawrence's office. They had returned from their mission at dawn, they didn't dare rest, they needed to have all the information fresh in their heads as to not forget any of it.

By now, most people knew where they had been and were eager to hear about how the mission had gone. It was the first lead they had in months, and everyone could do for a dose of hope.

Viya walked quickly down the ramp and into the office, Lawrence was already waiting for them at his desk.

He motioned for them to sit down, Viya eagerly did.

There was a brief moment of silence before Lawrence spoke, "How did it go? Did you make it in?"
"We made it in." Gally answered, "Though, you might want to grease up that hatch."
Viya snorted as she rolled her eyes.

"Did you run into any trouble?"

Viya shook her head.

Gally reached into his pocket and pulled out the map they had made. "We wrote down every street, just like you said. We made dots for every surveillance camera—well, the ones we noticed. I made notes of every corner we saw guards at and reported any other suspicious activities."
Lawrence leaned back in his chair and smirked, letting out a slight laugh. "Well I'll be damned." He muttered, "You really did it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Viya raised an eyebrow.

"You know, this is the fifth mission I've sent out, two didn't make it back." Lawrence confessed, "I was beginning to think it was impossible."
"What can I say, I have a habit of being in places I'm not supposed to be." Viya said with a grin.

"I did notice one thing." Gally placed the map on the table and turned it towards Lawrence, "The guards get more concentrated the closer you get to the WCKD building, in the center of the city. Obviously that poses a threat if we want to get close to the building, but the other side of that is–" Gally pointed towards the edge of the city, "---there is basically nobody guarding the wall, on the inside at least."
Lawrence grabbed the piece of paper, "You're right..." He muttered. "We'll spy on the building from the wall." He blurted out.

"Huh?" Viya asked.

"That's how we'll monitor it, we'll watch 'em from the wall."

"Like from the top of it?" Viya asked.

Lawrence shook his head, "No we'll–" Lawrence stopped, "Ah it doesn't concern you anyways."

"What do you mean?" Gally questioned.

"Yeah, why doesn't it concern us?" Viya asked.

Lawrence took a deep breath, "Because I'm not sending you back in."

"What!" Viya exclaimed, "But we–"
"You did your job. And you did great, but you two are too valuable to lose, I can't risk it, not now."
"So then why'd you send us in the first place?" Gally asked angrily.

"Because I knew you two would do the job right. And, I was right."

"Then why can't we do the next job, you said it yourself, we did a great job!" Viya argued.

Lawrence leaned in, "My men won't like it if I give all the action to two teenagers." He whispered, "Besides, you guys will have plenty of fun in phase two."

"What's phase two?" She asked curiously.

"I can't tell you." He said slyly, "Yet."

Viya rolled her eyes.

"Until then, I'd like you to carry out your regular duties, patrols, scavenging, you know the drill."
"Will it be long?" Gally asked.

"Hm?"
"Will it be long before phase two."
"Shouldn't be." He answered, "Think of it as a line of dominos, right now, the front one is just starting to wobble, it could fall back, and only kill itself, or it could fall forwards, and trigger a chain reaction that is unstoppable. And once we know which way it falls, everything will fall into place." Lawrence said, "It's either us or WCKD. Only one or none can survive. And WCKD will never fall unless we give them a good push."

Viya found Kade alone in the common area staring up at the ceiling. Lawrence had dismissed her shortly after their conversation, and his words had stuck with her.

"Hey." Kade said as he sat up.

"Hey." Viya sat down next to him.

"How'd the mission go?"
"Good."
An odd tension filled the air, something that only Viya seemed to feel. The air that made her uncomfortable and awkward, when she became unsure of how to act or behave, unsure of where to go, unsure of what to do. Yet Kade seemed to feel none of it.

"What was it like?"
"Hm?" Viya asked, snapping out of her trance.

"What was the city like?"
"...Strange, like a whole different world. It felt like I was stepping into a time capsule." Viya said softly, "The women all wore heels and impractical clothing. Everything was clean too, almost too clean. Even the air was different, cleaner, more peaceful, calm. Yet I couldn't imagine ever living there."

"Why? It sounds perfect."
"That's the thing, it is. And I couldn't do that, not to everyone else stuck outside the walls."

Kade kept quiet, taking in Viya's words.

"How's Rhea doing?" Viya asked.

"She's doing okay." Kade said, "She's starting to do more, she's trying to relearn basically everything. But it's been hard." Kade said, "Pipers been at her side throughout the entire side, poor girls getting no sleep. I can tell she blames herself, Rhea tries to reassure her, but she doesn't believe it."

"There's no infection, right?"

"Thankfully not, she's already lost her arm, she doesn't deserve anything more."

"True that."

"What does that mean anyways?" Kade asked, "I keep hearing you say that."
"Oh–it's just some old glader slang. It means to like agree with someone."

"Huh." Kade said.

The room fell silent after that, leaving Viya with a pit of doubt. She realized something in that moment, she didn't love Kade, not romantically anyways. Everytime she looked at Piper and Rhea, she'd try to imagine herself with Kade, yet no happy, or excited emotions appeared, only guilt and unease.

Why couldn't she just love him back?