in another life; the maze runner

☆thirty-three☆

While Newt and Thomas quarreled about their escape and the recklessness of the plan, Winston had been investigating the area a little more thoroughly than the others.

Mae noticed his fascination with something in the sand, and she walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. He glanced up at her and pointed to the prints that hadn't been from any of the people in their group, which were leading further into the dark passage way.

"Someone's been down here already," She muttered, Winston nodding in agreement. He lifted his hand up to summon the others, beckoning for Minho's flashlight to see the footprints in better light.

--

The group of teenagers decided to split up as they explored. It might not have seemed like the smartest thing to do in the moment, but they agreed that they could cover more ground that way, and they needed to if they were going come to consensus of whether to leave right away or dwell in the abandoned building for a while longer.

Mae didn't mind, in fact she was hoping to have a little bit more quiet time to sort out her thoughts before they were on the move again. 

The group divided themselves quickly, not wanting to argue further about who was going to go with who.

"I'll go with Winston and Aris," Jack said first, nodding toward the other boys. It was no surprise that the quiet, polite individuals herded together. Mae watched them silently as they started off into the dark, with another spare flashlight to light their way.

"Fry, Teresa you want to head off with me?" Newt asked the two people closest to him, who made no complaints in response. Thomas glanced toward Minho and Mae, then shook his head in agreement with Newt.

"Meet back here soon," He advised as the other group started heading down a pathway to their right.

Now left with just Thomas and Minho, Mae smiled awkwardly. She hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to either of them since their daring escape from the WICKED facility, and she had missed just being in their presence.

"Ready, hay-braids?" Minho teased monotonously as he clicked on his flashlight, shining it on the sandy floor ahead of them.

Mae scoffed, before remembering how she'd braided her hair what seemed like ages ago, and how Minho had barged into the bathroom. She also remembered all of the things he had said, that left her head scrambled with confusion.

Thomas watched as she reached out to snatch the flashlight from the other boy's hand, and shined it up to her hair. She turned to him with a concerned expression, ignoring Minho who feigned being offended by her sudden outburst.

"Thomas, are my braids still intact? Is Minho making fun of them?"

The brunette stared at her with his lips parted, unsure of what to say. He took a look at her hair, what she had claimed were braids but had now seemed to turn into two frizzy, twisted ponytails sporting many flyaways. The girl still stared at him with wide eyes, her concern for her hair growing as he was still left speechless.

"They look fine, only problem is just that they should be tamed with Griever slime," Minho quipped, filling the silence. Mae scowled, roughly shoving the flashlight back to him and ripping the rubber-bands out of her hair and running her fingers between the strands to make them more presentable. A subtle coil where the parts of her hair had been folded over each other remained when she finished.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd know all about Griever slime and hair, Minho. There's no way it naturally looked like that in the Glade," Mae hissed, turning away from him to stand beside Thomas. Minho opened his mouth to argue before Thomas stopped him, pulling their attention back to the task at hand.