The Scorch Trials - completely different version :)

Follow me

Daniel's POV

Teresa and I went into one of the narrow tunnels, we were one of the first pairs to stalk off which was fine by me. Part of wished we had all stayed together because if we did come across cranks, I would have liked more back-up.

"Are you alright? You seem on edge," Teresa asked me, I wanted to tell her about my maze but it was hard to, I didn't want her looking down on me like the others did. I looked away because I knew if I even glanced at her, it would make me spill. Teresa gently took my hand, which felt good.

"You can tell me if something's wrong. I'm your friend," she added, I squeezed her hand. I took a deep breath, this was the best time to tell her what happened, if I didn't it would eat me alive.

"I had a brother who was in the maze before me, he was a couple years older," I stopped and looked at her, she just nodded for me to continue.

"Well, apparently he was a bit...difficult, he got angry and killed one of the other gladers then ran into the maze to take his own life, as soon as I went in they recognized me, said I looked a lot like him. They blamed me for what happened and gave me a hard time for it," I finished, my voice slightly breaking.

We walked through a narrow door in silence, I was scared I had freaked her out. At this point, I was just waiting for her to run off.

"Your brother was an ass," she concluded, I looked to see if she was trying not to laugh but I was surprised to see she was being completely serious. I nodded, looking at the floor.

"But you're not," she added, lifting my chin up, we were about the same height, maybe I was slightly taller but not by much. At some point she had tied her hair up, it still needed brushed but it got it out her face for now.

"Thanks but I'm not so sure, I feel like we should be doing more to help, I feel useless," I huffed. Turning away, she tapped my shoulder, I turned to face her and she placed a small kiss on my lips, just a little one. I stepped back, shocked.

"Which way?" She asked me, I wasn't sure what she meant at first but then I saw where she was looking, we were in a room and there were two corridors, one going left and one going right. I couldn't think straight after what just happened.

"Uh...um, uh," I stuttered like an idiot. Teresa found this funny and covered her mouth as she giggled. I had never been so embarrassed in my life.

"How about we go left?" She pipes in, walking towards the left corridor. I followed as I tried to remember my name.
"You kissed me," I said which sounded dumb because she already knew that. Teresa turned back, she glanced at me and smiled.
"Don't sound so surprised, Daniel," she replied. I knew I shouldn't ask but I was just so confused.
"I thought it was you and Thomas," I muttered, that must have been a touchy subject because her ears turned red, she chewed at the inside of her lip.
"I'm sorry, you're right but I'm just finding it hard you know? Times like this I just don't know how I feel," she replies quietly. I didn't really understand, surely kissing two people would tell you how you really felt; like flipping a coin- you're either happy with the outcome or you're disappointed. I kinda hoped she wasn't disappointed with me.
"What do you mean?" I asked, she shook her head sadly.
"We're teenagers, love is supposed to be exciting- but I'm terrified. When you're having to worry all the time whether or not your friends are going to die. Love is very confusing," she answered, that was the most real thing I had ever heard, if I had more friends I would probably be in the same dilemma but Teresa was the only person I had come to care for.
I didn't want to go into that though so I simply nodded. I felt bad for asking in the first place because I had made her flustered. If I didn't know better, I would laugh at the fact we were running from wolves, traffickers and Wicked and here we were talking about love. The logical part of my mind would be wondering why this dilemma had to exist, shouldn't we wait till we got to safety before thinking this way? Don't we have more things to worry about?
I did know better though, and I know that love is what is driving us all forward. I'm not as driven as the others but I can see that Thomas' glade is run purely on the love they all share for each other.
"You can never just love one person- life doesn't work that way. Love is family and family is what makes you strong," I told her. That got her to smile, it didn't last long.
"Some parents would be nice though," she mumbled. I tried to think of something to say but you can't really answer to that. Our real families were always going to be a void we couldn't fill, perhaps that's why the glades are so close, they are trying desperately to make a family strong enough that they no longer mourn the one that left them behind. 

Were our families dead? Were they at the safe haven waiting for us? Of course, I hoped they were alive and waiting for us but I couldn't help but be angry at them if they are just waiting at the safe haven, why weren't they helping us? If I had a family member out in the zombie land when I was in the safe haven, I would be clawing the doors to let me out and search for them. 

"I'm sure we'll find them, whether we like it or not," I answered bitterly which took Teresa by surprise, though she didn't say anything which was good because I suddenly didn't feel like talking. 

I could hear the distant sound of howling but it was getting quieter which could mean they're either giving up or they're waiting till we come out. I didn't want to dwell on it too much. Thankfully, I could still hear the soft conversations of the others who were milling around in pairs. It was unsettling that there was no sign of any cranks, I would much rather fight them and get it over with than have them in the shadows. I suddenly felt like we were being watched. 

I grabbed Teresa's arm and pressed a finger to her lips to silence her, she looked at me with her wide eyes. Alarmed. I could almost feel a presence in the hallway, it's hard to explain but somehow I just knew. 

I couldn't see anything in front of me, which didn't help calm my nerves. I wondered if I was just being paranoid, I hoped I was just being paranoid but then I heard a footstep coming from down the corridor, it was quiet but definitely a footstep. Someone was trying to sneak up on us. 

I had seen cranks before, they were in the window of my room when I woke up back at Wicked, they didn't seem like the type of 'people' who were capable of sneaking up on someone, they were just mad. I had a feeling we had walked in on someone's den, and we were obviously not welcome. 

"Who's there?" I shouted down the corridor, I heard someone from behind me and saw Sonja and Harriet and the entrance of the corridor. They looked concerned and glanced past us into the dark. 

"Someone there?" Sonja asked me, I nodded. The footsteps came back, quicker and louder this time. Finally, when they were a couple of feet away from us, I could see them more clearly. It was a girl...

She wasn't ugly but she wasn't pretty either. Her hair was long and brown, the same shade as Thomas'. She regarded us carefully as if debating whether or not she should feed us to the cranks. 

"Oh yes, Jorge will love this," she grinned, clapping her hands happily. Two more people came out the shadows behind her, one man and one woman. They both had the same haircut, bright blue and shaved up one side, curls on the other. 

"Well that's some fashion statement," Teresa muttered. I was just wondering how you found hair dye in this desolate place. I turned my attention to the girl who had mentioned 'Jorge', I guessed he was Latino from the name. 

"Who's Jorge?" I asked her, she wasn't interested in me though she was too busy looking past us, "and I'm going to like this," she added. I turned to see Thomas, Minho, Frypan, and Aris had joined us and were waiting at the top of the corridor with their arms crossed. Typical.

"I should introduce myself before I speak of Jorge. My name is Brenda," she introduced herself. Turning away, she ordered the blue haired twins to search the complex for the rest of us, how they knew we were a bigger group was a mystery. 

"Follow me." she ordered, walking into the dark. 

 A/N: Brenda! Yay. I'm gonna start trying to add songs to the top of each chapter because I notice that it's easier to picture the scene if you are listening to a song that goes with the chapter :)