𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒, thomas ✓

seven.

07

INVENTIONS AND TRINKETS

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Rosa had collected Thomas from his cell for the night and lead him into the woods at sunrise, showing him the way to her little hut. "Why do you sleep all the way in the forest?" he had asked her.

"I am a female, living with only guys. The toxic masculinity was too much for me to handle," she tried joking, but the truth was that around all of those guys she felt lonely. At the beginning she feared for her safety. As more and more boys were sent into the maze, she had nightmares of what could happen. Even with Alby there to protect her, she always felt outnumbered. They didn't treat her the same, they treated her as if she wasn't there. Maybe that was why she was so kind to Chuck.

They turned a corner on the trail, Rosa letting him step in front to see the small campsite. It wasn't much, but it was her own, segregated area away from the Glade. Even Chuck and Alby would find themselves getting annoyed and overwhelmed in the Glade and join Rosa at her small camp while she worked on her inventions.

Rosa left Thomas at the entrance of the clearing to take it all in whilst she went to collect the small box that she kept under her makeshift bed at all times. She urged him to sit in front of her on a small log of wood that surrounded a wooden table that she had made, and he did. She opened the box easily and pulled out the small devices that were the size of a sardine can. She opened one of the tiny, metal boxes to show him the insides. They contained a small amount of gunpowder that she had forged from elements that she could easily find around the Maze.

"What is it?" he asked, going to pick one up but she was quick to take it away from his hands.

"Charged gunpowder," he gave her a confused look, "It is charcoal, potassium nitrate and sulfur. The idea was to make these small bombs that would stick to Grievers and then explode upon impact, so we can destroy them. So, one wrong move and they could combust right here, right now and blow us into nothing but smithereens."

He made an 'o' with his mouth and moved his hands away from them, "How many are there?"

"Only seven, but each one can have a blast radius of 4 metres. So just a little smaller than the typical hand grenade, but that is enough to take down one Griever for good; that is if they work," Rosa began to carefully pack away the explosive devices so that they could not be used.

"You know, I only remember ever meeting two girls. And so far, you are both the most terrifying yet brave one I have ever encountered," he remarked, smiling at her. "Teresa might chuck a tomato at me, but you'll chuck a grenade."

"I am so very honoured, Greenie," she laughed, "We should get going before Minho realises that we aren't waiting for him."

He nodded, looking at her with a cheeky grin. "Race you to the wall?"

"You are so on!" she shouted, nudging him on her way past as she ran at full speed through the forest with him right behind her. Their laughs could be heard all through the Glade as the Gladers began to wake up for their jobs.

⋆

It wasn't long before Minho, Rosa and Thomas had run into the inner ring, passing zones 5 and 6 as they sprinted through the Maze. They had only slowed into a fast jog when they reached zone 7, the large number painted in red on the dusty wall.

"That's strange, 7 isn't supposed to be open for another week," Minho revealed as they slowed right down into a walk due to them needing to save some energy for their run back to the Glade.