Deserted at Dawn (The Maze Runner)

Chapter 26 // She's Awake

*Scarlett's P.O.V.* 

I sat at the picnic table behind the Kitchen. Alex and Robin were still inside getting our food, taking oddly long. I reckoned they were talking. Well more Alex scolding Robin again for getting attached to the people here – one in particular. I could understand what she was feeling. Thomas was starting to grow on me significantly too, but the whole Minho craze was a tad rash. She hardly even knew the guy. I was more of Alex's opinion on the matter.

"What are you doing here alone?" Thomas asked, coming towards me.

"Um," I started. "I'm waiting."

"For what?" Thomas inquired, stopping in front of me. "Where are your friends?"

"In there," I gestured to the Kitchen. "They're probably talking. I don't even wanna know."

Thomas gave me a half-hearted smile as he sat down next to me.

"Why are you so curious?" I asked spontaneously.

Thomas looked confused. His brown eyes stayed focused on mine.

I could feel my cheeks heat up; I was blushing.

"Do you ever think about getting outta here?" he inquired.

I nodded. "Every day."

A few moments of silence spread out between us. He turned his head over to me, eyeing me from head to toe. His eyes stopping at my face, watching closely. A curious look spread across his face, the tip of his tongue brushing over his upper lip.

"What-" I started to ask. He cut me off, his eyes getting caught up on my lips. Within seconds of facing him, his lips were pressed against mine. I widened my eyes in sudden shock, before closing them and relaxing myself. Just as it had started, the kiss already ended when Thomas pulled back a second later.

He looked at me terrified at his act.

"S-sorry," he stammered. "I-I-"

"Thomas, it's ok." A small smile spread across my face. "It was... nice."

Before Thomas could reply, I heard someone yell. Of course, Alex and Robin were standing there.

"Don't touch her, ya dingus," Alex shouted at Thomas. "Get away from her!"

"Hold up, no! Don't stop the show," Robin whined in a hoax, grinning from ear to ear.

I could see Thomas next to me, seeming a slight bit nervous and afraid of what might happen to him if he didn't leave instantly. He nodded at Alex.

"I should go," he quickly pointed out, running a hand through his hair.

I didn't think twice, grabbing his chin between my thumb and index finger, and putting my lips on his. It was a peck, only two seconds, but it was what I needed. 

His lips shaped up into a cute, long smile.

"D'ya hear me?" Alex yelled at him. "Last warning!"

Thomas spun around on his heels, quickly glancing at me once more before leaving.

********

The three days following their first run in the Maze consisted mainly of running. Along with all the other Runners, they started running twenty minutes after the Doors opened and came back half an hour before they sealed again.

Alex continuously tried to find something in the Maze that could possibly hint at a way out. Every evening it was all she talked about at dinner. She clearly had no intent of socializing with anyone, and just sunk further and further into her thoughts. Though clearly upset with Alex running in the Maze, Newt held his tongue. He silently looked after her in the mornings when she ran off, and was always there when she returned.

Scarlett and Thomas continued to poke at the awkward social barrier between them, spending more and more time together. The hateful glares he threw Alby or Newt or someone else whenever they talked to her were apparent to everyone.

Between being together the whole day in the Maze, sleeping next to each other and eating together, Robin and Minho barely spent any time apart. There's not much more to say than that they were basically joined at the hip.

On the evening of the third day, all the male Runners gathered at a picnic table outside of the Kitchen. Just as the last one of them walked out of the Kitchen with his food, Chuck came running out of the Homestead, flailing his arms like a mad man.

He yelled something, but he was too far away for anyone to understand. He yelled a second time and this time the words rang clearly in everyone's ears.

"She's awake."

********

*Scarlett's P.O.V.* 

"Stop attaching yourselves to these guys," Alex scolded me and Robin.

"Oh, come on Alex," Robin replied leisurely, having heard the same sentence for the umpteenth time. "A little fun. Have you seen how the dudes here run after girls who set foot in this place?"

Alex crossed her arms in front of her chest, getting ready to say something. However, before she got to her reply, Chuck came speeding over to us, his stubby legs carrying him slightly slower than he could be.

I could tell something was wrong, Alex and Robin noticing as well.

"Chuck, what's going on?" Robin asked the kid.

"The girl. She woke up. Teresa," Chuck panted.

We all exchanged a look, heading off towards the Homestead as fast as we could.

As we gradually slowed down and came to a stop, we entered the structure.

Several people were arranged inside the Homestead – Newt, Minho, Alby, Winston, Clint and Jeff – in front of the girl's bed. She lay in it, her elbows propping her up to view everyone. Beside the bed was Thomas. He knelt on the floor, his hand on hers with his scrawny fingers slowly moving over the top of it. His other hand reached up to remove a strand of hair from her face.

She looked confused and startled, staying frozen in this position.

"She kept murmuring for Thomas in her sleep," Newt mentioned. "She said something about knowing a code."

"Teresa," Thomas whispered softly to the girl. "You need to tell us what you remember."

Something about the two being so close made me feel uneasy. Thomas' hand didn't leave Teresa's, his eyes trained on her.

"I remember death. Virus. Disease. The Maze. You couldn't watch them suffer their fate Thomas. You chose this," the girl rambled on.

"I don't understand," Thomas wiped another strand of hair out of her face. "You're not making any sense."

"WICKED IS GOOD," she said as she grabbed the marker from beside her bed and wrote the exact sentence on her arm. "WICKED IS GOOD."

She mumbled something incomprehensible before drifting off to sleep again.

********