Stolen [The Maze Runner Fanfiction]

XLVI. Code F

"I don't know, Gally could have done it before he got in the homestead." Newt says, holding a folded cloth against Alby's head. A crimson circle grows in the center of the cloth, blood seeping quickly through. After we got back from the maze, we had found Alby in the map room, unconscious on the floor with gaping wound on his forehead, that appeared to be from the table. That wouldn't have been the worst of it, if it wasn't for the fact that we had switched out the real map trunks for fake ones. yesterday I had thought hiding the maps was I waste of time, now, I'm beyond relieved that we did, because every last one of the fake trunks was ablaze, and we'd have lost them all. I'm glad we didn't, somehow, I know the maps are important, we just have to figure out why.

"Guys!!!!" Thomas screams, running across the glade towards us, Teresa right behind him. They must've let her out this morning. I'm cautious, but how much damage could one girl do?

"What is it Tommy?" Newt asks, looking up from Alby.

"I..... Oh no." Thomas says when he catches sight of the burning maps. "It might not matter." He says looking like he might cry.

"Thomas what is it?" I ask, stepping out from inside the map room.

"The maps...the maze.... Look, I need to talk to all of you, but somewhere else." He answers glancing back and forth between us.

"Ok fine, Newt let the med-jacks handle it." Minho says stepping out of the map-room, reluctantly Newt follows handing the cloth to Jeff who stands near by. "Get the other two, tell them we have worse problems than shanks with bloody splinters." He orders a boy named Alex, the one who found Alby to begin with.

"The maze is a code, it's one of the first things Teresa um... Told me... When she got here." Thomas explains, once we are far enough away that no one can hear. I notice the odd pauses in his sentence when he mentions Teresa, but he continues before I really have a chance to think about it. "Ya well, I think I know what it means!"

"And what is that?" I ask curiously, not quite sure I believe him yet.

"The maze is a code.. As in, letters, Minho you always studied the maps day to day right?"

"Ya." Minho answers, looking as confused as I feel.

"Well what if we're supposed to be comparing them over longer periods, or not comparing them at all, but combining them." Thomas spouts, clearly excited about his ideas.

"What? This sounds like a load of klunk." Minho says, scratching his head.

"No, I think I know where he is going with this, lines, letters, words, it just might be crazy enough to work." I say, astounded that we hadn't thought of it before. We'd tried everything, but never once had we thought of combining maps to see if they spelled anything.

"Exactly, what if the maze spells something." Teresa chimes in. I don't trust her, but I have to agree, we've never checked for that.

"Don't you think we'd have noticed by now if the maps spelled something?" Minho asks, incredulous.

"Not necessarily, maybe you weren't looking at it right." Thomas says calmly. Then his face changes, a frown quickly forming. "But all the maps....."

I exchange a quick glance with Newt and Minho, who nod, before answering. "The maps are fine, we hid them yesterday."

"What?" Thomas asks, surprised.

"That's what we were doing yesterday." I answer. Twice yesterday he'd asked if he could help with whatever Minho and I were doing, we'd blown him off, saying we didn't need help, the second time, Minho had been pretty harsh about it. I had felt guilty about the hurt look Thomas had given us when we'd said no, but I knew we had to keep it a secret. Now, I was just glad Thomas finally understood why he couldn't help.