runnerette || the maze runner fanfiction **UNDERGOING EDITS**

❥ 1.3

Something's touching me.

My eyes fly open wildly and I look up. Newt's face is about half a foot away from mine, and he's doing the temple rub thing again. It feels so familiar and warm. I love it.

"You sure do bloody sleep alot." He says, looking down at me.

"Well good morning to you too." I respond, voice raspy. I rub my eyes as Newt walks towards the flowery curtain.

"C'mon. There's something I'm supposed to show you." He licks his lips and ducks out of the curtain without giving me any time to react. I roll myself out of the hammock, weave my way through the sleeping bodies in the Homestead, and by the time I'm out he's running halfway to the wall all the way on the other side of the Glade. As I sprint to catch up, I notice he has a slight limp.

"What is it?." I reach the corner of the Glade where there isn't anything there and I notice a small window.

"It's going to be a warning, but it's not here..." Newt presses his face against with window and uses his hands to block out the light. "It won't be long now."

I approach the window and do the same as him, and he shuffles aside to make room for me. We both stand there silently, waiting. For what exactly? I have no idea.

Then Newt's whacking my left arm with his hand. "Listen."

I do. There's clicking and whirring sounds. Then snipping and clacking sounds. Then a pause. Then a rolling sound. Clicking and whirring again. It repeats a couple times until it stops completely. I sense Newt tense up to my left. My heart pounds.

Then something slimy and shiny smacks up against the window all of a sudden, making both Newt and I yell and stumble away from the window. I trip on my shoe and fall backwards, but Newt gets there just in time to scoop me up and place me back onto my feet.

"Thanks." I say quietly as I stare at my shoes again, chewing my bottom lip. Newt awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. I look back up at him. "What was that thing."

He turns to look at the window, then back at me. "We call 'em Grievers"

I look at the window too. "The griever was my warning?"

"Yes it is, and it better work too."

"A warning about what?"

"The Maze." Newt says gravely. "A warning to never go into that maze."

I open my mouth to say something, but the wind picks up and the ground rumbles slightly beneath my feet. I almost fall flat on my back again. "What is that?"

Newt nods at the walls. I see what's happening now.

The walls, which I didn't notice closed last night, were opening.

I look in awe at Newt, who looks at me, his thumb playing with his lip. He looks amused at my reaction. "How is that possible?" I breathe in awe.

Newt just shrugs his shoulders. "Don't know, but I'd be grateful for it sweetheart. It protects us shanks from the grievers at night."

Some figures come sprinting out of a concrete building Alby skipped on the tour, and they all split into four different directions and run into the four openings of the Glade leading into the maze.

"I thought you said we can't go into the maze?"

"It's a job. They're called Runners, and they're the best of the best. Everyone knows when those doors open, the Runners, they look for a way out."

A way out? "You mean, a way out of the Maze?"

"A way out of the Maze." Newt confirms. "Now, there's one more thing I'm supposed to show you." He bends down, picks up a stick, and runs it along the wall of the Glade as he walks. He looks back to see if I'm following, nods his head in the direction he's going, and keeps walking. I don't get a stick, but I walk behind Newt, listening to the beat his of stick against the wall, changing slightly whenever it hit a groove or crack.