Left Behind//The Maze Runner

S I X T E E N

"There!" Thomas says, his finger slamming down to a point on an old, dirtied map.

We stand in a large storage room, with boxes and tables sitting all around us. Thomas gathered us in here to talk about rescuing Minho. After asking the Munies he, Newt, and I, obviously, didn't get anything from them.

"This is where WICKED is taking him," Thomas says, moving his eyes to all of ours. "This is where they're going."

My eyes scan the map as I rest my forearms on the table next to Newt. The circle is around a state once known as Colorado. It encloses a town that was once known as Denver. The map itself is dirty and is torn but every word inside the circle Thomas drew is as clear as if it was printed yesterday.

"It's only a few hundred miles away based on the railways and everything Aris and the Greenies told us," Thomas says, his eyes moving between Vince and the rest of us.

"I asked one of the other greenies and they don't know what city WICKED talked about either, so are you sure?" Newt asks as his eyebrows furrow.

"I'm positive!" Thomas nods as he moves his eyes to Newts. His eyes hold excitement as they move back to Vince. "We can take everyone who can fight, we follow the roads, and we make it back within a week."

Vince raises his eyebrows. "A week?" He scoffs, shaking his head. "It took us six months to get here. We got over one hundred kids, we can't just sit here on our asses forever." The old man says, confusion growing heavy in his voice. "Now you want to wander off to some random point on the map? You don't even know what's out there."

Jorge clears his throat, walking out from behind a dimly lit doorway. My attention moves to him, my eyebrows furrowing as it does. "I do." He makes his way to the table, his eyes moving between Thomas and Vince. "It's been a few years, but I've been there."

His eyes move down to the Map, scanning its contents. "The last city." He points to the dot on the map. "That's what WICKED called it. It's where their base of operations is. If that city is still standing, that's the last place you'll want to go, hermano." He takes a short pause, his eyes moving back to Thomas. "It's the lion's den."

Thomas looks deep into Jorge's eyes, his voice coming out strong as he says, "That's nothing we haven't done before."

"Yeah with months of planning," Vince cuts in, making my attention move from Thomas to him. "With reliable resources, the element of surprise; none of which we have now."

"Vince I've thought this through. Wou–"

"Last time we went out half-cocked, I lost everything!" Vince shouts cutting Thomas off, taking me back by surprise at the volume of his voice. "You remember that, Thomas?"

Thomas looks down at his hands, the pain of his losses radiating off of the sad look in his eyes. My heart falls with his, the pain in Minho's eyes playing like a movie in my mind.

"Look, I know it's Minho," Vince starts, lowering his voice, my heart breaking into a million pieces as I bite back tears. "but you can't ask me to put those kids' lives on the line for one man. I won't do it."

I squeeze my eyes shut, pain instantly filling my whole body. Newt rests his hand on mine, my eyes meeting his somber ones. He flashes me a gentle smile, softly squeezing my hand.