maze to her heart ~ newt¹✓

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕚𝕧𝕖 | dumb choices

DUMB CHOICES

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Rae woke up the next morning to her head pounding. She couldn't fall asleep last night, which normally happens when she had to see another one of them go. She wanted to sleep more, but she knew if she did, she would have her nightmares. And besides, Rae had work to do, so she went and found Minho by the doors, only Minho... and Alby?

"Where's everyone else?" she asked, discontent.

"They quit," responded Minho.

"I'm going to go with Minho to retrace Ben's footsteps," said Alby.

Rae faced her friend. Out of everyone, she wouldn't have expected Alby to want to run the maze. "No, no, I'm not sending you into the maze, Alby." Rae knew what a dangerous place the maze is. Hell, she ran in it for a year. She didn't want another one of her friends to get consumed by it. 

"Why not?" asked Alby.

"You're not a runner."

"You have a better idea?"

"I'll go. I know the maze."

"No, they need you to be their leader. Rae, it's fine," Alby assured.

Rae had no other choice. No one runs the maze alone, even if they are the Keeper of the runners. She turned to Minho. "Just take care of him, alright? I expect both of you to come back in one piece, preferably alive."

From the hammocks, Thomas watched the three of them talk. From where he was, it looked like Rae was mad at the guys, but then she stepped back and let Minho and Alby ran into the maze. As the sun came up, Thomas sat on a log with Chuck as Newt and Zart were hacking at a tree stump. Thomas's head was filled with thoughts. Newt told him that only runners are allowed to go into the maze, but Thomas was sure that he saw Alby go in there. 

"Why would Alby go into the maze?" Thomas asked out loud. Newt looked up to stare at the brunette. He had no idea why Alby would go into the maze, but Newt did know that the day after sending someone who was stung into the maze, Rae would send the runners in to find the remains.

"Things are different now. Alby went to retrace Ben's footsteps before sundown. Are you gonna help?"

"So he's gonna go back to where Ben was just stung-"

Newt cut the Greenie off. "Rae knows what she's doing, alright? She knows better than any of us."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, it's like you have heard, yeah? Every month, the Box sends up a new arrival. But someone had to be first, right? Someone had to have spent a whole month in the Glade, alone. That was Rae. I mean, it can't have been easy. She spent two months alone with barely enough supplies and food to keep her alive. But when those other boys started coming up, one after the other... she saw the truth. And she learned that the most important thing is that we all have each other. Because we're all in this together."

~~~

The rain was pouring as some of the Gladers took shelter by the Homestead. Rae leaned against a wooden support beam, Newt by her side. Time was almost over. The doors would close soon. Rae could feel her food coming back up as her anxiety started taking over. 

"They should be back by now. What happens if they don't make it?" Thomas asked.

"They're gonna make it," replied Rae, eyeing the doors. If they didn't make it, that was on Rae. But, she knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself, so they had to make it.

"What happens if they don't?" he asked again.

This time Newt answered, repeating what Rae said. Newt looked at the redhead, her nervousness very obvious. Rae had a habit of tapping her pointer finger on her thumb's nail when she was nervous. So, Newt took her fidgety hand in his and gave it a squeeze to calm her down. And it did. Newt had no idea the effect his touch left on Rae. And it always made her craving more.

The rain soon stopped, so the Gladers all went to the doors. "Come on, guys, can't we send someone after them?" asked Thomas. Again with all the questions.

"That's against the rules. Either they make it back or they don't," said Gally. "We can't risk losing anyone else."

The doors started to close and there was still no sight of the two boys until Thomas pointed at Minho. He was struggling to walk as he was carrying Alby on his back.

"Come on, Minho, you can do it!" yelled Chuck. Rae's heart was beating out of her chest. It's too close. They're not gonna make it. Rae could see the strain on Minho's face from carrying Alby. 

Suddenly, as the doors were two feet from closing, Thomas ran through them. Time seemed to slow down as Rae watched him run in. Before she knew it, she ran after him. Rae felt Newt try to grab her shirt, but he barely missed and she ran through, making it to the other side right when the doors closed.

Minho looked up after placing Alby on the ground. His face showed signs of anger and also sadness. "Good job. You just killed yourself," he said as he stared at the both of them. 

~~~