Chapter 6-Running

"Greenie, wake up," someone tapped my shoulder. I buried my head under my blanket.

"Oh come on slinthead, not this again. Get up." Minho shook my shoulder and I fell off the bed and onto the floor with a thud. Ouch. I let out a yelp as I landed, then the blankets fell on top of me.

"Oh. Sorry, greenie. I didn't mean to...I mean...um, are you okay?" Minho asked me, slightly concerned, but also trying not to laugh. I push the blankets out of my face, and try to untangle myself from the pile of blankets on top of me. I pull one blanket off my arm only to realize that it's wrapped around my leg. I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Minho, can you give me a few minutes. Ill be right out." I point towards the door. His cheeks flush pink and he rubs the back of his neck.

"Yeah, um. Sorry bout that Emmy, I just figured you'd want to get up to go running." He says and walks out of my room, closing the door behind him. I smile, because I really do want to go running. I rub my eyes and eventually manage to separate my legs from the knotted blankets and stand up. I grab a t shirt and pair of denim knee-length cut shorts and get changed quickly. What I need is a sports bra, but im guessing they don't have those lying around in the glade considering its all boys here. I brush my hair and pull it back into another ponytail, making sure every strand is pulled away from my face so it wont get in my eyes while we run. I open the door and smile at Minho.

"I'm ready" I say, my ponytail swinging slightly. He smiles back and nods towards the doors of the homestead. The doors are still closed, and it feels strange being awake early enough to see that. Minho starts to jog across the glade to a small hut, and I follow him. When we get inside, he closes the door, and takes out a crate of shoes, backpacks and clothes. He starts rummaging through it.

"What's your shoe size," he asks without even looking up at me. I blink back at him. I don't know what my shoe size is. I take off my left boot and look at the number printed on the heel. 7. I tell minho and he takes out a pair of running shoes, that look too big for my feet. I put them on and my feet pop right out of the heel. Minho frowns, and then slaps his palm onto his forehead.

"Oh, right. Duh, youre a girl. That's different then a boys shoe size." He turns back towards the bin, searching for something else.

"What about....no that's a size nine....six....ten....oh, here we go." He says and turns around. "Try these." He hands me a size 5 pair of boys shoes and I slip them onto my feet. They fit perfectly. He leads me over towards a wall covered in assorted backpacks with weapons hanging next to them. He pulls the smallest backpack off the wall and hands it to me.

"Try this." I nod and pull it on over my shoulders. It hangs loosely off my shoulders, and it fits weird around my chest.

"This one doesn't work," I frown and take it off. Minho nods and walks over to another backpack.

"Okay, try this." He hands me a thinner backpack that latches around the midsection, not the chest. I try it on and it fits well, except that its still too wide around the shoulder part. Minho walks over and tightens the straps, making sure it fits perfectly. I nod, and jump in place a bit, making sure it doesn't move around too much. The backpack stays in place just how it should.

"Perfect, Minho." I smile. He smiles back. Minho leads me over to the wall of knives and daggers that the runners bring into the maze. He grabs a medium sized one and clips it into the front of my backpack. Then he walks around me, inspecting everything and making sure it all fits right. It must because soon he walks in front of me and puts his hands on his waist.

"Ready to run, greenie?" Then he pauses. "Oh no, wait. I told Alby I would make you race me across the glade first." He ran a hand through his hair. "Come on, we've gotta do that first." He led me out of the building and closed the door behind us. He looked around, looking for someone. He locks eyes with Zart and calls him over.

"What's up, Minho?" Zart asked. Minho nodded his head toward me.

"Zart, Alby wants us to race to see if she can keep up okay wth me. Can you watch, see how far she falls behind?" He asked, nudging me in the side and smirking.

"What if I dont fall behind?" i ask, poking him back. He shrugs his shoulders

"We'll see about that, greenie." He turns back to Zart. "Can you watch?" Zart nods.

"Good that, Zart. Alright, greenie. Follow me, lets get this done." He put a hand on my shoulder and led me away towards the south wall, with Zart walking towards the other wall. When he got there he turned, crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back onto the stone wall. Minho took his hand off my shoulder and stood a few feet away from me. He placed one hand on the stone wall, and i did the same.

"Why are we doing this again Minho?" I turned, not sure of why Alby felt the need to do this. It was only a day in the Maze, what's the worst that'll happen? Minho shrugged his shoulders.

"Alby wants to see how fast you are. He doesn't want a slow greenie running around the maze, now does he?" I nodded and he turned to look at me, "Ya ready?" I put my right foot out and stretch my left hand back to touch the wall.

"Whenever you are," I say, suddenly determined to at least keep pace with him. He smiles and gets into a running stance.

"Alright greenie....on your mark...get set....GO!" He yelled, pushing off from the wall and sprinting. I followed him, close on his heels. The wind whipped my ponytail back and forth, but it felt so good. Having on the running shoes and backpack gave me a new burst of adrenaline and I picked up speed, catching up to Minho. He turned, surprised, and locked eyes with me. He nearly tripped when he saw me keeping pace with him and I laughed, sprinting forward again. I was in front of him now, and saw zart drop his hands away from his chest and he blinked at me a few times. I kept running, and Minho followed, and then he caught back up to me, passing me slightly. When we were about 10 feet away from the wall we both slowed down, stopping when our hands hit the wall. We were both panting, our chests heaving slightly, and I wiped the stray strands of hair out of my eyes.

"Well look at this," Zart said, impressed, "You shanks tied." I beamed, looking back at Minho, who raised an eyebrow in between taking a big breath. There was a loud cheering sound coming from the homestead and we turned back to see everyone that had just woken up cheering for us. I blushed and looked down at my backpack, fiddling with one of the straps. Minho slung his arm over my shoulder and marched me over towards the crowd. Alby, Newt, Frypan, and Clint were the first ones to greet me, slapping a hand on my back and congratulating me. Minho was there the whole time, smiling with his arms folded, watching me like a proud, protective older brother. After a minute of everyone bombarding me with questions which I couldn't make out since I was too busy thinking about the maze, everyone but Alby, Newt and Minho walked away to start doing their jobs.

"Well, greenie, I knew you could do it," Alby said, punching me on the shoulder gently. I smiled, and Newt shook his head.

"Bloody hell, you kept up with Minho. Nobody does that." He kept looking at me, confusion and amazement written across his face. I turned back to minho, who nodded and looked me up and down.

"yeah, shank. You've got a lot of hidden talents don't you? What else can you do?" I smiled and he uncrossed his arms to give me a high 5. Newt and Minho both put a hand on my shoulder.

"you'll make a fine runner, Emmy." Newt said, and Minho nodded. Alby cleared his throat.

"Alright, well, Minho, you can take her through the maze, alright?" Alby said. I smiled, and Minho nodded. Alby walked away.

"Well, greenie, lets go get you some food for your trip." Newt said in his accent, nodding towards the kitchen. I smirked at Minho.

"Hey, race you there!" I said, punching him in the arm and sprinted off. I heard him yell after me, "Oh no you don't!" And he was next to me in a few seconds. We both tried to outrun the other but we couldn't, and reached the hut at the same time. We both sat there, panting and laughing, until Newt caught up, limping over. He shook his head, smiling and laughing.

"You two are both so competitive, ya know that?" We laughed again, and me and Minho turned, grinning at each other. I looked back at Newt, who opened the door to the hut and motioned us inside. He led me over to frypan, who looked up from making pancakes when he saw us.

"Hey guys! Look who it is, our new runner." He smiled and reached down under the counter, pulling out a bag for minho full of food. He turned to Newt, "Hey, hand me her bag," he told Newt, who reached up and unclipped the small leather pouch from my backpack. It unclipped from between my shoulder blades, and Newt handed it to frypan who nodded. Frypan took it and filled it up with a sandwich, an apple, a few carrots, and a water canteen. Newt and Minho started talking to each other, and Frypan motioned me over. We whispered in my ear, "there's a square of chocolate in there for beating Minho. He's always so cocky about being the fastest, I'm glad to see someone as fast as him." I smiled at him and whispered, "where did you get it?" He just chuckled quietly.

"It came up in the box this week and I called it to make cookies, but I can spare one piece." He smiled and pulled away. That was really nice of him. I smiled back and he handed me the bag. I tried to clip onto the backpack myself, but Newt grabbed it and clipped it on for me, since I couldn't get it. We waved goodbye to frypan, but not before Newt grabbed a couple of pancakes off the tray and handed one to each of us. We all ate the pancakes on our way out the door. When we were finished Newt turned to me and Minho.

"Alright, well then. You two should get going, the doors are 'bout to open any minute now." He clapped a hand on each of our shoulders, standing between us. "Good luck you too. Greenie, be careful on your first day. Minho, as always, be safe." Then he gave us one last smile, turned and walked away towards the gardens. I turned back to Minho.

"Does Newt always do that?" I ask. Minho looked down at me. "Huh, do what?" I shrugged and nodded towards Newt. "Does he always go with you to get food and stuff, and tell you to be safe before you leave?" Minho nodded and smiled.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, he does. Everyday. He doesn't usually come to get my food with me, but he does always wish us good luck before we leave." I smiled, picturing Newt doing that. It was something he would do, and I could definitely see him being concerned for Minho. The two acted like brothers. We watched him walk away, waving to the other gladers and running a hand through his hair, messing it up. There was a loud boom, followed by the grinding of stone against stone as the doors opened. Minho turned to me.

"you ready, shank?" I punched him in the shoulder but smiled. I nodded and we both ran off to the doors and into the maze.

We had been running for probably two hours, and I wasn't even tired. It was most likely the adrenaline, but I felt great. I couldn't see my face, but Minho was slightly pink and flushed, so I could tell I looked pretty bad. After probably another hour he told me we could stop for a break. I sat down, leaning against the stone wall, panting. I opened my bag and took a long drink of water. I wiped my mouth and took out the apple. I looked over at Minho. He was leaning against the wall, taking a sip of water and panting just slightly. He looked like he had just taken a simple jog, not a three hour run. I shook my head and took a bite of the apple. How does he do that? My body isn't tired yet, but my lungs are screaming for oxygen. I guess if you do this everyday it would get easier though."hey Minho. About last night, who carried me back to my room?" I turned to look at him. He smiled."Only your knight in shining armor himself," He said before laughing to himself."No, seriously, Minho. Who was it?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest. He smirks at me. "Like I said greenie, your knight in shining armor. Or should I say Newt in shining armor." I blushed and he smirked. did Newt really do that? He didnt like me, did he? I mean he did put his arm around my waist, and he's been awfully nice to me this whole time. My cheeks burned pink at the thought of it. I finished the apple and tossed it on the ground next to me. I stand up, crack my neck and stretch out my arms. I don't want to be sore when we start running again. Minho turns to me, taking a bite of his sandwich. He cocks an eyebrow at me and finishes his sandwich before saying anything.

"You're ready to go Greenie?" I nod, and he raises his eyebrows. He shrugs his shoulders, takes a bite of his sandwich and a sip of his water before putting it away in his backpack. Then he slings it back over his shoulder.

"Alright, lets go then." I nod and start jogging, followed closely by Minho.

We're still jogging, and I'm starting to get tired. Minho yells out which direction to turn every few seconds, and I'm amazed at how he knows all this.

"Left,"

"Right,"

"Right,"

"Straight,"

"Left,"

We were about to turn a corner when there was a loud shriek from nearby. I stopped in my tracks and my eyes widened. It wasn't a human scream. Minho slowly stopped running and turned to me.

"Come on, other way greenie." He put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around, leading me away from the shriek. I turned to look at him, my heart still pounding in my chest.

"Minho, what was that?" I asked, feeling my voice crack. He looked down at me, confusion written across his face. Another loud shriek pierced the air and I hid behind Minho, peeking around him down the corridor. He jumped a bit, lifting his arms up into the air in . He turned around to look at me. He glanced down at my arms, which were wrapped around his torso. He raised an eyebrow, and I blushed, slowly unwrapping my arms from around him. He looked down at me.

"Didn't Alby show you the griever?" He asked. I shook my head and he sighed, putting his face in his hands. "I cant believe that slinthead forgot to show you." He muttered. He took a deep breath and pulled his hands away from his face, his eyes closed. He looked annoyed, and he rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. He looked down at me.

"Okay, well greenie, there are these things called grievers in the maze with us. They usually come out at night, which is why the doors close, to protect us. They're these creatures, and we stay away from them as much as possible, so you and I, we're turning around right now, and going the other way." He patted my shoulder and started jogging off in the other direction, and I had to sprint to catch up. Every few seconds I heard clicks and weird sounds. We kept running, and the sounds slowly got quieter, but we still heard shrieks every now and then.

"Left"

"Right"

"Straight"

"Right"

"Right"

"Left"

I allowed my thoughts to wander from the griever, and focused on listening to Minho's directions. I let my mind go blank, enjoying the rhythm, the pattern, the quiet. There was no yelling boys, just the sound of our feet hitting the stone, and Minho calling out which way to turn.

"Left"

"Straight"

"Right"

I smiled and kept running, feeling calm and finally free from being trapped in the glade..

"hey greenie, how you holding up back there?" He called over his shoulder. I nodded but kept running.

"I'm doing okay Minho," I called back. He chuckled and we turned another corner.

"How much longer do you think you can go?" he called back. I shrugged my shoulders, even though he couldn't see it.

"I don't know, I'm starting to get kinda tired." I lied. I was insanely tired. He threw his head back and laughed.

"Here, lets take a break then." He said, and we stopped running, breathing heavily. My arms and legs were burning, and I was exhausted.

"Minho, how can you do this everyday?" I asked him, then gasped for more air.

"Well, if you choose to be a runner, which seems like a good job for you, you'll get used to it." He looked me up and down, then nodded.

"You'll get stronger, I can tell. You're a tough little shank. I have to admit, not many people can keep up with me for this long. The only other person that could do that was Ne-" He stopped. "I mean....forget I said anything." He stopped, running a hand through his hair and looking at the ground.

"Wait, Minho, were you going to say Newt? He was a runner?" I asked. He shook his head and looked at the ground, not saying anything. I really wanted to ask, but he clearly didn't want me to know. He turned and looked at me, a conflicted look on his face. He cringed a bit as he said "um...kinda?" he turned pink.

"Don't tell Newt I told you, please." He asked. I nodded, trying to get answer out of him.

"I wont tell him." I paused, wanting answers but not sure if I should ask. I shifted my eyes around the maze walls, trying to seem occupied. I fiddled with a piece of ivy on the wall, not looking at Minho. I said quietly, "Why doesn't he run anymore?" Minho sighed and looked at me, a torn expression across his face.

"Ill let him tell you when he's ready...It's not my business to tell you." He said, and turned around. He started running again, and called over his shoulder quietly.

"We're almost back to the glade, by the way." I followed him, my shoulders slumped. We ran in silence for a while, probably 30 minutes, until Minho slowed to a stop.

"Greenie, look. I'm sorry, I don't want to upset you, and I don't want the others to think something happened. Newt used to run, but he didn't enjoy it, and he's a track-hoe now. Okay?" I nodded, and put a small smile on my face.

"See, there you go." He smiled back, and we turned the corner to see the glade. I tried to keep my expression positive, not wanting to worry anyone about me or Minho, but I kept thinking about Newt. What happened? When did he run? Why did he stop? I shake my head, clearing my thoughts for now, and focusing on the grass in front of me. My feet hit the dirt and I slowed to a walk, followed by Minho. He patted me on the back.

"Great job greenie. Nice running." I smiled, put my hands on my hips and sucked in big breaths of oxygen. Minho did the same, and he walked over next to me, leaning his back against the wall and drinking the last bit of water from his canteen. He finished and tossed the container to the ground next to him, and sat down on the grass, resting his head on the stone wall behind him. I unzipped my backpack and let it drop to the ground next to me. I was relieved to feel the weight gone from my shoulders, and I slid down the wall to sit there next to Minho too. I got out my water bottle and gulped down the rest of the water. When it was empty I tossed it on the ground next to me, tucked one knee up to my chest and rested my chin on it, taking deep breaths. Minho smiled and let out a breath, still panting.