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━ CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THEthree stood withNewt, Gally and the rest of the group that had just come out of the maze in homestead, the Brit holding the new found device. "Yeah, we found this. It was inside the griever." Thomas explained. The blonde boy inspected the metal cylinder in his hands.
"These are the same letters we get on our supplies." He stated.
"Yeah. Whoever put us here, obviously made the grievers. And this is the first real clue, the first anything, in over three years, right, Minho?" Thomas ended his explanation with a question towards the keeper of runners.
"Right," Minho confirmed. Thomas spoke once again to finish off his explanation.
"Newt, we got to go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us?" Thomas was trying to convince the Brit, following his gut. Katherine had a feeling that the device could lead them out, but part of her was scared to see if it wasn't and it was just false hope.
Newt looked over at Gally. "You see what he's trying to do, right? First, he breaks our rules and then tries to convince us to abandon them totally. What...The rules are the only thing that has ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he'd agree with me. These two shanks... need to be punished." Gally finished, pointing to Katherine and Thomas.
"Easy, Gally." Minho threatened. The blonde boy rolled his eyes at the runner. Newt pursed his lips, looking at Katherine and Thomas. The Brit handed Minho the device back as he spoke.
"You're right. Thomas and Katherine broke the rules. One night in the pit and no food." Newt declared. Katherine thought that was fair, but Gally sure didn't.
"Oh, come on, Newt! One night in the pit -- you think that's going to stop them from going into the maze?" Gally was frustrated and Katherine just thought he was being overdramatic.
"No. And we can't just have non-runners running into the maze whenever they feel like it. So let's just make this official. Starting from tomorrow, you're both runners." Newt said firmly. Thomas and Katherine looked at each other, small smirks on their faces as Minho gave a small nod.
Gally shook his head, his eyebrows raised, "Wow." He turned on his heel and walked away, annoyed.
"Gally." Frypan tried to reach for Gally's arm but the boy pushed it away.
"No, Fry." Gally stormed off, Frypan following him. The other boys followed. Thomas stayed as well as Katherine and Minho.
"Thanks, Newt," Thomas said. Katherine gave a small nod towards the boy who turned and walked away. Minho led the two to the map room.
"I guess I don't have to wait outside anymore." Katherine chuckled. Minho smiled at her and reached to grab her hand, interlocking their fingers. Thomas cleared his throat awkwardly feeling like he was intruding.
"Hey, where we going?" Thomas questioned, clueless as to what was now going on. Katherine chuckled only knowing where to go because she used to wait outside for Minho after he came from the maze.
"You'll see," Minho answered vaguely. The three finally reached the map room and Minho led them inside. There was a circle of some sort under a discoloured white sheet. Markings littered the walls and drawings that resembled the maze. Minho threw the sheet off revealing a model of the Glade and maze.
Katherine took a step closer, her fingers grazing over the tops of the small wood pieces. "It's the maze. All of it." Minho sighed.
Thomas glanced up at the keeper. "What do you mean 'all of it'? I thought you were still mapping it." The brunette boy asked.
"There's nothing left to map. I've run every inch of it myself. Every cycle, every pattern. If there was a way out, we would have found it by now." Minho explained. Katherine didn't really know what to say.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" She asked quietly, her gaze set on the small model of the maze. Minho looked at the girl sadly.
"It was Alby's call. People needed to believe we had a chance at getting out. And you especially couldn't know. Alby says that you give people hope, they haven't given up because you're always smiling." Minho said to the girl. Katherine nodded, understanding where Alby was coming from.
She wasn't mad at Minho, it's not like he lied to her. He just gave her hope and even though there seemed like none, she knew Thomas would get them out. "But maybe now, we have a real chance." Katherine looked up at Minho who nodded and glanced at Thomas.
"Take a look at this. About a year ago, we started exploring these outer sections. All right, we found these numbers printed on the walls. Sections one through eight. See, the way it works is every night when the maze changes, it opens up a new section.
"So today, section six was open. Tomorrow it'll be four, then eight, then three. The pattern always stays the same." Minho finished explaining how the maze works.
"What's so special about seven?" Katherine questioned, her brown eyes scanning over the model.
"I don't know. But last night when you killed that griever, section seven was open. I think it might be where it comes from. Tomorrow, you two and I are gonna take a closer look." Minho looked at both the boy and girl.
Katherine could hear footsteps running towards the hut and two boys came into view, leaning against the door panting. "Hey! What are you guys doing? You're not allowed in here." Minho scolded.
"Sorry. It's just the, um..." Jeff trailed off.
"It's the girl." The other boy, Clint, finished.
"What, is she awake?" Thomas questioned.
"You could say that," Jeff answered. Katherine glanced at Thomas and Minho before pushing past the boys and running toward the end of the forest.
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hi its still me actively inactive
sorry to disappoint
i think Gossip Girl is supposed to come back soon but idk we'll see
im not really sure if she has like a schedule or something so sorry if i was supposed to post this on like a certain day but you hope you enjoyed this chapter
