Nightingale ||Newt, Maze Runner||

7

[Newt's P.O.V]

As usual, I end up waking up earlier than everyone else after another restless so I decide to head to the map room to grab one of the runner backpacks.

When I get there, I'm surprised to Minho sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, sound asleep.

I quietly move towards the sleeping figure and crouch down right next to him, tapping his shoulder, trying to wake him up, "Minho?"

He groans a little bit and turns his head to the lift, "Just 5 more minutes Alby..."

I chuckle and and tap him on the shoulder again, this time speaking louder, "Min, It's Newt, come on, wake up."

He opens his eyes and looks at me groggily, "Newt..? Why are you in my room..?"

I laugh at his confusion, "I'm not in your room, silly, we're in the map room."

He rubs his eyes and looks around him, "Wha- Oh right, I must have dozed off last night."

We both get off the floor and I turn to him, "What were you doing here last night anyways?"

He looks at me and rubs the back of his neck, "I..umm..", he looks down at the ground, "I was going over the maps trying to find the easiest route for you to take to get to the new paths."

I look at Minho in shock, he went through all the trouble just to make sure I wouldn't get lost or hurt, my eyes soften and I look at him, "Min..you didn't have to.."

He looks up again and smiles sheepishly, "It was nothing, here let me show you.", he takes my hand and leads me to the wooden board where he had a couple of maps, put together, creating a small path.

He traces his finger along the lines, showing me every familiar twist and turn that I have to take. I'm surprised of how much information I actually remember about the maze, when he's done, he turns his gaze to me, "that's it I guess, anyways, If you forget anything, I'll be by your side the whole time."

"Minho, you don't have to, besides, you have a section to cover."

He grins and squeezes my hand tightly, "I don't have to, I want to."

I smile at him and he hands me one of the runner backpacks along with two daggers incase we have to deal with a griever.

We leave the map room together, meeting Alby infront of the doors of the maze.

He doesn't smile like usual, instead, his face stays emotionless and he doesn't even spare me a glance, "I guess I'll be covering your section today, Minho."

Minho nods at him and Alby turns around and takes off into the maze.

I sigh at his attitude, feeling like I just lost one of the few people I actually am friends with.

Minho notices and puts his hand on my shoulder, "Hey, don't beat yourself self up, he's just worried about you."

I manage to give him a small smile while adjusting the backpack over my shoulder, "Shall we?"

Minho takes a deep breath, "We shall."

We both take off running into the maze, turning left and right when necessary. I notice Minho slowing down so I can keep up with him due to my limp.

We stop in front of a series of brown rusty walls, all facing the same direction, "Is this the new path?"

He hums in response and we start walking straight ahead, examining every wall, hoping that we'll find a clue of some sort that could lead us to the way out.

After passing all the walls, we cross some sort of a "bridge" and we stop in front a big circle-like entrance.

Minho turns his gaze to me, "This is it. This is where it ends."

I don't look back at him, instead, I move my gaze back and forth, looking for anything out of place.

Finally, I spot a small red blinking light at the very far left of the circle, "Minho, check this out."

He takes a very close look at it, "Do you think it's some sort of a button?"

"Only one to find out.", I press down on it and find out that is it, indeed, a button.

We stay in silence for a few seconds until some sort of a hologram appears and It shows a small blank bar with a keyboard underneath it and a mechanical voice starts talking, "Enter Subject Number."

We look each other in silence, both of us not knowing what to do until Minho breaks it, "So what now? How do we find out what this subject number is?"

I shrug and turn my gaze back to the hologram then it hits me, "next time, we won't spare you, subject A5", it was one of the things the voice had told me while I was unconscious, A5, I reaches out with a shaky hand and enters it in.

Minho looks at me in shock but doesn't have any time to react before the entrance opens up, revealing three other doors, which in turn, rise up and then, darkness.

"Bloody hell..", I exclaim as we take note of everything around us.

"You got that one right.", I hear Minho say, "How did you find out what the subject number was?"

I stay quiet, thinking of how I'm gonna tell him, "I sort of, heard it."

He furrows his eyebrows, "heard it?"

I take a deep breath, afraid of saying more, after all, whoever was talking to him in his dreams made it clear that they didn't want him revealing anything so he looks down at his watch, "We should go back, the doors are closing soon.", I tell him, avoiding the question.

He sighs, "Alright...", we turn around, getting ready to run back but then, we hear it.

Whir, click, click.

We both freeze in our places, listening to the sound that has haunted all of the gladers for 3 years.

Whir, click, click.

Minho gets closer to me and whispers in my ear, his voice surprisingly steady, "It's just one, we can easily distract it."

I nod and try to calm myself down, ever since Nick got stung by a griever I developed a fear of them because I was the one who find Nick and was forced to hear his pained cried and screams as I half-dragged, half-carried him back to the glade.

Whir, click, click.

The noise keeps getting closer and closer by each passing minute.

Whir, click, click.

The griever turns around the corner and spots us, right away, quickening its pace.

"Shuck...", I hear Minho inhale sharply.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I hear it, a crackling noise, a scraping noise and a gush of wind hits us.

The doors close.

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