The Maze In Her Heart (Newt, Minho ::The Maze Runner.) ✔

CHAPTER SEVEN: Minnie the Runner

MARIE

The three of us make our way into the Homestead, which was buzzing with Gladers. The morning was kicking into motion now, and I found myself feeling a bit more at home with each passing second. The smell of pancakes and bacon was thick in the air. 

Something tickled the back of my brain, like the fingertips of a memory just barely reaching the surface. Breakfast .. 

My thoughts are shattered as I look up, and see a huge male approach. For a second, I think that he's a grown adult, but I realize that he is just big. I take a step back, reaching over to hide behind something.

He's tall and stocky, with short cropped blonde hair. His face look too small to live up to it's largeness, and his eyebrows have game. His eyes show nothing but hatred as he swaggers over to us, looking over-confident.

"So these are the twins I've heard so much about? You don't look like you could beat down even Chuck." he chuckles and rubs a hand over his buzzcut. 

"Oh, bugger off Gally. We have a gathering to get to." 

"Allow me to come with. I'd love to help decide the fate of the Glade's new obbsessions." He gave a sneer, and turned, walking away.

Minnie rolled her eyes and looked over at me. I met her eyes and shook my head. "I bet he's all talk." She said, rolling up her sleeves.

"He is. He's a bloody shank, that's what he is." Newt grumbled under his breath, before leading us down a hallway and into a large room. In the middle of the room was a round table. Chairs cluttered around the table, chairs that could seat up to a dozen boys. It seemed like this room was rarely used because the tension in the room was as thin as ice.

"Welcome keepers, to this meting. Hopefully nothing will bloody go wrong this time.." Newt said out loud was we filled the room. Faces all around the table looked up as we approached. Intimidation pierced my heart like a dagger. Almost as if we said something telepathically, Minnie and I scoot closer to each other.

The keepers stay seated, looks of curiosity sweeping across the table. Minho was standing by the doorway, head facing down, his eyes lingering on my sister. I cleared my throat, and shook out my hands.

Oh boy.

NEWT

The meeting had gone well, up to this point. The Gladers seemed to mostly agree with each other, with the exception of a sulking Gally, who stood in the corner of the room. But it would be hard what was coming up- it would be hard to tell the keepers about Minnie's request to be a Runner.

"So we've all agreed that the girls have equal rights like us, though it should be a given, and that Marie will be working with me." I flick my eyes to her, and she smiles softly, her bangs slowly falling into her eyes.

"But we have to find Minnie a job, and she has an idea on what she wants to do." I watch as all the eyes in the room turn to the girl, and she shifts uncomfortably, hands clasped in front of her. She looked like Marie there, not the one who called Minho a klunk earlier.

"She wants to be a bloody Runner." I say, preparing for the outburst. The room erupts in questions and jeers, but Minho looks slightly surprised, eyebrow raised. He looks at Minnie and they exchange a silent showdown.

Minnie speaks up. "I think since we have equal rights, I should be tested to be a runner. Minho can test me. He's the keeper of the runners, right?" She looked over at Minho, who was smiling idiotically now, nodding slowly.

Winston, the keeper of the Slicers, speaks up, his pimple covered face red with frustration. "You don't train to be a Runner, little girl. He chooses you. And plus, we haven't even seen you run!"

Minnie steps forward, suddenly furious. "How about I RUN over there and rip off your shuck head!?" she yells, and Marie grabs her arms, holding her back.

I interfere, throwing my hands up into the air. "Oi! Shut the bloody hell up!" I shout, and everyone settles down. Even the struggling Minnie. She blows her bangs away from her face angrily.

"Minho, I think you should be the one to decide." I say, turning to his calm face. 

He nods. "Minnie, I think we should test you out." he responds, making Winston turn beet red.

Minnie beams a little at the news, bouncing on her feet. 

"But if you fail, you'll have to have dinner with me." he adds.

Her face falls.

~

The boys stand in a group, along with Marie, who sticks close to my side, around Minnie, who faces a long trail of obstacles in front of her.

"You sure you want to do this?" I ask her, and she nods, her face taunt with determination.  "It's just a test. I'm bloody sure of it that Minho will let you join the runners no matter what." I crack the joke, but a part of me knows that I'm right. 

"I want to be tested anyways. It feels right." She says while stretching out her legs.

"I won't argue with that." I take a step back and place my hands onto my hips, with Marie watching Minnie watchfully at my side. Minho walks up and smirks, watching Minnie. I see Marie glaring over at Minho, her eyes like protective daggers. 

"You ready?" He shouts over to Minnie, who straightened up. 

"More ready than ever, shank." She answers with a grin.

A few gladers looked quickly to Minho to see his reaction at being called shank, but he just gave a quick, admirable laugh. He then cupped his hands around his mouth and whistled sharply. The sound races around the Glade, and she's off.

She jumps over the sacks of flour and logs places around in her path with no problem. I can hear Marie cheering her on, along with Minho and a few other Gladers who happened to be watching. Tommy was also cheering her on, although with a slightly begrudging look. Her feet move swiftly through the grass, and her breaths look steady and even. She doesn't look winded at all, whic surprised me. 

I used to be a Runner, and going through the maze's obstacles were a challenge, even what I was fit. I didn't know much about Minnie at all, but I didn't expect her to have such a huge intolerance. 

Minho glances down at his runner watch, and counted down the last ten seconds. If Minnie wasn't back to him by the countdown, she couldn't join. 

I look up and watch Minnie take a sharp turn and start sprinting back towards Minho. The look of determination upon her face gives me a bit of a chill up my spine. I scratch the back of my head and look over at Minho just as I see him count down- and Minnie rush past him in a blur of dark brown and navy blue.

Gladers erupt in cheers. Marie runs up and hugs her sister. They spin around and I can see the Gladers exchanging weird looks, as if saying: Do girls normally do this? 

"You did it! You're a runner! We showed those shanks!" Marie shouted in a high pitched voice. I rubbed my ear. Boys didn't squeal like that- or at least, not usually.

"So.. " Minnie says, breaking away from her sister. "Am I in?"

Minho stared down at her, and then at the watch. "It was a close race." He said with a small sigh, before circling the pair of sisters. They stared up at him.

"Give her a bloody answer." I said when seeing the grin in Minho's eyes.

"You won." He said with a laugh, then laughed even harder when seeing Minnie's face split into a grin.

"You're a runner now."