The Glader

Running Out of Time

 "Man," Minho said, which was pretty much what the expression on all of our faces said.

There was a code.

"Could be a coincidence," Teresa said, "Do more, quick."

I grabbed the stack of day two maps, layering them in order. An L. I stared around at the circle of awed faces, eyes wide.

Was this the code that would lead us out of the Maze? Maybe that day I had seen there was no exit, I hadn't seen it because the secret was hidden in this code.

"Alright. F and L, I said. What would it spell? Coordinates? Directions?

Silently, we all worked until all eight had been laid out on top of one another in order. F and L, then O, A, T, C, A, T.

"Look, it spells FLOAT, and then it spells CAT," Tommy pointed to the letters, looking just as confused as I felt.

"Float cat?" I said, "Doesn't sound like a bloody rescue code to me." Maybe once we did all the maps, something would be revealed. My fingers ached at just the thought of having to trace over 730 maps. But it would be worth it. There was a code. We had to do this.

"We need to keep working," Tommy said, echoing my thoughts.

We traced another day. "A C," I said, "FLOAT, CAT, C."

"There's an H," Minho said. "Not Cat, Catch, maybe?"

We all stared at the words on the table.

"Definitely not a coincidence," Minho said.

"Definitely not," Tommy said.

"We need to go through all of them- all those boxes in there," Teresa said, who had been so quietly working this whole time I had almost forgotten she was there.

"Yeah," Thomas agreed, his eyes glowing, "Let's get on it!"

"We can't help," Minho said flatly.

I stared at him in surprise. What was his deal? Didn't he want to help us find our way out?

Minho rolled his eyes. "At least not me and Thomas here. We need to get the runners out in the Maze."

"What? This is way more important!" Thomas burst out.

"Maybe," Minho said, "But we can't miss a day out there. Not now."

"Why, Minho? You said the pattern's basically been repeating itself for months- one more day won't mean a thing."

Minho slammed a fist onto the table, interrupting Tommy. "That's bull-klunk, Thomas! Of all days, this might be the most important to get out there. With the freaking walls not closing anymore, I think we should try your idea- stay out there overnight and do some deeper exploring."

"But what about this code? What about-"

I knew how stubborn Thomas and Minho were after they made up their minds about something. This argument could go on a while.

"Tommy, Minho's right." I interrupted, "You shanks go out and get Runnin'. I'll round up some Gladers we can trust and get workin' on this."

"Me too," Teresa said, surprising me, "I'll stay and help Newt."

I smiled at her. Maybe she wasn't so bad, if she cared about the escape.

Thomas looked at her, "You sure?"

She smiled smugly, folding her arms in a fantastic Minho sass impression. "If you're going to decipher a hidden code from a complex set of different Mazes, I'm pretty sure you need a girl's brain running the show."