The Misfire:Book 1 (Newt || A TMR Fanfiction)

17. The Map Room

One day, I stealthily snuck into the forest out of boredom and hid behind a tree, waiting for the runners to leave while making sure to conceal myself properly.

I heard the door open, followed by dead leaves and twigs breaking as the heavy footsteps began leaving the area. I peeped, making sure no one was in sight, before cautiously creeping towards the Map room, making my way inside.

It was my first time being here and was well aware that non-runners were told to keep out from this particular shed. For a long time, I had been having these thoughts of sneaking in here, but never got the chance to give in to my impulses. Until today where curiosity finally got the best of me.

Inside was a huge table covered with a large thin cloth of sort. I carefully raised the cloth higher.

"Holy shit!" I gasped, too overwhelmed by what I uncovered. I had no idea this was what the runners meant as map making.

Careful not to damage anything, I pulled the cloth away and threw it on the ground. My eyes widened, shocked, but impressed at the sight of the somewhat replica of the glade in the middle with the maze surrounding it.

Unable to restrain myself, my fingers traced along the figures, careful enough not to alter or damage anything. The map looked like it took months to perfect. Or maybe even years.

Years...

The map displayed several corridors and sections marked specifically with black ink. Certain paths led to dead ends. Some only resulted to going in circles. None where it ended with a way out the maze. After taking my time in doing a thorough observation, I confirmed that there was indeed no exit.

I never understood at first why Alby was really strict about prohibiting us from entering the map room. I just thought that he didn't like any of the shanks to play around with these figurines.

But now it all made sense.

This was why they never allowed non-runners here or else they would certainly find out about the ugly truth of the maze. Alby and the runners were actually trying their best to avoid another "incident".

A few minutes later I heard footsteps approaching. I quickly draped the cloth back to the table and crawled underneath. The door swung open.

"Huh? I'm pretty sure I locked this before we left." A voice I recognized as Hank, huffed as he entered the room. I covered my mouth as I breathed heavily, my heart racing faster.

I got too mesmerized by the intricate details of the entire map, completely forgetting that the runners could return any moment.

I stared anxiously at the two runners' legs as they positioned themselves by the table. The cloth was lifted up and placed on the floor again.

"So tomorrow, Ben and I will map this one out." That sounded like Minho.

"This sucks," Hank sighed heavily, "We've pretty much ran the entire m-"

"Whoa, whoa. Let's not jump to conclusions, ok? There's still somewhere we haven't set foot on."

"You think so? Cause we've been stuck in the same, old routine for a long time."

"We can't give up. Not now."

Unfortunately, someone knocked off one of the map's pieces to the floor.

Hands shaking, heart about to explode, I held my breath once Hank bent down to pick up the piece, our eyes, meeting.

"Oh shit-" Hank yelped, almost losing his balance- "What the hell are you doing here?"