RECKLESS [The Maze Runner || Newt || Book 1]

04 - Runners

Clara was woken up by a pair of hands shaking her, she groaned and cracked open her eyes slightly to see who was disturbing her sleep.

"Rise and shine Clar!" Frypan's voice filled her ears, slightly louder than it needed to be. She sat up slowly, feeling the effects of the run earlier all over her body as she stretched out.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Well, I came to call you for dinner, so I guess a few hours? We don't exactly have clocks around, do we?"

"I'm way too tired to deal with your sarcasm right now Fry."

"So... No dinner for you?"

"That's funny, that's real funny. Keep joking like that we'll see what happens."

"Maybe you shouldn't be a runner, I think exercise makes you grumpier than usual." She picked up one of her pillows and smacked him in the face with it, laughing slightly as he frowned at her,

"Oh, shut it shank, I'll be down in 5 minutes."

"What the hell is a shank?"

"God, I don't know, ask Minho, now get out please!"

She pointed at the door, motioning for Fry to leave so she could get ready. She grabbed a hair tie from the bedstand and tied her hair up out of her face, putting on her shoes before walking downstairs. She stepped out of the homestead and noticed that most of the other boys had already sat down with their food. She grabbed one of the bowls from the pile and went to get some food from one of the cooks as she looked around for her friends.

"Clara!" She heard Winston call her name and spotted them sitting at a table further away from the kitchen. Making her way over to their table she took a seat on the edge of the bench with Gally and Zart on her right, and Newt, Winston, and Alby on the other side of the table, and they quickly started a conversation about what happened during the day – mainly about the trials of course.

"Alright, shanks and lady shank!" Minho's voice boomed over the tables, interrupting the conversation. A quiet fell over the boys as Minho stood up on one of the tables before continuing,

"It's the moment we've all been waiting for! If I call out your name that means you get the privilege of being a runner with me!" A few laughs and cheers came from the boys, and Minho started listing names,

"Archie, Rob, Ben, Max..." Clara felt her heart drop slightly as Minho kept listing off names, her hope diminishing with each name he called. She looked back down at her food, trying to hide the disappointment on her face as he listed off the last few names,

"Newt, Alex, Johnny, and last but definitely not least, Clara." Her head suddenly shot up at the sound of my name and felt a hand clap her on the back as all of the boys celebrated with her and Newt. After Minho jumped off the table, he made our way towards their table to speak to her and Newt,

"Well done guys!" He spoke, shaking each of their hands, weirdly formal for the occasion, "We meet after breakfast tomorrow, at the West doors." He finished, turning around to speak to the other boys he'd chosen. Clara smiled and continued eating her food, as the boys at the table started talking about what they thought she and Newt would find in the maze,

"What if you find zombies or something in there? You guys have heard those weird sounds coming from it at night, right? I'm telling you there's zombies." Winston said, sounding slightly terrified at the idea of being surrounded by a maze full of the undead

"Don't be delusional mate, there's no zombies in the maze." Newt responded, rolling his eyes at the slicer,

"He's right Winston, I bet you there's giant bugs in there. Like huge spiders and centipedes just crawling all over the place." Zart spoke up, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Alby who said back,

"Don't be an idiot, if there were giant spiders in the maze they would've crawled over into the glade by now."

"Well, if you're so smart then what do you think is in the maze, oh great leader?"

"No clue, don't wanna find out either, that's why we have runners now."

"What about you Clara? What do you think is out there?" Gally asked, and she lifted her head up from her food, thinking carefully about her answer before she spoke

"Hopefully another shucking girl, I'm getting sick of being ogled at, especially by blondie over here." She jabbed a thumb in Newt's direction who scowled at her and the other boys laughed as he lifted his middle finger up at her before speaking,

"In your dreams sunshine. I reckon there's a way out of here in that maze, a secret door or something like that, and I'm gonna bloody well find it."

The boys at the table nodded their heads, agreeing with Newt's feeling and Clara spoke again, a smirk growing on her face,

"Not if I find it first."

"We'll see about that won't we?"

She huffed and leaned back, narrowing her eyes at Newt who shared the same look. The boys at the table stared at the pair, who weren't moving at all, just glaring at each other, and after a few seconds of silence Zart whispered to Gally,

"What – what's going on?"

"They hate each other."

"Oh." He responded, before looking at her and Newt, who were still glaring at each other, "Hey I'm sure it'll be fun you guys! Right?"

"Shut up Zart." The pair said in unison. After a few more minutes of conversation, Clara picked up her empty bowl and placed it on the dish pile, before going back to the homestead to get ready for bed, eager to begin her first day as a runner.