LIMERENCE ﹐ the maze runner.

27

Thomas and Clara followed Minho through the West Door of the Maze into Section Eight and made their way down several corridors. Clara tried to keep count of how many corridors there were, but eventually lost track as she became more tired and tried to focus on keeping up with Thomas and Minho.

They finally made it to a rectangular cut in a long wall to the north that looked like a doorway, except without a door. Minho ran through it without stopping once, and stated,"This leads from Section Eight - the middle left square - to Section One - the top left square. Like I said, this passage is always in the same spot, but the route here might be a little different because of the walls rearranging themselves."

Clara looked over at Thomas and then followed Minho, her breathing heavy. It had been a while since she had run like this in the Maze - the other night, when her and Thomas were stuck in the Maze, the adrenalin had been the reason she was able to run, survive. But now, Clara depended on her own strength and level of fitness.

Clara decided her level of fitness was non-existent.

They ran down a long corridor to the right, passing several turns to the left. When they reached the end of the passage, Minho slowed to barely more than a walk and reached behind him to pull out a notepad and pencil from a side pocket in his backpack. He jotted a note, then put them back, never fully stopping.

"I rely... mostly on memory,"Minho huffed, his voice finally showing a hint of strain. "But, every fifth turn, I write something down to help me later. Mostly just related to stuff from yesterday - what's different today. Then I can use yesterday's Map to make today's. Easy-peasy, dude and dudette."

"You make it sound easy as hell,"Clara said.

"It is,"Minho replied

Clara rolled her eyes. "This is anything but easy."

"Whatever you say, redhead."

They ran for a short while before they reached an intersection. Even they had three possible choices, without hesitating, Minho turned right. As he did so, he pulled one of his knives from a pocket and, without missing a beat, cut a piece of ivy off the walk. He threw it on the ground behind him and kept running.

"Bread crumbs?"Thomas asked, the old fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel popping into his mind.

"Bread crumbs,"Minho replied. "I'm Hansel, Clara is Gretel, and Thomas is the old witch."

"Gee, thanks,"Thomas replied back sarcastically.

On they went, following the course of the Maze, sometimes turning right, sometimes turning left. After every turn, Minho cut and dropped a three foot length of ivy, never slowing down.

"All right,"Minho said, his breathing heavier now. "Your turn, Thomas."

"What?"Thomas asked, confused.

"Cut the ivy now- you gotta get used to doing it on the run. We pick 'em up as we come back, or kick 'em to the side."

Thomas seemed happier than he thought he'd be at having something to do, though it took him a while to become good at it. First couple of times, he had to sprint to catch up after cutting the ivy, and once he nicked his finger. But, by his tenth attempt, he could almost match Minho at the task.

Clara, on the other hand, didn't have much luck. Once she couldn't cut the ivy in the normal way, according to Minho, she went complete 'psycho' and aggressively cut it with a couple of loud 'Oh, for fuck's sake!'s and a few 'Oh, fuck it!'s.

On they went. After they'd run awhile, about three miles, Minho slowed to a walk, then stopped altogether. "Break time." He swung off his pack and pulled out some water and an apple.