Stolen [The Maze Runner Fanfiction]

XLIV. Hourglass

I stand leaning against a tree, watching as Minho explains our find to Kate and a few of the other runners. After we explained it to Newt and Ably, they had left in search of the greenie girl, who had apparently woke up, and was currently missing. I had yet to see Thomas since I left him standing at the maze entrance, which worried me a little, but I decided he probably just wanted to be alone, and had wandered off somewhere. I wasn't exactly in a talking mood either, which is why I was letting Minho do the explaining. Out of habit I glance at my watch, checking to see the time. 7:10. My heart drops like a stone, my stomach instantly sick with horror. The doors should have closed, ten minutes ago. Terrified I quickly make my way to Minho, who stands talking with the other runners. No one else has noticed yet.

"Psst, Minho." I hiss, not wanting to freak everyone out before I have to. Maybe they're just late?

"Just a sec-" he stops when he sees the look on my face. "Sky what's wrong?" He ask taking a step towards me. I glance at the group and motion for him to walk with me. "Guys I'll be right back!" He yells over his shoulder to the group of runners, who carry on their conversation, blissfully unaware of what's happening. "Sky what the shuck is going on?"

I grab him by the shirt and yank him to a stop, just out of ear shot of the group. "Minho, look at your watch." I demand, shifting back and forth in front of him, unable to stay still.

"Wh-"

"Just do it." I snap interrupting him. He looks down, confusion clouding his face for a few seconds before he looks up in horror, realizing what he missed.

"The doors." He gasps, his face going pale at the words. I nod, desperately wishing I could collapse into his arms and cry, but there is no time, soon everyone will notice and the real chaos will begin. We have to warn Newt and Alby, and then prepare as best we can for what's coming. Without a word we move in sync, sprinting for the front homestead, where Newt and Clint stand  talking. Newt's head snaps up when he sees us coming, concern flooding his face when he sees our expressions. Silently, I point to my watch. Newt glances down, confused, then sinks to the ground, a look of utter hopelessness in his eyes. Finally we reach them, but I don't have to explain, they've figure it out.  Newt stands back up before giving us directions.

"I'll find Thomas and Alby, Minho you and Sky..." He steps away from Clint and I before whispering something to Minho. Minho nods grabs my hand, dragging me away.

"Where are we going?" I ask, sprinting to match his pace so he isn't dragging me.

"Map room." He answers, not bothering to go into detail. I sigh, and follow him, deciding to figure it out when we get there.

"Grab one." He says once were inside, pointing to the chests full of maps.

"Why?" I ask bending over to shut the lid before picking it up. The chest is surprisingly light, although I don't know what I expected, they are filled with paper after all.

"When Alby first came out of the changing, he warned Newt to protect the maps." Minho explains, picking up two of the chests for himself. "Newt wants us to hide these just in case."

"Where are we going to hide them?" I ask, struggling to open the map room door while carrying the chest. It's not heavy, but it's awkward and bulky, making it hard to keep ahold of.

"There's a secret closet in the basement of the homestead, in the weapons room." Minho says holding the door open for me with his foot.

"Really?"

"Ya only a few of us know about it, it's where we hide important stuff."  He explains.

We reach the basement of the homestead, and walk down into the weapons room. Minho sets the chests on a table, and walks to a pile of boxes on the other side of the room. Shoving the boxes aside, he pulls out a key, and to my surprise, unlocks a door hidden in the wall. If you didn't know exactly what you were looking for, you'd never see it, the edges of the door blend almost seamlessly into the wall, only a small line of separation between them. He pulls open the door, revealing a closet filled with shelves, mostly empty with the exception of a few small items.
We pile in the chests, making several trips back and forth to the map room. We replace the trunks we take with new ones, full of empty sheets of paper, which in my opinion is a complete waste, but Minho insisted.

"Don't you think this is a waste of time?" I ask frustratedly, thinking we should be doing something more important. Gathering supplies or boarding up windows, helping with something tangible, not switching out map boxes that no one is even going to look at. We could have done it tomorrow, I mean it's not like anyone is going to be in the map room tonight.

"No, plus is not like we would have been much help, Newt's got it under control, we would have just gotten in the way." Minho answers dejectedly. "Most of it is pointless anyway, more of a distraction than anything."

"Still." I mutter, shoving a handful of papers into the last set of boxes. Minho taps on my shoulder, then gestures to the wall of weapons.

"We're going to hand them out to everyone later, so grab what you want now." He says, preparing to go and get the last round of chests. I look around before grabbing a spear, along with a knife that clips on to my belt. Minho grabs what looks like some type of sword, sliding it into a sheath attached to his backpack.

"Alright let's go." I say, holding out my hand, he takes it and we head back to the map room. I'm gathering the last chests when I notice something.

"What's wrong?" I ask, when Minho pauses in the middle of packing his box. It's a stupid question, everything in the world is wrong. He stops what he's doing and walks towards where I sit on the edge of one of the mapping tables. He looks incredibly sad, and for the first time I've ever seen, Minho looks scared.

"Sky, this could be it, we could both die tonight, I-" He starts, wrapping his arms loosely around my waist and leaning against the table I'm sitting on. I wrap my legs around his waist, threading my arms behind his neck.

"No, we're not going to die." I say cutting him off. I don't want to talk about this, I don't even want to think about it.

"You don't know that! Sky we could, and you can't deny it this time!" He says, looking down at me. I hate it when he's right. Tears brim in my eyes, threatening to break free, I blink them back and look up at him.

"What? am I just supposed to give up then?" I whisper, my voice cracking as I try not to cry. I'm not ready to die.

"No, of course not." He says with a sad smile. "I just wanted to tell you, just in case."

"Tell me what?"

"Skylar, I love you, Shuck it Skylar, I love you so much." He whispers, his eyes full of pain. My heart races as I hear the words I didn't know I had been waiting for. I don't answer, instead, I hook my fingers through his shirt collar, pulling his mouth to mine. I kiss him hard, knowing it might be our last. My tongue brushes against the edge of his lips, and our kisses become more intense, each of us trying to close distance that isn't there. We kiss for a long time, until I have to come up for air.

"I love you too." I whisper, my lips touching his when I speak. "We'll be ok." I say, more to myself than to him.

Suddenly the map room door flies open, "What the shuck!"  Thomas yells in horror when he sees us. I laugh at him using the glader words, they just sound so out of place coming from his mouth. I'm almost hysterical, almost crying one minute and then laughing the next.

"What?" Minho asks, not even bothering to move away from me. He tilts his head and kisses me again, not caring who sees.

"Don't you guys have a job to do?" Newt says stepping in behind Thomas. Unlike Thomas however, Newt doesn't look the least bit surprised.

"Always ruining the fun." I tease, planting one last kiss before jumping down off of the table and grabbing one of the chests. Minho sighs and follows me out of the map room. I look back to see the priceless look on Thomas' face, he looks disgusted. I laugh, shaking my head, If only Kate could have seen that. She'd have laughed so hard.

We finish putting away the last chests, and start bringing up boxes of weapons to hand out. Knives, bows and arrows, swords, machetes, spears, you name it. By now everyone in the glade knows, and is in full blown panic mode. I'm surprised, however, at how organized everyone is: gathering supplies, barricading the homestead, making food; going about their jobs like the world isn't ending. I get it though, work is the best distraction, think about it for too long and you'll go crazy. Finally there is nothing more we can do, and Newt calls us all into the homestead.