Lauren sighs as they stop for the sixth time since they have left the Glade. One and a half hour have passed since then, and she feels like it is going way too slow. If Newt is still alive... There is no right way to finish that thought. They just have to hurry.
As soon as she has caught her breath, she puts her hands on her hips.
"This isn't going fast enough," she says, trying to make her worry sound in her voice. "Why don't we just split up? We have found Newt a lot faster then."
"We don't split up because... I am the only one knowing the way here," Minho pants, his hands on his knees. "You'll all get lost if we split up. I don't want five Gladers dead, maybe even six if you count Newt."
Lauren feels a small flicker of fear in her chest at that last remark. She runs a hand through her hair, which is sticky of sweat, and sighs.
"You're so annoying when you're right."
Minho grins, but it is a nervous grin. He feels exactly the same way as I do, Lauren thinks.
"Okay, let's keep going," the Runner shouts. "We've got about an hour before the doors will close. We'll go to the outer ring and then we go back to the Glade."
He starts to run, doesn't even look back to check if the others are following him. But they follow him, and soon they reach a point where the corridors become wider. The outer ring.
The group keeps running. Suddenly, Lauren sees a metal square on the ground, about fifty centimetres in length, and she stops.
"Hey, Minho!" she yells. "What's this?"
The Runner stops and turns around, and so does the rest of the group. Minho frowns.
"I don't know," he admits. "I've never seen this before. Weird."
Lauren sees the iron knob on the side of the square.
"I think it's a shutter," she mumbles. She looks up. "Shall we open it?"
Ben steps back. "Maybe we shouldn't," he says carefully. "My experience with unknown things is that you should let them be unknown."
"That's typically something a Builder would say," Frypan mutters, and with that, the boys start to wrangle with each other. Minho looks at Lauren, shaking his head and sighing.
"Shut up!" he suddenly yells, and he steps forward. "If you're scared, then leave. Go ahead." He folds his arms. His face is reddened from anger.
The other boys look down, embarrassed, but they all stay.
"We are going to open this shuck shutter, and I don't want any of you to scream for your mommy, whatever is inside," Minho continues, still with that frightening tone in his voice. "Help me, Lauren."
She walks over to him. They both grip the long handle and pull.
The shutter is heavier than Lauren had thought, but it is opening. Minho growls next to her.
With one last, squeaking sound, the shutter falls open.