𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦, minho (tmr)

Chapter Twenty

"Hey Greenie."

Florence grinned at the boy, squatting down beside the bars of the Slammer. He had served his sentence, and it was time to release him back into the wild of the Glade. Thomas' eyes screamed tiredness and lack of energy, but he couldn't stop himself chuckling as he muttered back in annoyance.

"Don't call me Greenie. I'm not the Greenie, remember?"

She took the key she had stolen from the Bagger nearby and put it into the lock, unlocking the door for him. Shaking her head fondly, she slung her arm around him as he stepped back out into the Glade.

"I only do it to see how annoyed you'll get."

Grumbling about how 'unfair' it was, Thomas let Florence lead him to a picnic table not too far from the Homestead, where Newt and Minho were sat, both looking deeply troubled. She was told by Newt to release Thomas and bring him to the pair to have a 'chat'.

Ruffling Thomas' hair, she took her arm back from his shoulder and joined Minho's side, trying her hardest to not expect the worst of the situation.

However, it was bad.

"Quit? What do you mean they've all quit?"

This is not what you want to hear first thing in the morning.

"It's exactly like it sounds Florence, all the Runners have quit. They're just done. I don't know what the bloody hell we're supposed to do."

Newt sounded exhausted. He ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up in all different directions, but he was too preoccupied to fix it. How were they going to map the Maze now?

"Well I'll have to go full time. We need to see if anyone else will step up too. We need people, it doesn't matter who." 

Minho frowned, worries nagging at the back of his mind thinking about the girl running every single day. However he knew there was no stopping her, and he also knew she could hold her own quite well.

"No one is going to want to go out there Flo." Newt argued, and the girl scoffed at his pessimism. 

"Okay, fine. We have three Runners. Myself, Minho and Thomas. Where does that leave us?"

Nowhere, that's where.

She answered her own question internally, and kicked a stone lying on the ground. The other boys were silent; there was nothing they could think of to say. Florence was always the one to lighten up the dark negativity but for once, she was struck by hopelessness too.

What were they going to do without Runners?

She rested her head onto Minho's shoulder, staring at a spot that hadn't been cleaned on the table. Thomas got up from where he was sat just listening, stalking away without sparing another glance to any of them. Newt sighed exasperated, also getting up but moving in the opposite direction, presumably to check on Alby.

"Where are you going?" Minho called to Thomas' retreating figure. 

"Back into the Maze."

Florence lifted her head from Minho's shoulder and shared a glance with the equally as startled boy. After a beat of doing nothing, they got up and jogged over to Thomas, moving so they were either side of the determined boy. 

"Thomas- What's your plan?" The girl asked him, already on board for whatever he was thinking of doing. 

For some reason, he had been getting a lot of luck in this place. If I'm going to follow anyone, it's him.