The Flame Within MAZE RUNNER FANFIC

Chapter 1

AN: Above is a song recommendation from Bella and the cover of Charlie's journal

also the part that is italicized is Charlie's journal entries

enjoy

Starvation was pretty common.

Happened around twice a week.

"Ready?" Delilah asked.

Charlie nodded, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. The two jogged down a dark hallway, and climbed ancient stairs up to the closed off opening.

"Hopefully there's more tampons at Dollar General." Charlie whispered.

"Yeah, and deodorant. I ran out a week ago and it's started to stink my shirts up."

Delilah started to untie the ropes that were wrapped around a door, then she entered a passcode on the wall, which opened the door, revealing a bright sun.

Charlie pulled her bandana up over her nose, and so did Delilah. The two stepped out, shutting the door behind them.

There was a street, covered in fresh dust from the night before. The girls had gotten used to these random sand storms, because it happened so often. There were old, torn down buildings along the street, all lined up in rows. Every now and then, part of a building would crumple, falling in front of Charlie and Delilah.

The building that Charlie and Delilah would stay in, was an old headquarters of a company called WICKED.

Or, World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department.

The two had worked there, earlier in life, before they escaped.

Why?

That's history.

*****

"Make sure them cranks are still tied up by the door." Delilah told Charlie.

She nodded, running in front of Delilah, as she disappeared into what looked like an alley.

As Charlie neared the entrance to the once Dollar General, two zombie like creatures jumped out from the dark, crawling at Charlie. She rolled her eyes, and made sure they were still hooked up to the wall.

Both of their hands, or at least what they had left, had cuffs on them, that connected to a chain, following up to the wall.

"All good!" Charlie called.

Delilah came walking down the alley, and up to Charlie. "Good."

The two moved a few boards, that had covered the entrance to the old, run down store. After everything was taken off, they stepped into the store.

Broken glass was all over the floor, near the entrance. Only a few months ago had the two broken into the abandoned store, and they hadn't cleaned it up. With every step, the glass would crack under their feet.

Charlie rushed over to a fallen shelf, and she scrambled around for all of her necessities.

"Hurry up, I think someone's coming." Delilah whispered, tapping her foot.

"I thought you were getting something!" Charlie answered.

"No, you're getting it for me."

"Of course." Charlie muttered. She continued to search, and soon pulled out a small flashlight.

After a while, there was a loud thump. Charlie and Delilah both stopped, and looked around.

"Was that you?" Delilah asked. Charlie shook her head, slowly standing up.

"Who's there?" Delilah called out after a minute as Charlie pulled a gun out of her waistband. At that, a group of shadows slowly started coming around the corner semily carrying random objects as weapons. Delilah immediately regretted saying something.

"What if there're Cranks?" she asked Charlie, her voice shaking with dread. She looked at Charlie, widening her eyes and waiting for a new plan.

"We run, obviously." Charlie responded. At that moment the group appeared and Charlie lifted her gun. Delilah wished she could help, but the two only had one gun, and Charlie being the better shot, usually kept it.

Suddenly, the two girls were pushed against a wall, knives at their throats. Charlie lifted her neck, trying to be able to breath without getting cut. Delilah didn't dare look at whoever was trying to threaten her, and neither had Charlie.

Charlie slowly was pulling her gun up behind the man trying to slit her throat, hoping no one would notice. As soon as she had the chance, she kicked the man in the shin, and Delilah caught on. The two exchanged places with the men, taking their weapons from their grip at the same time.

"Don't underestimate a girl." Delilah whispered.

Charlie was gritting her teeth, holding the boy in front of her at gunpoint. She wanted to shoot him so bad, since she hadn't done any violent things in forever. "Just tell me when to pull the trigger." she told Delilah.

"Make 'em suffer first." Delilah thought.

Finally, after what felt like hours of staring each other down, Delilah recognized the group. She looked to Charlie in shock as if to make sure this was real.

"Charlie, don't shoot." Delilah said letting go of her grip.

Charlie gasped, finally looking at the man she was torturing. She backed up, quickly putting her gun away. "Is it really you?"

The boy in front of her tilted his head. Charlie and Delilah looked at each other, then back to the boys. They then pulled the two into a long hug.

"Do we know you?" asked a familiar British accent after Delilah and Charlie pulled away.

"Don't you remember us? Charlie and Delilah?" Charlie asked the boys, hurt consuming her voice. "We practically grew up together?" Even with the hints, all the boys shook their heads. Then they all started telling the girls what they went through.

"You are Newt and Thomas right?" Delilah asked concerned.

The boys nodded, frightened at the fact these girls knew who they were.

Once they got to how they were sent out here Charlie interrupted "So wait," she paused, "you don't have any memories of before this maze you were in?"

The boys shook their heads, and Newt rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He felt bad for the two girls, them remembering something he had no clue actually happened. He and Thomas, both. They knew that something was wrong with their memories, but they just weren't sure if WICKED was just trying to plug in fake memories.

Then the girls looked at the boys and to each other, trying to figure out what to do. Slowly, Delilah started, "Well, in that case, should we just start over?"

In turn, Newt looked to Thomas, then the rest of the group. "I guess we could try." Newt answered for the group. The girls still looked sad, but nodded in agreement.

"Thomas." he held out his hand to Delilah, his mind forcing him towards the one he thought was the cutest.

Charlie looked at Delilah with a smile, trying to keep in a laugh. Delilah rolled her eyes in disappointment, then shook Thomas' hand. "I'm Delilah."

He nodded, and introduced everyone. "And Newt-" he turned to the right, seeing Newt had been staring at Charlie. She was looking up at the ceiling, watching a bird fly around. Charlie had her gun in her hands, getting ready to shoot the poor, innocent bird.

Delilah opened her mouth to say something, but there was a gunshot that interrupted her. "Charlie!"

Charlie snapped her head over at Delilah, shaking her head quickly. "That.. That wasn't me." she said as she frantically looked around.