Our Beginning • A Maze Runner Fanfiction

Chapter 3

"Alright, shanks." Newt had taken to coming up with other silly words after Minho's invention of "shuck."

"Listen to Nick!" He spoke over the crowd of Gladers who stood in the wooden building. Newt had also come up with the term "Gladers" to describe the boys who lived in the Glade.

"Thanks," Nick said, acknowledging Newt. "In order to really make a life here, we need to build a sort of society. Minho and I found a lot of helpful things in the buildings around here," he told them, motioning to the other areas of the Glade. "There's the bathrooms, which I hope you've used." This comment brought a few snickers through the crowd. "There's stables that we found filled with livestock, which we could raise and butcher for meat. There's knives and all the supplies we need to get the meat from them. Alby thought we could garden, since we have shovels and the seeds we need. We just need to decide who can do what. I'm sure we can make it all work, and we'll have jobs to do each day. We won't survive forever on the food that came in the Box with us."

Murmers of agreement came from the Gladers. "What about building? We need to fix up this old place." Gally, the boy who the girl had puked on in the box, had remembered his name this morning. He kicked the wall of the wooden building, and the wood slightly cracked where his shoe made contact.

"That's a good idea, too," Nick responded. "Maybe you can be in charge of that, Gally."

"What about the Maze?" the girl exclaimed. "Surely you can't just ignore it. That should be what we're focusing on."

Minho shook his head. "We don't know how long we're gonna be here. We gotta figure out how we're gonna survive, first."

"But the Maze needs to be our priority! We could be out of this mess today. I need to go back out there!" She started back towards the door.

"Wait, Princess. We'll deal with the Maze issue soon enough. We're getting there." Minho put a hand on her shoulder, drawing her back to the group.

She shrugged him off, giving him a scornful look for the nickname she wished he wouldn't use.

"We should have a job that helps find a way out, too." Nick remarked, thinking over what the girl said. "They can map down the passages in the Maze."

The girl felt really thankful for Nick at that moment. "Thank you. I'd like to have that job, if you all don't mind." She looked around at the group with a menacing look, daring them to challenge her.

"I'll be one, too," Newt added. "I want to see what's out there."

Minho gave a slight shudder. "I can't imagine being trapped out in the Maze at night, but I wanna be a runner, too. It is important to find a way out." He glanced at the girl.

One by one, the Gladers decided what task they would take on in the Glade. Slowly, their world began to come together.

~~~

The girl ran in the Maze side by side with Newt. He's fast, she thought as he had to slow his pace to stay with her.

She had reccomended to all the new "Runners," as they had decided to call the workers, to somehow leave a trail behind as they ran through the Maze. She did this by cutting vines off the walls as they ran. They couldn't risk getting trapped inside of the Maze with whatever had caused the metallic screeching sounds.

"Do you think we should turn around?" She asked Newt. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and her breath came in heavy gasps.

"Soon," he commented, looking at the sky. "We'll have time to get back before sunset."

They paused as they approached the corner of a long corridor. They took paper and pencils that came from the Box out of their backpacks, and drew how the passage connected to the old one.

"You know, this can't possibly take too long," the girl declared. " With the other Gladers mapping the rest of the Maze, we're bound to find an exit soon."

"I hope so," Newt responded.

After running for a while longer, they pair turned around. They ran back following the maps they had drawn, and the vines they had cut. They exited the Maze just as the sun began to hit the horizon.

"How was your run, shuck-faces?" Minho approached them, with a Runner called John following him. They were both soaked in sweat, drinking bottles of water.

"It was bloody brilliant," Newt frowned at Minho. "Now give me your maps."

Minho and John pulled the pieces of paper out of their packs and handed them to Newt, who looked over them carefully.

"I can't really see any relation to them," Newt remarked. "You guys didn't find any way out, did you? Did the passages connect at all?"

"Of course we didn't find a way out, slinthead." Minho shook his head. He had a slight smile on his face as he created new words they could use without cursing. "We wouldn't still be in this dump if we found an exit."

"Alright, alright." Newt started to walk towards the other Runners returning from their expeditions.

Minho ran his fingers through his hair. "Why don't we meet in that room we found by the box, Newt?" he asked as the group came together.

"Good. There were tables and chairs in there; maybe we can figure these out."

The Gladers further traveled to a small, stout building near the Box. Inside was a long wooden table and chairs, with shelves and cabinets lining the walls.

"It's perfect," the girl exclaimed. "It's like the makers knew we would need a place like this."

The Runners sat down around the table, and deposited their maps in the center. Newt started to arrange the papers in different ways, looking at how the passages of the Maze might connect. "Go find Nick, will you?" He asked John. The Runner subsequently left in search of their leader.

"It looks like these might connect," Minho said, reaching towards two pieces of paper.

"No, they don't. Those two corridors don't connect." The girl spoke up.

"It could just be an error by the Runner," someone else added.

"Of course not. I drew that one. I know what I saw." Another Runner said.

This was going to be more difficult than they thought.

Nick soon entered the room, his presence bringing down the ruckus that the indecision had caused. "Let me see those maps," he said.

The girl pushed the papers towards Nick. He leaned over the table, arranging the maps in different ways.

She noticed that Nick scrunched up his nose in a funny way while he was thinking. She thought it was rather cute.

"Look," he exclaimed, shoving the maps back towards the others. "They all have sort of edges in between, and they connect at certain points, I think."

Newt nodded slowly. "That looks right. That means there's eight different sections."

"Good job, Nick." The girl gave a shy smile to the leader.

He smiled in return. "Tomorrow we should finish the maps," he concluded. "It looks like you guys ran pretty far. We'll find a way out in no time."

~~~

Hey guys! Sorry this is kind of a filler, but I haven't had a lot of time to write lately. Thanks for reading! I'll update again in a week or less. -Gillian