𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦, thomas (tmr)

Chapter Eleven

Nick didn't show up that next morning.

As expected, the doors opened to reveal absolutely nothing, and Clara was left with a sinking heart. She refused to give up completely, however. If anyone was to survive a night in the Maze it would be Nick, right?

"Everyone keep an eye out for him, okay? Be prepared to drop everything to come back to the Glade if you see him."

She was speaking in a low voice to the Runners around her, scraping her own hair back into a ponytail in preparation. She was going to run the Maze.

When she announced it to everyone the night before, there were a few shouts of disagreement and disgruntlement. She told them that she really couldn't care less, and as the leader now - temporarily she said, she was very stubborn about that - she could pretty much do what she wanted.

It wasn't the best attitude to have, instead, probably the best way to have Gladers attempt to cause an uprising against her. But she didn't care in the circumstances. And no one cared that deeply about the fact she wasn't a Runner.

Because it was obvious that Nick's absence was breaking her more than anyone else in the Glade. She was closest to him after all, and so even Gally was okay with her to go in the Maze and search for him.

She made Alby her second-in-command, thinking his responsible presence would make for a good leader if anything were to happen to her out in the Maze. And, she needed to take the place of one of the Runners.

Clara knew the Runners' jobs well enough to be able to run the Maze herself. She had Nick's route of yesterday in her hands: a map from a few weeks ago, when it was the same corridors of the Maze that it was yesterday.

"You think he's made it?" Minho asked in an unconvincing tone, and Clara felt the hairs on her arms prickle in discomfort.

"I think it's possible." 

She challenged him with her eyes, daring him to say something unmotivating and crush her spirit. She wasn't expecting him to actually do it.

"Clara, Nick had a sprained ankle. Perfectly healthy Runners have got themselves trapped and then end up dy-"

"-If you don't shut your mouth Minho, I will slap you."

The Runner looked like he wanted to say something in return then, but recognising his friend's upset, he stopped himself. Backing away a few steps, he simply just nodded, and Clara felt her heart twisting in pain.

She waited for everyone else to set off into the Maze first before following afterwards, waved off by an anxious looking Newt. A strange sensation filled her stomach as she looked up from the map she was using to guide her, and around the place she had jogged into.

Two years in the Glade, and she had never set foot inside.

Sure, she had been curious. But she'd never really wanted to, unless it was with the intention to leave the Maze entirely in that trip. Until now.

Nick's incident gave her reason to go out into the Maze. She was his closest friend; if anyone were to find the remains of him, it should be her.

Although she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

She didn't really know what she was expecting when she went into the Maze. The Runners never really described it to her, only ever talking about the patterns of corridors and dead ends.

But the girl quickly discovered: the Maze was dull and repetitive. Clara was met by identical grey walls with every turn: ivy crawling up the sides in patches and rubble piling across the ground.