Disclaimer: I do not own The Maze Runner Trilogy and all characters belong to James Dashner except my OC, Tara.

—Chapter 26—

Tara

She pretty much wasted all night reading, it wasn't her fault the book was so good. Tara had already moved on to the second book of the Harry Potter series, 'The Chamber of Secrets'. People usually read books to fall asleep, but books kept her awake even more. By 2:00 AM she decided she should get some sleep and promising to read the next chapter in the morning, she fell asleep.

"Oi Tara, Shakespeare eatin' away your brain?" someone boomed from the other side of her door. She heard the door of the room beside hers shut with a creak and someone with a thick British accent started speaking.
"I told ya to let the girl get some sleep!" he shouted in a whisper.
"She's been asleep for two months! And it's time to wake her up." Minho snapped back.
Tara rolled her eyes as she got up from bed, Minho was just plain annoying.
"I'm awake shuck faces." she said when she opened the door, Minho and Newt were having a heated argument, Newt whispering and Minho yelling. "Breakfast?" Minho smiled sheepishly.
"Shut up." she snapped back.
"Well someone's in a grumpy mood today." Newt arched his eyebrows, his hair was ever the same, a bit longer than two months ago, but still tousled, and cute. "I wouldn't have been if Mr Getting-his-butt-kicked-today didn't decide to bang on my door like that." she gave Minho a dirty look.
"Forgive me, your Majesty." Minho joked with an over-exaggerated bow. She elbowed him in the gut and then walked towards the Kitchen showing no sign of mercy all the while Newt laughed at their hilarious excuse of being friends.

"Are you kidding me! I'm in perfect shape" she waved her hands from her feet to her head and vice-versa "I. Will. Go. Back." she confirmed. It had been about five days since she had woken from her two-month long nap, and Mr I-got-all-da-authority-here and Ol' Momma Newt weren't allowing Tara to go back into the Maze.
"You may be a mighty highness to our peasant Minho here-" Alby gestured to Minho,
"Hey!" Minho called.
"But you have to listen to the King, and he says no going into the Maze, not now, at least." Alby finished.
"I have a lot of things to point out," Tara started "first, if you're the king, and I'm the queen. . . it doesn't work out."
That got a few sniggers from Minho, an alarmed look from Newt and a "seriously" from Alby.
"Second, I hate to say this but, Minho couldn't be a peasant, he's a Keeper, he'd be. . . say a Lesser Lord."
"Thank you!" Minho said with exaggerated cheerfulness.
"Third, you'd probably be the Greater Lord since Minho doesn't listen to you."
Minho sniggered again.
"And fourth, I'm the queen, makes my place at the top of the pyramid." she ended sarcastically.
Newt nodded with a faked look of approval on his face and Alby crossed his arms and shook his head.
"You ain't goin' into the Maze and that's that, no more arguing here." he confirmed.
"But-"
"No buts."
Tara muttered under her breath and then nodded, sort of, well, that sort of gave her more time to finish her book series, she was on the fifth book. But she still missed going into the Maze, she missed the fear and pressure, the rush of adrenaline, she missed it all too much. And one would think she would do her best to avoid it after what she had been through in there.
"Why do you want to go into that shuck maze anyway?" Newt stopped her before she walked out.
She gave him a fierce glare, like she was refraining from clawing his eyeballs out.
"You" she jabbed a finger on his chest, "wouldn't know." Her gaze burned into his and she ground her teeth. Newt looked bewildered and he put his hands up, surrendering. Tara took a step back and shifted her gaze to Minho.
"Your Highness, do you wish for me to put the criminal in the dungeons." he asked.
"Oh my God Minho, how can you make a joke out of everything." she replied, not bothering to hide her amusement.
She briskly walked out of the room slightly shoving Newt on the shoulder, what could she say? She was a hothead.
Tara walked back to her room, her mind preoccupied on her sister. Brenda. She wondered if the girl missed her, or maybe even remembered her. It hurt, it hurt so much. Everything hurt, the state of the world, the fact that she had helped make the Maze, that she had broken her promise to protect Thomas. Everything. It all just hurt. She longed to go into the Maze, the way it whisked away all your other thoughts. She loved it. And Newt hated it. They were opposites. And opposites attract.
Tara looked from side to side, making sure no one was around to stop her. Then she ran. She ran into the Maze.
She didn't have her watch and had to constantly look at the sky to determine the time, her legs screamed at her to stop but she kept running. The exhilaration above everything else. The familiar ivy that had once saved her life hung from the grand walls. She remembered being proud of making them, but now all she felt was shame and guilt. The sun was near the horizon and she knew it was time she should be heading back. She turned and perked her ears. A deathly moan broke the silence, then came the squeal of metal. Not again, not a Griever.

—Author's Notes—

Ha ha ha! Such a satisfying moment this is! I mean, it's been ages since I gave you guys a shocking cliffhanger. You're all spoiled brats now, and tou'll be begging at my feet to post the next chapter soon.

Sorry for that, but it has been a while since I gave you a cliffhanger and I sort of missed it. What? It's an author thing, okay? No seriously, authors kind of do get evil over time. It just happens.

So, it turns out you guys ain't givin' me reviews lately and I got no idea how you're liking my story, so yeah, those tiny reviews can make big changes.

I'm trying to improve my writing and I know it's horrible but try and cope with it since you're reading this story.

Is Newt and Tara's relationship getting a little rough by the way? Well, I don't know if it'll last for long because it barely ever does, so meh.

Okay, I know a lot of people decide not to read The Kill Order and The Fever Code but please read those, they're amazing, and it tells you so much about the characters of our lovely yet horrible Maze Eunner Trilogy.

Yeah, so I'll shut up and let you guys wait for the next chap.