Chapter One
Atala ran through the maze at top speed, eager to get back to the Glade. She was starving and she also wanted to see the new greenie. A girl had never been sent up before, but Atala could still hope. She was also worried about Ben. A few days ago, the boy was stung by a griever. Atala had been the one to find him and drag him back to the Glade.
The Glader had a muscular figure. She was taller than the average girl and had an athletic frame. She wasn't skinny nor was she fat. Minho said she looked to be around eighteen.
The blonde was a Runner, a Keeper of the Runners at that. Every day, she entered the maze through the west door and ventured to her assigned sector-seven. Normally, Minho and her would meet each other where sector seven and eight met. Today was no different.
As soon as Atala rounded the last corner of sector seven, she collided into what felt like a brick wall. "Wow, what perfect timing," the familiar voice of Minho commented. A huge smile appeared on the girl's face as she looked up at the boy she loved. Minho planted a purposely sloppy kiss on Atala's cheek and grabbed her hand.
"Let's get back," Atala said as she looked at her plain rubber white watch. They had thirty minutes before the doors closed. A smirk appeared on the girl's face as she looked up at the approximately two inched taller male, an idea popping into her head. "Race ya." With that, the female runner took off running, leaving her boyfriend in the dust. Minho rolled his eyes at her playful behavior and followed her. She was only like this around him. When they got back to the Glade, she would turn back into the cold-hearted shank the Gladers knew. He should know; he does the same thing.
Atala and Minho were original Gladers along with Alby and Newt. The female Glader came up with the idea of Runners. It was her, Minho, Newt, and a boy named George running the maze together. A few weeks after being in the Glade, Nick, the previous leader, declared they should have 'Keepers' of each job to serve as the leader of that group. The council couldn't choose between Atala and Minho, so they both took the job.
When the Keepers could see the West door of the Glade, Atala sped up to beat Minho. She succeeded. A smile appeared on her face as she turned to face Minho while he entered the Glade. "I won."
In response, Minho snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him. "I wouldn't get ahead of myself if I were you." His voice was low and raspy, causing chills to run up Atala's spine.
"Okay lovebirds, enough playing around. You both have jobs to do," Newt came out of nowhere and commented. As if on cue, Ben's agonizing screams sliced through the air, causing a feeling of sadness to wash over the little group, especially Atala.
The female Glader did a sweep of the Glade with her eyes and noticed an unfamiliar boy standing near the east wall beside Chuck. Atala nodded towards the boy and looked over at Newt. "That's the Greenie, ain't it?"
Newt nodded.
Atala grabbed Minho's hand and rushed off to the map room, ignoring Ben's screams to the best of her ability. The other six runners already sat inside the room, mapping their progress. Minho and Atala sat down at the table as well and started to map their sectors of the maze while they still remembered it. Around thirty minutes later, the walls were already closed and the Keepers of the Runners were the only ones left in the room. A sigh escaped Atala's lips as she finished her map of sector seven. As usual, nothing useful appeared. She looked over at Minho, who was already done and was staring at her.
"Let's go eat. I'm shucking starving," Atala demanded, grabbing Minho's big hand in her own. The couple walked out of the door and to the kitchen. The two Runners got in the back of the line and waited to be served by Frypan.
When Atala and Minho finally made it to the front of the line, Atala greeted Frypan, "Hey shank. What's for supper?"
"Chicken and potatoes," Frypan responded with a smile on his face. "I know it's your favorite."
Atala smiled at the sweet cook as he placed her food on her plate. "Thanks Frypan. You're the best."
After getting their food, Minho and Atala sat down at their usual table. It was small and meant to only sit two people, so it was perfect for the couple. Atala started gobbling down her food. The lunch that she packed each day never seemed to be enough. She could never understand why it took so much to fill her up. She just guessed she had a high metabolism.
As soon as the two finished their meal, they walked out of the kitchen and to the homestead. Atala grabbed the clothes she slept in and rushed off to take a shower.
About thirty minutes later after the two had taken their showers and checked on Ben, Minho and Atala laid on the uncomfortable cot in their room. Minho had his arms wrapped tightly around the girl he loved, her head against his chest. "Goodnight, I love you," Atala's voice cut through the air.
"Night, I love you more," Minho responded as they both fell into a deep sleep.
Two days later, Atala ran through sector seven of the maze. She'd been exploring for three hours. Now it was time for her to eat lunch. Suppressing a sigh, Atala reached the spot she always ate lunch and pulled out her sandwich.
"Atala!" Minho's voice sounded from nearby. The female Glader looked around frantically, worried about Minho. "Atala!" Where was he? How could she hear him? Maybe his voice was echoing.
Atala somehow located his voice and pulled out the machete that was situated in the sheath on her back. She didn't hesitate to run back to sector eight as fast as she could towards Minho's voice. "I'm coming!"
Minutes later, Atala turned a corner and gasped at what she saw. A griever sat on the floor of the maze with Minho standing a little ways away from it. Atala rushed over to Minho and looked him over, relieved when she found he wasn't hurt. She turned back to the griever that sat unmoving on the ground. "Is it dead?"
"I guess. I just turned the corner and there it was," Minho explained, gesturing towards the griever as Atala sheathed her machete.
"We better get back to tell Alby and Newt," Atala suggested. Minho nodded and the two broke into a sprint towards the maze.
They made it back in less than fifteen minutes. Record timing. Exhaustion hit Atala as soon as she reached the fluffy grass of the Glade. The last time she ran that fast was around two weeks ago when she was trying to get back to the Glade before the doors closed. She had ran into some trouble with a griever.
Both of the Runners fell onto the grass, panting heavily. Atala subconsciously rested her head on Minho's shoulder. He had his arms propped up on his knees and his head laying on his arms. Some unfamiliar boy ran over to them, screaming for Alby to come help the Runners.
"Hey, you two okay?" the boy asked as he knelt down beside them.
Atala looked up at him before Minho did and responded between breaths, "Who…the klunk…are you?"
The boy looked as if he just realized something. "I'm new here."
Minho finally pulled himself up to look at the Greenie and instinctively wrapped an arm around Atala. "Oh yeah, Thomas." Thomas looked down at the two Runners. To him they seemed too close to one another to be just friends.
Realization washed over Atala as she remembered Thomas and the girl in the coma Newt told her about. "You and the chick are the Greenies. Ya know, it figures they send up the first girl since me and she ends up being in a shuckin' coma. How wonderful."
Despite being exhausted, Minho snickered at his girlfriend. Atala looked behind her, noticing that her pack was gone, but the machete still sat in its sheath. She groaned. "Shuck."
Before Minho could ask her what was wrong, Alby jogged over to them. "What're you two doing back? What happened?" The two were early today. Hours early. They had gotten back at lunchtime.
"Calm your wad, Alby," Minho demanded, gaining strength as he talked. "Make yourself useful and get us some water. We dropped our packs somewhere out there."
Alby didn't move. Instead, he kicked Minho in the leg. Hard. "What happened?"
Atala got up so fast, Thomas jumped back. She was taller than the average girl and her muscular frame intimidated all of the Gladers, including Gally. The female Runner glared at Alby, anger clouding her thoughts. "We can barely talk, you shuck-face! Get us some water!"
A smile appeared on Alby's face before it faded into his signature scowl. Atala plopped back down next to Minho, his arm returning to her waist. Alby turned to Thomas. "These two are the only shanks that can talk to me like that without getting their butts kicked off the cliff." With that, Alby ran off to fetch the Runners some water.
Thomas turned to Atala and Minho, specifically the former. "He lets you two boss him around like that?"
Minho shrugged. "You scared of that pip-squeak? Dude, you got a lot to learn."
"Freakin' newbies," Atala snorted.
Thomas looked hurt. "Isn't he the leader?"
"Leader?" Minho laughed along with Atala. "Yeah, call him leader all you want. Maybe we should call him El Presidente. Nah, nah – Admiral Alby. There you go." Atala laughed, letting out a snort as she bumped Minho purposely. A smile appeared on his face as he listened to the pleasant sound. He loved making her laugh.
Thomas didn't understand. He didn't know if the two were joking or not. "So who is the leader if he isn't?"
"Greenie, just shut it before you confuse yourself more." Minho let out an annoyed sigh.
"Why do you shuckfaces come in here asking dumb questions?" Atala muttered.
The Greenie heard her and he was angry. "What do you expect us to do?"
"Do what you're told, keep your mouth shut. That's what we expect," Minho said, looking him square in the face for the first time.
Thomas pushed himself up on his knees, so he was looking down at the two. "Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what you two did as Newbies."
Atala's face changed completely. She turned looked up at Thomas, her face completely serious. On the inside, she was only half serious. "We were two of the first Gladers, you slinthead. Shut your hole till you know what you're talking about." Fear ran through the Greenie's body. This girl is terrifying, he thought.
Thomas immediately started to get up off the ground, tired of the couple's attitude. Minho's hand snapped out and grabbed his arm. "Dude, sit down. We're just playing with your head. It's too much fun—you'll see when the next Newbie…" he trailed off when he realized there would never be another Greenie. His arm instinctively tightened around Atala. "Guess there won't be another Newbie, huh?"
"Guess not," Thomas commented quietly.
Atala looked over at the younger boy, squinting at him. "You saw her. All these slintheads keep saying you know her or some kinda klunk."
"I saw her. Doesn't really look familiar at all," Thomas defended.
"She seem…cool? Like…to hang around," Atala tried to grasp the words. She could feel Minho snicker against her.
Thomas shrugged unsurely. "Yeah, I guess."
"As cool as a girl in a coma can be, am I right?" Atala muttered as Minho removed his arm from her waist and laid flat on the grass. "I can't wait to meet her."
"Why don't you just date her then?" Minho suggested playfully from his spot on the ground. Atala rolled her eyes and punched Minho in the stomach. He groaned and held the spot the girl hit. Thomas laughed at the two.
"So, did you two find anything today?" Thomas asked curiously.
Minho opened his eyes and pulled Atala down to lay beside him. He pulled her against his side before looking over to Thomas. "You know what, Greenie? That's usually the dumbest shuck-faced thing you could ask a Runner." His eyes closed again. "But not today."
"What do you mean?" Thomas asked.
"Wait till the fancy admiral gets back. We don't like saying things twice," Atala commanded. "He might not want you to hear it anyway."
Thomas let out a sigh. "Well, at least tell me why you both look so tired. Don't you two run out there every day?"
Minho groaned as he pulled himself up into a sitting position, crossing his legs. "Yeah, Greenie. We run out there every day. Let's just say we got a little excited and ran extra fast to get our beautiful bee-hinds back here."
"Why?" Thomas asked.
Atala shot up, her muscular arms shot up in the air for emphasis. "Why the shuck are you so curious? I done told ya to wait for General Alby. Now shut your buggin' mouth."
Despite the slight meanness to her voice, Thomas made a decision. He liked Atala and Minho. At least they would talk to him. "Okay, I'll shut up. Just make sure Alby lets me hear the news, too."
Minho studied him for a second before responding. "Okay, Greenie. You da boss."
A moment later, Alby walked up to the three with two big plastic cups of water in his hands. Atala snatched one away from the boy and gulped it down, Minho doing the same. After drinking the water, Atala couldn't resist commenting. "Dang, Albster, I thought you'd never get back."
Alby rolled his eyes. "Okay, out with it. What happened?"
Atala and Minho both raised their eyebrows and looked towards Thomas. Alby shook his head. "He's fine. I don't care what this shank hears. Just talk!"
The Keepers of the Runners struggled to stand up, using the wall and each other to balance themselves. They were exhausted. Minho spoke first. "We found a dead one."
"Huh?" Alby asked in confusion. "A dead what?"
A smile appeared on the two Runners faces. "A dead Griever."