Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own the Maze Runner or anything involved with it, that sadly belongs to James Dashner.
{Week 7, Day 1}
"Come on, Kat!" Minho whines at me. I barely spare a glance at him, seeing his entire body draped on top of the table, before returning my attention to the maps I have in front of me. "The Box came up today..."
"Already?" I fully look up at Minho before looking at the time stamp on my maps. Shuck. The past week has gone by so fast.
"Yes..." Minho drawls out and I look up to see him staring at me expectantly.
"You don't have to wait for me, Min," I say with a forced smile. Minho doesn't seem too convinced, but he stands up and walks over to my side of the table.
"Come out soon, Kat," Minho says seriously, making me look up at him. "You need to cut yourself some slack now and again."
With that, Minho walks out of the Runners' Hut, softly closing the door behind him. I have been cutting myself some slack. There were times when I would try running as much of another section as I could before making it back right before the Doors closed. I have since stopped that and just mapped out one section, and then came back early and tried to study it for a new pattern. But nothing ever changed. The changes are always random and never the same, this thing isn't set on repeat.
After a while I switch to Minho's maps and look at what he's collected the past month. But again, nothing. And when I compare the two sets, mine and his, none of the maps are the same. By the time I can restart looking at my maps though, the door opens behind me.
"Come on, you're done for the day," Newt starts grabbing the papers in front of me before I can stop him.
"Hey!" I can barely manage to get out, but Newt just ignores me as he puts the papers into my trunk. "Newt, I know something is there. I just have to find it."
"You also have to eat and act like a normal human being, so come on," Newt says as he finished putting my papers away and holds the door open for me. I glare at him and don't move, but he doesn't budge an inch, instead just choosing to stare me down.
'I'm not moving an inch until you do,' I can practically see Newt saying.
'Well, neither am I!' I glare back.
'You need food,' I barely see Newt saying that before my stomach growls.
"Fine," I grumble as I push myself to my feet, doing my best to ignore the aching muscles in my legs. I walk right past Newt and start hopping across the stones in the river. But I hit one and my ankle twists, but before I can fall in the water, I feel a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me back up.
"You okay?" Newt asks softly, but I know where this'll lead.
"I'm fine," I mumble before jumping to the next stone, ignoring the twinge of pain in my ankle.
"Seriously, Kat?" I hear Newt's voice, it's angry.
"What do you want me to say, Newt?" I turn around and glare at him. "It really hurts. I need to take time off from running the Maze, stay in the Glade where it's safe. That what you wanna hear?"
"I..." I don't even wait for Newt's reply before turning around and storming off. Ever since I got here, Newt and I have been really close. It's like we know what the others thinking just by their facial expressions. But it also meant that he can see through my exterior appearance. And I'm not used to that.
"Hey, Kat!" I hear my name being shouted and I glance over to see Frypan.
"Hey, Fry," I greet him with a smile and he grabs me a plate.
"I see Newt talked you into coming out for the party," Frypan mentions as he starts loading different things onto the plate.
"Yeah," I mumble, wracking my brain for why there would be a party. But nothing pops out to me.
"I saved you the good stuff," Frypan hands me a plate and I look down to see steak, mashed potatoes, and carrots.
"Thanks, Fry. You're amazing," I smile as I go towards my tree to eat, hopefully people will take that as a sign that I don't want to talk right now. But as I move closer, I see a big bonfire, just like the bonfire I had the day I woke up. A new person came up? I mean, we've had smaller parties here and there but it mostly consisted of just a small fighting ring and alcohol. This here is a full on party.
I stay off to the sides to finish my meal before going to mingle, figuring I should try to be little social at some point. I talk with a few people that I don't see that often, one of whom is Gally, who says that we'll be finishing the party with a fight and it'll be the two of us.
I spot Clint not too far away from me and I decide to head over and talk with him. But when I'm on my way over, I bump into someone and step on their foot, sending them crashing to the ground.
"I'm so sorry," I apologize as I help them up, but when they turn to face me I see Newt. "Newt... I..."
"Hey, Kat," Newt gives me a smile and goes to walk away, but I grab his arm and pull him back so that he's facing me.
"Newt. I really am sorry," I try saying but Newt just shrugs his shoulder indifferently.
"It was a little bump, Kat. Don't worry about," Newt tries walking away again, but when I stop him this time, I drag him away from the party.
"You know what I'm sorry for, Newt," I accuse and I see his eyes darken slightly. "I shouldn't have gotten so angry."
"It doesn't matter," Newt shrugs it off, and I stare at him like he's grown a second head.
"It obviously matters otherwise you wouldn't mention it as often as you do," I put forward and its Newt's turn to look at me like I'm insane.
"Because I don't think it's that much to ask!" Newt's voice raises slightly. "And because if I don't, you'll work yourself to death trying to figure that bloody Maze out."
"Someone has to! We can't stay here forever!" I argue as I gesture around. The Glade is beautiful, but it is still a prison. "It's out there for a reason!"
"But why you?" Newt demands. "There are others who can do that!"
"I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing, Newt!" I argue, a thought coming to mind about how I can confront him about what this argument is really about. "And how would it look if I stopped and let the boys take over?"
"So this is because you're a shucking girl? You think you need to prove yourself?" Newt splutters out and I just cross my arms.
"Is it not because I'm a girl?" I demand. "If I was a guy, would you be acting the same way you are now?"
"Well, no..." Newt frowns, but I cut him off.
"Why do you care, Newt?" I demand, needing to hear it from him. "Why?"
"You know why," Newt whispers out, and I honestly don't know what's gonna happen next. But what actually happens, was not one of the possible scenarios I was thinking of.
"Am I interrupting something?" Gally steps between us, looking between the both of us.
"No," Newt says and Gally doesn't argue with it.
"Ok, Alby wants us to wrap up the party, meaning we're up, Kat," Gally says and all I can do is nod as I look at Newt.
"I'm ready," I say coolly as Newt turns and walks away, leaving me staring after him and Gally staring at me.
"What was that all about?" Gally asks me and I don't even try looking at him.
"Nothing," I say hostilely as I leave without another word, stepping into the rink before Gally can stop me.
I wish I could say that I was so angry from my conversation with Newt, that I beat the klunk out of Gally; that I was able to continue my winning streak. But I was so angry and distracted that I let Gally get the upper hand—and after losing to me week after week, Gally doesn't hold back—and once that happened I was done for. His strength kept me on my heels and I wasn't thinking straight so I wasn't coming up with any ideas to level the playing field. Finally, the beating came to a finish when Gally delivered a hard blow to the head, knocking me out instantly.