Marooned | Maze Runner | Minho

74. 𝒯𝓊𝓈𝓈𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒯𝑒𝒶𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔

Viya returned to the center of the floor. She had checked every hallway and every possible exit. A part of her was still in denial about being trapped, but she had seen it first hand how stuck they were. Both stairwells were completely blocked by rumble, and the elevators clearly hadn't worked in years. They were too high up to jump down, they could try but Viya preferred to not have a broken ankle.

Viya turned her head just as Minho walked back into their designated meeting spot.

"You find anything?" He asked.

Viya shook her head.

"Me neither."

The sun was beginning to set and colors of orange and pink began to shine on the tan walls of the rumbled building.

"Did you find any supplies?" Viya asked, breaking the thick silence.

"A little, you?"
"I got a bit, I was thinking we could make a stockpile so we can see how much we have."
Minho nodded, "We could put it in one of the cubicles." He suggested.

"Alright."

Viya slowly unpacked her bag, she was glad they had stopped and gathered supplies so at least they didn't have to worry about food. Minho had found a medkit and some batteries.

The sun had almost completely set by the time they were done re-searching the entire building.

"How long do you think this will last us?" Minho asked.

"Depends. We might be able to stretch it to two weeks if we ration."

Minho paused, "We won't be in here that long."
"Yeah." Viya said, even though she knew she didn't believe it.

"How are your hands doing?" Minho asked after a long, awkward pause.

Viya pulled her hands towards her, "Fine." She said,

Minho raised his eyebrow, "Let's bandage them just in case."

Viya hesitated before she nodded. Minho grabbed a roll of bandages from the pile and moved towards Viya.

"I can do it myself." She muttered.

"But you're not going to." He decided.

Viya bit her tongue and slowly put her hands out for Minho to wrap. The boy gently grabbed her scratched hands and began to slowly cover them in white fabric. He looked down at her with intense focus. Viya looked the other way as he worked.

He ripped off the roll once he was done. He went to put the bandages back when he paused. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the small black text on Viya's collarbone that poked out slightly from her shirt.

"Nothing." Viya said quickly.

"I wish you'd stop hiding things from me, Viya." Minho muttered.

Guilt flooded Viya, she yearned to say something but no words came to her mouth.

"I can handle it, I promise." Minho said.

Viya hesitated before she pulled down her shirt to reveal the branding WCKD had done to her. In the familiar thick bold letters, 'A12 The Abandoned' was written on her skin.

Minho's eyes widened in realization.

"They..." he muttered.

Viya pulled her shirt back up, "I didn't want to tell you." She muttered.

"Why..? When?" Minho muttered.

Viya took a deep breath, "After you were taken in the mountains, I just kept running." she explained. "Then WCKD found me. The scooped me up and took me to this testing center...I don't even know how long I was there for, they did tests on tests and..." Viya's voice trailed off.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Minho choked out.

"You tried so hard to save me...I didn't want you to know that it didn't work."
"How'd you get out?" Minho asked after a long pause.

"Lawrence's guys intercepted the van that was transferring me." Viya said.

"I can't believe you went back." Minho muttered.

"What do you mean?" Viya asked.

"I can't believe you went back in to save me. You knew what they would've done to you if you got caught and you still came."

"Why wouldn't I? I couldn't leave you knowing what they were doing to you." Viya reminded.

"When I was in WCKD...I felt so alone." Minho admitted, "But knowing that someone has been through the same thing...makes me feel not so alone." Minho said, looking into Viya's eyes.

"I don't want you to feel alone." Viya said softly.

"I think the worst part of it all was how I was nothing more than a lab experiment." Minho admitted, "They wouldn't even look me in the eye, I was worthless to them."

"I think the worst part was the memories." Viya said, "It was like they'd pick and choose the worst ones to give back to me."

Minho paused, "What memories?"

"Did they not give yours back?" Viya asked softly

"They gave your memories back?" Minho asked.

"They didn't give yours back?"
"No." Minho said, his voice full of shock. "Why was it the worst part? I'd die to get mine back."
"Trust me. You don't want them back." Viya said flatly.

Minho paused, sensing the sensitive subject, "Were they that bad?" He asked gently.

Viya nodded, "I wish I didn't remember them, so then I could move on. But it's like WCKD chose the worst of the worst to give back to me as if all the other shit they were doing wasn't bad enough."
"Viya...I'm so sorry." Minho said gently as he walked towards her.

"It's fine." Viya assured, "They're not all bad." Viya said, trying to change the subject. "We were friends since we were kids, you know. None of the other girls would sit with me at lunch, but everyday you'd invite me over. You'd always peel my oranges."

"Your kidding?" Minho said.

"Not at all." Viya said.

"Wait, why would none of the other girls sit with you?" Minho asked curiously.

"Oh god." Viya said with a laugh, "On my first day I got into a fight with this girl–I won–but none of the other girls liked me after that."
Minho let out a laugh, "Some things don't change."
"Hey!" Viya said as she shoved him.

Minho jokingly shoved her back.

"You think I don't still got it?" Viya questioned.

"Hm, well I haven't seen you in a while so who knows." Minho said with a taunting shrug.

Viya lunged toward him but Minho quickly dodged away. Soon the pair was running around the building laughing as they tried to catch each other in an intense game of tag.

Soon Minho was cornered in a dead end as Viya walked slowly towards him.

"Well look who's stuck," She taunted.

Minho looked around for an escape but there was nowhere for him to go.

Viya went to tag him but Minho quickly stuck out his foot to trip her. Viya went flying forwards, but she landed on something that wasn't the ground.

Viya blinked in shock as she looked down at the boy beneath her. For what felt like an eternity they stared at each other, neither knowing what to do.

"Sorry." Viya eventually said as she crawled off of him.

"You're good." Minho said as he turned his head the other way.

"I still won though." Viya said with a victorious smirk.