Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

11. The big day

I jumped up and gasped for breath when the nightmare woke me up. I had seen her, this woman in white, who had said over and over again "WICKED is good". What did that mean? Was it just a dream, or had I remembered something from the past?
Then there had been a man whose grin I had found so horrible that I still almost choked at the thought of it. And another guy who had beaten me again and again.
What had they done to me?
I slowly got up and tried to make as little noise as possible, while the faces from my dream became more and more blurred. All that echoed in my head was the voice of the woman.
"WICKED is good."
What was Wicked? And why did she think it was so important that I memorised it?
I didn't know what time it was, but the sun was about to come up. While I made my way to the lake in the woods where I wanted to wash, as I was quite sweaty after this strange dream, I looked around briefly between the hammocks. Gally seemed to have made it to bed after all, as he lay curled up in his hammock and was asleep. A little further to the right I could see Newt, who was also still sleeping. I looked around for Minho, who should have been lying next to me, but all I could see was an empty hammock. Had he not been able to sleep either?
When I reached the lake, I knew where he had stayed. He was just crouching in the shallow water in his pants, washing his face.
"Morning," I said and began to strip down to my underwear as well and wash me first and then my clothes. I was very careful not to let Minho see that I put a small piece of paper under a stone so it wouldn't get wet.
"Good morning."
He looked at me briefly and was probably surprised that I had just taken off my clothes, but then, just like me, he seemed to decide that we had to cope with the situation we were in.
"Did you talk to Gally yesterday?" he asked after a few minutes in which he too had washed his clothes.
I shook my head. "No, he seemed to have been drunk last night or something when we went to sleep. I'll try to talk to him later."
"Before we go out there?"
"I don't know. Probably be better if I did it before if something happens, huh?"
"Nothing's gonna happen. We're fast, remember? And you seem to be pretty smart. We can do it." With these words, he stood up and squeezed his stuff out. "Well, how are we going to get them dry now?" he asked and looked at me for help.
"Put them back on. They'll dry when the sun comes out faster than you can look."
He did as I told him and I was done too, so I put my clothes back on.
"Well, let's see if there's anything to eat yet." With that he went off and I followed him.
And indeed, Fry Pan was also already on his feet and standing in his kitchen.
"Morning, you two, you're up early. Excited about your first day as runners?" he greeted us and handed us two full plates. "You need energy when you go into the maze. I have prepared something for you to take with you." He pointed to the counter where two small backpack-like bags were standing. "Fill up the bottles at the lake, so you'll have enough to drink."
"Okay, mum," Minho laughed and we joined in.
I looked at the walls and could see the first rays of sunlight falling on them. Then it happened very quickly and the glade was bathed in a wonderful light.
Wow. That was really beautiful. I stared in fascination as a loud noise destroyed the moment - one of the gates opened. Minho and I flinched, even though we had heard a similar sound yesterday when another one had closed.
It was really impressive. The huge wall split and revealed a wide corridor that split after a good 20 metres.
"Oh shit, here we go."
Minho stood up and I did the same to him when I saw Nick coming towards us. It looked like Minho had more respect for the whole thing than he had shown at first.
But now there was no turning back. Fry Pan agreed to fill the bottles for us so we could talk to Nick and disappeared into the forest.
"Good morning, runners." He nodded at us and it seemed unrealistic to be called like that. Kind of strange.
We nodded back and neither one of us knew what to say.
"Well, here we go. Don't go in too far the first time. Remember the way. And above all - don't get caught by a Griever. I don't want to lose anybody again, okay?"
Again we nodded to confirm and Nick continued. "All right. Newt will accompany you to the gate. He should be right here. From then on you are on your own. I'm counting on you."
With these words he nodded goodbye to us once more and went to the fields.
It didn't take long and Fry Pan came back with the water and Newt joined us, too. As he wished us good morning, I looked away embarrassed and avoided looking him in the eye. I knew this would only upset me again and somehow I was a little embarrassed about what had happened last night. It had all happened so quickly since I had been here.
We made our way to the gate that was near the wall with the names. As we crossed the glade none of us spoke and I could imagine what was going on in Newt right now. Even though we had talked about it, he certainly didn't like us going in there.
I looked around furtively and noticed that most of the boys were now awake and apparently on their way to the lake or kitchen, but had all stopped to watch us. Did they think we were coming back?
I counted the people and everyone was there - except Gally.
Newt seemed to notice that I was looking for something, because he said: "He went to work as soon as he got up. Didn't even look at me."
Oh man, I really would have liked to say goodbye.
And I was also a little disappointed that he apparently didn't care to say goodbye to me before I went into the maze. Actually, after yesterday I had thought that I really meant something to him.
I tried to wipe away the thought of him and concentrate on our task instead. Only now did I finally realise what we were doing. We were running into a maze, of which there was no map and inside of which were living some critters that wanted to kill us if they got hold of us. A shiver ran down my spine, but I tried not to let it show.
When we reached the gate we stopped, checked once more that we had the water and food and were ready.
I didn't know how to say goodbye to Newt and was afraid of yet another stupid situation like the one I just had, but he took the decision away from me by pulling me to him and kissing me. My heart went wild and I was relieved to at least say goodbye to him properly.
When we separated again I noticed that Minho was already jumping and stretching. Apparently he was about to start running. I did it right away and after a short time I took a last look over the glade to see if Gally would come after all. But I had false hopes - he was nowhere to be seen.
"Well then, let's go. Ready?" Minho asked and I nodded.
More or less.